Law & Order (TV Series) Rubber Room (2010) User Reviews

The "last" of the series proved a fitting "swan song" for Merkerson

[garrard · 9/10 · 27 May 2010]

As a result of NBC's decision to cancel the 20-year-old show, "Rubber Room" proved both a coda for the show and S.Epatha Merkerson whose "Anita van Buren" character was to leave at the end of the season anyway.

Because van Buren has had a season-long battle with cancer, most of the installments have dealt with the character having to deal with treatment along with carrying on her duties as the precinct boss. Merkerson, a gifted and Emmy-and-Golden-Globe-award-winning actress for Lackawanna Blues) should take home another statuette for her work this season.

"Rubber Room's" main storyline deals with the search for bomber who has intentions of making a "statement" by blowing up a school. Detectives Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Bernard (Anthony Anderson) intensely canvas the city in order to find the bomber and prevent a tragedy of "epic" proportions, as described by a youngster who has followed the bomber's website.

The episode is quite intense and the resolution is satisfying, with a limit graphic images.

The installment, while not among the top ten in the show's history, is a fitting "farewell," even though many fans hope that the show will return in some manner.

Meeting A Perceived Danger

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 30 September 2012]

Law And Order's last show managed to combine both the legal issues that the show was famous for and one great action sequence in a show that was normally known for the dogged way the police made their cases and arrests. In this instance Detectives Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson solved their case and prevented a terrorist act from being a lot worse than it could have been.

Our guys manage to stumble on to a blog where someone is making some very specific threats to do some really big terrorist act against a school. The legal issues here are just how far government can go in terms of meeting a perceived danger. The District Attorney's office goes before a grand jury that properly refuses to give them sweeping subpoena powers to investigate student blogs.

Still the detectives do manage through other means to shift the focus on to a teacher and when they find a common link they go after a teacher who can identify the blog's author. Still she in this litigious society brings her union lawyer to the DA's office. The dressing down that Sam Waterston gives that UFT lawyer is a classic.

This was a great finale for a great show that addressed so many issues in this hour, the rights and struggles of teachers in an urban setting, the responsibilities of their teacher's unions, how far we can go to investigate a terrorist threat.

Finally S. Eptha Merkerson playing Lieutenant Van Buren gets engaged to Ernie Hudson who had a recurring role in this season. She also has a struggle with breast cancer, a recurring theme. It ends with the struggle unresolved as it is with so many cancer survivors because of recurrence.

Not an episode to be missed.

Powerful farewell

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 25 April 2023]

Like Season 19, the twentieth and final season of the original 'Law and Order' really surprised me in a good way. So many shows have final seasons not worthy of them, but 'Law and Order' is one of the shows to have a generally good and worthy final season, even if it didn't feel like it was meant to be the end (don't think it was intended to be). A few episodes disappointed, them being "Blackmail", "Brazil" and "The Taxman Cometh", but Season 20 did boast one of the highest numbers of great episodes of the show.

The season finale (and sadly also show finale, sob!) "Rubber Room" is one of those great episodes. It's a beautiful and powerful farewell that did a truly impressive job at tackling one of the most difficult and most relevant subjects covered in the latter seasons. Perfect it may not be, but 'Law and Order' started off excellently and finished every bit as excellently with "Rubber Room". As far as Season 20 goes, it's one of the best episodes in my view if not one of the best 'Law and Order' episodes overall.

Did feel that the ending was a bit too pat, in an episode where a darker ending would have been more realistic, and it did feel to me quite clear that it was not intended to be the final season. Otherwise there would have been more finality.

However, the acting ranges from great to exceptional, with all the regulars shining in some way, in one of the best acted episodes in a long time. S Epatha Merkerson was always great on 'Law and Order', but Season 20 really pulled out all the stops making Van Buren a more fully developed character in a heart wrenching and relatable subplot that went on throughout the season (without feeling dragged out) and Merkerson's acting was powerful throughout the season. She is magnificent here, one of her best performances of the show and even better than her performances in for example "Fed".

Furthermore, it looks professional and the camerawork is neither overblown or static. The music has a haunting and not too melodramatic presence. The direction keeps things tight while allowing time to breathe. The script is intelligent, layered, lean and provokes a lot of thought. The story is compelling and is intricate without being convoluted, the moral dilemmas of the case are intensely and thoughtfully handled and it is amazing seeing how relevant the episode is still.

