• What Did You Watch? 2025-02-27 (Thursday)

    From Ian J. Ball@21:1/5 to All on Fri Feb 28 06:06:23 2025
    Despite yesterday being the "day I don't (physically) go into work", I
    still did a fair amount of work yesterday - this will likely be the case
    for most of my Thursday "at home" days.

    So I didn't really watch any movies yesterday (I did rewatch a Lifetime
    flick), and just got through soaps:

    soaps: Y&R - Mon's ep. Mariah and Nick figure out that Sharon has been
    missing for about the same length of time that Filis[sic!] has been
    missing. So Chance calls them together with Daniel and Summer to see if
    they can figure anything else. (Sidenote: We haven't seen either Faith
    or Lucy in ages now - both actresses must be back in school or
    something.) At the end, it's revealed that Filis and Sharon are out cold
    in some slum-like apartment(?) - 10-to-1 says Ian Ward has kidnapped
    (which means an almost 80-year old man healed from a gunshot wound
    incredibly quickly! Meanwhile, shockingly, Audra admits to Nate that she
    knew Holden from her past - Nate seems to take the news well.
    Both of the following were Thur's ep's:
    DOOL - In a pathetic display, Brady begs Ava V. to drop the charges
    against Kristen and her mother (and EJ) - Ava should tell him to shove
    it, but pathetically doesn't... Meanwhile, I see where they're going
    with this - Jada and Shawn are convinced that amnesiac Rafe is actually
    Arnold Feniger faking amnesia; meanwhile, Gabi takes the DNA sample to
    Kayla. So this will all "prove" that amnesiac Rafe "is" Arnold Feniger.
    It will probably take them months to figure this all out... :/
    GH - An uneventful episode - no Josslyn, no Willow/Drew, etc. Chase
    and Brook Lynn agree that Finn is the wrong choice to be any kind of
    sperm donor. Martin threatens Tracy to drop her cease-and-desist order;
    but Tracy becomes convinced that Martin is lying to Lulu about
    something. Lizzie plants one on Lucky (boring!!). NuJack Brennan
    continues to woo Carly, and threatens Jenz Sidwell to leave Carly alone.
    Laura warns Sonny about Drew's and Sidwell's plans to take Sonny's docks
    from him.

    I then rewatched "The Last Thing She Said" with Kylee Bush (sidenote: I
    didn't remember that Bush was in an episode of "The Magicians"...) on
    LMN. It's an OK thriller, but it's not one that lets Bush look her best,
    as she's tied to a bed through much of this flick. :|


    What did you watch?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From suzeeq@21:1/5 to Ian J. Ball on Fri Feb 28 06:28:03 2025
    On 2/28/2025 6:06 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
    Despite yesterday being the "day I don't (physically) go into work", I
    still did a fair amount of work yesterday - this will likely be the case
    for most of my Thursday "at home" days.

    So I didn't really watch any movies yesterday (I did rewatch a Lifetime flick), and just got through soaps:

    soaps: Y&R - Mon's ep. Mariah and Nick figure out that Sharon has been missing for about the same length of time that Filis[sic!] has been
    missing. So Chance calls them together with Daniel and Summer to see if
    they can figure anything else. (Sidenote: We haven't seen either Faith
    or Lucy in ages now - both actresses must be back in school or
    something.) At the end, it's revealed that Filis and Sharon are out cold
    in some slum-like apartment(?) - 10-to-1 says Ian Ward has kidnapped
    (which means an almost 80-year old man healed from a gunshot wound
    incredibly quickly! Meanwhile, shockingly, Audra admits to Nate that she
    knew Holden from her past - Nate seems to take the news well.
       Both of the following were Thur's ep's:
       DOOL - In a pathetic display, Brady begs Ava V. to drop the charges against Kristen and her mother (and EJ) - Ava should tell him to shove
    it, but pathetically doesn't... Meanwhile, I see where they're going
    with this - Jada and Shawn are convinced that amnesiac Rafe is actually Arnold Feniger faking amnesia; meanwhile, Gabi takes the DNA sample to
    Kayla. So this will all "prove" that amnesiac Rafe "is" Arnold Feniger.
    It will probably take them months to figure this all out...  :/

    You'd think they'd fingerprint him when they took him into custody. Then compare them to the ones they had when they arrested him before.
    Or to Rafe's, which they must have on file.

