Law & Order (TV Series) Family Friend (2006) User Reviews

No murder freebies

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 10 February 2013]

When Dennis Farina and Jesse Martin catch this case of an accountant and his wife as victim's of a home invasion little do they dream that this will involve a very dirty cop.

Mrs. accountant, Valerie Messick is wounded and her husband killed and no sooner do Farina and Martin come to question the survivor than they find Vincent Guastaferro a former and decorated police officer at her bedside. He was a family friend of her and the late husband and he's there to comfort the widow.

Investigation leads first to a pair of low life muscle, one Dov Davidoff was stupid enough to leave forensic evidence, of course he rolls on his partner Brad Calcaterra and throws it all on him. But the case is lost in court, but shortly afterward Calcaterra winds up dead and it's Guastaferro claiming that it was self defense.

For reasons that defy his belief Guastaferro is not granted a freebie for a murder. And as it turns out he was plenty dirty, but covered his tracks fairly well. The commendations he received acted as a deflector shield from Internal Affairs. Guastaferro may have also murdered his partner who was thought to commit suicide.

Nerve he has as he tries to bludgeon Sam Waterston into making this go away by feigning corruption on all the cases he made arrests on.

It's all quite a sticky problem for the New York County DA's office that Fred Dalton Thompson has to deal with. This episode points out quite graphically how the integrity of the judicial system goes hand in hand with the integrity of the police, individually and collectively.

That's harassment, not a bullet to the chest.

[Mrpalli77 · 8/10 · 7 January 2018]

A man connected to italian mobsters was killed in his hometown in what seemed to be a robbing went bad. His wife was severely wounded. He was actually an accountant who used to work for Gambino family, a master in cleaning dirty money. The man who stole 5 grand cash in the robbery was caught by detectives, but he was not the murderer, anyway he confessed and his partner was arrested. Why did he kill the man? Federals took the money for their own investigation, McCoy needed it for the conviction, but judge ruled that out. Without wife confession (she was not sure about the ID) the jurors set the defendant free. Anyway he was shot shortly after the trial by the victim's best friend (a cop), so was justice served? Not at all, he is a corrupted cop whose cop partner in crime died years before.....

A delicate case for McCoy, forced to cut a deal against his will. A nice episode, involving another selfish cop not so interested in "serve and protect". Great performance for the grieving wife (Amy Ryan).

Conviction

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 17 August 2022]

Have always found a lot to like about all three of the three best known and popular 'Law and Order' shows (the original 'Law and Order', 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent', the others are more variable). Although 'Special Victims Unit', great in the earlier seasons but less consistent in the latter ones, has topped the original as the longest-running of the franchise in terms of seasons, my personal favourite is the original, if more the Briscoe years and before.

While not a great episode or one of the best episodes of Season 16, also not quite one of the worst in a season where there were no real misfires, the season's twelfth episode "Family Friend" is well done and has a lot to like. Not an easy topic to explore and not unfamiliar territory for the franchise, but executed with enough tension and thoughtfulness and it doesn't sugar coat the subject (though other episodes fare better at the uncompromising approach).

"Family Friend" isn't perfect. The first half isn't as good as the second, with it not doing an awful lot new with content that is not as much different as has been seen in other episodes. While Fontana and Green work well together and both Dennis Farina and Jesse L. Martin are fine, this is the kind of premise that would have worked better and been grittier and more entertaining with Briscoe and Green or Briscoe and Curtis.

More tension wouldn't have gone amiss perhaps.

There is not an awful lot wrong though with "Family Friend". The production values are still fully professional, the slickness and subtly gritty style still remaining. The music is sparingly used and is haunting and thankfully non-overwrought. The direction shows some nice tension in the legal scenes. The script is lean and thought probing, coming off best in McCoy's dialogue and when discussing the case's moral dilemmas.

Did find the legal scenes more compelling and intricate, without it being over-complicated. It is a delicate subject for McCoy and it is handled tactfully if not quite uncompromisingly in the episode. The acting all round is very good, Sam Waterston particularly.

In conclusion, not great but well done. 7/10.