Birthright
By Hank 74
Joe-9/10
Ed-9/10
Van Buren-10/10
Jack-10/10
Borgia-10/10
Arthur-8/10
Support-10/10
Plot-9/10
Performance-10/10
Value-9/10
Total-94/100
Notes:
While this
didn't have the power and punch of last night's SVU ep, I was netherless
impressed with the performance by everyone involved. Once again we see
that when TPTB strays away from the over-hyped RFTH template, the ep will for
the most part be a good one. In this case, it was better than that.
Simplicity
was also very evident here as it started with one murder and then moved to
another one. However, the connection was very clear. We don't
exactly know who killed the guy in the beginning. All roads lead to the
girl. But we do know that Nurse G was responsible for this suspect's
death.
What I also
liked was the introduction of a topic that is new and worthy of
discussion. The only thing that comes close to what we saw tonight was
"Ritual" back in season 8 with the Egyptian girl being sterilized and
that doctor being killed by her dad. No question in this case, this will
be very controversial. Even more so now that the issue of abortion has
been front and center for some time, and I fear will get white hot with the
impending Judge Alito hearings.
The best
thing I can take from this is the development of Paul Robinette through all
these years. Obviously we've only seen him twice since he left the DA's
office 12 years ago. But he is an effective advocate for his clients and
has maintained a sense of professional respect for the office he once worked
in. I liked the interaction with him and Jack in the end. Here you
had two lawyers who come from different backgrounds, but who are similar in
finding the truth and representing their interests zealously. I wished we
could have seen this case go further. I also wished we had more
interaction between Paul and Jack in say a possible plea deal scene. What
we did see though was good.
Though Dick
Wolf may be weary now of introducing a new show to the franchise, given the TBJ
debacle, I would suggest that he do something from the perspective of the
defendant and in this case only have the defense attorneys be the guest stars
along with the defendants. If this were to come to fruition, Robinette
would be a perfect candidate to head this list.