After almost twelve years in the closet, Dick Wolf’s pioneering series began its 21st season this Thursday at 8 p.m. on NBC, with a new investigator and new prosecutors. As for veteran Sam Waterston, he is four minutes on the screen!
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On May 24, 2010, “New York Police Judiciaire” (“Law & Order”) ended after twenty seasons, having made millions of fans and six derivative series: “New York Special Unit” which is in its 23rd season, but also “New York Criminal Section”, “New York, court of justice”, “Los Angeles Judicial Police”, “Law & Order: True Crime”, or the latest “New York Organized Crime”, where Christopher Meloni returned solo as Elliott Stabler. So many productions signed Dick Wolf, who decided, almost two years ago, to resurrect his pioneering series, and to bring back its central character, the prosecutor Jack McCoy, who had been played since 1994 by Sam Waterston, who happily returned to service at age 81. But beware, we warn you: in the first episode of this 21st season, entitled “The Right Thing” and directed by Jean de Segonzac… it is only four minutes on screen, in two scenes. We’re a little overwhelmed with the merchandise here…
But overall, this return. It starts the same way as the 457 episodes that preceded it, with the same music, the same editing of images, and this voice of men who says: ” In the criminal justice system, there are two groups of people of equal importance: the police who investigate and the prosecutors and lawyers for the prosecution and the defence. Here is their story. »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLAoM6Oaaqs
So, like in the good old days, the new episodes that await us will have two parts: the investigation and the trial. Here, it is about the murder of a famous man, Henry King, who has been in prison for having sexually abused dozens of women, but says he is innocent. Free, he is found in front of his house, his chest riddled with bullets. As before, Kevin Bernard, played by Anthony Anderson (who is done with “Black-ish”) is on the job, but he is now working with another investigator, Frank Cosgrove (Jeffrey “Fargo” Donovan), who is not not a tender. Lt. Kate Dixon (Camryn Manheim) assists them. After going after a few people including King’s wife, Cosgrove confronts Nicole Bell, who was one of King’s victims, and promises her that she will be protected if she confesses that she was the one who killed him. What she does. But he lied to him and arrests him on the spot, an act that will make the blood boil of the senior assistant attorney general Nolan Price, another “new” played by Hugh Drancy… who is Mr. Claire Danes in the city. With assistant prosecutor Samantha Maroun (sublime Odelya Halevi), his mission in court is to defend Nicole… And behind the scenes, he talks and is advised by Jack.
Before the episode ends, things get rushed and its conclusion is unexpected. We will write no more. But it is clear that the series wanted to reapply with a hot topic: accusations of sexual abuse. Here, a victim has done his justice himself, just to prevent the monster from starting again.
In a nutshell, it’s as if “New York Judicial Police”, certainly put in a shed for nearly twelve years, had remained on the same tracks. He had to come back with new faces, it’s done, and the plot of his 458th episode is anything but sloppy. Come on, we’re back for at least ten years! With or without Sam Waterston?
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