User Reviews

George Dzundza and Chris Noth get a call on a young girl clinging to life after being strangled and her larynx crushed. Later she passes away.

The girl was a spirited lass who had an active sex life. The night of her death she had sex with two people, one of them her killer.

The police settle on Thomas Calabro who is most unmistakably modeled on Robert Chambers dubbed 'The Preppy Killer' by the tabloid press of the time. One of those strikingly handsome individuals who women and gay men just line up for.

Calabro is from an old money name with a lot of that cash having been spent by a previous generation. He'll enjoy himself along the way for certain, but is looking to marry wealthy and he's dumped the deceased for the wealthy Marita Geraghty.

Calabro is also not someone used to hearing the word "no". Kind of a young Donald Trump.

The problem is that of reputation. There are laws against hearsay testimony so that defendants are only convicted of the facts involving what crime they are accused of. But victims have no such protection. It is really a heartbreaking to see Michael Moriarty try and tell the deceased's parents that tabloid stories about their daughter are not based on information from his office or the police.

At one point all he has is hearsay.

You watch the episode to see how Moriarty makes use of it.

"Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" is only the fourth episode of one of my most watched shows and already the quality is very high. Even if it got even higher later, when stronger characters (Lennie Briscoe being one of the prime examples) and chemistry between characters that gelled even more appeared and made a solid, well done show a great one and a personal favourite. Post-Briscoe not quite so much.

Like the previous three episodes, "Prescription for Death", "Subtarranean Homeboy Blues" and "The Reaper's Helper", "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" is still a very good episode with an enormous amount to admire. Even if understandably 'Law and Order' had not yet hit its stride, but am not going to be hard on the episode for that as that isn't really fair. The subject matter this episode covers/addresses is like those for the previous three episodes well worth talking about. It doesn't quite have the emotional impact or is as hard to watch of the others, especially "The Reaper's Helper" with AIDS, but it goes into a little more depth than before with its subject and handles it just as sensitively.

The episode is a strong example of what 'Law and Order' is best at. Being seeing how the detectives work and solve their cases, what work goes into preparing defence and especially prosecution, the tackling of difficult and relevant subjects (so far up to this point 'Law and Order' did well at this) and moral dilemmas. Of the four episodes up to this point, "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" has the most moral dilemmas perhaps. Everything with reputation, hearsay and justice has much conflict with the difficulties in getting a conviction, the episode does so sensitively with no bias and it is a hardly out of date subject now.

Story-wise, "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" is a tricky one. Not because it's hard to follow or anything, there was no problem on that front and it was interesting seeing how the detectives work. Merely on how one feels watching the episode and how hard it is to get justice. One can understand and feel the parents' pain when seeing their scene with Stone. The story is also absorbing and is paced without being rushed or draggy. Of the character writing, the easy standout is still Stone. A very juicy character with some of the episode's best lines, such as the exchange regarding justice with Robinette.

Acting is still fine, George Dzundza and Chris Noth have enough of the hard-boiled edge needed for their roles, even if their chemistry has yet to gel fully, and Michael Moriaty's authority and dryness adds hugely to his juicy part. The grit in the production values still remains, as does the music that avoids over-scoring.

Did think though that there weren't enough suspects and Loomis could have been written with more subtlety perhaps so that one wasn't as convinced as to what side of guilty or innocent he was on.

On the whole, very good. 8/10

When the young woman Paige Bartlett is found deadly injured on the bed of her apartment, Detectives Greevy and Logan investigate the case. Soon they learn that she was raped and murdered with a crushed larynx. Their further investigation shows that she had intercourses with two men that night. The first was the comic books designer Steve and then she met her former boyfriend Ned Loomis, who is a broken investor. Loomis has the alibi of his fiancée, the wealthy Rebecca. But when Stone and Robinette find that a woman named Elise Brody has filed charges against Loomis and they see a chance to convict Loomis.

"Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" is another good episode of "Law & Order". The plot is well developed, with the defense lawyer trying to sell the image of the victim as a promiscuous woman that had sex with two men in the same night. The reaction of her parents is heartbreaking and it is very difficult to Stone to convict the cynical killer. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Amando e Matando" ("Loving and Dying")