Law & Order (TV Series) Animal Instinct (1993) User Reviews

Brilliant and Mad

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 19 January 2018]

Back in my younger days I knew someone who was homeless, but one of the most brilliant people I ever met. He was such a quick study that he could have with a day or two of observation could have done my job, filled in for me or anyone else at my agency. He was brilliant and had some psychological issues. But homicidal he was not.

A research scientist is killed, shot down in her lab and some slogans from an animal rights group were scrawled on the walls and the lab rats let run loose. The attention is first on them, but soon enough Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth come around to maybe husband John Cunningham did the deed. Evidence of an affair with a school administrator Frances Fisher surfaces.and Cunningham is arrested.

I won't say more but Frances Fisher has some real issues with reality. And Michael Moriarty only learn this when a law professor who says that some years ago she worked in his law library. The truth is strangest of all.

I should also single out performances by Lawrence Pressman as another law professor who was a colleague of Cunningham and goes to court with him. Cunningham gives lie to the notion that those who can't teach. He does pretty good in the courtroom.

David Schechter plays an animal rights activist that Briscoe and Logan first look into. His two scenes were so good you kind of wish he was the guilty party.

One of the best episodes from the Moriarty era.

Rats!

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 25 December 2010]

Up to par, but not beyond it. A researcher is found shot to death in her laboratory, with dozens of rats scurrying around the body. The rats are the albino strain of the ordinary rat, Rattus norwegicus, that's used in scientific research and the dead prof had been experimenting with them and then killing them. (It's officially called "sacrifice" in the trade.) Suspicion immediately falls on a group of animal rights activists, whose motives may be compassionate but who haven't been taking the long view of things. B. F. Skinner was a rat runner too. And without him, we wouldn't have "time outs" in Kindergartens. We wouldn't know that pigeons can play ping pong. We wouldn't know that when a baby cries, he or she shouldn't always be picked up and comforted. Not that he or she should be BEATEN, just not always picked up. We owe all that and much more to albino rats.

Okay, so some animal rights slogan are painted on the walls of the abused laboratory and the rats set free. Obviously some activists are involved. But the detectives pick up the leader of the group that's been leaving threatening messages and find out that he has an alibi, although he's as freakish as can be. Some conservative critics of the show have been calling it, and its creator, Dick Wolf, "liberal." They ought to get a look at the nut who represents the animal rights people, a liberal cause by most measures. They ought also to check Wolf's background: roomie of George W. Bush at a fancy prep school, Bush supporter in 2000 and 2004, supporter of (and contributor to) the campaign of Fred Thompson in 2008.

Your honor, I object. How long are you going to allow me to ramble on like this?

The animal rights business may be ripped from the headlines but it's quickly established as a red herring and dropped from pursuit. Instead, suspicion focuses on the husband of the lady prof. He appears to be having an long-term affair with a lawyer in his building, Frances Fisher.

The husband steadfastly denies any such affair, or even any interest in the lady in question. There's a lot of weak circumstantial evidence and Stone loses the case against the husband. However, as it turns out, the husband is in fact innocent. His wife was shot to death in her laboratory because Frances Fisher was suffering from erotomania and thought that the husband loved her and wanted her to get rid of his wife so they could be together. Ergo: Bang.

"Erotomania" has a curious history, having been in and out of professional recognition over the years. Right now it's accepted as a kind of monothematic delusional disorder. It's in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, or it was, last time I checked. It's disproportionately a female disorder, especially among the young, who believe that rock stars are secretly communicating with them and so forth. It can all sound more plausible than that.

And, when you come right down to it, it doesn't take all that much to convince some people around you that some hidden relationship between you and a celebrity exists. During the Clinton/Lewinsky matter, the media were reporting that in one of his public appearances, President Clinton was secretly signaling his love and reassurance for Monica Lewinsky by wearing a dull yellow necktie of a common type that she may have given him for a present once. Here we have responsible journalists reporting rumors that would require a master of illogic to make credible.

What poor taste Lewinsky had. Is there anything that enchants a man less than getting a necktie from his lover? Can you imagine someone claiming to be in love with you, then giving you a necktie or a pair of suspenders or a box of cookies from Figi's? At least he had the good taste to give her Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

Anyway, Farmer is adjudged nuts and sent away for refurbishing.

Murder and delusion

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 4 August 2020]

"Animal Instinct" could have gone either way, considering the subject matter it was covering. It could have been an episode that intrigued, entertained and had intelligence and great performances. Or it could have gone overboard on the strangeness, as the premise is an interesting if slightly odd one on paper, or been too silly and lacking in taste. Being somebody who has always liked 'Law and Order' hugely, the episode was re-watched recently along with the other episodes of Season 3.

Luckily, "Animal Instinct" belongs in the former category. Was not expecting for it to be one of the best and most interesting episodes of Season 3, being not too sure about the premise, but that was what "Animal Instinct" turned out to be. As well as an improvement on the still extremely good previous two episodes "Jurisdiction" and "Conduct Unbecoming", which says a lot about the solid standard of the season, with it having the extra something not quite completely there in those two.

The production values are fine. So are the not too constant and unobtrusive scoring (the theme tune is also still very memorable after all these years) and the deliberate yet still with enough urgency direction. There is typically great acting from Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth and particularly Michael Moriarty (Stone has not lost any of his juiciness yet).

Can't support the supporting cast either. John Cunningham unnerves in the courtroom scenes and David Schechter has a ball as an activist. Frances Fisher comes off best, a very intense performance that one remembers for a long time.

Moreover, the script provokes thought and is structured tightly, balanced with Briscoe's amusing yet also tough one-liners. The story is always involving, especially in the second half, with little being what it seems and despite how it sounds on paper it doesn't get too strange thankfully and doesn't get distasteful. The characters are well rounded and interesting, Fisher's of the supporting characters being the most developed and Briscoe and Stone continue to have a lot of meat to them.

Bottom line, wonderful. 10/10

One of the best episodes - not repeated enough

[ourmail-14080 · 10/10 · 19 July 2019]

The positive review here really captures what I would say. Not sure about the other reviews here.

Basic Instinct

[safenoe · 6/10 · 5 October 2023]

Animal Instinct has that Basic Instinct element and feel to it, and quite remarkably Animal Instinct was released the year after Basic Instinct was to much fanfare. Anyway, Animal Instinct has some A-list actors such as Frances Fisher, Alan Arbus (famous for playing Dr Sidney Freedman in M*A*S*H), and Lawrence Pressman who also had a guest role in M*A*S*H.

Anyway, the ending of Animal Instinct was somewhat inconclusive which is a shame, but maybe that's a reflection of real life with motion upon motion upon motion. You would have thought vexatious litigant would come to mind but who knows what went on.

Mental cases

[OnlyRocknRoll · 5/10 · 19 April 2017]

For years, I tried to find a name or any recognition for this type of mental disorder---having had a person like this INFLICTED upon me by the housing office at my university. There's an empty spot in your room? Good! We'll put in first, a mental case, and then two sluts! I suppose that it could have been worse.

Hats off to Frances for portraying this kind of nut ball. By the end they have you thinking that you are crazy instead of them. The lawyers had a stroke of luck tripping up her years of woven lies.

I wonder how many people have been victimized by this type of headcase.

Injuries to Animals

[lynnejbonde · 10 March 2019]

In the opening scene there is an officer holding a rat and it is squeeling and appears to be in pain. Just sayin'... they're supposed to be careful.