Promote This!

If you paid even scant attention to the 2024 election you saw all sorts of parallels with this disturbing episode, prescient in relating to hatred of immigrants. One wonders if Stephen Miller was a technical consultant.

For me, it was also startling to see the physical changes in one of my longtime favorite character actors, in this case the trial judge portrayed by Mart Beth Hurt. Everybody ages, of course, but this is clearly no longer the adorable waif I crushed on in "Chilly Scenes of Winter" alongside John Heard, nor the love of Robin Williams in "The World According To Garp".

Unfair judging? Of course it is. But this might be cosmic balancing of the enormous cultural and occupational --- especially in showbiz--- advantages of being a female born with green eyes and slim thighs. The world is your oyster, but only for awhile. Catch it while you can.

Good episode with a heartbreaking twist, but it always bothered me that the actress cast as the native Argentinian mother of one of the suspects looked more like she was from a country closer to the Equator, like Mexico or Cuba, where the residents are more likely to be darker-complexioned. All the Argentinians I've known look white...

3 spoiled teens attack hispanics looking for day work. They kill one, put another in a coma. The issues presented in this episode (against illegals and racism) have been around in the U. S. pretty much since the country's birth.

The mother (Teresa Yenque) of one of the victims, the one left comatose (Oswaldo Morales), turns in a spectacular acting performance. She's why I looked up info on this episode--to see who she is. As well, the hispanic mother of one of the perps, shows her own intra-cultural bias, using a derrogative term on the witness stand, for hispanic laborers, considering herself of a better class than they.

The beating of an illegal Hispanic immigrant is the case that Anthony Anderson and Jeremy Sisto are assigned to in this Law And Order story. The man isn't dead, he's in a deep coma and on a machine. Still it is a crime that could turn into a homicide.

The investigation leads to the eastern end of Suffolk County and three high school kids who don't look like they've missed too many meals, Michael Drayer, Jordan Burt, and J.P. Serret. Serret's an interesting suspect, his mother is from Argentina. His possible motivation comes out in Linus Roache's cross examination.

The best witness is the victim himself even if it just his presence to testify to his injuries. But our health care system bundles him off to Honduras where he's originally from. Alana DeLa Garza has to travel there to get him back at a cost of travel and maintenance for a comatose man that Sam Waterston's primary opponent uses as an issue.

Another Hispanic male is killed with a similar M/O and the two cases are tried together. An interesting verdict occurs and the end of the episode is not the end of the story.

When it comes to talking about the early seasons of 'Law and Order', 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent', those for 'Law and Order' were to me the most consistent in quality. Seasons 1-10 had some disappointments but were overall of a solid standard, whereas 'Special Victims Unit' was already inconsistent by its Season 7 and 'Criminal Intent' for half its run (both with outstanding episodes, but when 'Special Victims Unit' in particular missed it misfired big time.

Found myself very impressed by 'Law and Order's' penultimate season Season 19, and wasn't expecting to after finding this particular partnership less than promising to begin with (Lupo and Bernard fortunately have come on a long way since). Only two episodes didn't do much for me and another episode disappointed, but all the others were good to brilliant. One of the best and most powerful is "Promote This", made by the twist and one supporting performance.

It is at its weakest in the slightly too ordinary first quarter and the very ending felt slightly abrupt.

"Promote This" otherwise is truly excellent. The production values are solid and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting. The direction is sympathetic enough without being leaden. The script is tight and thoughtful, especially in the cross examination.

The story is always compelling and is both disturbing and heart wrenching, the twist really took me by surprise and is very affecting. It's intricate but easy to follow still, the verdict is also interesting while the climax sears in tention. The acting is very good from all, with some of the best support acting of the season. Teresa Yenque in particular hits hard, particularly when on the stand.

In conclusion, great and one of the best episodes of the second half of the season. 9/10.