"The Violence of Summer" is quite a fascinating episode. Much of it is down to the supporting cast, which sees a couple of firsts. One is the first credited appearance for Philip Seymour Hoffman. The same goes for Gil Bellows and it was interesting to see Samuel L. Jackson in a relatively early role in a different role to usual. There is also a change of pace regarding the format, with the order of the police investigation and the prosecution reversed meaning we saw the latter first.
As well as being a fascinating episode for those reasons, "The Violence of Summer" is a great one too. One of the best of the very solid if not always completely settled first season, one of the best of the second half of the season (where there up to this point has not been a bad episode, with even the weakest "Everybody's Favourite Bagman" being pretty good if with too much of a pilot episode feel) and one of the best since "Indifference".
Would have liked more development and depth to Monica, the more there is learnt of her the less compelling she becomes and sympathy for her diminishes too.
Everything else in "The Violence of Summer" though works wonders. It was an interesting if risky move breaking away from the usual format 'Law and Order', and the whole franchise in fact, and it is executed very well here. Structurally it is always cohesive and what's more and more essential in my mind is that the police investigation and prosecution elements are equally compelling. Even with the less than sympathetic victim, one does root for the case to be solved as it is one that draws one right in with some nice twists, seeing the methods with how the detectives and lawyers work and that the responsible are suitably loathsome. A big highlight here is how the responsible are incriminated and caught, that was clever and the tension increases here.
Production values are still suitably slick and gritty and the music wisely doesn't intrude or get melodramatic in the more dramatic bits (like the revealing of the truth). The main theme never gets old and is one of the better 'Law and Order' themes in my view. The writing is hard-boiled and thought-provoking, even inserting a reference to the 1964 murder case of Kitty Genovese, while the performances are uniformly good. Usually Michael Moriarty is the standout of the regulars but this time for me it was George Dzundza, especially when Greevey gets the result needed to solve the case which as said was one of the episode's highlight scenes. "The Violence of Summer" similarly features, not one, not two, but three of the first season's guest starring turns in Hoffman, Jackson and Bellows. Hoffman (who would go on to even greater things until his ultimely death that is still felt) is particularly good, and Al Shannon also is worthy of a mention.
Overall, great and an example of what 'Law and Order' is all about. 9/10