Law & Order (TV Series) Quit Claim (2008) User Reviews

The Jackal In New York

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 18 December 2010]

This episode of Law And Order opens with a hit and run accident where a mother and daughter pair of tourists are run down in New York by a driver who didn't even attempt to stop. When they find $10,000.00 in new bills in the car both Jesse Martin and Jeremy Sisto conclude that this hit and run is going to open one big old can of worms.

That money is from the sale of a house and the investigation leads to a woman played by January Jones at a title insurance company. That's as far as I will go because this episode Quit Claim has more twists in it than a back country road.

It's a con game on an enormous scale, but even those that are doing the conning are being conned by Jones. She's responsible for a whole bunch of deaths before this is over.

Watching Quit Claim reminded me of Fred Zinnemann's, The Day Of The Jackal and Jones as villain has about as much scruples as the Jackal. And in the end law enforcement on the local and federal levels still haven't got a clue.

Battling with manipulation

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 13 October 2022]

Expectations on first watch of "Quit Claim" were fairly mixed. Love 'Law and Order' and even when it wasn't as good as it was and started to run out of ideas there were still great episodes made. Of all the episodes of Season 18, this had one of the most interesting sounding stories. Season 18 though had not been great with the previous six episodes and don't really rate January Jones that highly, but on first "Quit Claim" really impressed me.

It impressed me hugely on rewatch too, even more so in fact. "Quit Claim" for me was the first great Season 18 episode, the first episode to have very little wrong and the episode where the legal portions started to really improve drastically. Of the patchy first half of the season, "Quit Claim" is one of the best and as far as the season goes overall it compares very favourably. One aspect also really pleasantly surprised me in a way that was not expected at all.

Maybe it starts off on the ordinary side (which is a nit-pick), but there is very little to criticise.

"Quit Claim's" good things range between very good and brilliant. Can find nothing to fault the production values for though, the slickness and grit still present and likewise with the more fluid editing. The music is used relatively sparingly and is not too intrusively orchestrated, fitting too with the mood. The direction is generally alert but also sympathetic, shining in the character interactions in the legal scenes. Liked the tautness, edge and thought-probing of the second half's writing.

After being disappointed by most of the previous six episodes' legal portions, there is a drastic improvement here. What happens is complex and incredibly compelling, with a good deal of tension. It is also a great showcase for Cutter, really liked him in the previous episodes but this is the first episode where he gets anything with proper meat. The story is neither too simple or too complicated and while the policing scenes intrigue and have good central chemistry the second half is even better.

Can't fault the acting either, with Linus Roache really dominating the legal scenes and giving one of his best performances of this season. The biggest surprise was how the episode managed to get a good performance out of Jones, she does manipulation so chillingly proving that with the right material she has some acting ability.

Great episode all in all and sees Season 18 stepping in the right direction. 9/10.

I didn't kill Bobby. I cared for him, even after all he did to me.

[Mrpalli77 · 9/10 · 1 March 2018]

After buying some candies in a shop, a family man noticed a car hit and run his wife and daughter. The driver flew away; detective realized the car was stolen, with 10 grans in the dashboard. Investigation led to a con man who worked in real estate business with bogus address, so he was hard to find. Luckily, they reached his secretary and the entire police department staged a sting operation involving buy and sell a property: something went wrong, the criminal managed to escape but he was killed shortly after together with his buddies. The secretary (January Jones) was a piece of work as well, she changed ID every couple of years and she was the one who pulled the strings; she was also always a step ahead than everyone....

During trial, we see Rubirosa was not so attractive back in her sophomore year. Even in this episode, NYPD proved to be more useful for community than FBI. Cutter was left alone by McCoy on his battle against the defendant.

Error in storyline.

[charlesawarner · 9/10 · 22 July 2020]

There is no active subway stations on either First or Third Avenue in New York City, yet Det. Green requests to start a canvas up both lines. The nearest subway lines are the Lexington Avenue lines (4,5,6) which is one block west. Nine years after this episode aired Second Avenue became the route of the Q line train, which runs right in between these 2 avenues.

It should have ended with "To be continued..."

[CrimeDrama1 · 5/10 · 17 October 2022]

OK, so January Jones is the reason I like this episode but I hate thinking that the story is so confusing so it's no wonder it was largely unresolved. Why can't ANYONE find out Kim Brody's real identity?!?! It seems to me that even if the NYPD can't hold Brody until her real identity is confirmed, the FBI sure can. However, I definitely don't believe she has credible information for the feds but I know she will try to use her beauty and charm again.

I know this series was designed around stand-alone episodes but this one is begging for a sequel. I don't believe anyone could become untraceable like Brody and avoid state murder charges. It just feels like law enforcement missed something huge between the prison break she allegedly helped with and the current scam she allegedly is the mastermind of. So many questions!