Law & Order (TV Series) Competence (1994) User Reviews

A Compelling, But Slightly Problematic, Van Buren-Centric Episode

[Better_TV · 8/10 · 8 May 2018]

This one puts the spotlight on Lt. Van Buren, played forcefully by S. Epatha Merkerson. When she shoots a would-be young adult robber in self defense while making a late-night ATM stop, she is thrust before a grand jury and the unapologetic EADA Jack McCoy. While Detective Logan and ADA Claire Kincaid believe Van Buren implicitly, Briscoe isn't so sure, and McCoy refuses to treat her with any favoritism.

And that's just the first half of the episode.

The second half involves the DA's office attempting to prosecute the OTHER kid robber - the one who didn't get shot and who, it seems, may have been manipulating the mentally disabled victim. I cringed a few times at the characters' flippant uses of the word "retard," which is today typically used as a cruel insult; there's also an undercurrent of condescension in the way it rolls off the detectives' lips. Even the victim's mother, played by Lisa Louise Langford, uses the term kind of contemptuously... maybe it was just her performance, but when she speaks about her dead son she definitely sounds irritated with him.

The episode tries to assuage some of its political incorrectness by having another intellectually disabled character, played here by Jacklin Brooke Sanford in her only acting credit. She's convincing as the victim's friend who attended the same school he did, and she ends up being extremely important to the case. A later scene has the camera slowly panning across the victim's room, lingering on movie and baseball posters as well as other memorabilia - the passions and hobbies of a boy just like any other, snuffed out by tragedy, and a message from the show that it really *does* want you to feel bad about the kid's death, despite how dismissively everyone in the episode speaks about him.

Whether that takes it out of the realm of "problematic" territory is up to you, and "Competence" is otherwise a neat little yarn that squeezes some unique character beats out of the main cast in what is usually almost exclusively a plot-driven show.

Van Buren Shoots Kid.

[rmax304823 · 8/10 · 20 February 2011]

The lieutenant is at an ATM when she's approached by two kids. One demands money and points a gun at her. She wounds him and kills the other with one shot. The problem is that the wounded kid takes off and the dead kid has no gun. What's worse, both kids are African-Americans barely into their teens, and the dead one was severely retarded. He was unable to plan a robbery. McCoy and the rest of the DA's office treat it as another homicide, but it's a tough case for everybody involved.

What's impressive about this episode is that it so clearly demonstrates its lack of political correctness. The wounded kid who fled the scene is located and brought in, and so is his older brother, from whom he bought the pistol. And, wow, do they illustrate a type of street rat that was common in those years. Both the kids are black teen agers, insolent, snotty, burning with resentment towards legitimated authority, and immune to the kind of moral reasoning most of us are familiar with. They bash old ladies over the head to steal their social security or their welfare checks. It's the way things are done.

That takes huevos on the part of the writer and the producer because you're in danger of alienating half your audience. You probably won't alienate the residents of New York City who have had a gun shoved in their face by two young black kids, as I have, but there are bound to be cries of "perpetuating racial stereotypes" and so forth. "Law and Order" could be almost unique in that regard. No other crime show that I'm aware of ever achieved quite the same level of verisimilitude. The lousy, graffiti-covered walls; the wisecracking and often indifferent but fundamentally decent police. No wonder it garnered so much praise.

The performances are unusually good in this episode. A young retarded girl is played by Jacklin Brooke Sanford. She's pretty plain. Her hair isn't well groomed, she has a big nose and freckles, her gaze wanders, and there are gaps between her teeth. But she is nevertheless tres charmant. She smiles in a terribly trusting manner. I have no idea whether the actress suffers from some cognitive deficit or not, but either way --. The two insolent black kids are also plain awesome, thoroughly believable as two of life's losers who remain defiantly bad. It's hard to imagine where the casting people could come up with young people with such skills.

The plot takes a couple of doglegs here and there but it's never distracting. A nice job.

