'Law and Order' was incredibly good at exploring challenging topics and themes that hit hard and are still relevant and important to address. It was also, as has been said more than once in previous reviews, incredibly good at exploring them in an honest and pull no punches way and in a way that still holds up. This was evident in so many episodes of the previous six seasons and evident too in the previous episodes of Season 7.
All the previous six episodes are good to brilliant. All the previous seasons had at least one disappointment and Season 7 was no exception. "Family Business" is the first of the disappointments. By all means it is not a bad episode at all and is a long way from a waste of time, but it could have been a lot more considering it had a good concept and because the previous Season 7 episodes were so good. A case of starting off very well, but falls apart later on in a way similar to Season 5's "Scoundrels".
"Family Business" does have a lot that works in its favour. The photography and such as usual are fully professional, the slickness still remaining. The music is used sparingly and is haunting and non-overwrought when it is used, and it's mainly used when a crucial revelation or plot development is revealed. The direction has some nice tension while keeping things steady, without going too far the other way. The writing in the first half entertains, intrigues and engages, with some snappy lines from Briscoe and Curtis and intriguing debate between McCoy and Ross.
The story is very engaging in the first half, with enough twists to stop it from being too simple or too conventional without going overboard and confusing the drama. The character writing is very well done, although Joseph Wiseman's patriarch character is a very juicy and domineering one it's not done in a way that unbalances the episode. The acting is very good, Jerry Orbach and Sam Waterston have always been iconic as Briscoe and McCoy and Carey Lowell has settled very well. Wiseman is a powerful presence.
Sadly, the second half is nowhere near as strong. If anything it falls apart in the legal scenes. While McCoy's professionalism is not called into question as much as it was in the first half of Season 5, everything with the prosecution side is too improbable and credibility straining.
It was just not realistic that a case so flimsy, so full of holes and so easily dismissable went further ahead than it should have done (not beyond thrown out of court). The dialogue also becomes less focused and is instead more over-heated and the pace loses tautness. Actually lost interest by the fairly tacked on resolution and felt that the episode felt 10 minutes too long.
Overall, great first half but disappointing second. A bit ehh on ths episode. 6/10.
All the previous six episodes are good to brilliant. All the previous seasons had at least one disappointment and Season 7 was no exception. "Family Business" is the first of the disappointments. By all means it is not a bad episode at all and is a long way from a waste of time, but it could have been a lot more considering it had a good concept and because the previous Season 7 episodes were so good. A case of starting off very well, but falls apart later on in a way similar to Season 5's "Scoundrels".
"Family Business" does have a lot that works in its favour. The photography and such as usual are fully professional, the slickness still remaining. The music is used sparingly and is haunting and non-overwrought when it is used, and it's mainly used when a crucial revelation or plot development is revealed. The direction has some nice tension while keeping things steady, without going too far the other way. The writing in the first half entertains, intrigues and engages, with some snappy lines from Briscoe and Curtis and intriguing debate between McCoy and Ross.
The story is very engaging in the first half, with enough twists to stop it from being too simple or too conventional without going overboard and confusing the drama. The character writing is very well done, although Joseph Wiseman's patriarch character is a very juicy and domineering one it's not done in a way that unbalances the episode. The acting is very good, Jerry Orbach and Sam Waterston have always been iconic as Briscoe and McCoy and Carey Lowell has settled very well. Wiseman is a powerful presence.
Sadly, the second half is nowhere near as strong. If anything it falls apart in the legal scenes. While McCoy's professionalism is not called into question as much as it was in the first half of Season 5, everything with the prosecution side is too improbable and credibility straining.
It was just not realistic that a case so flimsy, so full of holes and so easily dismissable went further ahead than it should have done (not beyond thrown out of court). The dialogue also becomes less focused and is instead more over-heated and the pace loses tautness. Actually lost interest by the fairly tacked on resolution and felt that the episode felt 10 minutes too long.
Overall, great first half but disappointing second. A bit ehh on ths episode. 6/10.