Gaijin
By Hank74
Lennie-10/10
Ed-10/10
Van Buren-10/10
Jack-10/10
Serena-9/10
Arthur-10/10
Supporting Cast-9/10
Plot-8/10
Performance-9/10
Value-9/10
Total-94/100
Notes:
There has been a little winning streak going on here in the
last few weeks with some quality episodes that needs to be taped. Someone
mentioned that S14 is going to be a good one and be right up there with the
cream of the crop. We'll see how the May sweeps go, but there might be
something to that claim.
A little thing with the trial judge's name, which has
happened before. They gave him three different names, one on his door,
one in the scene changer, and one at the bench where he presides. Also
disappointed that Donna Hanover was only the arraignment judge and presiding
over this trial.
As for what we saw tonight, it reminded me a bit of the
classic years in terms of the little things. Ed with that Mikey laugh in
the interrigation room, Van Buren with her Cragen sigh being flooded with calls
from the mayor on down, and even Arthur doing his Adam routine with the press
conference and then putting on a tuxedo for a dinner.
This was done in the context regarding the Japanese and
their culture. The only other time this occurred was in Blue Bamboo from
S5. In that ep, Jack tried to stop the raped victim from blaming the
Japanese culture. Now he was trying to stop a Japanese defendant
from using a black man as the scapegoat and a way to escape murder charges.
I liked how they went into an extensive segment on voir dire
when selecting the jury. The arguments made by both sides about the black
jurors was pretty compelling. Voir dire needs to be done more often on
L&O. I also liked how they put in Arthur in the forefront in trying
to get the husband back to the USA.
There is something controversial though with trying to use
the black man in the photo as a way to lure him here. Van Buren raised
some good points and that's why she got a perfect 10. Faced with this
similar situation, would Adam or Nora have done this? Good to see the
"superiors" on both sides talk from time to time. We didn't see
this though between Van Buren and Nora. All other situations it has
happened. Speaking of Arthur's ploy, it would have been interesting to
see a legal argument in a motion hearing that what the DA did was
illegal. But there might not have been too much to that.
When the very ending came and how the music played from the
Jack/Arthur scene to the verdict, I felt there might be an acquittal or hung
jury. Regardless of the racial tensions, there was just too much evidence
to point to the husband. The only way I could have seen Arthur approving
a deal is if the hubby's life was directly threatened by the Japanese
mob. Speaking of which, there needs to be more eps done about them since
we've done so much with the Mafia, the Russians, and the Colombians.