The torture of a suspect and realistic ending that didn't give the viewer a happy ending makes for great television. But now I need a little Golden Girls to get the sadness out of my sister.
5 Reviews
Compelling and horrifying
welemons-8746113 June 2021
That's It
Hitchcoc9 July 2022
I would refer anyone who sees liberal bias to the current atmosphere in this country. Where the Derrick Chauvins feel their color gives them power over whomever they please. I am a big fan of most cops. Dirty Harry exists in cinema but is now a small segment of the police forces around this country. The partner in this episode never really saw the shooter. You'd think she would be interested in getting the actual murderer. Walsh continues to be totally incapable of following his sworn duty.
Another self-righteous episode
jodi-4452827 April 2019
Once again, the members of this firm are so outraged because the rights of a scumbag are trampled on. A cop-killer is kept away from lawyers at the hospital and questioned alone, which makes the lawyers' heads explode.
The bleeding heart liberal bias throughout this show has reached a level for me that is almost unbearable for my taste. It seems that victims get forgotten in the scripts for this, while writers champion murderers, rapists, and other such 'human beings'.
Frankly, I'm on the side of the cops.
The bleeding heart liberal bias throughout this show has reached a level for me that is almost unbearable for my taste. It seems that victims get forgotten in the scripts for this, while writers champion murderers, rapists, and other such 'human beings'.
Frankly, I'm on the side of the cops.
Torture
cow_manx10 April 2023
This episode will make you angry, and it should.
Watching a gross violation of someone's rights, even in fiction, should shock the conscious and this episode portrays it with amazing accuracy, depth, and heart.
It also uses a slight sprinkle of humor at appropriate times so as to not completely overwhelm the viewer.
It all comes together in this episode, even the music and direction is top notch. Easily one of the most important episodes of the series.
This almost feels like a counterpoint to 24, even borrowing split screen elements early in the episode to great effect.
The fact the other reviewers bring up politics in their reviews show you this addresses important issues.
Watching a gross violation of someone's rights, even in fiction, should shock the conscious and this episode portrays it with amazing accuracy, depth, and heart.
It also uses a slight sprinkle of humor at appropriate times so as to not completely overwhelm the viewer.
It all comes together in this episode, even the music and direction is top notch. Easily one of the most important episodes of the series.
This almost feels like a counterpoint to 24, even borrowing split screen elements early in the episode to great effect.
The fact the other reviewers bring up politics in their reviews show you this addresses important issues.
Too convincing for comfort
bombad_general11 November 2019
As far as I am aware, there are no such documented incidents regarding the Boston Police Departments (which has, civil rights-wise, a pretty good record). However, there are numerous incidents almost exactly like these with the Chicago Police Department, and, given the series is set in Boston, the BPD sort of drew the short straw. Hence, with all due deference to the fine work the BPD is demonstrably doing, this had to be shown.
In an effort to separate the debate from the issue of race, the series' writers switched the roles common in the public debate. Here, the murdered police officer is black, and the suspect is white. This cleverly boils down the episode's message to its essentials - who watches the watchers? Because, let's face it, law enforcement accountability is an issue that needs to be discussed, and needs to continue being discussed until such stories stop cropping up in this absurd amount. For instance, former (thankfully) CPD Cmdr. Jon Burge was convicted in 2011 following accusations of having been the leading figure in the torture of no less than 200 subjects. Those are Gestapo numbers, certainly nothing you want in the Land of Freedom. Some of the tortured were quite possibly real criminals. it doesn't matter. One of the principal tenets of criminal justice - and a point which is made throughout the series - is that even the most despicable individuals still have rights. That is how it was envisaged by the Founding Fathers, not the government-sanctioned lynchmob another reviewer here seems to be perfectly fine with (who also assumes the defendant's guilt, whereas the episode quite clearly hints at his complete innocence).
And the debate is going nowhere. People are firmly dug into their positions, mostly "all cops are " or "no cop can do any wrong", with the extremes being so vocal and unrelenting that no real debate ever commences; we see only echo chambers for left-wing anarchists and crypto-fascists with a little red, white, and blue sprinkled on top. But we need a debate, and we need it now. And if this episode can help further this cause, I say good. Because it exposes the flaws in the system, and does so mercilessly. That is what good TV does. Because this is fixable - but it also means acknowledging some hard facts.
In an effort to separate the debate from the issue of race, the series' writers switched the roles common in the public debate. Here, the murdered police officer is black, and the suspect is white. This cleverly boils down the episode's message to its essentials - who watches the watchers? Because, let's face it, law enforcement accountability is an issue that needs to be discussed, and needs to continue being discussed until such stories stop cropping up in this absurd amount. For instance, former (thankfully) CPD Cmdr. Jon Burge was convicted in 2011 following accusations of having been the leading figure in the torture of no less than 200 subjects. Those are Gestapo numbers, certainly nothing you want in the Land of Freedom. Some of the tortured were quite possibly real criminals. it doesn't matter. One of the principal tenets of criminal justice - and a point which is made throughout the series - is that even the most despicable individuals still have rights. That is how it was envisaged by the Founding Fathers, not the government-sanctioned lynchmob another reviewer here seems to be perfectly fine with (who also assumes the defendant's guilt, whereas the episode quite clearly hints at his complete innocence).
And the debate is going nowhere. People are firmly dug into their positions, mostly "all cops are " or "no cop can do any wrong", with the extremes being so vocal and unrelenting that no real debate ever commences; we see only echo chambers for left-wing anarchists and crypto-fascists with a little red, white, and blue sprinkled on top. But we need a debate, and we need it now. And if this episode can help further this cause, I say good. Because it exposes the flaws in the system, and does so mercilessly. That is what good TV does. Because this is fixable - but it also means acknowledging some hard facts.
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