POISON: EPISODE OF THE WEEK

[Patcat]

Will air 1 pm (EST) March 12, and 12 am(EST) March 13, on the USA Network. First aired November 11, 2001. Episode Seven of Season One.

Written by Stephanie Sengupta
Directed by Gloria Muzio

Guest Actors:
J. Smith-Cameron as Trudy Palmeranski (Ms. Smith-Cameron would return as a surviving victim of Mark Ford Brady in ENDGAME)
Anita Gillette as Lorretta Martin (Trudy's Mom)
Jesse L. Martin as Detective Ed Green
Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe

Synopsis: The investigation of a series of patients with unexplained heart failures at a hospital leads to a drug tamperer with an unusual motive.

Ripped from the headlines:
This story is based on the Stella Nickell case. Ms. Nickell was sentenced to 90 years in prison for two deaths resulting from Excedrin capsules she poisoned with cyanide. Her story is very much like Trudy's, except it was her daughter who turned her in and Ms. Nickell wanted to open a tropical fish store. Details at
en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Nickell

I thought this story was based on the Tylenol tampering case, which has been in the news again recently with attention on the main suspect. I found it very chilling that there was real life counterpart to Trudy.

Quotes:

Deakins: "When you talk to the families, try to curb your enthusiasm."

Deakins: "She's all the wonderful things you said our angel of death would be."

Carver: "Profiling is an art, not a science."

Eames: "For once, I was really hoping you were wrong."

Goren: What about the great American pasttime?"
Eames: "Which one, dieting or cheating on your taxes?"
Goren: "Suing."

Goren (to Briscoe and Green): "But if it were to leak out, it wouldn't be a bad thing."

Deakins: "Someone had to be first."
Goren: "Well, as Leonard Palmeransky might say, Why me?"

Goren: "Wedding pictures? I like to look at wedding pictures."

Goren: "Something here stinks."
Eames: "Too bad it's not almonds."

Deakins (to Goren): "Going to share with the rest of the class?"

Goren (to Carver): "C'mon, you have the grand jury eating out of your hand. I'll bet you could indict that clock."

Carver (to the grand jury): "I...I'm going to have to ask you to trust me on this one."

Carver: "From a wink to a nod to an indictment."

Defense Attorney (to Carver): "Right. Was my client indicted before or after the ham sandwich?"

Goren: "Cutie Bear is going to become "Cyanide Bear" to most people."

Goren: "That's what dreams are made of...Bad dreams."

Queries:

Trudy poisons innocent people. She poisons her mother's roommate even after seeing the woman surrounded by her family. She's perfectly willing to let her ailing mother go to jail until this hurts Trudy's plans. How does Trudy rank among LOCI villains?

As coldblooded as she is, is Trudy a worthy opponent for Goren and Eames?

Why is Trudy the way she is? Her mother seems nice enough.

Is it cruel to bring Trudy's mother in and charge her with the crimes? What will happen to her? Does she have a case to sue for false arrest?

Would Trudy have gotten away with her scam if Goren and Eames hadn't been on the case?

How do Goren and Eames interact with Briscoe and Green?

What will happen to Colleen, the angel of death? (Although no one actually died because of her actions.)

How effective is Goren's presentation?

Deakins defends his detectives before the Brass. Does the Captain deserve the Brass' criticism?

How did Bobby come to know the tree huggers?

Does Deakins ever find out where the leak came from?

Some observations:

Goren and Eames appear to have no sympathy whatsoever for Trudy.

Goren and Eames do NOT like to be sandbagged by anyone, but especially self serving people like the hospital administrator.

Colleen sure fit Goren's profile. Almost too well.

I wonder how difficult it is for the actors playing the corpses to keep a straight face when Mr. D'Onofrio is giving them the full Goren exam treatment.

I love how Ms. Erbe and Mr. D'Onofrio convey Eames and Goren's reaction to the news the story has leaked (obviously from Detectives Briscoe and Green).

