January 31, 2004
Panic
Tom Berenger guest stars in this episode (10.13) about a married couple (both of whom are FBI agents) and their involvement with a mystery writer named P.K. Todd. As Todd is walking away from a restaurant, shots ring out: she is hit, and her male companion is killed. Briscoe and Green first try to figure out who the target is. They can't find anyone who would want the man (an accountant) dead, despite finding some people who don't like him very much. Then, clues indicate that Todd was the target, so they focus their investigation on her acquiantances, and even begin to believe that she arranged the shooting herself to create publicity that would boost her sagging book sales. Eventually, however, they focus on the female FBI agent, who owns the gun used in the shooting, and who may have believed Todd was having an affair with her husband. Then, of course, comes the twist: Todd was having an affair, but with the wife, not the husband. So then the investigation turns to the husband, who can't really account for his whereabouts and who had installed a tap on his own phone line. He goes on trial, admitting he did it, but offering an unusual affirmative defense: "gay panic." According to this method of defense, when a person is confronted with a homosexual situation he finds deeply disturbing, he acts irrationally and may strike out aggressively. McCoy says this method of defense is "blame-the-victim all over again," but the judge allows it, pending review after the trial. Eventually, after McCoy renews his objection during trial, the judge invalidates the gay panic defense, and it looks like the man is headed for conviction...until an unnecessary and superfluous plot twist comes along and establishes another character as the killer. I saw it coming, but was hoping it wouldn't, because it feels really tacked on and ruins the otherwise smart atmosphere of the episode.
The teaser is notable because we actually see the crime occur. A man is taking his very pregnant wife to the hospital and hails a cab. Just as they get in, you hear the shots, and the accountant stumbles into the frame. The author is a few feet away, bleeding.
It took me a while to realize this while watching the show, but the episisode is a retelling of the Patricia Cornwell situation. She had a lesbian affair with a female FBI agent a few years ago, and the agent's husband, also an agent, tried to kill his wife in revenge. Also, the "gay panic" defense is borrowed from the Matthew Shepherd case.
Anyway, here's FindLaw.com's synopsis of this episode. I didn't know they did reviews of L&O.
Posted by adm at January 31, 2004 03:36 AM
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