Skin Deep

Both of 'Law and Order's' previous seasons are well worth watching, with a fair share of brilliant episodes in both. Season 1 was consistently good, with the weakest episodes still having plenty of things worthy of admiration. Despite a sharper and more polished visual style, the second season was not as consistent, always worth watching and with just as many very good and more episodes but with a couple of slight "three or four episodes worth" dips and taking time to get fully settled.

Season 3 continues this always never less than watchable standard and kicks off with a solid season opener in "Skin Deep". There is a lot to like about the episode, especially the second half and one particularly good performance. There was potential for it to be better though than it was, it is slightly bland and is not on the same level as Season 2's excellent opener "Confession" which did have the extra something that "Skin Deep" was a little lacking in.

Will start with what could have been done better. While still enjoyable and intriguing, particularly when learning more about the victim, the first half is a bit ordinary with not quite enough extra spark.

It is also a bit lacking on the surprise factor initially in my view too. Will admit to knowing who the killer was as soon as they were introduced and the "big" twist came over to me as obvious due to not being a unique one in the first place and with nothing new done to it.

Do stick with "Skin Deep" though, if not sure at first, because the second half is a lot better. Tighter in place, it has tension, raises interesting questions explored intelligently and the acting goes from dependably very solid to just great. Have nothing to fault the production values for, which continue the advancement seen in Season 2. Or with the music, used relatively sparingly and didn't sound over-scored or over-emphasised. It is a dependably directed episode that hits its stride in the second half and excels in the character interaction.

The dialogue is taut and thought-provoking with a nice amount of edge, also agree about it being nice that there was more humour here and in an amusingly witty way. The case is intriguing enough and it's always great to see how the detectives work, though the legal scenes compel more than the police investigation and are more twisty. The acting is great, Michael Moriarty stands out of the regulars and Claire Danes gives a deeply felt performance in an early role. What elevated "Skin Deep" to a better level in particular was the complex (surprisingly so) and nuanced turn of Lorraine Toussaint in a contender for her best re-curring appearance.

All in all, slightly disappointing but the second half and Toussaint really raises the episode above the ordinary. 7/10

Paul Sorvino and Chris Noth catch a case to open season 3 of Law And Order of the murder of a fashion photographer. The man in his life was surrounded by beautiful women and he made it pay in all kinds of ways.

The victim certainly believed in using his fashion models before the relentless march of aging did them totally in. He had a lucrative sideline of using his fashion models as high end hookers. One like Angela Watson whose husband Murphy Guyer and daughter Claire Danes didn't know what wife and mom was doing.

It's Watson who is arrested and she's represented by Lorraine Toussaint and Shambala Green ran all the emotions from righteous anger in her client's cause to vigorous compassion as she pled for another client with Michael Moriarty. This may have been Toussaint's best outing as Shambala Green.

Good reason to see this one.

I didn't become acquainted with Clare Danes' work until watching all of the "Homeland" series. I recently began watching the early seasons of Law and Order and ran into this early episode with Ms Danes as the young daughter of a murder suspect. Hard to believe she was only 13 years old (playing a 15 year old) as her character is called upon to display some complex emotions and motivations as the case unfolds. But seeing her later adult work, it's obvious her talent was present at a very early stage, including this episode. That's one of the benefits of watching these early L & O episodes: they showcase the early work of a large number of actors who have gone on to great careers in film and television. Last season included the first appearance appearance of Michelle Trachtenberg who recently passed away.