       GH - An uneventful episode - no Josslyn, no Willow/Drew, etc. Chase
    and Brook Lynn agree that Finn is the wrong choice to be any kind of
    sperm donor. Martin threatens Tracy to drop her cease-and-desist order;
    but Tracy becomes convinced that Martin is lying to Lulu about
    something. Lizzie plants one on Lucky (boring!!). NuJack Brennan
    continues to woo Carly, and threatens Jenz Sidwell to leave Carly alone. Laura warns Sonny about Drew's and Sidwell's plans to take Sonny's docks
    from him.

    I then rewatched "The Last Thing She Said" with Kylee Bush (sidenote: I didn't remember that Bush was in an episode of "The Magicians"...) on
    LMN. It's an OK thriller, but it's not one that lets Bush look her best,
    as she's tied to a bed through much of this flick.  :|


    What did you watch?


    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Arthur Lipscomb@21:1/5 to Ian J. Ball on Fri Feb 28 07:39:54 2025
    On 2/28/2025 6:06 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
    Despite yesterday being the "day I don't (physically) go into work", I
    still did a fair amount of work yesterday - this will likely be the case
    for most of my Thursday "at home" days.

    So I didn't really watch any movies yesterday (I did rewatch a Lifetime flick), and just got through soaps:

    soaps: Y&R - Mon's ep. Mariah and Nick figure out that Sharon has been missing for about the same length of time that Filis[sic!] has been
    missing. So Chance calls them together with Daniel and Summer to see if
    they can figure anything else. (Sidenote: We haven't seen either Faith
    or Lucy in ages now - both actresses must be back in school or
    something.) At the end, it's revealed that Filis and Sharon are out cold
    in some slum-like apartment(?) - 10-to-1 says Ian Ward has kidnapped
    (which means an almost 80-year old man healed from a gunshot wound
    incredibly quickly! Meanwhile, shockingly, Audra admits to Nate that she
    knew Holden from her past - Nate seems to take the news well.
       Both of the following were Thur's ep's:
       DOOL - In a pathetic display, Brady begs Ava V. to drop the charges against Kristen and her mother (and EJ) - Ava should tell him to shove
    it, but pathetically doesn't... Meanwhile, I see where they're going
    with this - Jada and Shawn are convinced that amnesiac Rafe is actually Arnold Feniger faking amnesia; meanwhile, Gabi takes the DNA sample to
    Kayla. So this will all "prove" that amnesiac Rafe "is" Arnold Feniger.
    It will probably take them months to figure this all out...  :/
       GH - An uneventful episode - no Josslyn, no Willow/Drew, etc. Chase
    and Brook Lynn agree that Finn is the wrong choice to be any kind of
    sperm donor. Martin threatens Tracy to drop her cease-and-desist order;
    but Tracy becomes convinced that Martin is lying to Lulu about
    something. Lizzie plants one on Lucky (boring!!). NuJack Brennan
    continues to woo Carly, and threatens Jenz Sidwell to leave Carly alone. Laura warns Sonny about Drew's and Sidwell's plans to take Sonny's docks
    from him.

    I then rewatched "The Last Thing She Said" with Kylee Bush (sidenote: I didn't remember that Bush was in an episode of "The Magicians"...) on
    LMN. It's an OK thriller, but it's not one that lets Bush look her best,
    as she's tied to a bed through much of this flick.  :|


    What did you watch?



    I watched:

    Invincible (Amazon Prime) - "All I Can Say Is I'm Sorry" - A man still
    grieving the deaths of his relatives during a fight Invincible had years earlier powers up and becomes a new supervillain (or hero depending on
    your perspective) to battle Invincible.


    Severance (AppleTV+) - "Chikhai Bardo" - THis episode was mostly
    flashbacks showing how Mark and Gemma met and lots of flashback details
    on Gemma filling in her back story before and after the car accident. I shouldn't necessarily say filling in since the show remains as opaque as
    ever.


