I’m glad that JK Simmons has become a fairly well known actor - he was awesome on L&O as Dr Skoda and has been great in every role he’s played. Interesting the L&O connections with that new show.
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Mehcad Brooks/Detective Shaw is leaving the show ahead of season 25 I see. They haven’t cast the new detective yet.
I have mixed feelings, I liked the character and actor and the passion he brought to the show, but I didn’t like the way the writing was going for him at times last season - he was becoming too emotionally invested and started showing signs of being more activist than detective, and we don’t need an Olivia Benson type crusader on the Mothership. I’m not surprised he left given that he missed 3 episodes last season.
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I know the original run of the show had numerous cast changes, but the reboot seems like it can’t hold on to anybody for more than a season or two.
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It’s about the same as the original run actually - only a couple of times in the original run did the casts remain the same for multiple seasons - seasons 7 and 8 was the first 2 season run where the cast remained the same, season 13-14 was the second, and then the final two seasons had the same cast. L&O has always been about the cases more than the characters, and I hope they decrease the personal stuff in season 25, they had too much personal melodrama last season.
Like I say I have mixed feelings about this - I like the character and actor but I didn’t like the way they started going with him in a couple of episodes last season, so maybe it’s for the best he’s gone before they ruined him. But if anyone was leaving I was hoping it would be Maroun.
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I also have a feeling it’s about money. A Deadline article about this mentions how Brooks was allowed to do some episodes of And Just Like That because it meant they didn’t have to pay him when he did not appear on L&O.
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Wouldn’t shock me - Dick Wolf is known to let actors go over money issues.
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Season 25 premieres Thursday September 25!
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Very weird that L&O is starting the season with only 5 main characters. I don’t know why they haven’t brought on a new detective to start the season, but they haven’t because the promo photos for the new season came out this weekend and there are only 5 characters in it. I hope they bring on a permanent partner for Riley soon, I wonder what will happen until then. Either way I’m not happy about it, if SVU can have 6 main characters then so can the Mothership, maybe they are just cost cutting by not having a new character to start the season but that’s pathetic.
Regardless I’m looking forward to the new season, I just wish it was Maroun who was gone and not Shaw and I really hope they dial back the personal ties to cases this season, and I hope once they clear up the case of Maroun’s sister maybe Maroun will stop being so irritating. I really like Riley and will miss his partnership with Shaw, Brady grew on me a lot, Baxter is good and Price is no Jack McCoy or Ben Stone but he doesn’t get on my nerves the way he does others, but Maroun can be a drag to watch and I’m sick of her.
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L&O has cast its new detective - David Ajala
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Not a bad start to the season, actually better than I expected given my dislike of Maroun, I find her whiny and unsympathetic but the case was decent enough and I’m glad the matter of her sister’s death is done. Taking the manslaughter plea was the right move, I don’t think a jury would’ve convicted the killer of murder given that she had just been raped and threatened by the guy she shot. I’ll miss the Shaw/Riley partnership but at least Shaw got a decent ending and the possibility he could guest star in the future. I liked seeing Yee work with Riley and I liked Baxter’s scenes.
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While I’m annoyed by personal ties to cases, I liked this episode fine overall - the investigation was strong and the scene of Riley/Brady searching the dumpster was downright funny, humor that the revival has mostly lacked. I was unsure how I felt about Price’s friend Grace, she was overly involved with her patient and she should probably have come forward sooner, but she didn’t seem unethical. Baxter’s scenes were strong as usual, I really like him. Maroun wasn’t whiny, another plus! Decent episode.
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Pretty good episode, nice to have a case with no personal stuff and a solid mystery with good detective work and decent twists. It was a flaw that they didn’t discover the perp’s daughter until trial, but they did a nice job keeping the audience guessing about the motive, and I liked the twist of the CEO having dementia. Maroun can shove her whining though, Price had no choice but to play hardball, they can’t let a murderer walk because of sympathy for a third party. Baxter was good as usual.
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Good episode this week - solid case, investigation and trial. Nothing ridiculous and no personal crap. Maroun was once again annoying, she sympathizes with the perp 9 out of 10 times it seems, she’s clearly more fit to be a defense lawyer. I was glad Nolan stood firm and didn’t back down, and even said he didn’t feel sorry for the guy - the boss being an arrogant dick doesn’t justify bashing his head in, just leave the damn job if you’ve decided you can’t tolerate the guy! I liked how Nolan exposed his defense as a lie and that he killed not out of fear for himself but out of hate for his boss being an arrogant jerk.
We saw an ME! That was a nice touch to the investigation. Riley and Brady are working well together. Nice twist that the DNA didn’t match the guy they originally thought it did.
Overall I liked this one quite a bit. Missed Baxter though, he was MIA
Another good episode last night - complicated case, good investigative and legal work and some good stuff for each character. Didn’t miss Maroun at all, she’s by far the show’s weak link! I understood both Baxter’s and Price’s positions at the end, Price was right that the killer didn’t get a harsh enough sentence but Baxter did the best he could - their witness had been compromised, even if they had exposed the witness tampering by the attorneys the perp could’ve definitely walked because their case was shaky and rested entirely on a witness who had changed his story, and Baxter wanted to protect Price and others from the fallout of the situation. It was a messy case. I liked seeing Baxter play hardball with the defense lawyer and I liked him telling the US attorney to go to hell when he tried to get him to back off. Riley/Brady are working well together and the absence of a second detective isn’t affecting the show nearly as much as I thought it would.
I don’t like personal episodes but this week’s episode was somewhat better than I expected. Riley’s brother kind of redeemed himself in this one, and I really appreciated how they didn’t have Vince bend the rules or do anything out of character because of his brother - unlike how other times in the franchise characters have lost objectivity and screwed up because of family stuff, Vince didn’t here - I really like him. I wonder if we’ll find out if his brother made it or not in the future. I believe the new detective joins in the next episode.
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Intriguing intro for Theo Walker this week - I hope he isn’t a “cowboy cop” type, but it’s not uncommon for a new character to get off to a bumpy start. I think him and Riley will get on the same page soon. I’m liking the show pretty good this season.
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Interesting fall finale, one of the few cases that was left open ended, but I liked that as some cases are like that and don’t have a clear cut resolution - they had no choice but to drop the charges and it’s likely the various suspects could point the finger at each other and no one could be convicted.
I see the next episode is a 2 hour crossover with SVU - I hope they pull it off well like they did last year and it isn’t just 2 hours of Benson steamrolling everyone.
I hate the crossovers. Sigh.
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Last year’s crossover was pulled off pretty well, but yeah crossovers with SVU make me nervous as there’s always a chance it’s just 2 hours of Benson steamrolling everyone else - she’s really hard to stomach much of the time.
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Last night, January 6th, there was a 25th (yes, 25th, subtracting the 10 years the Mothership was off the air, I guess!) celebration for Law & Order. Not sure if the invitations were for all branches or not since only Mothership cast members and SVU cast members showed up. (So, no CI, Los Angeles, OC, or Trial By Jury cast that I could see.) But there were many familiar faces, including Sam Waterston (who looks like he took off 10 years since leaving the show!), Richard Brooks, Jeremy Sisto, Linus Roache, Benjamin Bratt, S. Epatha Merkerson, Milena Govich, Alana de la Garza, Elisabeth Rohm, Carolyn McCormick, as well as the current cast. (Many notable absences, too, though, including Angie Harmon, Carey Lowell, Jill Hennessy, Leslie Hendrix, and Jesse L. Martin, to name a few!) ETA: Even Zeeko Zaki (OA) of FBI went.
Link to photos from the event:
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