5 reviews
"Logan" & "Barek" Okay, But Need Some Charisma
- ccthemovieman-1
- Jul 16, 2008
- Permalink
He's Ba-a-a-a-a-a-ck
This particular Law & Order Criminal Intent episode is the second outing of this season which marks the return of Mike Logan-centric storytelling to the Law & Order franchise.
Chris Noth's memorable police detective was banished to the Staten Island beat, breaking up bar fights, for attacking a politician a decade prior. He is brought back by Capt. Deakins (Jamey Sheridan) after Logan shoves his way onto a Season 4 investigation of the death of a prison guard being investigated by Goren and Eames.
In this episode, Logan is teamed with a new partner Carolyn Barek(Annabella Sciorra) to investigate the shocking execution of a cop's son, involving police corruption.
For fans and devotees of the Law & Order franchise, the constant attraction to the show is rooted in the evident commitment to quality and consistency in the crafting and telling of the stories of crime and punishment. So many series suffer fatal problems in the narrative over time when producers change, and writers change. Law & Order serves as a shining exception to the conventional wisdom.
In this series, this episode sets the tone for the 30-odd Logan stories to follow; Noth and Sciorra ease into the rhythm that would mark their time together with her as the first of Logan's partners. L & O is a consistently great series across all its franchises, but I always detect a special crispness, a special kind of synergy between actors and writers in the telling of the Mike Logan stories.
If you have a chance via Netflix or some other provider to focus in on the Logan stories, try a few. This first full Logan episode serves as both a typically great story, and a portent of great things to come.
Chris Noth's memorable police detective was banished to the Staten Island beat, breaking up bar fights, for attacking a politician a decade prior. He is brought back by Capt. Deakins (Jamey Sheridan) after Logan shoves his way onto a Season 4 investigation of the death of a prison guard being investigated by Goren and Eames.
In this episode, Logan is teamed with a new partner Carolyn Barek(Annabella Sciorra) to investigate the shocking execution of a cop's son, involving police corruption.
For fans and devotees of the Law & Order franchise, the constant attraction to the show is rooted in the evident commitment to quality and consistency in the crafting and telling of the stories of crime and punishment. So many series suffer fatal problems in the narrative over time when producers change, and writers change. Law & Order serves as a shining exception to the conventional wisdom.
In this series, this episode sets the tone for the 30-odd Logan stories to follow; Noth and Sciorra ease into the rhythm that would mark their time together with her as the first of Logan's partners. L & O is a consistently great series across all its franchises, but I always detect a special crispness, a special kind of synergy between actors and writers in the telling of the Mike Logan stories.
If you have a chance via Netflix or some other provider to focus in on the Logan stories, try a few. This first full Logan episode serves as both a typically great story, and a portent of great things to come.
Can't hold her liquor
Sometimes Mafia mobsters make mistakes. That's the case displayed in this episode, where an innocent man (son of a cop) is killed just because he shares the same name and date of birth (even if he's six years younger) with a wanted criminal. Two corrupted cops, very loyal to each other, jump out to make the plot very complex. The fair haired one (David Keith) is a piece of work: he could even sell his own daughter to the highest bidder.
This story-line goes slowly, Logan is not comfortable and he doesn't show his usual temper. A classic wop crime episode (all main characters bear Italian surnames) I will forget soon.
This story-line goes slowly, Logan is not comfortable and he doesn't show his usual temper. A classic wop crime episode (all main characters bear Italian surnames) I will forget soon.
Drawn from headlines
This is an interesting episode, like most of those from the Law & Order franchise taking their inspiration from true incidents. This one is pretty clearly based on the real-life "Mafia Cops" who did hits for the Luchesse crime family back in the 80's. "Mark Virgini" is, Louis Eppolito and."Albert Kirkoff" is based on Stephen Caracappa. The character of "Peter Taglioti," the mobster who pays Virgini and Kirkoff, is most likely based on Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the underboss of the Luchesse family who had Eppolito and Caracappa on his payroll. The writers even included the incident in which the dirty cops killed the wrong guy, something which actually happened.
For me, the interest in this episode is in following the storyline, noting the points which are similar to real-life events and also noting the liberties taken and the deviations from the actual events - how the writers took the "McGuffin" - two NYPD cops on the Mafia's payroll - and created what is essentially a new story from it.
As a trivia note, the real "Mark Virgini" - former NYPD cop Louis Eppolito - has a bit part in the movie "Goodfellas." He's introduced as "Mo Black's brother, Fat Andy" early in the movie when Henry Hill is showing and naming all the wiseguys he had come to know.
