The previous three episodes of 'Law and Order's' Season 2 set a very promising and just as good as before standard, even if not everything gelled understandably so. More evident in the still solid if uneven "The Wages of Love" and "Aria" (the latter being the slightly better of the two) than the great and powerful season opener "Confession" (which saw a fair few changes and coped surprisingly very well with most of them).
From personal opinion, "Asylum" is an outstanding episode and despite "Confession" being rated higher there is a marginal preference for this. One of the standouts of Season 2 easily, showing signs of the season starting to settle, and of the early seasons. As good as the best of Season 1 and perhaps even better. Like much of 'Law and Order' in its prime, it fascinates from a moral perspective and benefits too from a great story and two of the season's, and show's even, guest stars.
"Asylum's" case is always absorbing with enough turns in the plot to stop it from being too simple or obvious. Turns that also avoid being convoluted, so one is kept on their toes and guessing while not having an issue following what goes on. The writing is concise and thought-provoking, leaving one likely to think long and hard on the issues raised. The moral dilemmas when the case goes to trial intrigue too without being confusing or simplistic.
Cerreta and Logan's chemistry gels more here and has more oomph that understandably wasn't quite there in the previous three episodes. Particularly in the truly attention grabbing interrogating of Lemonhead. Paul Sorvino had a lot of pressure replacing George Dzundza and did so admirably throughout the season, he fares well here as does Chris Noth (though not as good as he was in "Confession"). Michael Moriarty is the regular cast standout, he has juicy material as usual when playing Stone and he gets a lot of mileage out of it.
Where the acting shines even more though is with two of the season's, and early seasons in general, guest star turns. One is Stuart Rudin, his glaring alone (though the whole performance is chilling) is enough to make one feel genuinely uneasy. Even better is an astonishing Matthew Cowles as has been said already, shining especially in his rapport with Moriarty.
It is a slick looking episode and is scored with just about the right moodiness without being overused or over-the-top. The main theme is one of the franchise's better ones.
Summing up, outstanding. 10/10
From personal opinion, "Asylum" is an outstanding episode and despite "Confession" being rated higher there is a marginal preference for this. One of the standouts of Season 2 easily, showing signs of the season starting to settle, and of the early seasons. As good as the best of Season 1 and perhaps even better. Like much of 'Law and Order' in its prime, it fascinates from a moral perspective and benefits too from a great story and two of the season's, and show's even, guest stars.
"Asylum's" case is always absorbing with enough turns in the plot to stop it from being too simple or obvious. Turns that also avoid being convoluted, so one is kept on their toes and guessing while not having an issue following what goes on. The writing is concise and thought-provoking, leaving one likely to think long and hard on the issues raised. The moral dilemmas when the case goes to trial intrigue too without being confusing or simplistic.
Cerreta and Logan's chemistry gels more here and has more oomph that understandably wasn't quite there in the previous three episodes. Particularly in the truly attention grabbing interrogating of Lemonhead. Paul Sorvino had a lot of pressure replacing George Dzundza and did so admirably throughout the season, he fares well here as does Chris Noth (though not as good as he was in "Confession"). Michael Moriarty is the regular cast standout, he has juicy material as usual when playing Stone and he gets a lot of mileage out of it.
Where the acting shines even more though is with two of the season's, and early seasons in general, guest star turns. One is Stuart Rudin, his glaring alone (though the whole performance is chilling) is enough to make one feel genuinely uneasy. Even better is an astonishing Matthew Cowles as has been said already, shining especially in his rapport with Moriarty.
It is a slick looking episode and is scored with just about the right moodiness without being overused or over-the-top. The main theme is one of the franchise's better ones.
Summing up, outstanding. 10/10