Law & Order faces criticism after ‘Two and Twenty’ episode turns workplace drama into abuse debate
SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Law & Order Season 25, Episode 4. It also contains discussion of abuse.
The Law & Order revival loses its momentum with Season 25, Episode 4—because it falls back into some of the criticisms that the show has previously struggled with. “Two and Twenty” is less a crime drama than a back and forth about bad bosses. And from an entertainment standpoint, the storyline winds up feeling as emotionally manipulative as the defense’s case.
The episode centers on the murder of investment banker Jon Geller, beaten to death with his own prized golf putter. But it rushes through the “Law” portion of the episode; the defendant is arrested twenty minutes into the hour, thanks to DNA left behind on a coffee cup. Detective Vincent Riley then reveals that more evidence was found off-screen, including the murder weapon and video footage. This pacing makes it difficult for the viewer to become invested in the case, since there’s much less on-screen investigating or even getting to know the players.
But it happens because the episode wants to devote more time to the “Order” portion, which is likely to be controversial to some audience members, and confusing to others. The alleged murderer is Nick Rossi, one of Geller’s employees, and his defense attorney argues that Geller’s treatment of Rossi in the workplace was akin to domestic abuse. Law & Order does include a scene where Nolan Price tries to argue against this theory—but that scene is largely ineffective, since fans know that the judge will rule against him, or otherwise the episode would be over quickly. Still, as Samantha Maroun points out, a lot of people have bad bosses. To hear that compared to domestic violence is a huge leap for the show.
From that point, Law & Order climbs back up onto the soapbox that this revival has been criticized for. There is the predictable scene where the defense calls in a random expert witness to support their theory, followed by a melodramatic moment in which the father of another employee tearfully recounts how his son died on the job. Rossi takes the stand to emote about what he went through. And then Maroun once again plays devil’s advocate, suggesting to Price that Rossi may have a point—so Price once again has to deliver a “this is what the job is” kind of line. “Two and Twenty” drops its story and characters back into familiar patterns.
There is a glimmer of hope in the final few minutes. Price executes a pressing cross-examination that prompts Rossi to angrily confess on the stand. This is a strong dramatic scene, as well as a reminder of what Law & Order has been capable of. Price is good therein, yet that’s a moment that his predecessor Michael Cutter would have knocked out of the park. Linus Roache’s performance as Cutter was all about meeting the moment head-on. Price hasn’t always been able to have that pop and it’s not Hugh Dancy’s fault; it’s because the scenes aren’t always there. “Two and Twenty” almost gets there, but not quite. The tag scene, in which Price apologizes to Maroun if he’s ever made her feel badly, is also a nice moment of vulnerability for him and another reminder of the mutual respect between those two characters.
Law & Order Season 25 has been finding ways to break out of the mold, but Episode 4 unfortunately falls back into it. The best classic Law & Order episodes indeed drew attention to issues, but they did so because they had strong stories that amplified those issues organically. “Two and Twenty” wants to make a point, but it doesn’t have the foundation.