Comments:
A dark story with a coldblooded antagonist that I found both moving (in its depictions of the victims and their families) and funny. There may be more snark per minute in this episode than any other of LOCI, and all of the main characters get some. We get to see Carver in action, a sense that Goren and Eames are not alone in Major Case, that Major Case isn't the only squad in the NYPD, and Deakins having to deal with the Brass. Add to that scenes of Goren running (I'm a sucker for Mr. D'Onofrio's goofy, lumbering gait), and Lenny Briscoe (God Bless you, Jerry Orbach), and you've got a great episode.

Submitted for your comments and consideration.

Patcat

[idget]

This is another episode that I watched when I first bought the DVD but it didn't really impress me on first viewing. So when I saw it was an episode of the week I thought it would be a good chance to review it again. I did like it better the 2nd time around. There were a lots of snarks which was good. Both Goren and Eames looked good in this episode. I also like that Deakins was featured a lot, I think it really showed what a hard job he has sometimes caught between the brass and his detectives.

Queries:

Trudy poisons innocent people. She poisons her mother's roommate even after seeing the woman surrounded by her family. She's perfectly willing to let her ailing mother go to jail until this hurts Trudy's plans. How does Trudy rank among LOCI villains?
It was hard for me to take her seriously at times. She seemed so cold blooded not caring for her mother or husband, but yet her whole motivation was to open a baby cloth's store? There just seems to be some sort of weird disconnect in all that.

As coldblooded as she is, is Trudy a worthy opponent for Goren and Eames?
No, In the end they played her like a two dollar fiddle.

Why is Trudy the way she is? Her mother seems nice enough.
Ahh, the old nature vs. nurture debate. To be fair we never did see her father. He could have been a real SOB!

Is it cruel to bring Trudy's mother in and charge her with the crimes? What will happen to her? Does she have a case to sue for false arrest?
They do seem to employ this tactic more than once in the first season. Arresting the wrong person to smoke out the real culprit. I do find this unbelievable and the mother probably does have cause to sue.

Would Trudy have gotten away with her scam if Goren and Eames hadn't been on the case?
Probably, everyone else wanted to blame the nurse for it all.

How do Goren and Eames interact with Briscoe and Green?
I never watched the original Law and Order so I am not familiar with either of their characters, but there seemed to be mutual respect between the two teams.

What will happen to Colleen, the angel of death? (Although no one actually died because of her actions.)
She will at the least lose her nurses license and could probably be charged with assault.

How effective is Goren's presentation?
Man, that was excruciating wasn't it. That whole scene is another reason I didn't initially like this episode. I hate seeing Bobby in situations like that.

Deakins defends his detectives before the Brass. Does the Captain deserve the Brass' criticism?
I don't think so. After all Bobby was right.

How did Bobby come to know the tree huggers?
That is one scene I really like. In the first season they really made a point of showing Bobby getting leads from his unusual friends. I wish they would do that more. I think thru out his life Bobby has made an effort to get to know people that other people would pass over. I think he is attracted to the odd and unusual (probably because he identifies with them). I like how Eames signs the petition also.

Does Deakins ever find out where the leak came from?
Probably not.

Some observations:

Goren and Eames appear to have no sympathy whatsoever for Trudy.
I didn't either.

Goren and Eames do NOT like to be sandbagged by anyone, but especially self serving people like the hospital administrator.
That was also another good scene. I liked how they put him in his place.

Colleen sure fit Goren's profile. Almost too well.

I wonder how difficult it is for the actors playing the corpses to keep a straight face when Mr. D'Onofrio is giving them the full Goren exam treatment.
I know I would be tempted to laugh!

I love how Ms. Erbe and Mr. D'Onofrio convey Eames and Goren's reaction to the news the story has leaked (obviously from Detectives Briscoe and Green).
I enjoyed that too.

