Sunday in the Park with Jorge

"Sunday in the Park with Jorge" sounded like the sort of story that 'Law and Order' was known to excel well in. It does sound ordinary on first glance, but had real potential to be an episode that had tension and emotion if done right. 'Law and Order' did do well often at making something complex out of what sounds basic when getting the basic jist of the synopsis. Other episodes in Season 11 took on more challenging subjects with rather varied success, but that was in no way an issue.

Although Season 11 did better episodes, such as "Endurance" and "Hubris", which had more emotional impact and intensity, there are also far worse episodes (including the previous one). Where stories were not handled tactfully, thin and with cases not substantial enough to bring to trial with shoddy work on both sides of the legal argument. "Sunday in the Park with Jorge" is not a great or perfect episode, but in my view it is not deserving of being one of the lower rated episodes of Season 11.

It does start off on the ordinary and familiar side, with familiar plot tropes, though it still intrigued and Briscoe and Green are a great team. The conclusion is somewhat over-crowded and rushed.

Did think too that the supporting characters could have been written with more subtlety and not as stereotyped.

The acting though is very good across the board, with a deeply felt performance from Victor Anthoy as an interesting character that is hard to completely hate when the circumstances are made clear. The regulars are excellent, especially in the second half. The story becomes a good deal more interesting when things turn out not what they seemed at first, and the turn in the plot is not handled abruptly or jarringly. The case also becomes more intricate and due to the tragic nature of the crime, especially the motive, hits hard, after some episodes this season that had weak legal cases this was a solid one and more akin to early seasons 'Law and Order' except not quite as uncompromising.

Furthermore, "Sunday in the Park with Jorge" doesn't look drab or gaudy, and the editing is far from slapdash. The music avoids getting too melodramatic in the more dramatic moments while not being too low key, it has always been a good move that it is used relatively sparingly. The direction especially shines in the character interaction in the second half. The script is beautifully balanced, there is a lot of talk but taut enough to avoid it from waffling.

Good episode all in all. 7/10.

Two lovers were making out in a rowboat on a Central Park lake. The woman was shocked in seeing a body floating on the surface, hardly beaten to death. The victim is a fat girl grew up in Boston and married to a geek guy (Ben Weber). They ran a software company together but their marriage was about to end up due to husband infidelity (he had an affair with a woman definitely more charming than his wife). The divorce would have meant a lot of troubles in the business, probably the company won't manage to survive. An employer and husband's best friend didn't want to lose his job and he was seen by a witness in the crime scene shortly before the murder. He's the prime suspect and a Hispanic guy on the stand point him out as the perp. But that day there was a parade in Central Park, with many Hispanics high on booze and few policemen around, a lot of things could have happened.

It's a tough job prosecute a suspect. It's not the first time detectives arrested the wrong guy: they have to read liars' mind and what seems to be quite clear (by proofs, motive and deposition) was actually further from the truth.

The OG 'Law & Order' was good at capitalizing on real events "ripped from the headlines" and those with long memories might remember the Puerto Rican Day Parade attacks from 2000. The episode uses it for what at first looks like window dressing only, but after a false suspect gets socked away it returns. It's a sufficiently straightforward episode, but all this time later the thing that stands out the most is the silly controversy it drew.

A mob mentality spreads thru Central Park that sees women robbed and sexually assaulted. In the midst, a lady's body turns up in the lake later identified as Susan Capp. Police presence is heavily criticized as Det. Briscoe (Orbach) & Green (Martin) find a likely suspect in a soon to be ex-husband. However it's his best friend and VP, Seth (Glenn Fitzgerald) that looks more like their guilty suspect as he had everything to lose if a divorce happened. However the real truth finally comes out as the police, McCoy (Waterston) realize that Jorge Garcia (Manuel Terron) a part of the mob is their man.

There's many tidbits to be found in this outing. Like a slightly racist park employee that irks Green who Lennie gives a reassuring pat on the shoulders as to say "I know". Ditto the handling of a posh building doorman who's all too eager to help. Plus you have the casting of Dan Lauria (who anyone with fond memories of 'The Wonder Years' will remember) first of two appearances as Deputy Chief Strudevant and character actor Paul Calderón is great as the defense attorney. There was also a moment during this episode that threw me for a loop, but nope no secret gay relationship here.

'Sunday in the Park with Jorge' doesn't make L&O "best of" lists and I'm sure there's some people that would rather it remain unspoken about. However it's a look back at these ridiculous social political groups around every corner in North American society and a realm of getting offended at the drop of the hat. The crime here is fictional but dealt with sound logic and not based on race or color. A point I'm sure won't be lost on viewers with common sense.

During the Puerto Rican Day Parade as in a whole lot of parades there are a lot of folks who take the celebration as an excuse for bad behavior. Sometimes it could just be public drunkenness or something of that nature. Other times it could be as serious as manslaughter.

The estranged wife of a dot.com millionaire is found in Central Park Lake near the rowboats. The investigation after a couple of red herrings including one that went to trial finally settles on young Victor Anthony who in fact was Brazilian, but he wanted to get into the spirit of the celebration.

Liquor sure is no excuse for what he did, but he saw his buddies disrespecting the women parade watchers and celebrants and got caught up in the moment. Maybe he did, but that was no excuse.

A tragic story because Anthony doesn't seem like a bad individual, just one who made a horrible mistake.