LAW AND ORDER

Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy

LAW AND ORDER. NBC TV series   1990 - 2010. 

 Jack McCoy: "I don't think he's going to   confess."

 Adam Schiff: "Why should he confess?  You'll probably arrest somebody else tomorrow."

Now that Law and Order is coming back after a ten year absence, it's time to look back at this highly-successful and entertaining series, all twenty years of it. The first executive D.A. was Ben Stone, well-played by Michael Moriarty, who resigned when a terrified witness was shot dead in front of an police escort. Stone was replaced by Jack McCoy, the character most associated with the show (after perhaps the late Jerry Orbach), also well-played by Sam Waterston (although Waterson's perpetual head-shaking got to be annoying after a while). The first D.A. depicted on the show was grumpy Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). His performance couldn't be called great acting perhaps, but he was amusingly effective. 

You had to take Law and Order with a grain of salt. To create suspense, far too many episodes had the police and prosecutors arresting more than one person -- sometimes as many as three members of the same family -- for the same murder, something that in real life would never happen (or the ADA wouldn't last very long). I think the writers even saw the silliness of this, prompting the exchange between McCoy and Schiff you can see above. When cops were dressed down by their higher-ups, the latter always came off like incredibly nasty and suspicious super-villains instead of real people.

Jesse L. Martin and Leslie Hendrix as the M.E.

Although I like Waterson, I can't say I liked the character he played. Too many times McCoy would prosecute people when some of these wrongful deaths should have been adjudicated in civil court -- but it made for a good, if implausible, storyline. McCoy would want to take down defendants for their arrogance, but he could be just as arrogant. And hypocritical. I literally laughed at loud during one episode (the notorious one in which McCoy tries to invalidate gay marriage so that he can successfully convict a gay defendant -- don't ask) when McCoy complains of one person involved in the case that "he was hitting on his subordinate!" What's hilarious about this is that if you listen carefully to the dialogue in many previous episodes, McCoy had affairs with many of his female "subordinates." Even if these women initiated the affairs, it was incredibly inappropriate behavior. Occasionally someone would refer to McCoy's indiscretions, but he was never really called on the carpet for it. He eventually married one of his subordinates, the marriage didn't work, and he had a daughter that he hadn't spoken to in ten years!

Then there's the case of ADA Serena Southerlyn (Elizabeth Rohm, who appeared on the show for several seasons). In "Ain't No Love" in which a rap star is murdered, Serena is fired for being too passionate about a case and supposedly acting on emotion instead of evidence. She asks D.A. Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson) if he's firing her because she's a lesbian (which comes out of nowhere). He says "of course not," but when you consider that she had every good reason to think the man on trial was innocent she probably was fired for being gay. McCoy, who sometimes gets so overly passionate about things you think he's demented or will have a stroke, doesn't go to bat for her. 

Over twenty years the show had a huge cast, most of whom gave notable performances. Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe; Jesse L. Martin as Ed Green; S. Epatha Merkerson as Lt. Van Buren; Linus Roache as ADA Mike Cutter (who told Jack off more than once); Chris Noth as Detective Mike Logan; Leslie Hendrix as the taciturn medical examiner; Angie Harmon as ADA Carmichael; Carey Lowell as ADA Ross. Paul Sorvino and George Dzunda also played detectives in the early seasons and were swell. Dianne Weist only lasted one season as the D.A.; she added nothing to the show.

Some of the best episodes of the series include: 

"Misconception." There are terrific twists in this story of a pregnant woman who is attacked on the street. Season 2.

"Manhood." Cops let a gay colleague down by not responding to his calls for help. Season 3.

"American Dream" features Zeljko Ivanek as a killer who gets a new trial and goes up against Ben as his own lawyer. Season 4.

"Snatched." A wealthy man's son is kidnapped -- or was he? Season 4.

"Censure." A man terrorizing a woman and her child turns out to be a respected judge (David Groh). Season 4.

"Sanctuary." A superb episode with multiple points of view about racism and anti-Semitism as a Jew runs over a black boy and a a black man beats a white man to death. Season 4.

"Corruption." Lennie's old colleague (Kevin Conway) is accused of being on the take, then turns around and accuses Lennie. Season 7. 

"Showtime." The trial of a director who murdered and dismembered his ex-wife. Season 7.

"Burden." A doctor murders a disabled boy, but he may be a serial killer and not a mercy killer." Season 8.

""DNR." A lady judge (Lindsay Crouse) is shot by a man who hired her husband; she wants to die but won't condemn him. Season 10.

"Marathon" A woman is shot in broad daylight, but Lennie Briscoe's allegedly hearing the confession of the killer is called into question. Good character development, especially concerning Briscoe. Season 10. 

"Sundown." A man (George Martin) with Alzheimer's is accused of murdering his wife. Season 10. 

"Identity." An elderly man's identity is stolen as well as his home; murder results. Season 14.

"Red Ball." Jack McCoy is forced to make a deal with a loathsome man in order to save a child's life. Season 16.

"Charity case." When a movie star adopts an African baby more than one murder results. Season 17.

"Captive." Sad (if somewhat contrived) episode in which McCoy actually prosecutes a boy for the murder of a child even though he had been kidnapped and molested. Season 17.

