Rebels (27 Sep. 1995)

A biker who posts to an Internet bulletin board refuses to reveal information that could help a murder investigation, arguing that he a journalist protecting his sources.

Director:

Edwin Sherin

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Ed Zuckerman (teleplay),

Stars:

Jerry Orbach, Benjamin Bratt, S. Epatha Merkerson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry Orbach	...	Detective Lennie Briscoe
Benjamin Bratt	...	Detective Rey Curtis
S. Epatha Merkerson	...	Lt. Anita Van Buren
Sam Waterston	...	Jack McCoy
Jill Hennessy	...	A.D.A. Claire Kincaid
Steven Hill	...	D.A. Adam Schiff
Elizabeth Rodriguez	...	Caridad Montero
Tim Ransom	...	Andrew Maynard
Sam Schacht	...	Louis Bell
Timothy Wheeler	...	Milton Stillman
James Murtaugh	...	Dr. Farnsworth
Robert Knepper	...	Igor Smith
Mark Rosenthal	...	Kent
Alec Mapa	...	Brian Yoshimara
Donald Corren	...	Medill

Storyline

Detectives Briscoe and Curtis investigate the murder of NYU student Tommy Bell who was stabbed in a biker bar. A witness says he saw Bell in the bar having an argument with someone and then Tommy's girlfriend screaming after he was stabbed. The girlfriend, Caridad Montero, admits being there but says she didn't see anything. She says Tommy went there to buy a motorcycle. They find an exchange between Tommy and the bike's seller, Axle, who was there but left when a gang arrived and never saw him. When they locate an eye witness through an electronic bulletin board he refuses to help them saying the articles he posted make him a journalist. For ADA McCoy, learning what Tommy was wearing the night he was killed - and learning where he got it - leads him to the person who caused his death.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 September 1995 (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

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Briscoe & Curtis are looking at the laptop in the car, Curtis reads out "Another non-boring night at Strokers, boys and girls, when a wannabe got in front of more torque than he could handle". Then they skip down to the last paragraph. The full text of the laptop reads [With the same caps used]: "AH! 'ANOTHER NON-BORING EVENING AT BLOTTO'S, BOYS AND GIRLS, WHEN A WANNABE GOT IN FRONT OF MORE TORQUE THAN HE COULD HANDLE TOO BAD THERE'S NO REAL DIALOGUE THAT BELONGS HERE, OTHERWISE I WOULDN'T HAVE TO WRITE IN GARBAGE CHARACTERS LIKE 'ANOTHER NON-BORING NIGHT HERE AT BLOTTOS, BOYS AND GIRLS, WHEN A WANNABE GOT IN FRONT OF MORE TORQUE THAN HE COULD HANDLE AH! 'ANOTHER NON-BORING NIGHT AT BLOTTOS, BOYS AND GIRLS, WHEN A WANNABE GOT IN FRONT OF MORE TORQUE THAN HE COULD HANDLE PLEASE IGNORE THE PRECEDING TWO PARAGRAPHS AND THE FOLLOWING THREE. GEE, THIS ROP [Prop?] TRUCK IS REMARKABLY HOT, EVER THOUGHT ABOUT INSTALLING AN AIR CONDITIONER IN HERE, RON? SO TELL ME, IS THIS A SATISFYING BUNCH OF GARBAGE TO FILL UP THE SCREEN WITH, I THINK THERE SHOULD BE ENOUGH STUFF SO THAT YOU HAVE TO SCROLL DOWN TO GET TO THE MEANINGFUL PASSAGE BY NOW. OH, HEY, I'VE GOT A GOOD IDEA, HERE'S HOW THIS WORKED OUT, RON. YOU TYPE IN THE STUFF YOU WANT TO APPEAR IN THE FAX SOFTWARE IN ANY WORD PROCESSOR. YOU THEN PRINT THIS DOCUMENT AS IF YOU WERE FAXING IT (THAT IS, WITH WINFAX PRO SELECTED AS THE PRINTER), THEN AT THE "WHERE TO FAX THE DOCUMENT" WINDOW, THERE IS A SMALL CHECKBOX IN THE LOWER RIGHT MARKED SOMETHING LIKE "SAVE FAX TO DISK". CHECK IT AND PRESS RETURN IN THE NEXT DIALOG BOX. EXIT THE WORD PROCESSOR AND RUN THE FAX VIEW PROGRAM. "OPEN" THE FILE LIKE YOU WOULD ANY OTHER. AND DADI FOUND OUT SHE SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN HER EX-OLD MAN'S BITCH SEAT. SHE HAD TO DIVE FOR COVER WHEN THE OPENER JUICED HER NEW CAGER SQUEEZE.

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Goofs

Caridad Montero is repeatedly said to be Puerto Rican, but when she speaks Spanish, it's South American.

User Reviews

Good detective story

In "Rebels" we continue the conflict between seasoned, flawed Lenny and inexperienced Mr. Perfect Curtis as Van Buren helps them adjust to their new partnership. So far there's no signs of them actually coming to trust each other, I can't remember if there will be any but I hope so, with them set up as not particularly friendly early on, I'd hope their transition to more or less respectful partners isn't omitted.

At any rate, this episode is about a biker gang with an unlikely name, the Yankee Rebels, another in a long ling of evil white dudes on L&O. It seems one of them stabbed a rich kid who wanted to be a biker. But which one? And will one of their fledgling members avoid testifying due to a half-baked claim of protecting his sources, since he talked about the crime on a BBS? Okay this episode has a lot of problems, especially to do with the "welcome to the 1990s" attempt at injecting cyber-crime into L&O. While Curtis's BBS hacking skills are a bit laughable, it didn't ruin the episode for me.

The DAs swoop in and solve everything in a decent detective story, and although I prefer it when the cops do the heavy lifting, it was still a good episode with more or less believable twists and turns. Season 6 is off to a solid start.