Bounty

When the body of a man is found tied on the bed of a cheap motel room with his skull fractured by an ashtray, Briscoe and Green are assigned to the case. Soon they find that the man was a bounty hunter that was hunting down a notorious serial-killer. Their further investigation shows that the mediocre black journalist Brian Kellogg had interviewed the killer and now is awarded and famous but refuses to give further information. But Briscoe and Green find a means to arrest him. McCoy and Serena prosecute him, but his defense lawyer Randolph J. 'Randy' Dworkin tries to divert the jury claiming racism to the case.

"Bounty" is a reasonable episode of "Law & Order". The plot is not as good as other shows, but the bluff used by McCoy to get the confession of the killer is the best part of the episode. The conclusion is silly, with McCoy telling his secret. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Bounty"

"Bounty" is notable for being the second (of three) appearance of one of those love to hate characters Randy Dworkin. He made such a strong impression in Season 13's "Chosen", one of the best of that season, as did Peter Jacobson playing him. Although he is a character that is easily hateable, oddly enough it was a welcome return in a way in a case that is well suited to him. On first watch, this was a very good episode.

And it still is. Not as good as the brilliant season opener "Bodies" or as good as Dworkin's first episode "Chosen", but has plenty of what is so great about the original 'Law and Order' in its prime. It wasn't in its prime in Season 14 necessarily, but it is far from devoid of what the show often did so well in. "Bounty" executes a tough subject very well, even if there are more sensitively handled episodes, and it shows that the show hadn't lost it.

Sure, the first half isn't quite as good as the second. The latter having more tension and complexity. The first half has great chemistry between the always great Jerry Orbach and Jesse L Martin and Briscoe's one liners but it is not much out of the ordinary.

Have seldom rated Elisabeth Rohm particularly highly on 'Law and Order', with a few exceptions like the previous episode, and she did strike me as on the wooden and one note side.

The rest of the cast are great though, Sam Waterston's authority and ruthlessness shines and Jacobson comes very close to stealing the show. Love the chemistry between the two, the contempt McCoy and Dworkin is very believably done and their final scene is priceless and one of their best scenes of all of Dworkin's appearances.

It is shot with the right amount of intimacy without going too far on that. The music isn't over-scored, manipulative or used too much. The direction is alert but sympathetic in the right places. The script is intelligent and lean with no real signs of fat, with it being far from one dimensional emotionally. It is particularly good with McCoy and Dworkin. The story is uncompromising and has tension in the legal scenes, while the complexity is not convoluted. It is also more tasteful with its theme, which sounds like familiar ground but actually is given a new slant, than it sounds on paper.

All in all, very good. 8/10.

Broadcast the week after a classic episode "Bodies" about the perils of the attorney/client privilege, "Bounty" follows up with a case hinging on the key freedom of the press issue of not revealing one's sources or what they said in preparation of a story.

It's not as potent a story but still strong on ethical issues, as the keeping silent led to a murder. Then, a key plot twist takes the case on an interesting tangent, and the show turns out to be about the hot topic of affirmative action. Oddly enough, the show and Sam take a stand in favor of affirmative action utterly convincingly, and yet in real life the recent triumphs of the far-right in America has nearly killed off the concept of affirmative action, per recent right-wing Supreme Court rulings.

Our stalwart cast including Orbach and Waterston do their usual fine job of putting earnestness into their roles. Too bad this episode was not prophetic.

At a fancy hotel, a writer couldn't focus to his new novel because an out loud music came from the next room. Out of angry, he bumped into his neighbor room and he saw him tied on the bed with his skull fractured. Detective realized the hotel guest was killed by an ashtray and he didn't make any phone calls apart from a room service (hooker). Anyway Briscoe and Green soon understood this was a wrong pattern. Thanks to a manicure Chinese clerk they found the victim's car in a parking lot: he was a bounty hunter chasing a serial rapist. A black reporter received some calls from him and he hid something a little suspicious: he made an interview with the rapist at a steak house but it could have been a fake interview, because the same night he had sex with his mistress in Connecticut...

The defense attorney (Peter Jacobson) as usual tries to drive the attention of the jury over racial issues. His defendant didn't have to be competent, he had to be superior to deal with white colleagues (always the same story). But McCoy knows a thing or two about this. An episode not so easy to follow for one like me who doesn't speak English as his mother tongue.

Peter Jacobson made his second appearance on Law And Order as ace defense attorney Randolph Dworkin. like no other defense attorney he gets under Jack McCoy's skin.

The client is reporter Reben Jackson a reporter on L&O's fictional New York Sentinel who got himself journalism awards for a story he completely made up. A bounty hunter and private detective was blackmailing Jackson so he was killed.

In his first Dworkin appearance Jacobson packed the jury with Jews and used sympathy for Israel as his defense ploy. In this story the bugaboo is afffirmative action and the pressures and expectations for Jackson caused a mental break.

It wasn't exactly kosher but Sam Waterston and Elisabeth Rohn use an extralegal maneuver that sandbags Jacobson. The final moments when Waterston explains the sandbag to Jacobson are priceless.

Worth seeing for that alone.