A police officer is shot to death on a rooftop. Assistant D.A. Stone's investigation reveals that the officer may have been dirty.A police officer is shot to death on a rooftop. Assistant D.A. Stone's investigation reveals that the officer may have been dirty.A police officer is shot to death on a rooftop. Assistant D.A. Stone's investigation reveals that the officer may have been dirty.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
- The 1986 Larry Davis case. Davis was a New Yorker who shot at six police officers who were carrying out a raid. Davis later claimed the officers were out to murder him because of his knowledge of corrupt cops. The officers claimed they were only there to question Davis about the killing of four (suspected) drug dealers. Davis managed to escape, and a manhunt was launched to find him. Davis later took hostages, and he only surrendered himself to the police when the news media showed up and when he was promised not to be harmed.
- The life of Frank Serpico. Serpico is an American retired New York Police Department detective, best known for whistleblowing on police corruption. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was a plainclothes police officer working in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan to expose vice racketeering. In 1967, he reported credible evidence of widespread police corruption, to no effect. In 1970, he contributed to a front-page story in The New York Times on widespread corruption in the NYPD, which drew national attention to the problem. Mayor John V. Lindsay appointed a five-member panel to investigate accusations of police corruption, which became the Knapp Commission.
- The 1990 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department narcotics corruption scandal and the suspected involvement of the James Henry Atkinson case.
- Quotes
Sgt. Max Greevey: I don't wanna see this guy without back-up.
Det. Mike Logan: Back-up? I don't wanna see him without nuclear weapons.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Law & Order: The First 3 Years (2004)
Featured review
"Back-up? I don't wanna see him without nuclear weapons"
It is thirteen episodes in and although 'Law and Order' understandably had not completely settled and even better followed when things gelled more (like the pacing and some of the character writing), the general standard of the previous twelve episodes was very high. So the show was already at a promising level at this incredibly early stage. "Everybody's Favourite Bagman" and "Prisoner of Love" disappointed a little, though were still solid enough, but "Indifference" especially was outstanding.
"A Death in the Family", if not quite a 'Law and Order' classic, for me is one of Season 1's better episodes, or up to this point of it at least. It represents very well what is so great about 'Law and Order', or at least it has what makes me like the show so much and why it's my personal favourite of the franchise, even if later episodes (like the best of the Briscoe years) did it even better. Also a good representation of why the very early seasons pre-Briscoe are worth seeing and undeserving of being near-neglected, being aired nowhere near as regular as the Briscoe and post-Briscoe years.
Throughout, "A Death in the Family" is very slick in the production values while also having much class too. 'Law and Order' is a gritty show in the storylines and tone, and the photography especially is a good match for that quality. The music is only used when necessary and when it is used it does stick in the mind and not done in too heavy a manner. Both the main theme and opening voice over linger in the memory. It is directed with a confident and sympathetic edge.
Writing continues to become tauter, up to this point of Season 1 and 'Law and Order' in general even "A Death in the Family" is one of the most tautly written episodes. Stone's dialogue is so juicy, especially in the latter stages, and the line quoted in this review summary courtesy of Logan is quite the gem. The climactic moments really stand out in the writing and in the tension and intrigue stakes. The story, with echoes of the Larry Davis case, is one of the season's twistiest, with more than enough twists and turns to satisfy and a vast majority of them do keep one guessing. It is always absorbing, some of pretty hard-hitting too without being too sordid, and the higher body count in a short space of time for this point of the show with the detectives on the scene for not one but both of them is an interest point.
Meatier character writing would follow much later on, especially in the supporting roles, but the characters are still interesting enough, especially Stone. A character that the writers clearly had fun with. The acting carries "A Death in the Family" very well indeed, do agree that some of Michael Moriarty's finest acting is in the climactic moments, particularly when presenting the closing argument.
Did think though perhaps that the truth about the deceased could have been revealed a little later, especially for something as shocking as here.
Overall though, excellent. 9/10
"A Death in the Family", if not quite a 'Law and Order' classic, for me is one of Season 1's better episodes, or up to this point of it at least. It represents very well what is so great about 'Law and Order', or at least it has what makes me like the show so much and why it's my personal favourite of the franchise, even if later episodes (like the best of the Briscoe years) did it even better. Also a good representation of why the very early seasons pre-Briscoe are worth seeing and undeserving of being near-neglected, being aired nowhere near as regular as the Briscoe and post-Briscoe years.
Throughout, "A Death in the Family" is very slick in the production values while also having much class too. 'Law and Order' is a gritty show in the storylines and tone, and the photography especially is a good match for that quality. The music is only used when necessary and when it is used it does stick in the mind and not done in too heavy a manner. Both the main theme and opening voice over linger in the memory. It is directed with a confident and sympathetic edge.
Writing continues to become tauter, up to this point of Season 1 and 'Law and Order' in general even "A Death in the Family" is one of the most tautly written episodes. Stone's dialogue is so juicy, especially in the latter stages, and the line quoted in this review summary courtesy of Logan is quite the gem. The climactic moments really stand out in the writing and in the tension and intrigue stakes. The story, with echoes of the Larry Davis case, is one of the season's twistiest, with more than enough twists and turns to satisfy and a vast majority of them do keep one guessing. It is always absorbing, some of pretty hard-hitting too without being too sordid, and the higher body count in a short space of time for this point of the show with the detectives on the scene for not one but both of them is an interest point.
Meatier character writing would follow much later on, especially in the supporting roles, but the characters are still interesting enough, especially Stone. A character that the writers clearly had fun with. The acting carries "A Death in the Family" very well indeed, do agree that some of Michael Moriarty's finest acting is in the climactic moments, particularly when presenting the closing argument.
Did think though perhaps that the truth about the deceased could have been revealed a little later, especially for something as shocking as here.
Overall though, excellent. 9/10
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Oct 1, 2019
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