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Post by Patcat on May 30, 2007 13:52:41 GMT -5
This episode will air June 6, 2007, at 7pm EST on the USA Network.
First aired March 9, 2003. The 16th show aired of Season 2.
Directed by: Darnel Martin
Written by: Warren Leight and Rene Balcer
Guest Cast: Joel Grey (Milt Winters), Clifton Powell (Dempsey Powers), Sean Nelson (Taye Powers)
Brief Synopsis: A series of murders surrounds a business mogul recently released from prison. Goren and Eames discover the deaths are rooted in the mogul's unlikely relationship with another prison inmate.
Point of interest: Joel Grey is probably best known for his performances in musical theatre, especially as the Emcee in the original Broadway cast of CABARET. He received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar when he reprised the role in the film version. His co-star in the film, Liza Minnelli, also received an Oscar, as did the film's director, the great Bob Fosse. Roy Scheider later portrayed a Fosse like character in the director's ALL THAT JAZZ. I'm not sure what all this proves, but some serendipity seems to be going on.
Another episode from the highly favored Season Two, but one that hasn't generated much commentary on the board. It is a sold, well-written, ably acted and nicely plotted episode. So, why the lack of comments about it?
How believable is the relationship between Dempsey Powers and Milt Winters? Come to think of it, how believable is it that Milt Winters and Dempsey Powers would wind up in the same prison?
LOCI frequently deals with the relationships between fathers and sons--it's also a frequent theme in Warren Leight's plays (notably SIDE MAN). There are several real and surrogate father/son relationships depicted in CUBA LIBRE, and one father/daughter relationship--that of Eames and her father--referred to. How are these depicted? How does Dempsey Powers' relationship with his son Taye compare with the one with Milt Powers? And what about Milt's relationship with his own father?
What sort of a reception awaited Dempsey Powers and his son in Cuba?
Dempsey Powers is a nasty piece of work, made all the more chilling for his ability to see into people--he certainly knows what buttons to push with Eames--and his outward charm. Is he or Milt the villain of this story? How does he compare with other LOCI bad guys?
We learn some things about Goren and Eames in this episode. How is their professional and personal relationship portrayed?
Comment: Eames is the more emotionally involved detective in this episode, as she frequently is when the case involves police officers. Her father served with some of the cops Dempsey Powers attacked, so her involvement is logical. It's Goren who plays the role of detached observer in this story. He's in the Army when Powers is first arrested, so Goren is even physically absent. In the midst of all these real and imagined fathers, Goren is fatherless. In the end, Goren moves both Powers and Winters across the board with the ease of a chess grandmaster.
The Eames Snark: Eames (reacting to Powers' calling her a devil):
"You should see me in a blue dress."
The Goren Observation: "You know it's a shame all this trust and loyalty...Look where it gets you."
Patcat
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Post by Cassie on May 30, 2007 20:00:24 GMT -5
"bling bling" I never heard of this expression before this epsiode  |
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Post by DonnaJo on May 30, 2007 21:11:53 GMT -5
On a totally shallow note, I love when Goren demonstrates the "gansta" style of shooting a gun, both at the initial crime scene and in the interrogation room with the perp.
At least we get to see him actually handling his weapon.
Also love the outdoor scenes, the use of a bitter cold New York City to convey a certain mood. Goren & Eames undercover at the dock, knocking the shooter off his bike with the hockey stick. I sure miss that stuff.
I like how Joel Grey's character really laid into Goren & Carver in that scene in Carver;'s office. Very realistic. I always feel like everyone is so polite on CI, perps & witnesses included. Much more so than the other Law & Orders.
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Leticia
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 74
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Post by Leticia on May 30, 2007 22:01:40 GMT -5
Ah, you're picking all my favourite episodes! This is another I watch over and over... and I do love the scene DonnaJo mentioned with the "gangsta" shooting demonstrated. Not just because of the causal clothes and actual handling of a weapon, but because I love that Goren takes the bullets out before demonstrating with his gun. It is very unlikely that he would accidentally fire it, but he visibly and obviously takes out the bullets for safety and also, I like to think, because he doesn't want it to be a threatening move. Goren doesn't want to scare the kid into confessing by waving his gun about, that's not his style. Maybe gun safety means most sensible people would do that in real life (I know nothing of firearms), but on TV it's an unexpected detail that I find very Goren.
