January 01, 2004
11.21 Brother's Keeper
Outstanding episode (11.21) in which the FBI covers up its relationship with a suspect in two murders. Briscoe and Green follow several different trails of clues all of which lead to Cally Lonegan, who is s described as "the last of the Westies," the Westies being an an old time NYC street gang. The detectives track down a cabbie who was a witness to the crime, and Green warns him to be careful. The cabbie was from Sierra Leone, and Green talked to him about the old country, reminding us again that his dad worked all over Africa, and that Green spent much of his childhood there. When Lonegan apparently murders the cabbie, the case becomes personal for Green and he angrily confronts Lonegan despite Briscoe's objections. A good episode becomes an almost-great episode when the next twist is revealed: Lonegan has a twin brother who may have been involved in one or more of the killings. One brother is a career criminal, the other is a college professor, a similarity reminiscent of the Bulger brothers. (Whitey is the gangster; his brother is a state politician and was president of UMass.)
One interesting bit about the crime scene in the teaser: the first murder occurs at the indoor driving range at Chelsea Piers (referred to as "Hudson Piers" in the show). The murder is captured on one of those video systems that records your golf swing. Also, the body is discovered by a lesbian couple arguing about jealousy and other women, which ties in with the ep's theme of loyalty. Loyalty is also shown between the brothers, between the suspect and his FBI handler, and between the suspect and his mob connections. The FBI agent even resigns his post out of disgust with the way his friend is treated.
While watching the episode, I had assumed that the casting director had found twin brothers to act the parts, and was surprised to learn that in fact, one actor played both parts. Interestingly, the brothers appear in a line-up together, so there was a little bit of either computerized or psychological trickery going on. This kind of chicanery is unusual for the show, but they pull it off.
Posted by adm at January 1, 2004 10:22 PM