Law & Order (TV Series) Intolerance (1992) User Reviews

Murdering high achievement

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 14 July 2017]

This episode of Law And Order has Paul Sorvino and Chris Noth investigating a case of murder of a high achieving Chinese high school student. Investigation reveals that the murder was done by the mother and older brother of another kid from that high school who did not want their son to be number two to one of those yellow people.

The odd thing here was that their younger boy was friends with the deceased and didn't regard academic rivalry as a blood sport. He's truly torn with what happened.

There's a little conflict here with what a very hypertechnical judge calls a bad search warrant which yields the murder weapon. Comes close to derailing Michael Moriarty's case.

Best scene in the episode was Sorvino and Noth interrogating a Chinese gang member. The deceased was ever so briefly a gang member and he was let out of the gang which is not usually done. The gang kids saw that this young man's success could only impact positively on the whole neighborhood. The one interrogated does not miss the irony of the situation.

One to check out.

Assimilation can be dangerous to health.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 11 December 2010]

This episode gets pretty complicated, and the racial issues are just icing on the cake.

A Chinese boy goes to "Manhattan (read "Bronx") High School of Science" and is number one in his highly competitive class, having won a couple of prizes for his scientific endeavors. He's about to win a national prize, "The Nobel of High School." He also has a Caucasian girl friend. And he's a good friend of the consistent runner-up, a white boy. Of course, some Chinese kids, especially gang members, resent his affiliating with the white folks.

One day, as school lets out, bang bang and Number One is shot dead from a white van. Serreta and Logan look into those with motives -- the gang members and the runner up. They find irrefutable evidence that the boy was shot by someone in the family of the kid who's always been Number Two, but who, exactly? Well, as it turns out, practically the whole family except for Number Two. But there's a mistrial that turns on perjured testimony and the case is lost. "The whole world's gone mad," mutters Stone.

Of course, Number One Son didn't have to be Chinese. His race had nothing to do with the murder. The motive was the desire for celebrity and adulation, "thumos", the Greeks would have called it. But it does give the writers a chance to haul in some observations about street gangs in Chinatown and the nature of victory.

Sometimes the writers stretch too far and you can hear their joints creak. The white girl friend complains that her Caucasian friends call her an "egg" -- white on the outside, yellow on the inside. I don't believe it. I think the writers found the term "Oreo" cute and dreamed up "egg" in emulation.

But sometimes the dialog almost scintillates -- WOULD scintillate if given a chance. An example. Nobody in this show ever laughs heartily. The most you hear is a snicker of disbelief or a chuckle over some insanity. Now imagine these lines being delivered in all earnestness.

Having found Number Two's family inculpated, Stone wants to indict all of them, against the advice of his boss, Adam Schiff. Stone especially want so get the mother.

Stone: "After all, she pulled the trigger. Not PHYSICALLY." Schiff: "Oh -- metaphysically." I don't know if anyone else will find that so funny but it always cracks me up, the notion of someone metaphysically pulling a trigger, the play on words and ideas.

Competition for glory

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 29 April 2020]

Although "Intolerance's" story sounds/sounded very interesting and will spark debate on both sides, it is one of those controversial ones subject-wise that could have been executed either well or problematically. It could have been done in a balanced and sympathetic way, leaving one deep in thought and wanting to discuss it. Or it could have been either heavy-handed or too careful, and even potentially insensitive. That it guest starred Sam Rockwell and Kelly Bishop also interested.

"Intolerance" managed to be an interesting and mostly well executed episode in my view. Can see though why some may not be as enamoured, and it is very dependent on how people feel about how the story is executed. Personally didn't think that this aspect was flawlessly done, but it engaged me at least, provoked thought and was well acted, regulars and supporting. Generally well written too, but that could have been more consistent too. As far as Season 2 'Law and Order' episodes go, there are much better ones.

Will start with what is done well in "Intolerance". The acting from the regulars is all very good, particularly Michael Moriarty, and the chemistry all round gels incredibly well, particularly on the legal side but Cerreta and Logan's has come on a lot since the beginning of the season. The supporting turns make just as much of an impression. Rockwell impresses in an early role, skin crawling at his best, and even better is pre-'Gilmore Girls' Bishop as a mother figure you don't want to mess with.

The story is mostly absorbing, if more the second half than the first pace-wise and it just about avoids heavy-handedness, despite dealing with racial issues. The highlight scene is the interrogation, the scene which has the most tension of the episode in one that could have had more of it. The script is biting and thoughtful enough without rambling too much, the moral dilemmas the prosecution face during the trial process intriguing and shouldn't be too hard to understand. It also gives some powerful observations on street gangs and victory. The production values are slick and sharp, without being too dark or overly-bright. The music is not over-emphasised or overused.

Did too think though that the story gets slightly over-complicated at times with a lot to cover and more to the case than what it seems. Parts of the writing have the feeling of "what possessed the writers to come up with that", especially agreed when a character talks about being called an egg. That was a stretch and then there is the further problem of it being somewhat over-explained.

Moreover, "Intolerance" could have done with more tension. The best it gets being the interrogation. The one real source of conflict is with the judge, and anybody who is familiar with the episodes before watching this will find that conflict predictable as can be. Maybe it could have explored its subject with a little more grit, do appreciate its general tactfulness but sometimes the episode for its subject is a little too careful. And although it is true that people do go to great lengths to get what they want somehow the motive for the murder seemed on the extreme side, a more fitting crime for this motive would have been framing somebody for breaking rules or for cheating out of jealousy but resorting to murder seems a bit of a stretch somewhat. My view of course.

Overall, well done episode but a lesser Season 2 instalment. 7/10

Detective Logan's "Finest Moment"

[rbkjr · 9/10 · 14 March 2018]

Even after a successful prosecution by the District Attorney's office for murder charges because of a young Chinese student's death, detectives Logan & Cerreta come through at the end to reverse a conviction because of their Truth and Honesty, standing up for bringing clues to the D.A. that overturn the conviction... and thus allow a mistrial. The convicts, mother and son, are to be released, after showing that the results were "Impossible"...to get the conviction originally. With all the years that Mike Logan struggled with the job, and occasionally fighting Superiors, or "bending the rules" to try and make a case...this must have been His Finest Moment as a Detective, working for the NYPD. Assistant D.A. Stone has no choice, but to go back to the court and ask the judge to grant a mistrial of the original results. Truth and Justice outweighed anyting else that mattered in this case!

R for Race

[safenoe · 6/10 · 25 August 2023]

You can imagine the writers' room for Intolerance, as they sought to pile on high and lay it think with the Chinese stereotypes, e.g. Chinatown being a den of crime. Really, would the detectives have applied the same label to Little Italy and the mafia or what. Anyway, yes, Chinese gangs crop up in this episode, and again, what about the mafia (I mean the Italian mafia)

Anyway, this episode certainly has the racial angle, and the "egg" reference seem so racially contrived from the writers' room. Anyway, the sub-heading for this episode should be R: For Race or Big Trouble in Little China or Chinatown.