Comments:
A dark story with a coldblooded antagonist that I found both moving (in its depictions of the victims and their families) and funny. There may be more snark per minute in this episode than any other of LOCI, and all of the main characters get some. We get to see Carver in action, a sense that Goren and Eames are not alone in Major Case, that Major Case isn't the only squad in the NYPD, and Deakins having to deal with the Brass. Add to that scenes of Goren running (I'm a sucker for Mr. D'Onofrio's goofy, lumbering gait), and Lenny Briscoe (God Bless you, Jerry Orbach), and you've got a great episode.

I also think Mr. D'Onofrio's goofy lumbering gait is cute. It always makes me laugh! In regards to other departments in the NYPD, I was watching an episode of CSI NY the other night and one of the detectives mentioned that the major case squad was working on the case. I Immediately wandered if Goren and Eames was on the case.

[tjara]

There's another case that was incorporated to this story as a red herring:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristen_Gilbert

Very chilling to know that both of them are true!!

This is one of my favorite episodes. I think it needs the snark or otherwise it's would just be too heavy to digest, but the story itself is very, very "WHOA, I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED!" - and then you find out it did...
I also like how this investigation is a collaborate effort - everybody gets to contribute and it's no "Goren-Show". Not that he doesn't do a whole lot in this ep, but you get the idea.

How does Trudy rank among LOCI villains?

Trudy is definitely one of the worst one. And she never shows remorse, either...

Why is Trudy the way she is? Her mother seems nice enough.

I think Trudys mom was someone that would kill you with kindness, she would almost "suffocate" her daughter. Trudy seemed generally dissatisfied with how her life turned out to be, so I think that's were this all started.

Is it cruel to bring Trudy's mother in and charge her with the crimes? What will happen to her? Does she have a case to sue for false arrest?

Tough question. I don't think she can sue, I mean what's the police supposed to do when all the evidence is pointing in her direction?

Would Trudy have gotten away with her scam if Goren and Eames hadn't been on the case?

I don't think so. They noticed that something was off when there were more lawsuits than they knew about. This probably wouldn't have slipped by other detectives, either.

How do Goren and Eames interact with Briscoe and Green?

I think there was a strange feeling of "superiority" by Goren and Eames. It was clear they were privy to more information than Briscoe and Green. It wasn't that it dominated the scene or that it kept them from interacting, but I felt it. I also thought this was a very nice way to tie in the show and I think they should do this from time to time, just to remember that these 3 shows take place in the same universe. Or let them talk to the SVU people sometimes or whatever.
I especially want them to settle the issue whether Fin and Bobby knew each other from Narcotics....

What will happen to Colleen, the angel of death? (Although no one actually died because of her actions.)

She'll definitely loose her job and she'll also be charged because she endangered those people.

How effective is Goren's presentation?

Not at all, and that's what so absolutely funny about this ep. I mean there's this genius, but he doesn't interact well with the brass. I liked how Vincent played it, and I even more enjoyed Jamey Sheridan then standing up for his detectives. And the look he has on his face... whoa - don't mess with me!

How did Bobby come to know the tree huggers?

What does "tree hugger" mean anyway? Isn't that a slang word for enviromental activists?
I thought it was someone Bobby knew from his time in Narcotics. That guy probably knew how to grow certain plants, you know

Does Deakins ever find out where the leak came from?

I think he knows very well.

I wonder how difficult it is for the actors playing the corpses to keep a straight face when Mr. D'Onofrio is giving them the full Goren exam treatment.

Oh it must be asbolutely hard. This is why I'd so much love to see a CI gag reel at some point...

[ragincajun]

Tree hugger in the episode Poison was an enviromentalist. Someone who would hug a tree, so it wouldn't get cut down. In the episode the person was having people sign a petition to save the ocean.

[Patcat]

I think the idea that Fin and Bobby worked together in Vice is a fanfiction one, although I'd argue a logical one.

Patcat

[tjara]

I agree, Patcat.

I mean come on - there are so many Officers in Narcotics, Fin and Bobby probably never met... It's just a funny idea...