    Law & Order - "A Price to Pay" - I was half asleep towards the second
    half of the episode so I wasn't paying full attention. But from what I
    saw team L&O investigated the murder of an actor. I slept through the
    motive part of the episode, but I think I saw the end which switched
    focus from the killer to a reluctant witness.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ian J. Ball@21:1/5 to suzeeq on Fri Feb 28 12:44:29 2025
    On 2/28/25 6:28 AM, suzeeq wrote:

    On 2/28/2025 6:06 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

    Despite yesterday being the "day I don't (physically) go into work", I
    still did a fair amount of work yesterday - this will likely be the
    case for most of my Thursday "at home" days.

    So I didn't really watch any movies yesterday (I did rewatch a
    Lifetime flick), and just got through soaps:

    soaps: Both of the following were Thur's ep's:
        DOOL - In a pathetic display, Brady begs Ava V. to drop the
    charges against Kristen and her mother (and EJ) - Ava should tell him
    to shove it, but pathetically doesn't... Meanwhile, I see where
    they're going with this - Jada and Shawn are convinced that amnesiac
    Rafe is actually
    Arnold Feniger faking amnesia; meanwhile, Gabi takes the DNA sample to
    Kayla. So this will all "prove" that amnesiac Rafe "is" Arnold
    Feniger. It will probably take them months to figure this all out...  :/

    You'd think they'd fingerprint him when they took him into custody. Then compare them to the ones they had when they arrested him before.
    Or to Rafe's, which they must have on file.

    Either fingerprints, or even a blood test, would have solved this issue
    ages ago.

    One of the problems I have with esp. DOOL's writers is that they treat
    us (the audience) like we're idiots.

    They long ago should have lifted their writing game to match the times.

    This whole Rafe storyline has been an entire waste of time. At least
    something like the Sophia storyline is grounded in some reality...

        GH - An uneventful episode - no Josslyn, no Willow/Drew, etc.
    Chase and Brook Lynn agree that Finn is the wrong choice to be any
    kind of sperm donor. Martin threatens Tracy to drop her cease-and-
    desist order; but Tracy becomes convinced that Martin is lying to Lulu
    about something. Lizzie plants one on Lucky (boring!!). NuJack Brennan
    continues to woo Carly, and threatens Jenz Sidwell to leave Carly
    alone. Laura warns Sonny about Drew's and Sidwell's plans to take
    Sonny's docks from him.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@21:1/5 to Arthur Lipscomb on Fri Feb 28 22:19:55 2025
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    Law & Order - "A Price to Pay" - I was half asleep towards the second
    half of the episode so I wasn't paying full attention. But from what I
    saw team L&O investigated the murder of an actor. I slept through the
    motive part of the episode, but I think I saw the end which switched
    focus from the killer to a reluctant witness.

    You fell asleep during the bestest episode ever! The script was well
    plotted and gave everybody clear motivations!

    In part it was based on the death of Matthew Perry, but why this actor, perfectly healthy while Perry wasn't, used a hell of a lot of ketamine
    made no sense. How the cops came across the drug dealer made no sense
    either.

    Shaw encountered his old training officer at a retirement party for a
    detective from his previous precinct, but the guy hadn't been a cop in
    decades. The timing made no sense. He must have been a cop for 15 years
    to be a T.O. Then he joined the Marines in his mid to late 30s? It would
    make sense if he had some sort of professional specialty but he wasn't
    even a military police officer or shore patrol.

    How long has Shaw been a cop, 10 years?

    There were several people preying on the actor, including a corrupt
    doctor writing ketamine prescriptions. The doctor was all set to take a
    plea and testifyy against the drug dealer, but Price's case got ruined
    because the witness for the prosecution committed suicide.

    Price asked the judge for a two-week continuance, but she gave him till
    the next commercial break.

    Riley and Shaw did negligible investigation. But Detective Yee did all
    the work, miraculous finding evidence in video footage. I've never
    understood how she finds so much video footage, never physically leaving
    the police station.

    In The Plot Twist You Never Saw Coming, Shaw spots his old T.O. in the
    footage Yee found. He's a customer of the murderer.

    You know? It's almost a relief when the episode goes from mediocre to relentlessly awful as we all expect this to happen.

    Due to PTSD, the Marine has some sort of light duty assignment in New York
    with subsidized housing, but he's receiving zero medical care. He decided
    that ketamine will treat his PTSD. But he'll get discharged from the
    Marines and will lose his subsidized home if his bosses learn any of this.

