User Reviews

In "Savages" we quickly learn that an undercover cop, posing as a stolen goods salesman, has been murdered. Briscoe and Curtis discuss their "blue collar" feelings about the newly-instated death penalty for cop killers in New York, setting the stage for an episode that is big on the legal and philosophical story and nearly omits the whodunit.

The cops quickly find damning evidence that a white guy did it (3 for 3 on the season so far) and even though there's the nearly obligatory throwing-out-of-the-damning-evidence-on-a-technicality, McCoy cannily sidesteps that and all we see of the trial is the guilty verdict being delivered.

This all makes for a boring whodunit but the legal story makes this one worthwhile. This episode is all about the moral and legal argument over the death penalty. We get a genuinely good scene where Schiff has a soul-searching session with a retired judge friend, and a legal challenge of the state's right to take a life, which has surprising legal depth to find on a network TV show but I'm not sure how much I could take away from it.

It's okay as a legal drama. Not a lot of suspense, unfortunately, but the legal and moral questions raised are surprisingly decent for network television. Season 6 is, if nothing else, striving to be different and innovative at the cop show format.

'Law and Order' was incredibly good at exploring challenging topics and themes that hit hard and are still relevant and important to address. It was also, as has been said more than once in previous reviews, incredibly good at exploring them in an honest and pull no punches way and in a way that still holds up. While liking the previous two Season 6 episodes and finding them promising, which did have to cope with that there was a major change to the cast, they didn't blow me away.

"Savages" however always has blown me away. Maybe not one of the all-time great 'Law and Order' episodes, but it's the first outstanding episode of Season 6 (a big upgrade from the previous two episodes) and one of my favourites from Season 6. It is also one of the most interesting and one of the ones that has always sparked much discussion with family and friends. Namely with its handling of the whole death penalty argument, something of much controversy still today, and it was good to see that people's opinions on whether it's right or wrong were similar back then, except expressed more tactfully here (the pro side of the argument is a lot more vicious now).

Everything is brilliant here. The production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The direction is sympathetic but also alert. All the regulars are absolutely terrific, particularly in the scenes detailing the death penalty debate that the episode centres around. So primarily Sam Waterston.

Victor Garber is strong casting in his role, was surprised to see the side to him that he shows. Was not sure as to whether he'd pull it off but he does. "Savages" contains some of the most thought probing and most compelling real writing of Season 6, it was absolutely brilliant to have an episode that explores the dilemmas and arguments surrounding the death penalty and do so so realistically. This is especially apparent in McCoy and Kincaid's exchange where their views on it are revealed to each other, where it was very easy to see both points of view and side of the argument.

The story is engrossing throughout and is not predictable (was not expecting the perpetrator for instance). The policing aspect of it fares so much better than it did in the previous two episodes of the season and the first episode of the season where the quality is near-equal to the even more brightly shining legal scenes. Curtis was a bit ehh in the previous two episodes and was a bit up and down throughout Season 6, but he actually works better and he is more interesting, like when we see more of his intimidation tactics, and he and Briscoe are slowly gelling (another aspect that was somewhat yo-yoing in the season) as a team despite being a very odd couple.

In conclusion, brilliant. 10/10

one of the great things about Law & Order was the way truly terrific actors, many of them theater pros who live and work in the NYC area, would appear on this show, often in major roles, and this is a prime example, with the wonderful Victor Garber as the bad guy. He's known to musical theater devotees in particular -- he's been in several Encores! productions, among other things.

another feature of this particular episode is the highly realistic dialog on the politics of the death penalty in New York, with McCoy saying -- accurately -- in a show filmed in 1995 -- that Pataki rode the issue to Albany. Mario Cuomo lost to Pataki in 1994 because he consistently vetoed death penalty bills. Rarely do you hear such politically astute dialog on a TV show.

I also loved the scene in the "Magistrate's Club" (could be a stand-in for the University Club, Harvard Club, Yale Club etc.) where Adam Schiff seeks guidance from his friend, a judge, on what to do -- he has to make the call whether or not to seek the death penalty. Such conversations do happen.

and as a lawyer myself I always appreciate the scenes of lawyers working late at their desks, eating take out Chinese (although unlike McCoy I don't sip scotch at my desk).

and even the appellate court argument over "substantive due process" was well done for an hour-long show -- and I say this as someone who's briefed that issue (albeit not in a death penalty case).

One of the great Law & Orders.

No surprise the Writers Concoct an episode against the death penalty.

Law and Order does everything in it's power to tank the death penalty for a donation in kind political ad against Pataki. Most of the evidence gets thrown out, DA's all against the death penalty get a conviction which will go to appeals that is anti death yet prior punted.