Return (15 Nov. 2000)

When a suspected murderer tries to seek shelter in Israel, the DA's office faces the difficult task of extraditing and trying him in New York while also satisfying the Jewish community.

Director:

Stephen Wertimer

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Aaron Zelman

Stars:

Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry Orbach	...	Detective Lennie Briscoe
Jesse L. Martin	...	Detective Ed Green
S. Epatha Merkerson	...	Lt. Anita Van Buren
Sam Waterston	...	Jack McCoy
Angie Harmon	...	A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael
Dianne Wiest	...	D.A. Nora Lewin
Evan Handler	...	Eli Becker
Bruce Altman	...	Brad Feldman
Sam Schacht	...	Nathan Becker
Joe Maruzzo	...	Sal Bonafiglio
David Wike	...	Frank
Bruce Ornstein	...	Lev Berenson
Lynne Charnay	...	Rose Caplan
Rick D. Wasserman	...	David Caplan (as Rick Wasserman)
Laurie Heineman	...	Sylvia Becker

Storyline

When a suspected murderer tries to seek shelter in Israel, the DA's office faces the difficult task of extraditing and trying him in New York while also satisfying the Jewish community.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 November 2000 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, Studios USA Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

User Reviews

Denial Is Not A River In Egypt

Law And Order was really reaching for a good plot gimmick when they used the Israeli law of return as an integral part of the story. In fact they cheated a bit here.

Evan Handler is the son of one of the partners in a leather goods store who has his father's partner killed because he's been caught stealing to feed his lifestyle which consists of quantities of cocaine. When Jerry Orbach and Jesse Martin get finally on to him he flees to Israel, citing their law of return which is that any Jew who wants it can claim Israeli citizenship.

That includes criminals and that's there for a reason as it's still uncomfortable in many places on the globe to be Jewish and Jews are subject to persecution which can take the form of arrest and warrants for specious crimes. This is all a result of the Holocaust and there for good and sufficient reason.

What it never was intended to be was to offer a place of sanctuary for a murderer who happens to be Jewish. But Handler invokes it and part of the episode involves the very WASP Angie Harmon going before a rabbinical court to get this guy declared unJewish because he was really adopted. So if he hadn't been adopted there would be no story.

I also cannot believe that politicians would bring to bear pressure on acting DA Dianne Weist for Handler. The man he murdered wasn't exactly an Eskimo.

The best performance in this episode is given by Sam Schacht who is Handler's adopted father and who flat out refuses beyond all reason to believe his son is guilty. I've rarely seen denial done so well on the big or small screen.

But this was in the final analysis an inferior episode in a series that usually has only good ones.