Profile

The subject matter is enough to make one want to see Season 4's fourth episode "Profile". Racism is such a bold and hard-hitting topic, that has been a big problem everywhere for decades and still is now and almost as bad. Regardless of the execution, whether it's handled tactfully or whether it's on the preachy side, credit has always been given by me for even trying. As well as that and my love for the show, another big reason to see it is James Earl Jones who is another person who makes everything he is in better.

"Profile" for me is an outstanding episode and one of the standouts of the fourth season. One of the most powerful, bravest and most thought-provoking (am aware that this word has been used a lot by me but it is one of the words that repeatedly sums the show and the franchise up) ones. And one that more than does justice to its subject, complete with a riveting case and being one of the episodes to have the guest stars being even better than the regulars.

Cannot fault the production values, it's slick and gritty as ever and is one of the better shot episodes of the season. It's intimate with the action but doesn't get claustrophobic. The music doesn't get intrusive and suits the mood well. The direction is understated but provides some great tension in the second half of the episode especially.

Of the Season 4 episodes, "Profile" is one of the best written. It is very intelligently crafted and has intensity and edge while handling the topic sensitively too, everything with the profile and the issues that come with it is particularly well done with some interesting questions raised that makes one think hard about the validity of evidence. The story is one of the most uncompromising, the episode really not holding back on its depiction and reprehensible traits of the perpetrator, of Season 4, while not getting heavy-handed (i.e. explicit messaging). The conflict has genuine tension and the second half gave me chills. The ending is one of the season's most shocking, and it's different.

All the characters are very well written, although the judge is frustrating (it didn't take away from the drama though and she does boast one of the episode's best lines). The regulars are all on top form, especially Stone, and the perpetrator is as as nasty a piece of work as one can get for any 'Law and Order' episode covering racism. Horace McCoy is the juiciest character, that is one shrewd character who epitomises the "characters meet their match" kind.

Performances couldn't be better. All the regulars bring their usual excellence, Michael Moriarty does authority and conflicted so well and he was missed when he left at the end of the season (with him being one of the best things consistently of the first four seasons). "Profile" is one of the show's finest examples of the guest stars being not just on equal level in quality of performances but perhaps even better. Joe Seneca is moving and William Carden is chilling, but best of all is Jones who brings a lot of gravitas and shrewd intelligence and dominates the legal scenes even more so than Moriarty. On paper, one does wonder how anybody could defend such an awful person whose guilt is so obvious but Jones manages to make McCoy plausible and somewhat entertaining which says a lot about how good an actor he is. His conversation with Stone explaining why he is defending indeed fascinates.

In summary, brilliant. 10/10

James Earl Jones is the guest star in this episode playing a defense attorney who has willingly taken on the case of a racist serial killer William Carden. As it turns out people who are non-caucasian are being systematically killed with a shotgun and it's happening in the Upper West Side of Manhattan where Jerry Orbach grew up.

The motives Jones has for taking this case is that he wants to be an east coast Johnnie Cochran. Reach that uppermost rung of high price defense lawyers although you can see his disgust registering with him as he and his client are together.

The FBI drew up a profile and this as always is used as a guide in what to look for. Profiling is not an exact science, but Jones finds enough consistencies in it to embarrass Michael Moriarty and Jill Hennessy in court.

The episode does not end in a traditional Law And Order way. Let's say that Charlotte Colavin who plays Judge Lisa Pongracic probably should have resigned the bench after this one. But the Judge Pongracic character has been back more than a dozen times over the years.

Always good to see James Earl Jones in anything.

This one is a thrilling watch. A racist spree killer puts a community on edge, making the "law" segment unusually tense as Briscoe and Logan pursue a variety of leads. There's a scene with a mother and her young son; the kid subscribes to a white power magazine, and he and his mom casually sling around the N-word like it's nothing.

Our lawfighters work a bit with the FBI on this episode, and the defense attorney later attempts to cast doubt on the accuracy of the FBI's profile, which is interesting. The judge also puts the public at risk by releasing the suspect during a pending hearing; Stone loses it with her, and she threatens to hold him in contempt before Kincaid steps in and defuses the situation. "Give her a raise, Ben," the judge says as he's leaving. "You were about to walk out of here in cuffs."

The icing on the cake is the great James Earl Jones as the unrepentant suspect's high-priced defense attorney - definitely a guest role to remember. He and Stone have a fascinating conversation about why a black man is defending a violent white racist. The ending is great too: no spoilers, but unlike many other episodes in this series, it does NOT end in a courtroom...

Check this one out.