Thursday, March 14, 2024

Law & Order “Balance Of Power”” Discussion Topic




Here is the discussion topic for Law & Order “Balance Of Power” which aired on Thursday, March 14, 2024. Please feel free to add any feedback you have about this episode in the comments!

4 comments:

Robert Nacci said...

Episode was nothing special. Actually kind of convoluted with a plot that if you weren’t paying attention to could get lost in. Oh and the twist towards the end was totally unnecessary. Onto the new DA and Tony Goldwyn. He’s a great actor from what I saw here. Not familiar with him before this. Definitely added a spark to the legal side. Nice to see Jack wasn’t easily forgotten as by judging by social media the “icon” as he is and was called in this episode is definitely missed. However I do think it is time to move on from the references to Jack (blasphemy I know and especially coming from me! 😂) mainly for two reasons. 1. I don’t trust this current writing staff to not mess up his legacy by attributing things to Jack that he did and say, as they did in this episode when Price said McCoy always said nothing trumps murder (which I believe is true), to justify an action by Nolan. 2. To allow the new DA and Tony Goldwyn to put his own stamp on the character. Which he seems to be by firing staff and by making his office more contemporary apparently? I mean in 20+ years I don’t ever recall the office changing that much! 😂 Didn’t care for him just showing up at the beginning of the episode. That felt forced and out of place. Judging by this one episode it doesn’t seem like however the Governor chose someone with integrity like Jack said. Only time will tell. And Nolan taking a stand? Also felt forced. I just don’t see him being the one to stand up to the new DA.

Next week’s case looks interesting and based on the marine subway incident. Looks like Baxter is pushing for the same type of charges the actual Manhattan DA did. Should be interesting!

Valens Hawke said...

Going to agree with the above comment on several points. They shouldn't reference Jack beyond this because the writers can't be trusted.

Nicholas Baxter showing up at the crime scene was so contrived, I visibly cringed. I guess we're going to spend the rest of the season with Price v. Baxter and Baxter v. Winning the Election.

All that said, I don't like Baxter. My friend and I were just exchanging messages of expletives in response to his dialogue.

I was heartbroken when Sam Waterston left and I only watched his departure episode and the following episode this last weekend. In some ways now, I'm glad he left. The writing is just so poor and there are plenty of ripped-from-the-headline cases that the writers could just write beat-for-beat and it'd still be compelling. Why we needed these convoluted Gamestop-SVU-Cosby/Weinstein twists says a lot that the writers don't know how to make the base case compelling.

I don't know anymore. I'm going to rewatch Season 18 and pretend Cutter succeeded Jack.

Laurie F said...

This is 0ne of those times where I am going to hold off passing judgement on Baxter. I hate major cast changes and I'd like one or two more episodes before I say either way. I miss Sam already!

SH said...

Decent episode. I like Baxter so far as DA (even though it's just the 1st episode). I just miss Jack McCoy, though!!! I cannot speak to previous DA changes because this is my first time experiencing one while watching the original. I like Tony Goldwyn as an actor, and hopefully, he will do justice for "Law & Order" (no pun intended!).

I am also glad to see Željko Ivanek in this episode. As recently stated, my favorite show is "Madam Secretary." This week was somewhat of a reunion for this show for me because he was on the original's episode while Keith Carradine is recurring in Organized Crime's serial killer storyline.