My comments: A solid episode which not only featured a conflict for Nolan Price, but also a conflict between Jack and his daughter Rebecca (played by Sam Waterston’s daughter Elisabeth Waterston).
Nolan, likely not realizing he was suffering from PTSD from the subway shooting incident (from the episode “Camouflage”), struggles with trying a murder case against a man who was also a victim – and a hero – in another mass shooting incident. Complicating matters is the attorney for the defendant is Jack McCoy’s daughter. McCoy does his best to distance himself to avoid any appearances of being partial to his daughter, but in doing so he puts Price in the thick of it, and Price is obviously struggling with trying the man for murder. Eventually Jack gives Price some leeway to negotiate with Rebecca, but Rebecca, just as bullheaded and driven as her father, refuses to budge, thinking she can get her client cleared. When he’s found guilty, she’s clearly not happy with her father and likely there will continue to be a rift between the two. In this case, I think Jack did the right thing – there really is no excuse for murder, and even heroes have to pay the price (no pun intended).
5 comments:
Powerful episode! As stand-alone episodes, this was the best season finale.
I've added a few comments about this episode in my blog post.
Nolan Price is a mystery to me. For someone in one of the top jobs in the DA's office, he often is reluctant to prosecute! I understand his PTSD but his situation was nowhere like the guy who murdered the senator. Price didn't kill anybody or hurt anybody as revenge. I don't get how Price didn't see the difference between how they both reacted to being involved in a shooting. I think he was right to push back at Jack to get a reduced sentence and I was relieved when Jack gave him that option. Jack's daughter on the other hand has issues with her dad and she let that cloud her judgement.
It was a good finale to the season and I liked that they brought Jack's daughter in as part of the story. Also having Sam's real daughter play her was a genius idea, and wow does she look like Sam.
Just watched the episode and I was left frustrated. I would have appreciated some exposition on the rift between Jack and his daughter because the glares and hurt looks were incomplete without more context. Have his children been on the show before? It felt like the angst was unearned.
Speaking of the daughter, she failed her client. I have a lot of issues with Nolan but those pale in comparison to my issues with her letting her ego get in the way of a good deal for her client. Expert or not, her client made for a hard case. It was arrogant for her to refuse to even take the manslaughter offer to her client.
And, his victim was high profile... a US Senator! Jack would have been vilified if his office went for anything less than murder. And yet, she gave that no mind and then was mad with her father at the end.
This episode left me absolutely frustrated.
We got a manhunt, a red herring, and a chase in the first 20 minutes!
I feel like the assassination of a United States Senator was, again, way too big for the show. You'd think the FBI would be involved? I mean, even Jack and the NYPD Commissioner being on the phone with the US Attorney General would have been NICE, maybe having a bit of an argument about jursidiction would have helped.
I was skeptical about the cop-half being done in 20 minutes and... my skepticism was right.
Things I can appreciate: The increased screentime for Sam Waterston, who was allowed to show his acting chops this particular episode. He did a hell of a job as usual. The pain on Jack's face was palpable at the end.
The casting of Katherine Waterston as his daughter? Also really appreciate (this is actually a recast from the Season 17 episode, "Fallout," where Rebecca meets Jack for dinner and it is implied this is sort of a first step towards reconcilliation)
After that...
I think more exposition would have definitely would have helped but how I interpret their relationship and what we know about Jack is: While he certainly wasn't abusive like his father, he probably wasn't as involved or emotionally available as a parent because he was so career-driven. This was probably severely exacerbated when Jack and Ellen got divorced (name mentioned Season 19, I think, when he's on the phone because someone leaked to the press that the McCoys employed a nanny that was not a legal resident of the US). Could I see Jack absolutely prioritizing a case over his daughter's dance recital or soccer game? Yeah... And let's be real, I'd imagine the types of cases Jack handled probably wore him out emotionally as well.
So while they probably did reconcile to an extent, the hard feelings are definitely still there for Rebecca.
The show showing the cost of being a lawyer like Jack to his personal and family life, I don't quite mind. Has this show brought in kids before? Season 8, Lennie's daughter, Cathy, had a bit of an arc throughout the season that ended tragically. Season 5, Competence, showed Van Buren's sons and again in Season 20.
So, I loved the acting and conflict between the McCoys and the Waterstons did a great job ACTING. But the writing...
First of all, I cannot suspend my disbelief that Rebecca would talk to Jack and ASK Jack for a favor regarding a case where they are on opposite sides. Okay, Jack McCoy was not tha paragon of good and ethical behavior, but he's the DA now. Her going through Price? Yeah, I think that's fine. Second, why would she think her dad would cut her any kind of break in this case. A UNITED STATES SENATOR WAS ASSASSINATED?! Her anger at her own father really clouded her legal judgment. I was really kind of hoping for an "Under the Influence" moment where she realizes just how ineffectual she was and ask for a mistrial or something. But nope.
Second of all, Price needs to be fired. That Man 1 Plea would have gotten Jack tossed from office so fast. If your legal judgment is clouded for personal reasons because you witnessed the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting... maybe you shouldn't be prosecuting the case (I miss Cutter).
I wonder if Rebecca will show up again as a defense attorney.
What's frustrating is this episode had a real chance to be good and the acting was great. It's just the writing, like the entirety of this revival, has rarely ever matched the level of the acting the cast can bring.
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