Law & Order (TV Series) Married with Children (2004) User Reviews

An issue for the jury

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 4 June 2014]

As legal challenges to same sex marriage are bringing more and more states in line, an episode like this will some day if not already be an anachronism. Still it's a bitter reminder of the pain of laws set up to gay people enjoying the benefits of family life.

If gays are to be married, inevitably will come divorce. Had marriage been a reality in the state of Florida and they had not a punitive law forbidding same sex adoption this tragedy would not have happened.

The victim took her child which she alone adopted after splitting from her lover. Lucinda Jenney followed her and either the victim accidentally fell or was pushed out a hotel window. An issue for the jury when Jerry Orbach and Jesse Martin arrest Jenney and take the child to foster care.

Both Sam Waterston and Elisabeth Rohm are forced to take positions they really don't agree with. Especially Rohm who in her last episode comes out as a lesbian.

Patrick Breen is a good advocate for the same sex marriage cause. But this is a murder case he's trying as Jenney's defense attorney.

A thought provoking story.

Great episode but I'm confused

[landont-61-661045 · 8/10 · 9 October 2021]

Very thought provoking and emotional episode, but I just dont get why they didn't charge Bishop with manslaughter. It was clear she killed Lisa without malice.

Manslaughter seemed like a much more appropriate sentence.

"Let us marry"

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 6 July 2022]

Decided a while back (three years ago) to review all the episodes of the original 'Law and Order', 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent', being someone who really likes all three shows in their prime/early years. Really loved a lot of the early seasons episodes of all three shows, while also finding all three less consistent later on (with the original not feeling the same post-Briscoe and even began to lose consistency in Season 11 and all the seasons after).

"Married with Children" has one of the toughest and most controversial subjects of Season 14 and it is a subject that hits home with me and with anybody who has close friends and relatives in a same sex marriage (like me) or in one themselves. It handles it very well, in a very thought provoking way while also doing it tactfully with no prejudice. As an episode of 'Law and Order' and for anything, "Married with Children" is very good if not quite fantastic.

It is on the slightly routine and not much to write home about side story-wise at the beginning.

Elisabeth Rohm is still rather wooden, though Southerlyn's point of view in this matter is an interesting one and is actually the more relatable argument of the ones presented.

There is a lot that works very well in "Married with Children". The production values are slick and are simple without being simplistic. The music is haunting and not too over-emphasised when used. The direction is sympathetic while having momentum and personality. The script is tight and thoughtful, raising some interesting points about same sex marriage and relationships and how it would affect them in what the characters in question are fighting for.

Furthermore, once the story gets going it is very compelling, thought provoking and also sad. Really did appreciate that it tried to approach the subject tactfully and on the whole realistically and that it didn't try to take sides, acknowledging how hard it would be to prosecute with the issues that would have been needed to overcome to get a result. The acting other than Rohm is very good to terrific, Sam Waterston and Lucinda Jenney particularly.

All in all, very good and nearly great. 8/10.

Would any of this have happened if they'd been allowed to adopt as a married couple?

[Mrpalli77 · 7/10 · 5 December 2017]

An alcoholic man was caught by his wife drinking whiskey early in the morning in their courtyard. They noticed blood stains in the garden: a woman got stuck in tree branches after falling off from a nearby hotel balcony. Forensics pointed out the woman probably didn't commit suicide but was pushed off by someone else, there were fingerprints left in contact lenses. The victim was a motivational speaker for the local NBA basketball team and she had few drinks with two players the night before. They both went separate ways (one had sex with a groupies and the other one got away with a limo), so she got to her hotel room all alone. Later on, detectives realized she was gay and she adopted a little girl (Olivia Crocicchia) in Florida, where she lived together with her fiancée. When they broke up, the victim went back to New York with the daughter. The motive for the former lover is clear, but jurisdiction matters and pity felt by gay jurors could play a crucial role in the verdict.

The screenwriter wanted us to think about gay couple's rights: in a heterosexual couple the count of kidnapping wouldn't have been existed. A murder is a murder anyway no matter what.