User Reviews

The investigation here was a comparatively easy one. Although Briscoe and Green go down a wrong path briefly, simple forensics leads to the perpetrator who is someone who deliberately ran down a young girl he didn't even know. But when they find him, he's very dead and they have a new mystery.

Which also doesn't last too long. The victim was schizophrenic and prone to hallucinations which could turn deadly. S. Eptha Merkersson talks mother to mother to Ellen McLaughlin and elicits a confession quite spontaneously.

Probably given the circumstances McLaughlin would have got off light. But as it turns out her niece is an attorney at a real upper crust white shoe law firm played by Charissa Chamorro. She's looking for a big break, an acquittal for her aunt will guarantee her a partnership and the prized corner office in her firm.

She manipulates her aunt and client and tries to manipulate Elisabeth Rohm with whom she went to law school with. Fortunately Rohm remembers what a climber she was back then and she and Sam Waterston head her off at the pass.

The episode belongs to both Merkerssen who got the confession in a heart rending scene where she talks mother to mother with McLaughlin and to the scenes with Chamorro who is a real piece of work. In the end the jury asks a question that shows that they were listening with both ears and heart.

Another very good episode featuring the best assistant D.A., Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Röhm).

An old acquaintance of Serena's, Diane Payton (Ellen McLaughlin) tries to make her career by defending her aunt and manipulating Serena into helping her get information she couldn't get otherwise.

Fortunately, Serena manages to catch her in a lie that leads to a conviction.

Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) is his usual competent self as he manages to tear apart the mother and get that conviction.

Lt. Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) was especially good in this episode.

"Mother's Day" was one of those 'Law and Order' episodes on first watch that had a number of good things but did feel on the ordinary side and didn't stick in the mind long after. There are episodes of the show and the 'Law and Order' franchise in general that felt like this, but there are many on both counts where that type of episode on first watch fared better on rewatch and were better than remembered seeing it through older eyes.

Season 13's "Mother's Day" is one of those episodes, and despite the basic idea of the story not being a novel one it is still quite good, with the good things being many and some great. On paper it sounds fairly standard and is a bit ordinary to begin with, but the execution is more complex than that. When things become meatier and twistier "Mother's Day" becomes very intricate and it is one of those episodes that induces more than one strong emotion by its end.

As said, "Mother's Day" starts off a little on the ordinary side and didn't immediately grab me straightaway and did think too that the final 5 minutes or so were on the rushed side from trying to cram a lot in.

Elisabeth Rohm, apart from a few exceptions, was frequently rather cold and stiff when she was on the show and my mind is not changed here.

However, the rest of the performnaces are very good to excellent. S. Epatha Merkerson, who doesn't get enough credit on this show, gives one of her most touching performances. The scene with the confession obtaining does break the heart. Every bit as good is Charissa Chamarro, sinking her teeth into her juicy and wholly hateable role and is suitably loathsome. Jerry Orbach, Jesse L Martin and Sam Waterston are their usual great selves.

Moreover, it is as ever shot with the right amount of intimacy without feeling too up close, even with a reliance of close up camerawork. The music isn't over-scored, manipulative or used too much. There is intimacy and tautness in the direction. The script is intelligent and lean with no signs of fat. It also has intensity, emotional impact and even the odd sprinkle of humour. Really liked the storytelling too. A lot happens, without mostly being over-stuffed. It is complicated too without being convoluted, and it is basically one of those episodes that leaves one deep in thought and outraged.

To summarise, good but not great. 7/10.

A high school junior student had a little chat in a cafe with the owner. After (not) finishing her coffee she got out and she was killed by a hit-and-run. The victim, a straight As student who need a little tutoring only in chemistry, was in a neighborhood far from her home because she paid a visit to a local librarian who helped her out in doing homework. After the car had been found out, detectives realized it was driven by a troubled guy suffering from schizophrenia; at his shanty apartment he lied on the bed stabbed seven times. The grieving mother may have freaked out after all the efforts made to put his son on the right way: he heard voices that told him to kill people (the first time he kicked a person to death, but he was acquitted). The justification pursued by the defense attorney is an unbelievable one, but the jury could feel pity for the defendant.

An episode in which we see the friction between Serena and the defense attorney (Charissa Chamorro), an old acquaintance (not so close anyway) ready to do anything to take Serena place in the near future.

By this time in the series it's 50-50 whether or not you are going to get an interesting storyline or a retread....this episode started off very promising but slowly but surely around the 10-15 minute mark it wasn't difficult to see it was going to deteriorate into an "is he or she crazy or not" episode concerning the accused...the Lawyer scamming the other Lawyer angle doesn't work well here and the class envy digs are just silly for a show of this magnitude....Elizabeth Rohm is a lovely and capable actress yet annoying to listen to as She mumbles her lines so many times I have go back and turn up the volume to actually get clarification on her often nasally way of speaking...adding Fred Thompson as a "conservative" foil was a good idea and he will steal a scene or two but not here...again a wonderful start that turned into a boring episode where none of the actors were really convincing made you care...