Conflict has a lot of tension, very fascinating in the subject it covers and the kind where a result, and the right kind, is rooted for, while the approach to the subject is uncompromising and suspenseful while not being preachy. Also extremely moving, the complex themes insightfully and unyieldingly explored. Really admired "Rubber Room" for even going near this subject and admired every bit as much that it didn't pass judgements or feel incomplete, which is amazing considering how much is covered.

Overall, was hugely impressed by this final episode and as far as final episodes of great shows go it's much better than most. Much better than those of 'House of Cards', 'Game of Thrones', 'Lost' and from memory 'Dexter', that's for sure. 9/10.

The Last Strong Episode Before the Dreck that is the Reboot

[bkkaz · 9/10 · 31 March 2023]

It's hard to believe the original Law and Order run ended on such a high note -- and that it was barely a dozen years before the awful reboot. Everything about this episodes shines compared to the limp, dull-witted reboot. The production values are high, the writing is taut, the acting is realistic, and the directing in on point. It makes a point without being an issues episode. The pitiful reboot looks and feels anemic compared to this.

A numbskull teen sexts a pic of herself topless, which her parents discover. Of course, the pic gets spread around the Internet, causing the parents to go to the police. During that investigation, the squad discovers someone is stockpiling weapons and materials to attack a school.

The rest of the episode becomes one of the few that is all about the investigation -- the only courtroom moment involves a grand jury that is more concerned about the privacy of teenagers -- what exactly do they think they are they hiding? -- than their safety. Meanwhile, everyone involved gets a good look at why so many teachers are leaving the profession today -- the low pay, long hours, constant threats, bullying from parents and administrators, and, as one professional puts it, "all the responsibility and none of the authority."

No, the episode doesn't have any answers, but all of these assaults to teachers becomes germane to who ultimately is the attacker. And there are some flaws, such as Sam Waterston bullying a teachers union lawyer (which is ironic given how much the episode shows educators being pushed around) and, of course, Anthony Anderson.

At the same time, the episode concludes the arc for Lt. Van Buren, the last great leader on the show. Compared to the awful Manhands in the reboot, Van Buren is smart, decisive, independent, and colorful. She's a true leader and not just someone with a title.

It's a shame the series was cancelled at that point. With the momentum, it could have continued for years in excellence. But the reboot is like a child's dress up game by comparison, a coloring book with nothing crayoned in. Hard to believe the series was so good once.

SAM WATERSTON IS THE BEST D.A.

[conn-38882 · 10/10 · 18 June 2023]

A small review, Sam Waterston explodes on the Teacher's Union Rep & it is marvelous, some if the best acting I've seen from Sam Waterston is in this one small skit from this Law and Order episode. I've always thought that Sam was the best choice for the District Attorney and he proves my point/choice. This episode is one of the best because it touches on a school shooting & I am from where the very first much publicized school shooting happened, Pearl, Mississippi. I was working at Brandon Police Department at the time & we were dispatched to Pearl Police Department to assist and catch calls for them while they were tied up at Pearl High School. This is one of my favorite episodes of Law & Order. 10 stars for this episode!

where's justice for the teachers?

[jujuju123 · 6/10 · 14 February 2020]

I'm glad that the story writers found it worthwhile for the public to at least be aware of one of the largest challenges facing education today: the overwhelming burden on teachers to have all the responsibilities in but given no authority and respect, in the meantime, being micromanaged by the department of education, helicopter parents, and self-entitled children.

I'm glad that the issue is at least given attention to in this episode, but I am not satisfied with the way it is addressed as it unfolds toward the end. In the episode, the only voice maintaining and defending the left dignity of teachers, the union attorney, is, I'll say, "bullied" by the district attorney, Jack McCoy, as if he were doing the wrong thing to help the teachers stick together and hopefully gain leverage. The way McCoy righteously belts at him just ironically confirms his complaint that teachers have all the obligations to "do the right thing" but when asking others to do right by them none is responsive and would even go so far to yell and shut him down.

What is more disappointing to me is that the episode somehow ends in a happy ending for all when the avenging teacher's plan turns into a debacle and nothing, absolutely nothing is done for teachers stuck in the rubber room or to the system that's been pushing teachers over the edge. If anything, this "happy ending" does more damage to teachers, as the only voice speaking up for teachers is so impressively belittled and bullied by McCoy, who with credits of his charisma and characterization all along the long line of the L&O franchise, and shoved into the line of the unjust. It's really a pity, for me personally to see, the last episode of one of my favorite shows end in this way.