For me, the interest in this episode is in following the storyline, noting the points which are similar to real-life events and also noting the liberties taken and the deviations from the actual events - how the writers took the "McGuffin" - two NYPD cops on the Mafia's payroll - and created what is essentially a new story from it.
As a trivia note, the real "Mark Virgini" - former NYPD cop Louis Eppolito - has a bit part in the movie "Goodfellas." He's introduced as "Mo Black's brother, Fat Andy" early in the movie when Henry Hill is showing and naming all the wiseguys he had come to know.
- steveneaklor-21731
- May 6, 2021
- Permalink
Chain of responsibility
Am actually somebody that likes Logan as a character (do vastly prefer Goren though) and generally, not always though, liked his chemistry with Barek, a different chemistry but interesting in its own way. Also liked Barek better than expected in enough of her episodes, again in her own way, and it was a shame that she didn't last longer. They made big impressions in their first outing together "Diamond Dogs", so despite the plotline for "Unchained" being a very old hat one one cannot help have high expectations.
"Unchained" has always been a bit of a disappointing 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' episode to me. Didn't care for it on first watch, my mixed/indifferent feelings are the same now. After three such great previous episodes, Season 5 hits its first stumbling block and the show has with "Unchained" (up to this point of its run) its worst episode in a while, since perhaps either Season 3's "Ill Bred" or Season 4's "Eosphoros". It has nothing to do with Logan and Barek or their chemistry, it's the story that's the problem.
There are good things here. The production values as ever are slick and with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear with the theme tune still memorable. The episode starts off quite well.
Chris Noth is subtly tense and dryly humorous, although there is more of his grittier side this time, and Annabella Sciorra is understated without being overly-low key. Actually like Logan and Barek together, it certainly doesn't electrify or entertain as much as the one between Goren and Eames but Barek's perceptions are interesting and it was good to see more emphasis on investigating together and on more equal ground. The regulars are fine in their acting.
Not so much in support, with a mix of try hard and forgettable. Nobody really stands out, David Keith has the most presence but he could have toned it down as well and made his character less obvious. The characters are not developed enough to make one care about the situation, while the script lacks its usual tautness and is unusually stilted. The direction this time round dramatically is fairly pedestrian.
What lets "Unchained" down most is the story. Too much of the pace is dull and with a severe lack of tension and suspense it was bland too. Even the ending doesn't completely come off, it was the closest the episode got to having any kind of emotion but the lead up felt underdeveloped so it was too late to care enough. Everything with Logan's past is too heavily emphasised and gets in the way too much of the case, and while the case intrigued at first there is next to nothing original here, all major revelations easily foreseeable, and then when the episode tries to cram in too much with not much time left to go it became more convoluted than complex.
In summary, underwhelming. 5/10
"Unchained" has always been a bit of a disappointing 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' episode to me. Didn't care for it on first watch, my mixed/indifferent feelings are the same now. After three such great previous episodes, Season 5 hits its first stumbling block and the show has with "Unchained" (up to this point of its run) its worst episode in a while, since perhaps either Season 3's "Ill Bred" or Season 4's "Eosphoros". It has nothing to do with Logan and Barek or their chemistry, it's the story that's the problem.
There are good things here. The production values as ever are slick and with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear with the theme tune still memorable. The episode starts off quite well.
Chris Noth is subtly tense and dryly humorous, although there is more of his grittier side this time, and Annabella Sciorra is understated without being overly-low key. Actually like Logan and Barek together, it certainly doesn't electrify or entertain as much as the one between Goren and Eames but Barek's perceptions are interesting and it was good to see more emphasis on investigating together and on more equal ground. The regulars are fine in their acting.
Not so much in support, with a mix of try hard and forgettable. Nobody really stands out, David Keith has the most presence but he could have toned it down as well and made his character less obvious. The characters are not developed enough to make one care about the situation, while the script lacks its usual tautness and is unusually stilted. The direction this time round dramatically is fairly pedestrian.
What lets "Unchained" down most is the story. Too much of the pace is dull and with a severe lack of tension and suspense it was bland too. Even the ending doesn't completely come off, it was the closest the episode got to having any kind of emotion but the lead up felt underdeveloped so it was too late to care enough. Everything with Logan's past is too heavily emphasised and gets in the way too much of the case, and while the case intrigued at first there is next to nothing original here, all major revelations easily foreseeable, and then when the episode tries to cram in too much with not much time left to go it became more convoluted than complex.
In summary, underwhelming. 5/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Nov 24, 2020
- Permalink