"Sunday in the Park with Jorge" sounded like the sort of story that 'Law and Order' was known to excel well in. It does sound ordinary on first glance, but had real potential to be an episode that had tension and emotion if done right. 'Law and Order' did do well often at making something complex out of what sounds basic when getting the basic jist of the synopsis. Other episodes in Season 11 took on more challenging subjects with rather varied success, but that was in no way an issue.
Although Season 11 did better episodes, such as "Endurance" and "Hubris", which had more emotional impact and intensity, there are also far worse episodes (including the previous one). Where stories were not handled tactfully, thin and with cases not substantial enough to bring to trial with shoddy work on both sides of the legal argument. "Sunday in the Park with Jorge" is not a great or perfect episode, but in my view it is not deserving of being one of the lower rated episodes of Season 11.
It does start off on the ordinary and familiar side, with familiar plot tropes, though it still intrigued and Briscoe and Green are a great team. The conclusion is somewhat over-crowded and rushed.
Did think too that the supporting characters could have been written with more subtlety and not as stereotyped.
The acting though is very good across the board, with a deeply felt performance from Victor Anthoy as an interesting character that is hard to completely hate when the circumstances are made clear. The regulars are excellent, especially in the second half. The story becomes a good deal more interesting when things turn out not what they seemed at first, and the turn in the plot is not handled abruptly or jarringly. The case also becomes more intricate and due to the tragic nature of the crime, especially the motive, hits hard, after some episodes this season that had weak legal cases this was a solid one and more akin to early seasons 'Law and Order' except not quite as uncompromising.
Furthermore, "Sunday in the Park with Jorge" doesn't look drab or gaudy, and the editing is far from slapdash. The music avoids getting too melodramatic in the more dramatic moments while not being too low key, it has always been a good move that it is used relatively sparingly. The direction especially shines in the character interaction in the second half. The script is beautifully balanced, there is a lot of talk but taut enough to avoid it from waffling.
Good episode all in all. 7/10.
Although Season 11 did better episodes, such as "Endurance" and "Hubris", which had more emotional impact and intensity, there are also far worse episodes (including the previous one). Where stories were not handled tactfully, thin and with cases not substantial enough to bring to trial with shoddy work on both sides of the legal argument. "Sunday in the Park with Jorge" is not a great or perfect episode, but in my view it is not deserving of being one of the lower rated episodes of Season 11.
It does start off on the ordinary and familiar side, with familiar plot tropes, though it still intrigued and Briscoe and Green are a great team. The conclusion is somewhat over-crowded and rushed.
Did think too that the supporting characters could have been written with more subtlety and not as stereotyped.
The acting though is very good across the board, with a deeply felt performance from Victor Anthoy as an interesting character that is hard to completely hate when the circumstances are made clear. The regulars are excellent, especially in the second half. The story becomes a good deal more interesting when things turn out not what they seemed at first, and the turn in the plot is not handled abruptly or jarringly. The case also becomes more intricate and due to the tragic nature of the crime, especially the motive, hits hard, after some episodes this season that had weak legal cases this was a solid one and more akin to early seasons 'Law and Order' except not quite as uncompromising.
Furthermore, "Sunday in the Park with Jorge" doesn't look drab or gaudy, and the editing is far from slapdash. The music avoids getting too melodramatic in the more dramatic moments while not being too low key, it has always been a good move that it is used relatively sparingly. The direction especially shines in the character interaction in the second half. The script is beautifully balanced, there is a lot of talk but taut enough to avoid it from waffling.
Good episode all in all. 7/10.
