So it was about 9:30pm and I’d just gotten back home from Tai Chi, and sat down on the couch to eat an orange. It was at this time when I began to feel overwhelmed with how bland and rehashed the plots are for this heinous franchise.
Does no one else see that every episode is just as strict adherent to the ‘cop show archetype’ as the episode before it?
At the start we will always see two random people doing something that involves stumbling across a dead body (lets just say hypothetically the victim [male] had a clock smashed over his face). Then the oldest and most jaded ‘seen it all’ detective will make some really lame pun like “looks like he ran into an unTIMEly death”. This is to illustrate how over the years he has become desensitized to the brutality and nature of violent crime being swift, frequent and dealt at any time. Cut to theme song.
The two detectives will interview a few suspects, the younger one often displaying street smarts and the ability to use the slang that youth talk, while the older one acts more conservative and ‘by the book’ to emphasize their authority and how the suspect is up against a benign institution that rules with the iron fist of the law.
About three suspects in and we’ll have the one they decide to prosecute. The defendant will almost always play on some technicality and angle that appeals to the jury’s sympathy, thus hindering any chance of a smooth running second half hour.
Right before the last add break the older experienced lawyer and the more idealistic’ younger female lawyer will be in the chamber reading up for their last speech, when against all regulations, the D.A. (District Attorney) will provide them with the overlooked path to successfully prosecute their case with no ifs or buts. They always put this part right before the ad break so you ponder all the eventualities of how this may influence the verdict (it’s always guilty).
Now for the last five minutes of the episode. We get to have the more experienced lawyer go on some self righteous diatribe reducing the defendant to tears and blabbing on about what society will come to if they don’t find the defendant guilty. By the end of the episode, our conception of morality has been re-assessed leaving our ‘small l’ liberal views on the judiciary system validated and reinforced.
Fuck Law and Order.
Tags: television hate
February 4, 2010 at 5:19 am |
I agree with you on these shows reinforcing ‘small l’ liberal views on society. These are the shows with unoriginal plots that I really hate. They’re literally everywhere.
February 14, 2010 at 10:41 pm |
“Law and Order – turning the world into a totalitarian nightmare one show at a time.”"