Apocrypha (3 Nov. 1993)

A woman detonates a bomb in a parking garage, and prosecutors suspect she was acting under orders of a charismatic cult leader.

Director:

Gabrielle Beaumont

Writers:

Michael S. Chernuchin, Dick Wolf (creator)

Stars:

Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth, S. Epatha Merkerson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry Orbach	...	Detective Lennie Briscoe
Chris Noth	...	Detective Mike Logan
S. Epatha Merkerson	...	Lt. Anita Van Buren
Michael Moriarty	...	Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone
Jill Hennessy	...	A.D.A. Claire Kincaid
Steven Hill	...	D.A. Adam Schiff
Carolyn McCormick	...	Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
Lawrence Pressman	...	Nicholas Burke
Bibi Besch	...	Margaret Berman
Cheryl Giannini	...	Louise Gruman
Ted Sorel	...	Stuart Melnick
Deena Martin	...	Barbara Mann
Joyce Ebert	...	Mrs. Hendricks
Sam Robards	...	Daniel Hendricks
Tim Kelleher	...	Dale Rudolph

Storyline

After a car bomb explodes in a parking garage, Detectives Briscoe and Logan find themselves investigating a religious cult. The driver of the car, identified by her dental records, was Wendy Berman who ran away from home at the age of 14 following the death of her father. She eventually found her way to the temple and its leader Daniel Hendricks. He claims that they are a peaceful if conservative group that specializes in helping get young people off the street - and off prostitution and drugs - and into the group. The detectives also interview some former members of the temple who claim Hendricks was a harsh task master who demanded complete loyalty from his flock. ADA Stone initially charges him with murder for masterminding the car-bombing but ADA Claire Kincaid suggests a different tack: charging him with kidnapping.

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Plot Keywords:

title directed by female | latin phrase

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 November 1993 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

What is a cult?

A young woman explodes a home made bomb in a financial building and dies in the process. The detectives discover from her parents, who haven't heard from her in a long time, that she was a member of a small religious organization based on fundamentalist Christian beliefs and run by the charismatic and avuncular but stern leader, Sam Robards.

The DA's office charges him with murder, arguing that his flock merely carries out his orders because he's brainwashed them. He's convicted and his followers, some of them with sympathetic characters, commit mass suicide.

Once again the series tackles a challenging issue, and this time without slanting in unnecessarily it favor of the law. Robards isn't ugly or nuts, despite Dr. Olivet's offhand diagnosis of manic-depressive. (Where she got that from is anybody's guess.) He genuinely believes the apocryphal nonsense with which he's imbued his followers. And in turn they worship him as if he represents the Second Coming.

The whiffs of Jonestown and the Manson Family are obvious, but the more relevant incident involved the Hale-Bopp or Heaven's Gate cult, thirty-nine suicides in San Diego which followed the airing of this program by a few years.

The defense raises an absorbing question. Why should we call this organization a "cult"? Doesn't every church have a leader of some sort? And doesn't every religion preach a gospel that, in a sense, "brainwashes" it's followers? Beyond that -- an issue not raised in this program -- doesn't every organization, whether business or government, try to impart a set of values to its members? In other words, and to put it simply, isn't every religion a "cult"? Sociologists have wrestled with this problem -- cult members, apocryphal beliefs, brainwashing -- for years and the answer they've come up with is a simple one: "We don't know." Pundits appear after every morally offensive act by one of these groups and explain their actions intuitively -- child abuse, drugs, or whatever -- without any evidence. The "dysfunctional family" explanation is not only unjustified but painful to the parents and siblings of the victim. I happened to know one of the members of the Hale-Bopp group since she was a child and no accusation could be more wrong.

The fundamentalist beliefs are seeing a resurgence in the political arena these days. We see terms like "Anti-Christ" aimed at the president of the United States. Christian precepts are being turned into law. Politicians announce that God has told them to support some particular policy, usually against the disenfranchised, the agnostic, or one or another non-Christian religion. A Republican candidate for president is suspected of being a "cult" member because he belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints instead of being, say, a Methodist, Baptist, or Presbyterian.

What is a "cult"? And how do you define "brainwashing"?