'Law and Order' was a great show in its prime and there has always been a preference for the earlier seasons over the more commonly aired late-Briscoe and post-Briscoe episodes. Not only love the show for its compelling cases and terrific writing and acting in the Briscoe and pre-Briscoe years. But also its admirable tackling of difficult subjects and themes (the 'Law and Order' franchise at its best was very good at that), their cases often based upon real-life ones and the moral dilemmas raised.
Season 18 reaches its first disappointment with "Misbegotten", having liked but not loved the previous two episodes. It's a long way from awful, to me there isn't any episode of the original 'Law and Order' that fits that distinction (some episodes from 'Special Victims Unit' do though), but this really isn't the show at its best by any stretch of the imagination and is one of the weaker episodes of Season 18 and of its patchy first half (only three episodes of this half reached greatness to me).
"Misbegotten" has its good things. The production values are slick and sharp, without being too dark or overly-bright. The music is not over-emphasised or overused. The acting is good all round, from both regulars and support.
Do like Green and Lupo's chemistry, not crackling but it's definitely there and they work very cohesively and respectably together. McCoy (underused but has more presence than in the first episode) has the best line and it's a great one.
Really do wish though that "Misbegotten" was better. The subject matter is a good one, worth addressing and is an interest point, but this is an example of an episode that had a good story conceptually but doesn't do enough with it or/and executes it in a patchy way. Did generally find it too over-complicated, namely from trying to cram too much already quite complex material in too short a space of time, especially in the second half. Also found the suspense lacking, from the legal scenes containing too few surprises and from feeling on the over stretched side. As well as not always plausible.
So far the legal scenes have not been up to their usual standard, many of the show's high points come from the legal scenes, and they are pretty standard and straight down the line at best. Was actually really liking Lupo up to this point but here he comes over as incompetent with rookie errors.
In conclusion, rather disappointing though still watchable. 5/10.
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