Original Air Date—23 February 2000
A man is accused of raping and killing his girlfriend’s sister and another victim. Prosecutors make a deal with the girlfriend for her testimony against the accused, but they also suspect that she was a willing participant in the murders. via IMDB

That was fast, only a few episodes after conceiving of the DREAM TEAM, I experienced one.  And wow, on top of it being a DREAM TEAM episode, there was an SVU crossover, two semi-high profile cameos, and some oddly placed commercial breaks.  I have little to say about the actual episode, but much to say about the trivia surrounding it.

CROSSOVER!
We’re teased early in the opening credits with Special guest appearances from Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay, even before the basics of the case are laid out.  However, there’s certainly a sex crime angle on it already, so a pop in from those two would not be outta place.

Commercial Break…
It’s S. Epatha Merkerson (say that three times, fast. I dare ya!) in a commercial for Coricidan HBP!  Surely some well placed Tivo bait, which, frankly, worked.  Is that Lt. Anita Van Buren sitting on a bed? Why does she have braids? Why aren’t they at the station, is Ed about to give her the business? What? a crummy commercial?

Introducing… Ellen Pompeo
Ellen Pompeo appears as the victim! Or the victim’s sister, or the weird accomplice? Anyways, she’s here, 5 years before her breakthrough on Grey’s Anatomy.

The amazing irony of her appearance in this episode of L&O is that she has like three crying scenes.  An early teaser to her main talent on Grey’s. That is, of course, other than wearing long sleeves under short sleeves.  The Pompeo Special.

DREAM TEAM, Assemble!
Well, with Van Buren mentioning A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael prior to her actual appearance, I can feel the DREAM TEAM coming together.  We’re 4 of 5 now (assuming Jack is in it, of course).  All we need now is D.A. Adam Schiff played by Steven Hill, and we’ll be complete…  BOOM. Schiff it is, albeit brief, but we’ll count it.

Special Guest AND Commercial Break
The department’s pysch gets to evaulate Pompeo, and its none other than JK Simmons. Who, you ask? He’s one of those dudes that’s in every other show or movie you watch, but you never remember his name. Hey, isn’t that the Dad from Juno? Hey isn’t that the boss at the Daily Post in Spiderman?

Speaking of… another well placed commercial!  It’s a promo for the Burn After Reading DVD, with a scene starring JK Simmons. Uncanny, I tell ya.

Summary
A pretty decent episode, but honestly, I’m distracted by all the star power, crossovers and weird commercials. Anyways, close ‘er up for us Jack.

McCoy FTW
A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael: How do you wash it off, Jack?
A.D.A. Jack McCoy: I wish I knew…

The Roach finally did it.  I mean Cutter.  He moved up a notch in my book.  Which isn’t hard considering there was no where to go but up.  He took a moral stance in this episode and sandbagged his own case despite being in a solid position for the win.  Even Jack (moral champion) seemed to be steering him in the immoral direction.  We’ll blame it on the lights Jack.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Cutter (or Cutbag as I affectionately call him) climbed up on his high horse in this one.  He was hell-bent on bumping a long reigning geezer of a judge from his judicial chair because he forgot Cutter’s name.  Wait, I’m not even sure what Cutter’s name is.  John?  Maybe I should be removed from this blog.  Evidently the judge’s clerk, Connie, taught him how to use instant messaging and was spoon feeding him instructions.  I wish she would spoon feed me, meow.  Ultimately with Cutter and the defense attorney in cahoots, they exposed the judge as being inept and having extra strength dementia which forces him to step down.  Interestingly, the detective work didn’t seem to support the subsequent prosecution plot in this caper.  But, I’m not complaining.

ITEMS FILED INTO EVIDENCE

I recognized the judge and his clerk from previous acting spats but couldn’t quite put my finger on where.  Anyone?  My DVR is in the shop or else I’d have figured this out.  What I find suspicious is why Connie the clerk was even in the courtroom.  Now I haven’t been practicing law for 20 years in the state of NY, but I have been watching TV in NY for damn near 30 years and this is suspect.  I can’t recall ever seeing a clerk in the courtroom in any previous episodes.  Objection.  Inconsistent and fabricated for this episode your honor.