That bike boy is in so far over his head, and yet he seems to have no remorse. Eames is furiously incredulous at his attitude. You can see her wanting to force some realization of how awful murder is into his head. In fact, that seems to be a theme of the episode. No one seems to feel even a twinge of regret at the deaths they cause, despite how unwarranted every single death is. The wife really loves Milt, the lawyer is just as faithful, the son is fine with being cut out... but Milt wants them dead and lies and rants unflinchingly about being the real victim. I know he's rather crazy, but oooh I long to force realization on him. Or slap him. Milt is out of jail a few hours before doing what got him in there last time! What an idiot! He should know he's too incompetant to hire a hitman by now! He's so ridiculous that this becomes one of those wonderful black comedy episodes, but I really do want to slap him. And that woman was never going back to her old boyfriend either, even if the prison driver had her new boyfriend killed. It was all pointless and no one cares except the girlfriend with the vase. We see very little grief, which keeps the tone fairly light for CI, but disturbs me a little.
My only issue is that they figure out a little too quickly what the motive for the hidden Powers hit was. Lots of people have vases! It's not an impossible leap of logic, but it is incredibly quick. Scenes like that make me wonder if any other police even bothered to try and investigate the murder before MCS got involved. It takes a few minutes once they get Goren in!
Okay, and question- this is one of those many L&O eps (not just CI) where they threaten the death penalty, but I was under the impression that the death penalty was only sort of used in NY? Suspended in some way? Or hardly ever used? Am I mistaken? Every other villain on L&O has it leveraged against them, but unless I'm wrong (and I may be), wouldn't any half decent lawyer know that this was a relatively empty threat? Although biker boy doesn’t have a lawyer I suppose.
Also, I love Goren’s ease with cards! Can you really sort a deck that fast? I am impressed. I wonder how Goren got so good with them anyway. I bet there’s a story there.
Anyway, tis half almost four in the morning here and I have to go to bed! I shall watch the episode tomorrow and see if anything else occurs to me.
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Leticia
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 74
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Post by Leticia on May 30, 2007 22:18:20 GMT -5
And Patcat, since I should maybe focus on an actual question asked , Dempsey is the real villain, even if we don't know it till wonderfully late in the game. Milt is too ridiculous to be the "main" villain, while Dempsey is a chilling puppet master. He always planned on Milt getting caught (which on a side note seems to me an odd estimation of the police- he believed that they would uncover Milt's crimes from obscure clues like playing cards, but not his) and on sort of testifying against him. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't put the idea in his head in the first place, whispering about marital infidelity and lawyer incompetence over those years in Greenhaven. Also, one of the lighter portrayals of jail. CI is always more moderate that SVU or CSI (where you can't go to jail for a minute without being brutally raped and disfigured. If you are innocent you are usually dead by the end of the episode). I know jail is pretty awful in this ep and in real life, they don't glamorise it and Milt was protected, but he almost seemed to enjoy it! |
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Post by Patcat on May 30, 2007 22:56:20 GMT -5
New York State's death penalty was declared unconstitutional about two or so years ago (whether by a state or federal court I'm not sure), and the state isn't fighting for it. Even before that, it'd been about 20 years since the last execution in the state. It's one of the many reasons Carver's threat of using the death penalty in WANT is pretty useless.
Patcat
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Post by diablodeblanco on May 30, 2007 23:52:39 GMT -5
Don't know how Goren got good with cards, but I read somewhere (can't remember it right now) that he wanted to be a magician at some point. He did a little magic trick with a crayon and a little girl in an episode early on. Just a little sleight of hand.
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Post by diablodeblanco on May 30, 2007 23:55:41 GMT -5
It is late and I am not paying attention to what the heck I am typing......I meant to type in the preceding post that VDO liked to play around with the magic stuff. Sorry.
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meggyd
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 112
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Post by meggyd on May 31, 2007 6:10:07 GMT -5
I, too, liked this episode. I found the Joel Gray character cartoonish and foolish in a way, which made his ruthlessness, when it was laid out clearly, seem more chilling. But I thought the real villain was really Dempsey Powers - who had so much power in the old neighbourhood even after being in prison for all those years that people would kill for him, who could put such a spin on every event that he actually believed he was innocent and could convince others he was the victim too.
