Anything related to music immediately grabs my attention, being a musician myself. It has been proven many times on detective shows and legal dramas that death/murder and music are a good combination, not just all three shows in the 'Law and Order' franchise but also the likes of 'Murder She Wrote', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Endeavour' (well actually all the 'Inspector Morse' franchise), 'Monk' etc. Despite being a familiar setting, it is a timeless one and the story did seem interesting.
Was not massively about "Blaze" on first viewing, finding it on the over-complicated and not always involving side, while liking the acting and ending. There have been 'Law and Order' episodes where opinions have changed, both gone up and gone down in estimations and an even bigger number of episodes with the same opinion on rewatches. "Blaze" is one of the better on rewatch episodes, though it is far cry from being one of the best Season 14 episodes and had potential to be even better than it was.
To begin with, "Blaze" is on the routine side, with it lacking tension, and there are a few too many turns that confuse the story a bit.
It does not give me pleasure going on about Elisabeth Rohm, but Southerlyn has never done it for me as a character and Rohm fails to give her any personality. Also found John Doe on the over the top side as a character that is more cartoonish than real.
However, a lot is good. It is as ever shot with the right amount of intimacy without feeling too up close, even with a reliance of close up camerawork. That the editing has become increasingly tighter over-time is great too. The music isn't over-scored, manipulative or used too much. There is intimacy and tautness in the direction. The rest of the regulars are fine on the whole, particularly Sam Waterston who dominates the legal scenes with great authority, while Briscoe and Green are such a great pairing.
Script is thought probing and flows well, if lacking a little tautness. The story is compelling enough, never coming over as too obvious, and intrigues later on. What particularly saves the episode is the unexpected shocker that is the ending. The music setting is made good use of and isn't gimmicky, capturing the thrill of it very well. Most of the supporting cast are more than competent, though nobody stands out this time.
Overall, decent but didn't wow me. 6/10.
Was not massively about "Blaze" on first viewing, finding it on the over-complicated and not always involving side, while liking the acting and ending. There have been 'Law and Order' episodes where opinions have changed, both gone up and gone down in estimations and an even bigger number of episodes with the same opinion on rewatches. "Blaze" is one of the better on rewatch episodes, though it is far cry from being one of the best Season 14 episodes and had potential to be even better than it was.
To begin with, "Blaze" is on the routine side, with it lacking tension, and there are a few too many turns that confuse the story a bit.
It does not give me pleasure going on about Elisabeth Rohm, but Southerlyn has never done it for me as a character and Rohm fails to give her any personality. Also found John Doe on the over the top side as a character that is more cartoonish than real.
However, a lot is good. It is as ever shot with the right amount of intimacy without feeling too up close, even with a reliance of close up camerawork. That the editing has become increasingly tighter over-time is great too. The music isn't over-scored, manipulative or used too much. There is intimacy and tautness in the direction. The rest of the regulars are fine on the whole, particularly Sam Waterston who dominates the legal scenes with great authority, while Briscoe and Green are such a great pairing.
Script is thought probing and flows well, if lacking a little tautness. The story is compelling enough, never coming over as too obvious, and intrigues later on. What particularly saves the episode is the unexpected shocker that is the ending. The music setting is made good use of and isn't gimmicky, capturing the thrill of it very well. Most of the supporting cast are more than competent, though nobody stands out this time.
Overall, decent but didn't wow me. 6/10.