Floater
Lennie-10/10
Ed-10/10
Van Buren-10/10
Jack-10/10
Serena-10/10
Arthur-10/10
Supporting Cast-9/10
Plot-9/10
Performance-9/10
Value-8/10
Total-95/100
Notes:
I had a hunch this was
going to be a disappointment, like it has tended to be this season. Yet TPTB
put out a great episode which kept me interested, and more importantly will
keep me interested the next time it comes up again and again in rerun land.
Whenever I see the promo
for a new ep, one of my first instincts is to pull out a tape from an old ep to
do a rough comparison at face value. In this case, I chose a season 4 classic, Censure.
Yet after watching Floater, I would say this more resembles that of Shadow
from season 8 when we heard of a DA engaged in corruption that led to murder.
This time, it was a judge who orchestrated this and some divorce attorneys who
went for the ride.
The first question I
want to ask of you is, which DA do you think did a better job of handling the
corruption and subsequent murder going on in the courthouse, Adam in Shadow
or Arthur in Floater?
What I liked about this
ep was the simplicity of the investigation from start to finish. Lennie didn't
have that one liner that seemed to be out of place. It even looked like the
"Law" part was like that of the good old days when the dets would
sort out everything and then ask either Robinette or Claire on whether to pick
up a suspect. I'd like to see a situation where the ADA tells the cops no on
picking up someone, just to see what the reaction will be. When it came to the
"Order" side, it seemed everyone was only focused on finding out who
killed this woman and why. But when it came to the "why," it didn't
veer into so called political, social, or psychological reasons. I must admit
that I was a little confused by the corruption scandal being connected to the
murder, but it was well protrayed by the brilliant and intense acting that we
saw from the regulars and supporting cast.
My second question would
be, what did you think about the scene when Jack confronts the judge in her
chambers about the corruption and murder? Do you think it was handled the right
way or could it have been done it any differently? I for one think it got a tid
bat emotional for L&O standards, but perhaps it was necessary to explain
the rationale behind the judge's motives and guilt trip.
My final question is one
which I must ask considering that I brought up Censure. To my knowledge
this is the second judge who has been an actual defendant and focus of an
investigation on L&O. I know there was Judge Hynes in Jeopardy, who
was involved in his own corruption scandal. But that was secondary compared to
the three murders which he looked the other way on for Peter Nicodos. Simply
put, how would you compare Judge Alexander and Judge Thayer from 10 years
before?
Again, I liked the
simplicity and intensity of this ep from start to finish. It has to be
certainly competing with Bodies for the best ep of this season. But
there is a long way to go. Finally, right after the "Dick Wolf"
credits rolled, they had a new promo scene with Van Buren joining Lennie and Ed
to help introduce us to next week's Embedded ep. That was well done and
long overdue to see the Lt. have some of the spotlight.
A little winning streak
going on here the last two weeks. Lets see where the Iraq reporter story will
go?