Scrambled

Coral is a great character who just gets better. The ex-cop is fun too. Interesting legal dancing. The cast toss around quasi-abortion issues questions.

The murder in this episode of Law And Order concerns that of an employee at a fertility clinic. There was a break-in and stored embryos were destroyed.

The embryos targeted although there was collateral destruction to others were that of Lisa Eichhorn former wife of a deceased man who had married Jean Louise Kelly. The embryos of the ex-wife are according to the husband's will the property of the new wife.

Not a situation that the wife 1 likes so her personal chauffeur who is an ex-cop does the break-in and kills the employee. More collateral destruction.

The civil aspects as to owns the embryos would stump Solomon, but the fact is there is a homicide involved and that brings in law enforcement.

Lennie Briscoe and Rey Curtis get a bit testy on this one. Benjamin Bratt could be so terribly self-righteous never more so than in this episode.

At a private clinic (cold storage room), a nurse was killed because she tried to stop a man from throwing away a lot of embryos in the sink. The murderer had access to the facility; detectives started questioning people who wanted to sabotage the clinic for "natural law" purpose. A maintenance man gave to the killer a free pass, in exchange for money. A middle aged woman (Lisa Eichhorn) held a grudge against the second wife of her deceased husband: she wanted embryos implanted inside or her for the legacy, the newborn baby could be considered a jackpot for her (despite the frozen embryos belonged to the first wife). Anyway there were no evidences against her, because a former police officer was hired to do the dirty work (get rid of the tank content) and the murder was just an accident.

Destroy property and not homicide: it's not easy for McCoy to convict the sender for the real crime. The topic was a matter very controversial at that time (nineties): Curtis and Briscoe had different views, there was a little argument between the two detectives, because they both made the topic too personal (sick wife for Curtis, deceased daughter for Lennie).

The subject matter in "Scrambled", or anything around a fertility clinic, is not a new one for 'Law and Order' and continued to be re-visited every now and then throughout the franchise. That is not a bad thing though, as this is a controversial and relevant topic, as well as difficult to tackle, that is worth addressing and a subject that leaves one sad and angry. Execution could go either way, uncompromising and sensitive or sleazy and exploitative.

"Scrambled" is a very good episode on the whole with many fantastic things, as well as a couple of things done not so well that were also sporadic recurring problems. It is a little bit of a let down after six outstanding Season 9 episodes in a row and other episodes in the franchise handled the topic a little bit better. Not that it handles it badly, far from it otherwise it would be described as less than very good by me. Just that it's done with a little more complexity.

Like some episodes in the previous episode, "Scrambled" is an episode where one half is better than the other. Did find the early stages on the routine side.

Also was turned off by Curtis' attitude, anybody that didn't like the way he behaved in "Stalker" will find his attitude pretty much the same and nearly as bad. Just don't like it when stubbornness and self-righteous is done a little too extremely and that's the case here, though it's a little more understandable here than in that episode.

However, "Scrambled" is a slickly made episode, the editing especially having come on quite a bit from when the show first started (never was it a problem but it got more fluid with each episode up to this stage). The music is sparingly used and never seemed melodramatic, the theme tune easy to remember as usual. The direction is sympathetic enough without being too low key.

Furthermore, "Scrambled" has a thoughtful script that like a lot of 'Law and Order' episodes raises interesting questions worthy of debate with somebody. The story is tactful but also pulls no punches, making one feel sad and angry. Nothing is too simple or too complicated and the second half even is riveting. The character writing and interaction are near-on point, with the exception of Curtis. Especially in the second half. All the acting is extremely good.

Overall, very good. 8/10.

One of the more complex episodes where grey area is an understatement. Morality vs legality again plays a big part in McCoy pursuit for conviction. Life vs property