Pride and Joy (27 Oct. 1993)

While investigating the death of a building superintendent, Briscoe and Logan discover that the victim's teenage son may have been abusing him. The son, however, claims that he was the abuse victim.

Director:

Gilbert M. Shilton

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Edward Pomerantz,

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
Pamela Payton-Wright	...	Katherine McKinnon
Gabriel Olds	...	Sean MacKinnon
Lauren Ambrose	...	Maureen McKinnon
Paul Collins	...	Roger Easton
Patrick Collins	...	Ned Hughes
Sam Gray	...	Judge Manuel Leon
Lauren Klein	...	Dr. Grace Henderson
Judy Jacksina	...	Nancy Kroll

Storyline

Detectives Briscoe and Logan investigate the death of a building superintendent who is found dead in the basement of his apartment building. He was well-liked by everyone it seems and was conscientious and good at his job. It looks like someone may have broken into the basement but forensic analysis reveals that the scene was staged. The police quickly focus on the dead man's son, Sean, a brilliant student who goes to a private school and has been accepted at Princeton. The boy is obviously embarrassed by his father low stature and Dr. Elizabeth Olivet concludes that he is in fact a sociopath. ADA Stone will have to convince the jury of that and get them to look beyond the boy's good looks and obvious accomplishments.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 October 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

Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth.

This is about average for the series, which means it's well done in almost all respects and is made for adults.

A building superintendent is found murdered near the boiler room of an apartment house, the window of the outside door broken. It looks as if some crack head broke in, was discovered by the victim, and killed him with a hammer.

But, as is usual, things aren't what they seem. The "lab boys" find that the window was broken from the inside out, and then swept back inside to make a phony break-in look more authentic. What's more, the dead and bleeding body had been dragged from the boiler room and left close to the door, as if everything had been staged.

There are the usual red herrings before the law pins the murder of the victim's own seventeen-year-old son, the pride of the family. The kid has brains. His father was working twelve-hour days to put him through a prestigious prep school, and the kid had gotten admitted to Princeton. But, ashamed of his working-stiff father, the boy was forever beating his old man, putting him in the hospital four times, until the final confrontation turned lethal. The mother and daughter covered it all up as best they could for reasons of their own.

I doubt the story was "ripped from the headlines" because incidents like this aren't very common. Murder in families are common enough but not systematic abuse of a healthy father by a dominant teen-aged son. To the extent such a case is sensational it would be because of its rarity.

The lawyer for the defense is pretty sharp. He doesn't manage to get the kid off -- which, for the kid, means good-bye Princeton, and that's all he cares about. He may see the inside of a jail cell but never the basement of the Firestone Library. Yet, watching this episode, I found myself wondering how this working-class family was able to hire a competent trial lawyer.

How much could they have had in the way of assets after paying the son's tuition at that tony prep school? I've seen two lawyers. One charged $100 to make a phone call and then forgot to call me with the results. Another charged $100 to retype a letter I'd prepared and then got the contents wrong. If the family had assets like mine, they'd have been flat broke before their lawyer reached 150 hours. If they'd been terribly wealthy, of course, they might have engaged Alan Dershowitz, in which case the murderer would now be in a fancy club somewhere chatting about Old Nassau over a glass of single malt scotch.