Van Buren in control

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 12 November 2020]

It is so great to see one of the 'Law and Order' franchise's longest serving characters (fourth after Olivia Benson, Donald Cragen and John Munch), and the longest serving of the original 'Law and Order', Anita Van Buren in the spotlight for the first time since she was introduced in the Season 4 opener "Sweeps". Liked her character from the very beginning and that like became love quite quickly, and the way S. Epatha Merkerson portrays her plays a large part in why.

Van Buren really shines here, in a way that she didn't do quite as brightly before with her material not being as rich, as does Merkerson for reasons that will be elaborated upon later. "Competence" ('Special Victims Unit' had an episode from Season 4 with the same name just to mention briefly, great episode that) is a very good episode from Season 5, though a couple of steps down from "Family Values" and especially "White Rabbit".

Am going to have to agree with another reviewer regarding feeling uncomfortable with the use of a certain word now considered ableist yet still thrown around. Being somebody who is autistic and disabled it has always been an offensive term to me and just as bad was how flippantly and contemptuously it's said. It did make the detectives less likeable.

Did think too that "Competence" did start off on the routine side.

Which is a real shame in regard to the first criticism, because "Competence" is actually a very good episode otherwise. Van Buren fascinates as a character and the episode shows a more conflicted edge to her that makes her situation rootable, even when things are not looking good for her. Merkerson is brilliant here and gives one of her best performances of the show, she gives not only authority to Van Buren but also a deeply felt sincerity. "Competence" also does really well at not taking sides in whether the other lead characters believe Van Buren or not, part of the conflict is the division the situation causes. Really appreciated that McCoy is more professional here than he was in his first three episodes and doesn't let personal feelings get in the way or bias cloud his judgement.

"Competence's" story is very involving with some nice tension and the moral dilemmas of the case being tactfully yet forcefully done. One is kept guessing and the gutsy approach that the show and franchise have continually shown is here in abundance. The rest of the performances are also great, with the other standout being a moving Jacklin Brooke Sanford. This is Merkerson's episode though. The script is tight and smart as one expects.

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.

Very good on the whole. 8/10

Excellent !

[adeans-63119 · 10/10 · 26 April 2022]

Another excellent episode of L&O - it reminds the viewer of the constant pressure Van Buren was under either because of her colour or her sex !

As a plus, the girl who pkayed Gwendolyn (Jacklin Brooke Sanford) was superb - shame it appears to be her sole role so far !

Automatic Teller Machine: Black or White

[safenoe · 8/10 · 29 November 2023]

Here Lieutenant Van Buren is the center of the episode as she is the victim and the accused, and her career is at stake as legal and racial and police politics come to the fore before, complicated by the fact that Lieutenant Van Buren and the perpetrator are of the same race, so that really complicated matters somewhat.

Ah yes, the ATM, the automatic teller machine. It can be scary withdrawing money when the person behind you could be a nasty crook with no regard for life. Always watch your back to avoid being a victim.

Jacklin Brooke Sanford guest stars as Guinivere Sheffield and her performance was quite convincing. As another user reviewer commented, it appears she only had one role, this one.

Van Buren in the hot seat

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 26 January 2015]

S. Eptha Merkerssen is the one getting grilled in this Law And Order episode. Lt. Van Buren while with her children is accosted by two young kids, one of them with a gun. Big mistake to hold up a police officer, she shoots one of them.

But this particular kid was slightly retarded and as the younger and more malevolent one Omar Scroggins says, he keeps him around because he looks menacing. I can understand that I had a friend who also was big and hulking and looked intimidating. Once he opened his mouth he spoke like Bullwinkle. But stay silent and you can get away with it.

Scroggins is a real punk, but he learned it from an older brother played by rapper Fredro Starr who's a career criminal. When his parole is threatened he has no hesitation in giving up his little brother and that leads to the his weapon.

Even though the Grand Jury clears Van Buren the DA wants to see some justice as far as the surviving perpetrator. But Scroggins has himself a civil rights attorney in the Alton Maddox/C.Vernon Mason tradition. Google those names if they're unfamiliar to you now. Samuel E. Wright is the attorney and he's trying this in the court of public opinion. Waterston will have to button this one down real tight.

Merkerssen is the dominant cast member, one of her best performances on Law And Order.