    As a former detective, he sees that his drug dealer has blood on her
    shoes, the very shoes she disposed of, which is why Price is prosecuting
    a case with no circumstantial evidence. Price doesn't do this all the
    time, just the prosecutions he does on Thursdays.

    Shaw, Riley, and Brady approach Baxter, begging him not to use him as a witness. Shaw argues the unfairness, 'cuz no one cared that the actor
    abused significant amounts of ketamine whereas the Marine is using just
    enough to keep his symptoms at bay.

    Now, Shaw's argument is beyond stupid. The actor isn't losing his career
    and isn't being prosecuted for one reason: He's the murder victim. He
    may have been a drug abuser and stiffed his ex wife on alimony but he
    was murdered because he didn't pay his drug dealer. Cops and prosecutors
    are supposed to send a strong signal to society that murder is taken
    seriously and that they seek justice on behalf of the dead.

    Baxter wants the witness on the stand regardless of consequence.

    Now, Price and Maroun have been directly informed that this witness will
    not come forward voluntarily, and they know that as a former detective
    he can recognize evidence of foul play and STILL didn't come forward,
    that they need to immediately supeona him.

    Maroun decides to wait 18 hours to serve the supeona.

    Off screen, Shaw warned him off. He talked his bosses into transferring
    him to Okinawa. Price and Baxter discuss whether he can be forced to
    return to take the stand but Price again emphasizes that the judge won't
    agree to a continuance.

    Uh, he might have asked anyway.

    Baxter orders a plea. Man 2

    The actors relatives are disappointed. Price confronts Shaw, and tells
    him he can be prosecuted for witness tampering. Shaw smarmily justifies
    his behavior. Episode ends before Price picks up the LART to pound the
    clue into the side of Shaw's skull.

    I nominate this episode as Shaw's must unethical behavior yet.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Arthur Lipscomb@21:1/5 to Adam H. Kerman on Fri Feb 28 19:14:22 2025
    On 2/28/2025 2:19 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    Law & Order - "A Price to Pay" - I was half asleep towards the second
    half of the episode so I wasn't paying full attention. But from what I
    saw team L&O investigated the murder of an actor. I slept through the
    motive part of the episode, but I think I saw the end which switched
    focus from the killer to a reluctant witness.

    You fell asleep during the bestest episode ever! The script was well
    plotted and gave everybody clear motivations!

    In part it was based on the death of Matthew Perry,

    Good catch. With so many celebrity deaths over the past few days, I was surprised to see this as the plot of the episode.

    but why this actor,
    perfectly healthy while Perry wasn't, used a hell of a lot of ketamine
    made no sense. How the cops came across the drug dealer made no sense
    either.

    Shaw encountered his old training officer at a retirement party for a detective from his previous precinct, but the guy hadn't been a cop in decades. The timing made no sense. He must have been a cop for 15 years
    to be a T.O. Then he joined the Marines in his mid to late 30s? It would
    make sense if he had some sort of professional specialty but he wasn't
    even a military police officer or shore patrol.

    How long has Shaw been a cop, 10 years?

    There were several people preying on the actor, including a corrupt
    doctor writing ketamine prescriptions. The doctor was all set to take a
    plea and testifyy against the drug dealer, but Price's case got ruined because the witness for the prosecution committed suicide.


    Why did he kill himself? Didn't his lawyer negotiate a sweetheart deal
    for him?


    Price asked the judge for a two-week continuance, but she gave him till
    the next commercial break.

    Riley and Shaw did negligible investigation. But Detective Yee did all
    the work, miraculous finding evidence in video footage. I've never
    understood how she finds so much video footage, never physically leaving
    the police station.

    In The Plot Twist You Never Saw Coming, Shaw spots his old T.O. in the footage Yee found. He's a customer of the murderer.

    You know? It's almost a relief when the episode goes from mediocre to relentlessly awful as we all expect this to happen.

    Due to PTSD, the Marine has some sort of light duty assignment in New York with subsidized housing, but he's receiving zero medical care. He decided that ketamine will treat his PTSD. But he'll get discharged from the
    Marines and will lose his subsidized home if his bosses learn any of this.

