Paranoia

When Benjamin Bratt joined the Law And Order cast for a few episodes in the beginning of his tenure he and Jerry Orbach took a bit of getting used to each other. Bratt was from the Organized Crime task force and a real boy scout. And Orbach had a far more laid back attitude toward life. But as things progressed they eventually clicked as a team. Especially since Bratt had computer smarts and could help a lot that way.

The two are investigating the homicide of a coed and originally go up a blind alley in pursuit of one suspect. Eventually they find the right one.

That perpetrator was represented by Sandy Duncan who I wish had made more appearances as a defense attorney. She was smart and gave Sam Waterston a real run for the money here.

Don't want to say more, but the issue here is the mental health of the perpetrator. Check this one out for Sandy Duncan and for Orbach and Bratt getting to know each other.

The ray curtis character is too much in this episode ,he acts like a complete prude and a moral crusader at any kind of erotic art ,at the same time he thinks knowing what a Pentium is makes him an elite hacker that's down with the kids "surfin the web" it's just not plausible that a detective in New York clutches his pearls in disgust over an erotic movie poster,blog post or network t.v ,which his children are band from watching,I know that's his character to be the Boy Scout but they go too far in this ep and it's hard to watch it's cringe .the rest of the episode is the usual decent procedural.

In "Paranoia" we learn that a likable coed has been violently knifed to death in her crowded room with, miraculously, no one noticing. Suspicious quickly falls on a nerdy classmate who wrote violent internet sex stories, possibly inspired by his infatuation with the victim. The detectives even talk to his literature professor, a vapid left-wing parody who thinks internet pornography is great.

This episode also sees the curious resumption of Curtis-the-rookie drama as he fumbles parts of the investigation and has conflicts with Lennie, after a few episodes of being an ideal, seasoned partner.

Eventually, surprise, the initial suspect is ruled out and maybe one of her roommates did it (we're now 6-for-6 in Caucasian bad guys/girls for the season, for those keeping score). The only redeeming element of this episode is the interesting mental illness aspect of the legal plot. Is she crazy? How do you properly prosecute someone who might be nuts? It's an alright story, but the episode as a whole falls a bit flat.

"Paranoia" is another "ripped from the headlines" type of story. 'Law and Order' did this type of story very well to brilliantly in its early seasons and even later on, as evidenced by the previous episode "Hot Pursuit". This time, the episode takes its influence, or at least it seems to take its influence, from the Gina Grant case and also that of Sinedu Tadesse. Like the cases in "Hot Pursuit", they were harrowing and shocking to read about as well when looking up on them.

After three outstanding episodes in a row ("Savages", "Jeopardy" and "Hot Pursuit", "Savages" especially), it is hard to not expect another outstanding episode. Sadly, for me that was not the case with "Paranoia", a case of good potential not completely lived up to and a couple of steps backwards for Season 6. It is also an example of one half being better than the other, it took its time to get going but once it did it turned out much better. It is a good episode, was just expecting a good deal more.

Starting with the many things that are good in "Paranoia", the photography is slick and subtly gritty as usual and while the locations are limited in number they are still pleasing to look at and the more intimate ones aren't claustrophobic. The music is haunting while not going over the top and not being intrusive, too constant and melodramatic music would have ruined the mood and would not have let the dialogue do the talking as effectively. The direction is sympathetic and alert enough.

Mostly the script is taut and intelligent, that make a lot of interesting points in the legal scenes worth pondering on and contains some smart references to 'Macbeth', Jeffrey Dahmer and OJ Simpson. The legal scenes are immensely engaging in all senses, there are some nice not too obvious turns and the story is eventful without being over-plotted or confused. The mental illness angle is handled beautifully and provokes a lot of thought. The acting is strong all round.

Did feel that the policing side of the case weren't as good or as interesting however, too on the generic and bland side from feeling too much like re-visiting familiar ground. "Hot Pursuit" did a much better job with its "ripped from the headlines" type story, with more consistent execution and that was a case where the policing and legal angles were equally great.

It would have fared better if Briscoe and Curtis' rapport gelled more here, it was actually beginning to in the previous three episodes but here in "Paranoia" it was like the progression did not happen. And also if Curtis was more interesting in personality and didn't take too long to connect more with everything else, like the chemistry he was showing signs of progression but it goes backwards here. Didn't feel like there was enough tension in the first half.

Bottom line, well done in a lot of areas but could have been a good deal better. 7/10