"Misbegotten." Interesting if imperfect, twisty episode about a bombing, the gay gene, and a brother-in-law accused of murder. Season 18.

"Quit Claim" Fascinating look at an illegal real estate scheme, who the real mastermind behind it is, and the manipulations of a mysterious female suspect. Season 18.

"Rumble." Jack charges a group of men who had a fight in a park -- with the resulting deaths of innocents -- as terrorists. Season 19.

"By Perjury." Mike (Linus Roache) matches wits with a lawyer (Dallas Roberts) who is representing relatives of victims of an airliner disaster.

"Anchors Away." A Bernie Madoff-inspired episode involving murders, a Ponzi scheme, and television reporters. Season 19.

"Shotgun." A storeowner (Elliot Gould) shoots men robbing his store but there are serious complications. Season 20.

"Innocence." Mike challenges the Innocence Project when they claim he wrongfully convicted a gay-basher. Season 20.

The last two episodes of the series beautifully illustrate the two main types of stories that appeared on the show. "Love Eternal" is an amusing, strange tale with a tacky woman arrested for murdering her masochistic, comics-collecting husband. The final episode, "Rubber Room," is a tense and suspenseful story of everyone trying to track down a boy planning to bomb a high school, while Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) waits for the results of her MRI regarding her cancer. 

Verdict: Whatever its flaws, this was a compelling and intriguing series "ripped from the headlines." ***1/2. 

THE FLASH (2014)

Grant Gustin as The Flash

THE FLASH (2014 WB television series).

This hit TV series is based on a comic book character that first appeared in 1956 (Showcase 4), who in turn was based on a speedster of the same name (if different origin) that appeared in the 1940's (or "golden age" of comics). The silver age series ran for 350 issues over many years, after which that character's nephew, Wally West, took over. The Flash was police scientist Barry Allen, who was killed off about the time that the comic book series ended. Barry Allen came back from the dead, and got his own series again, although the character has been reinvented for modern times. The same is true for this television series, which mixes various comic mythologies to come up with its own take on the character. There was also a series about The Flash, in 1990, in which Barry Allen was played by John Wesley Shipp, who is cast as Barry's father in the new series.

The Flash is a little more realistic (if that's the word!) than the old comic series, which was often comically, but charmingly, absurd, yet it borrows many characters and concepts from the comic while fashioning some of its own. Although the boyish Grant Gustin  -- he looks about sixteen -- doesn't seem old enough to be a police scientist, he is a fine, sensitive actor and is perfect casting for this Barry Allen/Flash. The comic book Flash works on his own or with members of the Justice League, but in this show he has a whole group of supporting characters -- too many, perhaps, as if it's a super-hero committee -- assisting him, although most of these characters are as appealing as the actors who play them.

As in the comics, the main adversary is the Reverse-Flash or Professor Zoom. In the silver age these sinister speedsters were the same person, one Eobard Thawne from the future, but when Allen's nephew Wally West took over as Flash, there was also a new Zoom, Hunter Zolomon. Frankly, it's hard to tell these two characters apart. Making things even more confusing, the Zoom of the first season of the show was Thawne, but now he appears to be Zolomon, a Zoom from a different dimension, perhaps. Adding to the confusion is that the sympathetic character of Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), who plays the Flash of "Earth-2" (essentially the golden age Flash, who had the same secret identity and also wears a helmet like Mercury) turns out to actually be Zoom! Hopefully this will all be explained in subsequent episodes.

The creators and writers of The Flash obviously know their comic book history and are respectful of the character's colorful past, rich back story, and often bizarre villains. In the episode in which Barry discovers the dimension of "Earth-2" where another Flash, Jay Garrick resides, the show uses a variation of a scene which appeared on the cover of the classic issue 123 of the silver age Flash: a person calls out for help from the Flash as he's about to be killed and both Jay and Barry, in costume, rush toward the near-victim shouting "I'm coming!' The title of this episode is the same as the title of Flash 123: "Flash of Two Worlds." Cute, eh?

The Flash has an exceptional multi-cultural cast. On the show Barry was raised by his father's black friend, Joe West (Jesse L. Martin), and grew up with his daughter, Iris (a luminescent Candace Patton), with whom he has fallen in love. Unfortunately Iris got engaged to her father's handsome partner, Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett, the only cast member killed off in the first season). Playing Barry's scientific associates are Danielle Panabaker [Mr. Brooks], Tom Cavanagh, and Carlos Valdes as Cisco, who loves coming up with names for the various super-powered characters (and which are always taken from DC comics). Cisco has developed some powers of his own in this second season, which may be a little more of the likable Cisco than we need. Patrick Sabonqui plays the openly gay police captain David Singh, but he only shows up on occasion.

The Flash isn't perfect -- and this season it seems a little too clever for its own good -- but it has sharp acting, excellent special effects work, some intriguing situations and characters, and more than a few good stories. NOTE: The Flash will also be a separate theatrical film due in 2018, but this time the character will be played by Ezra Miller. You can read more about the Flash in The Silver Age of Comics.

Verdict: Snappy show that combines the new with the old in an appealing and often exciting mixture. ***.