Vendetta

At a local bar, a man smashed a liquor bottle over a customer, killing him as a result. The killer wasn't a regular in the pub, so no one recognized him. Indeed the victim was well-known in the Big Apple for having caught a foul ball in a Yankee game that cost the team an entire season. Detectives started looking on Yankee fans: some had even set up a website against him. Forensics needed some time to examine the fingerprints; at the end the prints were in the system, matching to an inmate (David Warshofsky) who had just been released after twenty years in prison. He had no reason to kill the man: it had just been a reaction for having spent jail time for a murder he didn't commit (thanks to new technology there were proofs he was innocent). At the time, all was made up by a detectives (former partner of Green) who has held a grudge against him since the inmate boyhood. McCoy decided to prosecute the killer for another juvenile crime, trying to prove his criminal behavior.

This episode showed us a detective acting as a vigilante in order to make peace with himself. Anyway in the past when the DNA tests were not so accurate, this situation occurred frequently and abuse of power was easier than now.

An old friend of Jesse Martin's, fellow detective John Michael Bolger gets himself in a real jackpot, Turns out he framed David Warsofsky for a murder he didn't commit with evidence of for one Warshofsky did commit. I won't explain it that would give the whole story away.

When Warshofsky is arrested for the right murder it's one big legal tangle for the District Attorney's offivce, Giancarlo Esposito as Warshofky's attorney who got him sprung on the first murder is also similarly perplexed.

Bolger's career as a cop is circling the bowl. No doubt he framed Warshofsky, but he and all police are human.

You have to see how this one comes out.

'Law and Order' was a brilliant show in its prime and overall is actually my favourite of the 'Law and Order' franchise and out of it, 'Special Victims Unit' (the longest running) and 'Criminal Intent'. Despite not feeling the same post-Briscoe. 'Special Victims Unit' started off brilliantly, but became hit and miss Season 7 onwards and has not lived up to the early seasons generally for a long time. 'Criminal Intent' also was truly fine in its early seasons, but became wildly inconsistent mid-run.

"Vendetta" for me is not one of the best 'Law and Order' episodes or even one of the best of Season 14, which on the whole was re-watching it recently is very solid. It is still a good if uneven episode, that has a lot to like with the best things being great but also a few frustrations that could have been avoided. Really did like the idea for "Vendetta" and there was a great outing in there somewhere that doesn't quite make it.

Beginning with what could have been better, "Vendetta" did feel rather incomplete. Some of the storytelling was on the rushed and jumpy side and the resolution is not much of one. The victim is also very underdeveloped.

Elisabeth Rohm continues to be stiff and emotionless.

However, a lot works. The production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The direction is sympathetic but also alert. The acting is very good from almost everyone, David Warsofsky plays an interesting character with conviction and Sam Waterston stands out particularly here of the regulars.

Writing is very thought-provoking and felt real. It is also taut, intelligent and well balanced, and while the story is a long way from perfect it does engross and doesn't come over as obvious. The legal portion has the right amount of tension.

Overall, pretty good but not great. 7/10.