Have loved the original 'Law and Order' for a long time, particularly the earlier seasons, and consider it my personal favourite of the 'Law and Order' franchise. Personally find Season 5 on the variable side, mostly solid with the best episodes being outstanding, and much prefer McCoy in later seasons. "Privileged" to me was not the most interesting of concepts on paper on first watch, seemed rather "this has been seen before" and worried as to whether it would be able to do anything fresh.
Luckily it is not too routine or predictable. Actually liked "Privileged" a lot better than expected on first watch and have found more to appreciate on subsequent rewatches. It is a lot more interesting in execution than it sounds on paper and personally liked it even better than the previous commentators (completely agree with what has already been said by the way). "Privileged" is not one of the best episodes of 'Law and Order' or even of Season 5 but it is very good.
The second half is better than the first, with the story taking a little time to get going and does start off quite ordinarily outside of one of the season's most gruesome murders.
Do agree in a way too that the whole thing with which crime was murder or self-defense didn't quite add up.
But actually there is not an awful lot to dislike about "Privileged". As always, it's a slickly made episode, the editing especially having come on quite a bit from when the show first started (never was it a problem but it got more fluid with each episode up to this stage). The music is sparingly used and never seemed melodramatic, the theme tune easy to remember as usual. The direction is sympathetic enough without being too low key on the whole. The script is generally tight and thought-provoking.
Really liked the storytelling as an overall whole. It starts off promisingly with a not for the faint hearted crime scene and, although it has a slightly routine stretch a little bit after, the episode picks up significantly in the second half. Thanks to the interesting and unique tactics used to get to the truth, some well drawn supporting characters (including a surprisingly complex defendant), a pull no punches approach to the subject matter and some nice turns that avoid obviousness. All the performances are on point, not just from the particularly excellent Jerry Orbach and Sam Waterston but also an unsettling Eddie Malavarca and heart-wrenching Fran Brill (absolutely agree about the emotional impact of her court scene).
Concluding, another very well done episode. 8/10