    As a former detective, he sees that his drug dealer has blood on her
    shoes, the very shoes she disposed of, which is why Price is prosecuting
    a case with no circumstantial evidence. Price doesn't do this all the
    time, just the prosecutions he does on Thursdays.

    Shaw, Riley, and Brady approach Baxter, begging him not to use him as a witness. Shaw argues the unfairness, 'cuz no one cared that the actor
    abused significant amounts of ketamine whereas the Marine is using just enough to keep his symptoms at bay.

    Now, Shaw's argument is beyond stupid. The actor isn't losing his career
    and isn't being prosecuted for one reason: He's the murder victim. He
    may have been a drug abuser and stiffed his ex wife on alimony but he
    was murdered because he didn't pay his drug dealer.

    I think I slept through that detail. But if they murder him, then how
    do they expect to be paid? Seems like they could get a lot more money
    out of him if he was alive and using.

    Cops and prosecutors
    are supposed to send a strong signal to society that murder is taken seriously and that they seek justice on behalf of the dead.

    Baxter wants the witness on the stand regardless of consequence.

    Now, Price and Maroun have been directly informed that this witness will
    not come forward voluntarily, and they know that as a former detective
    he can recognize evidence of foul play and STILL didn't come forward,
    that they need to immediately supeona him.

    Maroun decides to wait 18 hours to serve the supeona.

    Off screen, Shaw warned him off. He talked his bosses into transferring
    him to Okinawa.

    I think I must have slept through that bit too. I thought the friend
    testified or am I misremembering it?

    Price and Baxter discuss whether he can be forced to
    return to take the stand but Price again emphasizes that the judge won't agree to a continuance.

    Uh, he might have asked anyway.

    Baxter orders a plea. Man 2

    The actors relatives are disappointed. Price confronts Shaw, and tells
    him he can be prosecuted for witness tampering. Shaw smarmily justifies
    his behavior. Episode ends before Price picks up the LART to pound the
    clue into the side of Shaw's skull.

    I nominate this episode as Shaw's must unethical behavior yet.

    Thanks for the summary! A lot of times if I fall asleep I'll rewind
    back and rewatch the next day. I must have slept through more than I
    realized or I wouldn't have hit the delete button at the end.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@21:1/5 to arthur@alum.calberkeley.org on Sat Mar 1 03:40:42 2025
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
    On 2/28/2025 2:19 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    Law & Order - "A Price to Pay" - I was half asleep towards the second
    half of the episode so I wasn't paying full attention. But from what I
    saw team L&O investigated the murder of an actor. I slept through the
    motive part of the episode, but I think I saw the end which switched
    focus from the killer to a reluctant witness.

    You fell asleep during the bestest episode ever! The script was well
    plotted and gave everybody clear motivations!

    In part it was based on the death of Matthew Perry,

    Good catch. With so many celebrity deaths over the past few days, I was >surprised to see this as the plot of the episode.

    but why this actor,
    perfectly healthy while Perry wasn't, used a hell of a lot of ketamine
    made no sense. How the cops came across the drug dealer made no sense
    either.

    Shaw encountered his old training officer at a retirement party for a
    detective from his previous precinct, but the guy hadn't been a cop in
    decades. The timing made no sense. He must have been a cop for 15 years
    to be a T.O. Then he joined the Marines in his mid to late 30s? It would
    make sense if he had some sort of professional specialty but he wasn't
    even a military police officer or shore patrol.

    How long has Shaw been a cop, 10 years?

    There were several people preying on the actor, including a corrupt
    doctor writing ketamine prescriptions. The doctor was all set to take a
    plea and testifyy against the drug dealer, but Price's case got ruined
    because the witness for the prosecution committed suicide.


    Why did he kill himself? Didn't his lawyer negotiate a sweetheart deal
    for him?

    Out of shame, in dialogue, but yeah, it came out of nowhere.

    My guess is the writer started with the premise that Shaw would do
    something unethical that Price would allow him to get away with, and
    wrote the earlier parts of the script to lead to that, no matter how
    illogical.

    Price asked the judge for a two-week continuance, but she gave him till
    the next commercial break.

    Riley and Shaw did negligible investigation. But Detective Yee did all
    the work, miraculous finding evidence in video footage. I've never
    understood how she finds so much video footage, never physically leaving
    the police station.

