User Reviews

It's brother against brother in this Law And Order story. There's a massacre with four people killed and one survivor who was literally in the right place to survive a gunman who came in to a fledgling magazine and just shot up the place.

The magazine is the brainchild of the son of millionairess Sada Thompson the widow of a food magnate. He's the spoiled younger son. It's her older son Peter Frechette who is the doer and who Jerry Orbach and Benjamin Bratt arrest.

But the trial is something else as Judge Louis Zorich just eviscerates Sam Waterston's case. The real story is the issue of double jeopardy.

Zorich is ultimately a tragic figure and this pains Steven Hill no end as the two have a lot of history together. As another reviewer said, Hill is outstanding in this story.

He really does make it worth watching.

In "Jeopardy", the story continues the seasons trend of dropping some computer technology elements into the story (it was 1995 after all) as we learn there's been a violent murder at the office of a tech magazine. Very quickly it becomes typical L&O though as we learn the fledgling magazine was funded by its founder's wealthy family.

The season is now 4-for-4 on white guy criminals, very standard L&O there. The detective story, once again, is unremarkable but a highlight is the legal story, which explores an interesting issue (suggested by the title) that most people should be able to understand.

Perhaps most notable is the expanded role of Adam Schiff in this episode, including his appearance in the police interrogation room, one of the great rarities of the show.

Fans of Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) will appreciate this episode. He gets to shine in 2 relatively short scenes, but they are two of my favorite scenes out of the entire 20 years of this superb show.

Whilst in the police interrogation room, Schiff gets to crack open, and close, the prosecution with his powerful, confident, yet typically laid back approach to being D.A.

At the end of the episode we learn the repercussions of his successful interrogation, and again feel the sadness associated with the results from doing the right thing.

Overall this is an above average episode of L&O, but Hill knocks it out of the park to make it a great one.

Adam Schiff:

"You got around double jeopardy...you climbed Everest in your shorts...on a very cold day".

With the episodes from 'Law and Order's' middle period and from its later seasons airing so often, it is very easy perhaps to overlook the early seasons. Meaning in my view pre-Season 7. That is a shame, because 'Law and Order' in its early years was more often than not good to fantastic with some truly fine episodes in each of the seasons in question. Wasn't blown away by every episode but when the show was at its best it was brilliant, and there were obvious good things in lesser episodes too.

That was in my view proven in the previous episode "Savages". It was proven again in the fourth episode of Season 6 "Jeopardy". The subject may not be as tough here in "Jeopardy", but the forceful yet tactful approach to handling tough material is again evident here. It has all the right ingredients executed beautifully and with no issues and it has the further bonus of doing a truly fine job with one character in particular, shining the most he did in a while.

Immediately standing out, and this is the character that "Jeopardy" does an especially fine job on, is Schiff. Here in a very personal case for him and his conflict comes over intensely and movingly. Steven Hill was always excellent as the character, and hardly ever gets enough credit, and Schiff always did have quality lines and exchanges (again not talked about enough). "Jeopardy" is one of his shining episodes in his most interesting appearance since Season 4's "Snatched".

"Jeopardy's" story is very engrossing, having tension and emotional impact. Personally didn't think that it was too standard, and Schiff's role did lift it above the ordinary. The writing is beautifully balanced and intelligent that explores the subject with force but also sensitivity. Schiff's jeopardy line is classic Schiff.

Moreover, there is typically great acting with Hill giving one of his best performances of the show. "Jeopardy" is well made, intimately photographed and slick with no signs of under-budget or anything. The music didn't sound melodramatic or too constant and the direction is accommodating while still having pulse.

Another outstanding episode overall. 10/10