CORROBORATION

Is it me or did this episode make Jack seem like he lost a few marbles.  One moment Jack is bursting out of his office, rambling about 3 watts of light like a bumbling idiot.  The next he’s insinuating to Cutbag to turn a blind eye to the moral conundrum before him.  Not very McCoy-esq if you ask me.  His suits are looking immensely better tho.  No more is Jack the punchline of the running suit joke.  But evidently he had to trade a few brain cells for those threads.

OPENING LENNY-ISM

Upon discovery of the dead body of the environmentalist in the compost garden:

Det. Bernard: “First rule of composting…no meat.”

SUMMARY

Allegedly this episode was inspired by the experiences of JT Leroy (pen name of American writer Laura Albert) of which I know nothing about.  Vivica Fox guest stars as the editor of Sweetie’s book and gives de la Garza a solid run in the looks department.  At one point or another every character is accused of being the real Sweetie.  Ultimiatley Vivica’s sordid past is revealed despite wrongly prosecuting trucker-boy Sweetie.

ITEMS FILED INTO EVIDENCE

I believe this is Vivica’s first appearance on L&O orginial recipe.  But her presence wasn’t what held my attention.  Janice.  Yes Jancie.  And no I don’t have an ugo-fetish.  Without the assistance of IMDB I was able to place her hurtin mug.  She played Barbara from the movie “Devil’s Advocate”.  Testifying in court seems to be a recurring theme for actress Heather Matarazzo.

OBJECTION

I was beside myself when Cutter utters “stick around, you might learn something” to McCoy.  I let out a Whoa! No one speaks to Jack like that.  Sure enough moments later McCoy easily shoots holes in Cutter’s prosecution tact and retorts with, “I stayed, I watched…what was it I was supposed to learn?”  Zing!  Btw, Cutter is at the top of my settle scale.

THE PROSECUTION RESTS?

NO!  I cannot rest.  I recently realized why it’s been difficult for me to warm up to season 19.  No it’s not because old ironsides Sam Waterston plays a backburner role as DA.  I point the finger at senior & junior dectectives played by Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson.  These actors are readily identifiable from previous roles in other projects.  I cannot see past “Clueless“ , “Transformers”, and “The Departed”.  Not a historic trait of Dick Wolf.  What’s the deal here?  I’m filing for appeal.

A corrections officer may have deliberately set up a confrontation in prison that resulted in the death of an inmate who raped his colleague and girlfriend. IMDB

Pretty decent episode with a near Dream Team cast for me.  I’ll explain my Dream Team in more depth later, but its Orbach, Jesse Martin, Merkerson, Harmon, Waterson and Steven Hill as DA.  I don’t even know if that combination exists yet, but its my fav. This episode had all the elements except for Hill.

SUMMARY
Overall good epi, some minor twists and added drama from internal cop stuff - the corrections officers at Rikers.  One of the CO’s calls McCoy a pussy and I lept outta my seat.  Easy buddy.

EPIBITS

1. LINK: Matt Mulhern plays the defendant, Bennett.  I thought he looked familiar, he was in an episode I saw yesterday from 2008 in which he plays Chief Baranek and gives DA McCoy some gruff about a auxillary officer suspected of firing during a riot.
   
2. LINK: Welker White (you’d recognize her) plays Aronson, the defense attorney for Larson.  She plays Aronson again the next season.  Also a handful of other roles on Original Recipe and SVU - I think i recall her being the defendant before.
   
   
3. TIDBIT: Officer Bennett received an accommodation for breaking up a prison riot and risking his life - on March 4th, 1999.  My 19th birthday!

LENNY SEZ:

Det. Ed Green: I dunno, would a lawyer lie?
Lenny: There’s a first time for everything!

McCoy FTW:

If you allow the rule of law to stop at the wall of a prison, you’ve allowed it to stop everywhere, the streets of New York will be no better than the cells of Rikers

Angie Harmon

My favorite ADA of all time has to be Abbie Carmichael.  And, admittedly, it’s 100% because she’s played by the gorgeous Angie Harmon.

Angie Harmon on IMDB
A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael on IMDB

They’ve got a great recent post about Waterson, Kathryn Erbe (CI), and Chris Meloni (SVU) on celebrity Jeopardy!