    In The Plot Twist You Never Saw Coming, Shaw spots his old T.O. in the
    footage Yee found. He's a customer of the murderer.

    You know? It's almost a relief when the episode goes from mediocre to
    relentlessly awful as we all expect this to happen.

    Due to PTSD, the Marine has some sort of light duty assignment in New York >> with subsidized housing, but he's receiving zero medical care. He decided
    that ketamine will treat his PTSD. But he'll get discharged from the
    Marines and will lose his subsidized home if his bosses learn any of this. >>
    As a former detective, he sees that his drug dealer has blood on her
    shoes, the very shoes she disposed of, which is why Price is prosecuting
    a case with no circumstantial evidence. Price doesn't do this all the
    time, just the prosecutions he does on Thursdays.

    Shaw, Riley, and Brady approach Baxter, begging him not to use him as a
    witness. Shaw argues the unfairness, 'cuz no one cared that the actor
    abused significant amounts of ketamine whereas the Marine is using just
    enough to keep his symptoms at bay.

    Now, Shaw's argument is beyond stupid. The actor isn't losing his career
    and isn't being prosecuted for one reason: He's the murder victim. He
    may have been a drug abuser and stiffed his ex wife on alimony but he
    was murdered because he didn't pay his drug dealer.

    I think I slept through that detail. But if they murder him, then how
    do they expect to be paid? Seems like they could get a lot more money
    out of him if he was alive and using.

    Exactly. There's no logic in the plot.

    Cops and prosecutors
    are supposed to send a strong signal to society that murder is taken
    seriously and that they seek justice on behalf of the dead.

    Baxter wants the witness on the stand regardless of consequence.

    Now, Price and Maroun have been directly informed that this witness will
    not come forward voluntarily, and they know that as a former detective
    he can recognize evidence of foul play and STILL didn't come forward,
    that they need to immediately supeona him.

    Maroun decides to wait 18 hours to serve the supeona.

    Off screen, Shaw warned him off. He talked his bosses into transferring
    him to Okinawa.

    I think I must have slept through that bit too. I thought the friend >testified or am I misremembering it?

    Shaw forced him to state what he observed, which Shaw then reported to
    Price, but he never testified.

    Price and Baxter discuss whether he can be forced to
    return to take the stand but Price again emphasizes that the judge won't
    agree to a continuance.

    Uh, he might have asked anyway.

    Baxter orders a plea. Man 2

    The actors relatives are disappointed. Price confronts Shaw, and tells
    him he can be prosecuted for witness tampering. Shaw smarmily justifies
    his behavior. Episode ends before Price picks up the LART to pound the
    clue into the side of Shaw's skull.

    I nominate this episode as Shaw's must unethical behavior yet.

    Thanks for the summary! A lot of times if I fall asleep I'll rewind
    back and rewatch the next day. I must have slept through more than I >realized or I wouldn't have hit the delete button at the end.

    You missed no entertainment.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From BTR1701@21:1/5 to Adam H. Kerman on Sat Mar 1 21:18:44 2025
    On Feb 28, 2025 at 2:19:55 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    Law & Order - "A Price to Pay" - I was half asleep towards the second
    half of the episode so I wasn't paying full attention. But from what I
    saw team L&O investigated the murder of an actor. I slept through the
    motive part of the episode, but I think I saw the end which switched
    focus from the killer to a reluctant witness.

    You fell asleep during the bestest episode ever! The script was well
    plotted and gave everybody clear motivations!

    In part it was based on the death of Matthew Perry, but why this actor, perfectly healthy while Perry wasn't, used a hell of a lot of ketamine
    made no sense. How the cops came across the drug dealer made no sense
    either.

    Shaw encountered his old training officer at a retirement party for a detective from his previous precinct, but the guy hadn't been a cop in decades. The timing made no sense. He must have been a cop for 15 years
    to be a T.O. Then he joined the Marines in his mid to late 30s? It would
    make sense if he had some sort of professional specialty but he wasn't
    even a military police officer or shore patrol.

    How long has Shaw been a cop, 10 years?

    There were several people preying on the actor, including a corrupt
    doctor writing ketamine prescriptions. The doctor was all set to take a
    plea and testify against the drug dealer, but Price's case got ruined
    because the witness for the prosecution committed suicide.

