2:04 - "Best Defense" 2002-10-20

[Techguy]

There doesn't appear to be an already existing thread for this Season 2 episode so I'll start one if anyone wants to discuss it.

I do have a question about it, perhaps someone can help me out. Det. Goren sets out his trap for Peter Bonham by changing Martinez's statement to say three phone calls instead of two. Goren reasons that Bonham will either support his wife Linda's alibi or the erroneous statement, thereby indicating his plan to incriminate his wife for murder.

My question is, how did Goren happen to pick a date for the phantom phone call on precisely the day that the Bonhams were in Connecticut, which provides Linda Bonham with her alibi? I can't figure out if Goren just got lucky, or if the laundry list of his many talents and gifts also includes clairvoyance?

[NikkiGreen]

I believe there was a gasoline charge receipt, from CT, for that date.

[Techguy]

So when Goren suddenly amended the Martinez statement and had it re-typed, he remembered the CT gasoline receipt and the exact date to include on the new version? OK, I'll concede that Goren's legendary photographic memory and talent for total recall is called into action here.

I also think it's rather interesting that Linda Bonham takes one look at the new Martinez statement and immediately recalls being in Connecticut on the day of the phony third phone call. Maybe lawyers are better at remembering dates than I am, but I have a hard time remembering what I had for lunch the day before, much less my exact whereabouts on a random date.

[NikkiGreen]

Never mind remembering what I had for lunch the day before, sometimes I don't remember where I'm at!

Seriously now, I do recall out of the ordinary trips and outings (a break from the 'norm') even months after the fact.

But then, I do make a note of all appointments and events in my organizer. Have for years (maybe, that's why I don't remember the now, as I've gotten used to relying on written things). ;D

[Techguy]

I can "remember" events if I have my trusty organizer to help me. But I was amazed that Linda Bonham looked at the Martinez statement and immediately remembered going to Connecticut on the date the third phone call was supposedly made.

[janetcatbird]

Oh, I dunno. I may have to trace back, but if it was an event they'd been planning for a while it might have stuck in their minds. Besides, if the wife was being charged, wouldn't she have been reviewing dates/times to come up with her alibis?

[Metella]

I am just not going to help this arguement .... I totally agree with both sides of this; one she got it too quickly UNLESS she had been the one making all the plans & the calander date was stuck in her mind or it was a special date that they would always remember.

[MelTex]

This one kinda stumped me too.
But as a lawyer, the moment she was charged, I think she would have been compiling all her appoinments and schedules to make alabis for herself.

Personally, I liked actually getting to see Carver a little more in this ep. Especially when he stares down Goren in the end scene, obviously peeved that he was kept out of the loop. LOL.
Maybe thats why he's some what hard-nosed with them sometimes in later seasons, ... "burn me once..." that sort of thing...

[kawaiidragonfoe821]

thank god for the USA network!! i missed most of season 2 so that was a real treat, my heart rate went up 30 points when i realized it was one i hadnt seen!!!

[lisianthus]

In all these L&O shows, I'm amazed when they question people about what they were doing last week or last month- The people always seem to KNOW. I would have no idea what I was doing last week, Tuesday at 3 PM.

But I guess the show would go alot slower if no one knew or had to 'look it up'.

[Metella]

Yeah, I can see this lawyer having looked over the dates by the time we get to the scene in question .... but just the witnesses off the street or the suspects questioned off the cuff, I sure wouldn't know unless I got my day book out & even then I may not be sure, certainly not sure enough to stake my next 20 years of freedom on.

[Patcat]

It's a legitimate complaint about a lot of crime fiction--that suspects know exactly what they were doing at a specific time. It's not just a weakness of LOCI. I understand that cops are occasionally suspicious of suspects who are a little too quick with a very specific alibi.

The husband, of course, made one of those classic mistakes. If he hadn't taken the bait Goren offered--if the husband had told the truth, or just said he couldn't remember--there might not have been a case against him. But he just had to try to put another nail in the coffin, something Goren, with his view of how the husband's head worked, bet would happen.

Patcat

[KMC]

Did anyone catch a scene...and I can't check where it is right now...I'm taping Monk for a friend...where they're interviewing the slightly snooty couple who were at the house the night of the shooting...and Goren starts doing the thing little kids love to do...he started imitating the physical gestures and poses the man was doing...until by the end of the scene he was an almost perfect duplicate of the man. It was subtle...but it was a hoot...I can't help wondering if it was scripted...or something VDO or the director thought of.

[Metella]

Now that would be funny ..... I'm going to remember to look for that when I watch it again.

[MelTex]

I saw that, and it was hilarious to see Goren copying the "stuck up" husband. He even plays off the husband's comment about spreading gossip, by saying, "Oh my partner loves that kind of stuff."

Clearly he wanted more info, but playing it off on Eames, made her give him this look that said..." Oh I do..do I?" Sometimes I think Eames still, after all these years, gets taken aback by his antics. *giggle*

And I imagine, VDO thought up the idea to mimic the husband...he is the perfect mimic after all...lol ;D