User Reviews

If you binge watch old episodes of Law and Order - you know, the good ones - something you'll notice right away is how much the writers and directors trust the audience to get what's going on. The actors rise to the occasion, too, delivering performances that show rather than tell the drama of the moment. Even though Law and Order originally was conceived as a procedural, it worked hard to generate real emotions and did.

Now, watch a more recent episode of any of the Law and Order franchise, and the first thing you'll notice is how much louder and more intrusive the music is. Gone is the minimalism of those original episodes, to be replaced by stuff that is one step above the organ thrumming out dramatic notes in old time radio programs. It's not just distracting - although it is - but almost comical and frequently redundant. An obvious tragic moment is at hand . . . AND HERE COMES THE TRAGIC MUSIC.

At the same time, there's a lot less ambient noise. People are walking in the halls, but you don't hear their footsteps. Phones no longer ring. Elevators don't ding and outdoor sounds - like traffic or people having conversations - somehow are muted. It's a weird combination that makes everything seem less documentary like the original.

Add the clunky expository dialogue and the clunky over-the-top acting, and it's obvious how far from the original working concept the show has drifted.

Take the standard Derpy and Lurchy opening. They have to have the requisite tacky pun - "Guess this wasn't the photo shoot she was looking for," ho, ho - and then comes the victim's father. Obviously. I mean, a frantic guy looking for his daughter. Golly, who could that be? But the scene drags on a few more beats until - CUE TRAGIC MUSIC - he reveals himself to be - CUE EVEN LOUDER TRAGIC MUSIC - her father! GASP!

This is yet another episode that deals with rappers. If you binge Law and Order, you'll also notice that of all the musical types the show encounters, rappers seem to be the most prominent. Sure, there are a few episodes with hard rockers or a symphony, but rappers seem to be represented far, far more often. And they're always involved in some kind of criminal activity, whether it's guns, drugs, murder or knocking their partners around or some combination. If you go by Law and Order, rap is infested with criminals of one kind or another.

Characters continue to behave in ways that don't even make sense.

Case in point: Derp and Lurch are questioning a suspect, and then he asks for a lawyer. Lurch reacts as though he's never heard such a thing before, with melodramatic surprise that includes a head reaction (Law and Order these days loves that, especially shaking in disgust in the courtroom).

There are some unintentionally funny moments, like watching Lurch run or close ups of wrinkly Derp's cheap suits. It's funny, too, because you start to notice they re-use a lot of the same locations.

By the time the crack legal team of the Garden Gnome and AOC get involved, the story has spun off in a bunch of directions. Rappers, college athletes, frightened cops. I'll say in this regard, the show is staggering closer to the originals. It feels less thin than most of the episodes in the reboot. So, I guess there's that. But you can see all these set up shenanigans take so long, it's not until the final 25% that it gets to the courtroom. And you know that means a slapdash, hollow legal race to the finish (though they get a head shake in there).

So, is this a better episode? Yes. I'd say it's the best episode in the reboot so far. But that's still not saying much, like arguing a Chevy is better than a Ford to someone who drives a Mercedes.

Now, this would have gotten 5 stars, because even with some of the improvements, there are the deficiencies, some noted here. But it gets an extra star for the ending, where something happens to the Garden Gnome that has been a long time coming. If this had happened to Barba or Stone on SVU, I actually would have stood up and cheered.