User Reviews

The folks at Law And Order were clearly running out of ideas for the prime show when this one got aired. An army recruiting station got blown up and a woman and her infant son were staying inside, the infant died.

The sergeant in charge of the station at least tells Anthony Anderson and Jeremy Sisto he can expect a court martial for allowing this. The woman was the wife of an MIA in Iraq and she's played by Mackenzie Mauzy. Soon enough grief is not the emotion she's displaying.

Another suspect is Brian Smith who lost a sister in Iraq, a sister he helped raise through the foster care system. He admits to throwing a brick through the recruiting office, but that's all.

It's possible though I doubt it that Sisto and Anderson might have gotten the right perpetrator if left to their own devices. But this episode advances the insane notion that S. Epatha Merkersson is saddled with a citizen's crime fighting group to 'aid' in the investigation. Their help muddies the case against both possible perpetrators.

I can't think that the NYPD would countenance this. It's just too much to swallow. What were they thinking and Law And Order.

During the course of the investigation Anderson and Sisto go to the small coal mining town in Pennsylvania to visit Maury's in-laws and see that her missing husband had a couple of fingers missing from one hand, courtesy of fooling around with blasting caps. I'm sorry, but this soldier is one guaranteed 4-F back in the day when we had a draft. No way would he be allowed to enlist today.

I'm sorry, but this episode expected too much from the viewer.

Am giving this average rating and review with a heavy heart. Am actually a reviewer who loves the original 'Law Order' and also 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent' in their prime, so this is hardly coming from somebody who is hating on every episode. In fact a vast majority of my reviews for the original 'Law and Order' are positive and even the weakest episodes to me aren't misfires. Have also said many times about surprisingly liking Season 19 at a point where there was a running out of ideas feel.

"Crimebusters" is one of the three disappointments of the season, the others being "Lost Boys" and "Falling", and is for me the weakest of the three. It is not a terrible episode, none of the episodes from Season 19 fit that definition, but "Crimebusters" did come very close to being a misfire actually in my view. It has some of the usual good things, but also has too many flaws, most story and writing related which are big enough flaws to drag anything down.

There are things that come over well. The production values are still slick and suitably gritty (without being too heavy in it). The music is not too melodramatic and is not used too much, even not being too manipulative in revelations. There are thoughtful and entertaining moments in the script.

Did think too that the acting was fine, particularly from the regulars and namely in the second half. The episode starts off quite well.

Sadly, "Crimebusters" also could have been a lot better. A big problem is the story, which just doesn't work. It feels tired, due to doing nothing new with what it includes, all done before and with much more freshness. Instead of becoming more exciting later, the episode flagged as a result of a running out of ideas feel.

It is incredibly far fetched too, with too many things that wouldn't happen in real life (or at least plausibly or normally), like with the crime fighting group aiding the investigation. The script lacks tautness and is pretty bland. There could have been a lot more tension and things that were less obvious.

Overall, disappointing. 5/10.