Law & Order (TV Series) Volunteers (1993) User Reviews

An impossible case

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 13 June 2012]

This episode had its origins in the middle Seventies when it was decided in New York that we could no longer afford to house our mentally ill patients any longer. So we sent some of the purportedly less violent ones on the street with enough scripts to keep them on an even keel.

But as this episode graphically shows it doesn't always work. Marion Killinger becomes a public menace to all concerned hanging around Bedford Street in Manhattan. The folks who can afford the rents in that area don't want to live with a public menace that just won't go away. When he pulls another violent act against a woman, her husband and other concerned citizens just take some direct action.

This was an impossible case for Michael Moriarty to win. Whether on the street or the subway, New Yorkers deal with this every day. The one who did the deed, Denis O'Hare has across the board sympathy. And Killinger really kills himself on cross examination. No one could have been in his corner after what he shows on the stand.

A nice bit of social commentary on the homeless issue.

Un-absolute conviction

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 2 September 2020]

Was actually quite pleasantly surprised by the Season 4 opener "Sweeps" and thought it very good on the whole, if not quite starting the season off with a bang. Am saying pleasantly surprised, because the premise did not appeal to me on paper, but the episode did a better job than expected at tackling it. Had no doubt however thought that the next episode "Volunteers" would be a superior episode, with a much more appealing concept and it sounded like a more complex case too.

Found myself proven correct. "Volunteers" was a superior episode and a very interesting one. Am not sure whether it is one of the very best of Season 4, but how it executes its subject, hard-hittingly yet tactfully too, and a very interesting and more complex than one would think supporting character makes it great stuff. For so early on in the season and for quite a lot of changes undergone, "Volunteers" is remarkably well settled.

"Volunteers" doesn't have an awful lot to criticise it for actually, did find the ending on the slightly rushed side and the judge's conclusion was not near as fair as the jury ruling. But maybe that is just me being too being nit-picky and if anybody thinks that fair enough.

Everything else works brilliantly. "Volunteers" does a great job at its tackling of homelessness, very bad back then and still very bad now (having for nearly a decade lived in a city where the homeless situation was just awful and made me cry seeing any homeless person begging), this was tackled with force but also just about avoided vilification or being one-sided on either side. It was interesting seeing society's reaction and attitude to homelessness, which is actually not an inaccurate one at times, and that they do not know the whole story. And also how the person is judged as an individual, at first one (the viewer and the regulars) wants to deep down help them because despite the awful things they do they were the sort of people that needed professional help until there is one crucial point in the story where any sympathy for them is completely undone.

Kirk is a character that is very well written and fascinates, also more complex than one thinks and doesn't come over as over the top. Actually didn't hate him entirely at first and put his actions down to his disturbing personal problems, but his deeply shocking behaviour on the stand makes him quickly reprehensible and suggests otherwise. For the rest of the episode, the empathy is reserved for the person that did the deed, again without condoning what they did. Stone's attitude towards the case and how he reacted to it was surprisingly different and not what one expects from him, this is the kind of case that normally would make him angry. Seeing him more empathetic was somewhat refreshing.

As to be expected, "Volunteers" is slick and stylish and the music is haunting and understated when used with the revelation cues not being too obvious. The direction is accomodating but has urgency. Despite the changes, the season has already settled remarkably well. Seasons 2 and 3 also had major changes (especially 2) and Season 4 settled a lot quicker and better than both. Kincaid and Van Buren still make promising first impressions and Briscoe (one of the franchise's longest serving characters for good reason) and Logan have great lines and chemistry. The biggest impression when it comes to the regular characters is made by Stone. The acting is great, not just from the regulars (especially Michael Moriarty) but also from Marion Killinger who really chills when on the stand.

Concluding, a great second episode to Season 4. 9/10

The state's responsibility

[the6thPredator · 7/10 · 27 November 2023]

What really grinds my gears about this episode is a particular line Michael Moriarty delivers: "the law does not say you can murder a man because the state won't do anything about him."

I mean sure, he's technically correct, but if we look at what that means it's an incredibly hypocritical statement to make. The whole point of the state, the social contract, is to provide security. To maintain law and order. Not only is it the name of the show, it's the main (if not the only) task of the government. If the state can't guarantee a reasonable standard of security, what else can citizens do but secure it for themselves?

So yes, beating someone half to death for stealing a grocery bag is excessive, but it can't be overlooked that the state itself is a very large part of the problem in this case and its negligence comes close to justification. It's ironic that the episode casually mentions that "the system" is to blame for what occurred here when all of our protagonists are part of that same system, yet nobody seems to point the finger at themselves.

Ten Thousand Miles From Home And I Don't Even Know My Name.

[rmax304823 · 3 September 2011]

I consider this a rather routine episode of an outstanding and ordinarily thoughtful television series, which is saying a lot -- that looming adjectival "thoughtful." The writers try to deal in a sensible and dramatic way with a current social problem, homelessness, but it's like a wrestling match and they lose. The problem is that the homeless man depicted is a crack-addicted, extremely aggressive lunatic. He's in and out of drug treatment programs. They dry him out and he's back on the streets. And there appears to be no place for him in the mental health system either. He's one of life's losers that has fallen through the cracks.

Okay. It happens often enough. But the overwhelming majority of homeless people aren't crack addicts or violent. They're mentally ill or alcoholic, statistically. Illnesses like schizophrenia, while excruciating for the patient, don't lead to the kind of behavior this guy exhibits. He shouts and screams at passersby. He yanks shopping bags out of their hands. He pushes little kids in front of cars. He frightens customers away from shops.

Finally one of the people living next to the alley in which the guy sleeps takes a tire iron, breaks the homeless guy's legs, and half brains him. There follows the second part of the program, with a lot of legal filigree.

The core issue, though, is homelessness and in this instance the writers have set up a straw man. I understand the need for drama. There's nothing very exciting about a loser who lies wrapped up filthy blankets all day and hardly moves. But the drama is ginned up.

That's not to criticize the entire episode. Homelessness is just one of the issues it deals with, though perhaps the most important. The acting and direction are fine, as they always are in these early years. Jill Hennessy is glamorous and gracile. With that cygnette C-spine, if she were a ballerina she could not only dance the part of Odette/Odile, she would look the part too. Michael Moriarty is always outstanding in some unremarkable way. And S. Epatha Merkeson is so efficient and tender-minded, one wants to snuggle up to her matronly bosom for reassurance.

Home Alone

[safenoe · 6/10 · 16 October 2023]

Joan Copeland plays Trial Judge Rebecca Stein who pretty much pokes her judicial gavel in the eyes of Executive Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Stone (Michael Moriarty) when she pretty much gave a slap on the wrist of the accused who pretty much took law and order into his own hands against a homeless person who had wellbeing issues.

S. Epatha Merkerson is settling into her role as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren. Jill Hennessy is also settling in as ADA Claire Kincaid. Anyway, I'm enjoying catching up on the early seasons of Law and Order and seeing New York City as it was before nine eleven.