    Price asked the judge for a two-week continuance, but she gave him till
    the next commercial break.

    As she was ethically required to do by the Canon of Law & Order Judge Ethics.

    She was already walking on thin ice by not denying Price's request for a continuance altogether.

    Riley and Shaw did negligible investigation. But Detective Yee did all
    the work, miraculous finding evidence in video footage. I've never
    understood how she finds so much video footage, never physically leaving
    the police station.

    She's like Penelope Garcia, or the analysts in the JOC on Missy Peregrym's
    FBI, who instantly can hack into any CCTV footage, even privately-owned systems. They never seem to get hung up on the warrant requirement for any of it, although I suppose if they hack into, say, a bar's CCTV without a warrant it won't matter at trial because the defendant can only assert a violation of his *own* rights, not a violation of the bar owner's rights. Not having a warrant would only come back to bite them if they were trying to prosecute the owner of the CCTV system.

    Now, Shaw's argument is beyond stupid. The actor isn't losing his career
    and isn't being prosecuted for one reason: He's the murder victim. He
    may have been a drug abuser and stiffed his ex wife on alimony

    I thought it was hilarious at the end that we see the ex-wife with tears streaming down her face because she was robbed of justice for the death of her ex-husband when earlier in the show, she made it clear that she was hardly grieving his death and the only reason she was upset about it was that now there'd be no more alimony and "For god's sake, I'm going to be evicted from
    my cushy 5th Avenue condo!"

    Why would a woman like that even be at the trial in the first place, let alone start crying when the drug dealer only got 10 years instead of 30?

    Baxter wants the witness on the stand regardless of consequence.

    Now, Price and Maroun have been directly informed that this witness will
    not come forward voluntarily, and they know that as a former detective
    he can recognize evidence of foul play and STILL didn't come forward,
    that they need to immediately subpeona him.

    Maroun decides to wait 18 hours to serve the subpeona.

    Off screen, Shaw warned him off. He talked his bosses into transferring
    him to Okinawa.

    Which was what immediately occurred to me. He didn't even need to transfer overseas or anything as dramatic as that. Just have Shaw suggest to him that maybe right now would be a good time to take vacation time and go somewhere unreachable for a few weeks.

    We already know that the judge is not in any mood to prolong the trial and
    that Price will be forced to proceed with or without the Marine's testimony
    and Shaw knows this because Price said so in the big meeting with Baxter, so just have Shaw tell his friend to take a camping trip somewhere (and leave his cell and credit cards at home, for gawd's sake) for a few weeks, at which
    point the trial will be long over (we all know L&O trials only last one or two days, max) and there will be no further need for his testimony.

    Price and Baxter discuss whether he can be forced to
    return to take the stand but Price again emphasizes that the judge won't agree to a continuance.

    Uh, he might have asked anyway.

    Baxter orders a plea. Man 2

    The actors relatives are disappointed. Price confronts Shaw, and tells
    him he can be prosecuted for witness tampering. Shaw smarmily justifies
    his behavior. Episode ends before Price picks up the LART to pound the
    clue into the side of Shaw's skull.

    I nominate this episode as Shaw's must unethical behavior yet.

    Yeah, this guy has a history of putting everything from personal relationships to Black Lives Matter above his ethical and legal duty to enforce the law.

    He's a bad cop.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From BTR1701@21:1/5 to Adam H. Kerman on Sat Mar 1 21:23:18 2025
    On Feb 28, 2025 at 7:40:42 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

    On 2/28/2025 2:19 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

    Maroun decides to wait 18 hours to serve the supeona.

    Off screen, Shaw warned him off. He talked his bosses into transferring >>> him to Okinawa.

    I think I must have slept through that bit too. I thought the friend
    testified or am I misremembering it?

    Shaw forced him to state what he observed, which Shaw then reported to
    Price, but he never testified.

    If Shaw had no problem subverting justice and putting his friend's needs above the law, why didn't he just ignore his friend's name on the customer list from the get-go and act like he didn't recognize him from the footage Yee dug up? Would have saved a lot of time and all Shaw's friends and colleagues wouldn't now know that he can't be trusted.

    Instead, he makes a big deal out of bringing the Marine's identity forward so that everyone knows about him, and *then* obstructs justice.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)