I liked the part Eames got to play in this, one of the first episodes where she provided the background information on the crimes and she recognised Dempsey's wife and son and their significance. Her knowledge and past experiences contributed a great deal to solving the crime, it didn't all rely on Goren's knowledge and analysis. Also, loved her playing the "bad cop" in their little sting.
Goren's orchestration of the final showdown was masterful. You could see the wheels turning as he looked at the pictures, and came up with the exact words to cause a rift between the Milt and Dempsey. A really well written denoument.
I enjoyed the episode, thought there were many clever things in it, and have watched it many times, but it isn't one of my all time favourites. The character of Milt put me off it a bit, while believable, he was just so repulsive!
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effie
Detective
off chasing plot bunnies...
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Post by effie on May 31, 2007 7:50:30 GMT -5
I promise I'll get to the real questions/discussion on this eppy ... but I have to throw out that I LOVE the look between bike boy's attorney and Goren after Goren has tried to force him out onto the ferry and he falls down in fear. As they're leading him away his female attorney gives Goren a look that could kill and he kind of shrugs back. Very small but makes me giggle every time I see it. Just another reminder that everyone doesn't love Goren as much as we do!
Actually bike boy gives a really good performance in the interrogation room. His final "I'm done." to Eames has always struck me as a wonderful line reading. And clearly frustrates Eames a lot!
Not my favorite episode on the whole, but there are a lot of really nice things about it.
I remember being shocked one of the first times I watched it when Eames sort of off handedly says "... you would have been in Germany then..." Back in the good old days when information on the characters was so rare! But itsa good episode where they both bring something to the table to solve the crime... Eames with her departmental history, Goren with his insights into the minds of Milt and Dempsey.
"It's all love for DP!"
more later after some more caffeine...
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Post by Patcat on May 31, 2007 8:34:22 GMT -5
Mr. D'Onofrio has commented in several interviews that if he hadn't been an actor he might have been a magician, and I've read several stories where it's reported that he worked as a street magician.
Patcat
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Post by musicwench on May 31, 2007 10:00:30 GMT -5
This certainly is one of the best of the LOCI episodes. This was most excellent in giving us more personal insights into our two favorite detectives and yet still remaining focused on the crime at hand.
It's interesting to look at these things from our current perspective, knowing what we know through season 6 and the whole idea of a surrogate father and son relationship, which can be reflected in Declan Gage and Goren's relationship. Seems every relationship is shattered and stomped on in the end. It is a rather dark outlook on these things.
I have to watch this one again soon. I haven't actually watched this one in a while for more detailed commentary. LOL From what I could see, Powers is more of a villan because I give Winters a partial pass for being a bit delusional and paranoid. I know it's not an excuse but it seems Powers just seemed more calculating because he seemed to be more lucid and grounded in reality.
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Leticia
Silver Shield Investigator
Posts: 74
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Post by Leticia on May 31, 2007 13:40:43 GMT -5
I promise I'll get to the real questions/discussion on this eppy ... but I have to throw out that I LOVE the look between bike boy's attorney and Goren after Goren has tried to force him out onto the ferry and he falls down in fear. As they're leading him away his female attorney gives Goren a look that could kill and he kind of shrugs back. Very small but makes me giggle every time I see it. Just another reminder that everyone doesn't love Goren as much as we do! That is a great moment! She gives Goren the dirtiest look for all his carry on. You can just see her mentally tutting at his nonsense. |
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Post by Summerfield on May 31, 2007 19:46:19 GMT -5
While I enjoy the episode, it's never been a real favorite. I think it's because I can't get over Joel Grey. Everytime I watch, I think, "stop acting!" It's television not the stage.
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Post by Techguy on Jun 3, 2007 1:00:24 GMT -5
Another episode from the highly favored Season Two, but one that hasn't generated much commentary on the board. It is a sold, well-written, ably acted and nicely plotted episode. So, why the lack of comments about it? How believable is the relationship between Dempsey Powers and Milt Winters? Come to think of it, how believable is it that Milt Winters and Dempsey Powers would wind up in the same prison? What sort of a reception awaited Dempsey Powers and his son in Cuba? Dempsey Powers is a nasty piece of work...Is he or Milt the villain of this story? How does he compare with other LOCI bad guys? |
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Patrick Roy, 2006 inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame