6 reviews
Larry Miller Makes This One
When a wife with a bullet in her brain goes into a vegetative coma, the prime suspect seems pretty obvious: her jerkoff comedy club-owning husband, played with an air of effortless a-holery by Larry Miller. Sometimes L&O side characters can be a bit sleepy and clichéd, so Miller's fast-talking performance as a blatantly selfish middle-class degenerate is pretty refreshing.
In a hilariously dark line, he even admits: "I don't need you to tell me I'm a son of a b***h ... But I happen to be a son of a b***h whose wife was shot by some other son of a b***."
This plot would be pretty generic without Miller's involvement, and without a classic L&O late-game twist: the DA's office desperately needs a ballistics report on the bullet embedded inside the victim. But the surgery could kill her. Is it ethical for them to sign off on surgery to get the bullet - and what if the bullet ends up not proving anything?
Debra Monk is great as the victim's grieving sister, who has always hated Miller's character. There's a certain amount of ambiguity to the way this one ends - it's intriguing rather than feeling like a cop out.
A great example of how to take a basic "husband vs. wife" plot and make it interesting.
In a hilariously dark line, he even admits: "I don't need you to tell me I'm a son of a b***h ... But I happen to be a son of a b***h whose wife was shot by some other son of a b***."
This plot would be pretty generic without Miller's involvement, and without a classic L&O late-game twist: the DA's office desperately needs a ballistics report on the bullet embedded inside the victim. But the surgery could kill her. Is it ethical for them to sign off on surgery to get the bullet - and what if the bullet ends up not proving anything?
Debra Monk is great as the victim's grieving sister, who has always hated Miller's character. There's a certain amount of ambiguity to the way this one ends - it's intriguing rather than feeling like a cop out.
A great example of how to take a basic "husband vs. wife" plot and make it interesting.
A snotty guy.
- rmax304823
- Aug 4, 2011
- Permalink
A lot of meat in this sandwich
Season 5 started off promisingly with "Second Opinion", it didn't understandably feel completely settled and McCoy is far more likeable and professional in other episodes but it was interesting and well done. So it is hard to not expect lots from the second episode "Coma", especially if you found the previous four seasons of very high quality on the whole (the case with me), it does sound like a very standard case but the 'Law and Order' franchise has shown more than once that it can take standard-sounding cases and make them more interesting and sometimes special.
"Coma" does manage to make its case a lot more interesting than it sounds on paper, as conceptually it is pretty basic, although it doesn't quite have the special quality. It is a very good episode, better than "Second Opinion", with attitudes towards the case in question holding up a good deal more, with a huge amount to enjoy. "Coma" is not quite a great episode, it nearly was, and it is a long way from being a 'Law and Order' high-point. But it really is well worth watching.
McCoy is better written here, less of a jerk here, but he has still handled latter cases much more professionally. Too much premature conclusion jumping with too little evidence.
This may have been solved a little if the evidence found late in the game was found sooner in the story in a twist that actually is still very well executed and unexpected but feels like it comes too late.
It is Larry Miller who steals the show and the main reason for watching "Coma", he really gives one the creeps and does fast-talking with ease. Giving a pretty cliched and potentially annoying type of role a refreshingly unsettling personality without being too obvious. He also has one of the best and darkest, also darkly funny, lines of the season and of the early seasons (starting with "I don't need you to tell me...", unrepeatable here so am not writing it in full). Debra Monk is affecting. The case is always intriguing and is not too obvious or convoluted, there are a couple of decisions in the writing mentioned already that don't quite come off but it was always compelling. The performances really help, not just Miller in particular but the regulars are all great (despite reservations about McCoy's character writing Sam Waterston is fine in the role).
Character interaction has tension and snap, but also looks natural and never too rehearsed that it comes over as clinical, the exchanges between McCoy and Logan (involving ham sandwich) and McCoy and Schiff regarding conflict of interest). Production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The dialogue is smart and always intriguing, with plenty of it moving, chilling and provoking thought, the mentioned line from Dobson is pure genius.
Overall, very well done. 8/10
"Coma" does manage to make its case a lot more interesting than it sounds on paper, as conceptually it is pretty basic, although it doesn't quite have the special quality. It is a very good episode, better than "Second Opinion", with attitudes towards the case in question holding up a good deal more, with a huge amount to enjoy. "Coma" is not quite a great episode, it nearly was, and it is a long way from being a 'Law and Order' high-point. But it really is well worth watching.
McCoy is better written here, less of a jerk here, but he has still handled latter cases much more professionally. Too much premature conclusion jumping with too little evidence.
This may have been solved a little if the evidence found late in the game was found sooner in the story in a twist that actually is still very well executed and unexpected but feels like it comes too late.
It is Larry Miller who steals the show and the main reason for watching "Coma", he really gives one the creeps and does fast-talking with ease. Giving a pretty cliched and potentially annoying type of role a refreshingly unsettling personality without being too obvious. He also has one of the best and darkest, also darkly funny, lines of the season and of the early seasons (starting with "I don't need you to tell me...", unrepeatable here so am not writing it in full). Debra Monk is affecting. The case is always intriguing and is not too obvious or convoluted, there are a couple of decisions in the writing mentioned already that don't quite come off but it was always compelling. The performances really help, not just Miller in particular but the regulars are all great (despite reservations about McCoy's character writing Sam Waterston is fine in the role).
Character interaction has tension and snap, but also looks natural and never too rehearsed that it comes over as clinical, the exchanges between McCoy and Logan (involving ham sandwich) and McCoy and Schiff regarding conflict of interest). Production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The dialogue is smart and always intriguing, with plenty of it moving, chilling and provoking thought, the mentioned line from Dobson is pure genius.
Overall, very well done. 8/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Nov 10, 2020
- Permalink
Larry Miller steals the episode ...
Too Soon
- bkoganbing
- Jul 21, 2013
- Permalink
Larry Miller guest stars