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Law & Order: Tabula Rasa (1999)
A chilling episode
All around brilliant performances from the cast aided by good writing. The most I've felt invested in anything L&O for a good while. Just simple, brutal and raw. The only downside is that the detective portion of the story doesn't get as much focus or attention but courtroom drama aspect covers for it. Honestly, I'd love to see this premise getting expanded into something like a feature film, not just because there were some little aspects that can use a bit more refining but also the premise offers some good insights into rather important societal issues concerning familial bonds and structure. The fact that I don't usually yearn for or want to see stuff like this handled in media specifically, kinda works as a tastement about how well pulled off this episode was. I got goosebumps of the worst kind while watching, it was that impactful on me.
Chicago P.D.: The Other Side (2021)
Finally, some old school P.D. action!
Very reminiscent of earlier episodes. Some delightfuly hardcore, morally in the grey area, fast pace relentless action-packed episode. I hope this won't be a one-off thing and series will continue this tone once again like the old days. I understand they kinda have to reflect the developments irl because of the subject material but abovementioned aspects were the things that made the show what it is. Also big props to the whole cast for giving their all, elevating the whole episode, that sense of urgency was almost dripping from the screen. And again, if anybody connected is reading, this the type of Voight performance we want to see from Jason Beghe.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Traumatic Wound (2013)
Law & Order at it's worst
While I'm not a scholar when it comes to the series, and gonna be honest I've only seen the episode because my mom has been watching the series for a while since it came to Prime a month ago and usually I sit down for a few episodes to spend time with her, this has to be one of the, or even possibly the weakest episode featuring almost all the typical sins the series has (at least in season 14).
Although I haven't watched the entirety of the series from '99, since my mom likes her crime shows I've got to watch a good number of episodes between the years '11-'13 and more or less know about the general tone and structure of the series. And like I said, from the start of the episode there were an unusual amount of cheesy one liners that did not land at least for me, the plot was only mildly interesting, acting was (even with the main cast) sub par, handling of heavy topics like sexual/violent assault - PTSD were honestly a bit laughable (below average acting didn't help either) and finally, possibly the biggest offender, the court scenes were extremely dramatic and not even one bit realistic.
I mean I don't expect anything even remotely close to actual reality when it comes to court room drama in any Hollywood made media and I'm non the wiser to legitimitely criticize their authenticity, but if it makes even me go "A judge wouldn't say that out loud on the courtroom like that?" or "How can a witness say that and how is it not shut down since it's an attempt to lead the jury??" I think I can call that a new low.
It felt like in the writer's room nobody cared that day and just went full Law & Order. The whole "incident" also seemed to be formed after a couple haphazard google searches about "mosh pits" and "top sharking" (latter of which I've never even heard about, not even sure if that's an actual thing). And frankly there should've been a lot more research done on the first topic, that ain't no mosh pit that was a run'o'the mill concert.
I don't want to be misunderstood since cheesy crime drama series like NCIS:LA/NY/New Orleans, Hawaii Five-O and many others I can't recall at the moment have a near and dear part in my heart because of my mother's affinity and the good memories but this single episode was just lazy. Things I've mentioned do happen often throughout the series yes, but not to this extreme degree, at least in my opinion.
Yeah, bad episode through and through. Also the pacing was not right either, forgot to mention that.
Scream (2022)
Writers' Angst
I don't really write reviews here, but since it is a new Scream I felt compelled to at least bring up a few things.
To put it shortly, I felt like watching the manifestation of writers who were under immense pressure of reviving an established, cult/classic franchise with a considerable fanbase plus the financial expectations from studio executives on top of it. Seems like they couldn't deal with it and decided to unload it through their meta commentary.
Attacking "super-fans" to honestly at a petty degree, bluntly putting in and complaining about (using precious dialogues that were supposed to be used to introduce the new characters and make them relatable in the process) the restrictions and mandatory corporate stuff the higher-ups put onto them, in a visibly frustrated way to prehemptively combat criticism, at least to me, didn't really work. Williamson did go meta, but it was as much of a celebration of the genre as it was a critique of it, and playful nonethless. Not in this angsty manner, which rubbed me the wrong way.
And generally, it seems like the writers actually caved in under the said pressure too. Trying to do EVERYTHING but failing to do any of them actually meaningful, emotional, thrilling or rewarding. 1 hour and 50-something minutes were obviously not enough to: Introduce new characters, make the audience care about them, flesh them out, bring back the "legacy" members to either send them off respectively or to use them in "badass" scenes, create ample suspense or mystery or create an enthralling story. As all of them almost fell flat in my opinion.
Couldn't get excited about Sid, Gale or Dewey's returns, couldn't care enough about the new possible ensemble as I didn't get to know them enough, wasn't shocked about the inevitable twist as it wasn't earned yet, and finally my eyes weren't peeled to the screen since the overall story and events weren't that interesting or unpredicable. They should've stuck to one or two things, 'cause apparently they can't pull all of them off succesfully.
It was not horrible of course. While they were not the most creative, I like the kills and the gore was of quality. Even if their characters were kinda paper-thin most of the performances from the new cast were solid. Liked the idea behind the new lead. I admired some of the writing, I bonefide cackled during some scenes and lines, y'know, it wasn't all that bad but like I said the rest was questionable.
Maybe it would've been a better idea to give the series to the hands of veterans who actually enjoyed it back in the day rather than trusting some newcomers who put out one decent work as of recent. They clearly couldn't handle it the best or even enjoy trying.
Even though there is much more I want to say, like how Campbell and Cox looked as if couldn't care less the whole time and how on the contrary Arquette was giving a decent performance, yet the treatment to his charecter was "unpleasant" at the very best (to create "stakes", really?), I feel like I should stop 'cause if I don't do now feel like I won't be able to soon enough.
Could've been better, much much better yet I don't think most of the mistakes aren't crucial or un-saveable. So 'till the next one hopefully this new team embrace the series more since if they choose carefully they can create a reliable foundation to work on, there is some good in here. But I won't bet on it to be fair.