Review of The Family Hour

So L&O's weakest season draws to a close with this uneven episode. The episode itself is all over the place much like the season itself, involving murders most foul committed within a wealthy and politically connected family with a dark history of abuse. The mechanics of the murder investigation and subsequent trial seem very contrived (the case apparently hinges upon the murdering Senator having read a book in which a murderer gets away with it by way of a concocted self defense story - all very Murder She Wrote), and the entire family all seem as ghastly as each other, however the real drama is in the casting problems behind the scenes; this is Milena Govich's final show as Det Cassady - she never seemed to be a proper fit on the show both in terms of the actress and the character she played. Unlike prior departures on the show, poor Det Cassady gets ushered out of L&O off camera after botching an interrogation and getting eviscerated by Van Buren and indeed is never even mentioned again! Her character never seemed convincing as a Homicide Detective, Lt Van Buren never took to her (neither did most of the audience seemingly) and the producers never quite seemed to know what do with her, so her departure wasn't really of much consequence.

This episode is also a swan song for Fred Dalton Thompson's much more memorable DA Branch - it's never addressed directly on camera but he drops a heavy hint in the final scene that he'll leaving soon - which he does indeed.

Two other highlights are Alana de la Garcia's standout turn as ADA Rubirosa, who gets her spot in the sun delivering a memorable closing argument at trial, and Jeremy Sisto as the Defence Attorney - in fact he was so attention grabbing the producers cast him in the following season as poor old Det Cassady's replacement!!