Criminal Law
By Hank 74
Joe-10/10
Ed-10/10
VB-10/10
Jack-10/10
Borgia-10/10
Arthur-9/10
Support-10/10
Plot-10/10
Performance-10/10
Value-10/10
Total-99/100
Notes:
Wow!!!
What a big, early feast for Thanksgiving! This was a terrific episode and
I can't wait for next week's with Van Buren front and center. I feel
about giving her a perfect 10 already in advance.
With
regards to tonight's ep. I was impressed by the tension throughout the
hour wondering what is going to happen. Will Jack get shot? Will
someone else get shot? Will this creep Barnes get loose?
Now I did
mention in the SVU boards that I thought this might have been connected to
Councilman Crossley from "Pride" since the actor for Crossley and
Barnes was the same guy, Daniel Hugh Kelly. I remember him from the mid
80's when he was on "Hardcastle and McCormick" with the late Brian
Keith. Kelly has been a terrific repeat offender on the
franchise over the years and might now be right up there with David Groh as
portraying the most creepiest and despised villains we've ever seen.
While I was teasing you with the possibility that this might be a continuation
of the Crossley case, I didn't really think it was going to be like that for
one main reason that I didn't mention. Back then in "Pride",
once the jury hung, Jack decided to not prosecute the case so as to not have
homosexuality put back on trial. So I though this was going to be a clean
slate with Kelly playing a new person whom we can hate.
I loved the
chemistry of the main actors and supporting cast throughout. The reason
why Arthur got a 9 was because he was on shortly, while probably raising more
cane on SVU against Judge Donnelly and the like, and didn't say too much that
stood out. But I have to say this has to be the best ep right now for season
16 and who knows about next week.
The only
missing thing that could have been added was having a shrink come in to see
what kind of nut jobs we are dealing here with dad and Harlan. Be it
Olivet, Skoda, or Huang, someone with a PhD should have told everyone about
what made this family snap and kill all these people, including Robert.
If I were Arthur, I would probably give him no more than man 2, 2 to 6
years, and a psych evaluation for killing his dad, considering all the
hell he put his family through 9 years ago and what he tried to do now.
Heck, I might even do what he did two weeks ago and call the dogs off.
Arthur is a complexing figure. Sometimes you like him, sometimes you
don't.
I like to
do comparisons with previous eps and in this case, the best one to mind is
"American Dream" when Stone went after Phillip Swan in season
4. In that one, it was Stone who was obsessed about keeping Swan in
prison. This time, it seemed that it was Barnes who was the more obsessed
and wanted to get out of prison. In both cases, you can see the clashes
between the EADA and the perp that led to one blinking. I also
liked how the supporting members of the DA's team in both instances, played
different roles. Arthur and Adam didn't want their EADAs to get involved
too much while Claire and Borgia were very supportive of their immediate
supervisors.
I loved
Jack with his hat and his "girlfriend"? Oooh, should we be
saying that?
Again, I
can't wait to see next week's fireworks with Van Buren front and center.
Could this be a better performance than her classics like "Myth of
Fingerprints" and "Competence"?