Blaze

The case in this Law And Order story involves the death of 23 people including the bassist in a rock band.

The name of this band is Wotan and their gimmick is fireworks. Ok if you're playing Madison Square Garden but these guys are past their prime and they ain't the Rolling Stones. In this small club things got out of hand and people died.

It all goes back to singer John Doe and his past as a rock star and a fan who doesn't see him as a has been.

What we do in our youth can come back to haunt us.

Anything related to music immediately grabs my attention, being a musician myself. It has been proven many times on detective shows and legal dramas that death/murder and music are a good combination, not just all three shows in the 'Law and Order' franchise but also the likes of 'Murder She Wrote', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Endeavour' (well actually all the 'Inspector Morse' franchise), 'Monk' etc. Despite being a familiar setting, it is a timeless one and the story did seem interesting.

Was not massively about "Blaze" on first viewing, finding it on the over-complicated and not always involving side, while liking the acting and ending. There have been 'Law and Order' episodes where opinions have changed, both gone up and gone down in estimations and an even bigger number of episodes with the same opinion on rewatches. "Blaze" is one of the better on rewatch episodes, though it is far cry from being one of the best Season 14 episodes and had potential to be even better than it was.

To begin with, "Blaze" is on the routine side, with it lacking tension, and there are a few too many turns that confuse the story a bit.

It does not give me pleasure going on about Elisabeth Rohm, but Southerlyn has never done it for me as a character and Rohm fails to give her any personality. Also found John Doe on the over the top side as a character that is more cartoonish than real.

However, a lot is good. It is as ever shot with the right amount of intimacy without feeling too up close, even with a reliance of close up camerawork. That the editing has become increasingly tighter over-time is great too. The music isn't over-scored, manipulative or used too much. There is intimacy and tautness in the direction. The rest of the regulars are fine on the whole, particularly Sam Waterston who dominates the legal scenes with great authority, while Briscoe and Green are such a great pairing.

Script is thought probing and flows well, if lacking a little tautness. The story is compelling enough, never coming over as too obvious, and intrigues later on. What particularly saves the episode is the unexpected shocker that is the ending. The music setting is made good use of and isn't gimmicky, capturing the thrill of it very well. Most of the supporting cast are more than competent, though nobody stands out this time.

Overall, decent but didn't wow me. 6/10.

A good bendy episode thats inspired by the Great White tragedy. Where 100 + died. Much worse. So was Larry king when he asked one guy who was severely burned what it was like to be in a coma.!, the cable news in early 21st century was just getting terrible, compared to now. I recall this it was so sad. The real one. LAW& ORDER was always ripped from the headlines. FYI The mom in this is now Gerry on Succession! Love her!

When there is a fire in a simple night-club with many casualties, the forensics realize that it was caused by an overloaded pyrotechnic thrower of an old and decadent rock-and-roll band. Detectives Briscoe and Green are assigned to investigate the case and based on statements of witnesses including the groupie Teresa Drosi, the player Nick Stoller becomes their prime suspect. But in the testimony to the District Attorneys McCoy and Serena, the teenager changes her testimony. What is the truth behind the fire?

"Blaze" is a good episode of "Law & Order", based on a fictional fire in a night-club caused by pyrotechnic artifact during a gig of a rock-and-roll band. In 2013, in Brazil, there was a similar fire with 242 deaths and 680 injuries of teenagers caused by pyrotechnic artifacts in a crowded night-club with locked emergency exits to avoid crashers in a celebration of graduation of six college courses. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil):"Blaze"

At a downtown club an old-fashioned rock-band was staging a concert. Suddenly an arson took place and twenty-three people were burnt to death as a result. What was clear since the beginning is that the fire started from the stage due to flamethrowers lighted up in order to improve the show quality. Detective soon cut the owner loose because in the agreement he wrote not to use the fire in his place. Forensic realized that one out of four throwers had twice the powder amount, that cause the flame to burn the ceiling. The band leader, a well- known rock-star now in disgrace, wanted to amaze the audience against crew members' advice. Being a public figures, the trial was open to the media against McCoy's will, but by watching the camera footage he understood a witness reaction on the stand that helped him in the prosecution: a groupie changed the whole story at trial, trying to get the rock-star acquitted; what's really happened between her and the defendant?

An episode not so good, the classic rock-star (John Doe - it's not a joke that's his real name) worshipped by fans and addicted to sex and drugs. Anyway don't turn off the TV, there's a twist ending that saved the whole episode.