The Ledger

13.12 Under God

In this episode (13.12), a priest confesses to the murder of a drug dealer (cutting short Briscoe and Green's investigation), and McCoy and Southerlyn figure out how to prosecute a man who says God made him do it.

The episode begins with an older guy trying to pick up a hooker for "half-and-half." They start doing it, when they look over and see a dead body. Briscoe and Green note that the victim was shot, has a wad of cash on him, and was probably a drug dealer.

They determine the vic's name is Scott Giddens. They try to track down his apartment. They go through some housing projects, and come across an overdosed girl in his apartment. A girl named Gina tells them that a guy had come by earlier looking for Giddens. This man had a big birthmark. They check with a undercover narcotics detective to learn more about Giddens. He says Giddens was involved in selling something called "Yaba" drugs. They learn the guy with the birthmark is named Juan. They talk to Juan who says the locals disliked Giddens, particularly a man named Bill Parker, a member of the neighborhood watch. They talk to the organizer of the neighborhood watch, a priest named Father Hogan, and Briscoe goes to a local bar, where he finds Parker. Parker had a son killed by a drug dealer, so Briscoe connects with him emotionally, since Briscoe himself lost a daughter to a dealer. Briscoe is a little emotional as he talks to him, and says he kicks self for not killing her killer.

AVB scolds Briscoe for using this method to attempt to coerce a confession out of a suspect, and Green scolds him a little, too.

They talk to some kids at a park who saw Parker walking with Father Hogan the night of the murder. They suspect that the murder weapon is a gun that went missing from the Port Authority lock-up of confiscated weapons. Since Parker has access to this area, they search his house, and find it buried behind a wall. They arrest him (21'). Now, we know from experience that anytime a suspect is arrested at 21 minutes into the episode (instead of 31 minutes), there is more to the story.

While they're questioning Parker, Father Hogan enters and confesses to the murder of Giddens. The DA's are skeptical. They talk to Mrs Parker who confirms that the priest killed him. Hogan insists that "killing is not a crime when it's God's will." Olivet examines the priest to determine whether he is competent to stand trial. Hogan tells her God wants us to explore our faith.

McCoy is uncertain how to proceed on such a religiously-charged case. He says "This is our Inherit the Wind," referring to the play about the Scopes Monkey Trial. Southerlyn thinks McCoy is bitter about his Catholic upbringing.

At trial (42'), McCoy says he's upset by anyone who claims to know what got wants. The priest (I think) refers to Exodus 21:12. McCoy is confrontational with the priest, challenging the notion that God told him to kill someone. McCoy says something unintentionally funny when he suggests the God erred in choosing Hogan to kill Giddens: "Well, God screwed the pooch on this one." Whoever wrote that line should be fired.

Parker tries to confess to the crime, but the ruse is a failure, and the priest makes a deal, which is usually how these episodes that really test legal and moral boundaries go: everyone gets all worked up about the giant issues at stake, and then before anyone has to deal with the consequences, the guy pleas out.

Overall, the episode is awkwardly written, and the trial scene is extraordinarily tedious. As far as character background goes, McCoy discusses a childhood friend named Tommy, and he recalls Tommy sustaining severe injuries in Vietnam and refusing to have his soul prepared for death by a priest. Tommy told the priest, "God forgive me if I'm wrong."

Casting note: the priest is played by Denis O'Hare, an actor who has appeared on the show several times, usually in memorable roles.

Posted by adm at June 20, 2004 07:32 PM

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