Positive

Any episode for anything dealing with this subject always sounds interesting. The premise is not an innovative one, but it does intrigue despite having traps with how it would be executed. With the risk of it being too complicated and/or with too much going over the head. While the original 'Law and Order' mostly did very well with its medical related episodes, this is the kind of medical story that is not always my cup of tea with the worry of over-generalisations and inaccuracies.

"Positive" is a very good episode, often quite powerful later on, and has a lot positive to say about it. And very little wrong. It is a case of one half being superior to the other, which can be the case with 'Law and Order' (happened in a lot of episodes actually in all the twenty seasons it ran for), but only because of the superior half being so absorbing and hard hitting. The topic is a very tough one, and "Positive" handles it with good balance and no sugar coating.

It does start off a little on the nothing out of the ordinary side with what happens being not much different to the early stages of other medical based episodes of the show. Thank goodness though that Dennis Farina and Jesse L Martin are very strong and their chemistry has come on such a long way.

Maybe the conclusion could have had a little more time to unfold, a lot to digest with too short a time to tell it.

However, there is so much that is good about "Positive". The production values are suitably slick and gritty, with photography that is reliant on close ups that have an intimacy without being too claustrophobic. The music is didn't come over as too melodramatic or like it was emphasising the emotion too much. The direction is sympathetic while still giving momentum.

The writing is intelligent and although, like the show in general, there is a lot of talk (as always for the 'Law and Order' franchise) it doesn't feel like there is too much or too loose. The story is always compelling that gets quite intricate in the second half, it really hits hard in the second half but doesn't become over sentimental or preachy. No over-generalising either. The performances are great, all the regulars are without issues but the powerful performances of unnerving Vondie Curtis Hall and moving Eugene Jones III are even better.

Overall, very good. 8/10.

A guy shot dead the owner of a local diner during rush hour. A client was injured as well. The murderer could be a dope dealer well known in the neighborhood, but he had just been a witness who confessed who the real shooter was: a black guy with a hoodie named Jeremy Miller. The target anyway was not the victim, but the local hospital doctor (Vondie Curtis-Hall) in which the shooter's sister died of complication from HIV days before. Unfortunately, the guy committed suicide before the detectives by shooting himself. Investigation went on, the cause of death for the little girl was head trauma at first sight, then medical examiner realized it was related to powerful medication she swallowed outside the protocol. She was used as guinea pig for a HIV vaccine, taking the place of animals in this and Borgia found out she wasn't the only one. Furthermore at trial we find out the doctor had his own agenda.

The point is: do poor children deserve to die for the greater good aka a vaccine that cure humanity from a widespread disease? Families would allow it if they are in a state of desperation (even in cancer cases), Branch stated; it's not easy to watch your own kids suffer.

Jesse Martin and Dennis Farina investigate a shooting at a diner where the owner is killed and a patron slightly wounded. As it turns out the patron is the intended target.

That shooting leads them to a hospital which specializes in pediatric care of juvenile AIDS sufferers. Most particularly those who might have been born with the disease.

The motive for the shooting has to do with the death of a young girl who apparently never had a chance and her older brother who was seeking revenge on the hospital staff. One doctor Vondie Curtis Hall has been conducting unauthorized and almost ghoulish experiments on those patients of which he has an unlimited supply because for the most part these kids have been abandoned. It's he who the DA's office goes after and it's not an easy task since Hall is respected in the field.

Pay attention to Eugene Jones, III the actual shooter at the diner and his performance. He's got one scene, but it really registers as someone who truly believes he's got nothing to live for.