Law & Order True Crime

Mrs. Shullivan and I have been fans of the Law and Order TV series from its original series starting in 1990 through to the current re- creation of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) now in its 18th season. It is no wonder that this new 8 part mini series covering the high profile trial in 1994 of Lyle (aged 21) and Erik (aged 19) Menéndez for the 1989 murder by shotgun of their wealthy parents, José and his wife, Mary ("Kitty") in their Beverly Hills home would be released some 30 years after the murders first occurred.

José Enrique and Kitty Menéndez spoiled their only two sons, and so when the murders were first made public there was no end of rumors who could be responsible for these two cold blooded execution style murders.

Unless you are under the age of 30, you may not be familiar with just how high profile these murders were at the time (1984) and the eventual trial by tabloid newspapers of the two sons Erik and Lyle Menéndez. I have seen the two earlier made for TV movies of the Menéndez murders both of which starred A-lister film stars.

In the 1994 TV movie "Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders" it starred A-list actors James Farentino, and Jill Clayburgh, John Beck and Susan Blakely. In the second made for TV movie "Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills" starred Edward James Olmos, Beverly D'Angelo, and Damian Chapa.

This new 8 episode mini-series also has some A-list TV stars such as Edie Falco (Carmela Soprano of The Sopranos) and Chris Bauer (The Wire and also Third Watch). I am going to go out on a limb based on just watching the first episode that this mini series will be based on factual evidence and the court transcripts. Edie Falco plays a defense attorney named Leslie Abramson who seems to be very opinionated although in the opening episode she is not yet familiar with any of the case evidence, nor yet introduced to the two Menéndez brothers, Erik and Lyle.

A good benchmark in assessing if a mini-series is worth watching or not is if the episode(s) seem to end much quicker than you expected, or wanted it to. Such is the case with the opening episode of Law & Order: True Crime, it ended almost as quickly as the lives of José Enrique and Kitty Menéndez did. I give the opening episode a 7/10 rating and I will update my review after this mini-series has concluded.

I can tell research is rigorously executed. The director focuses on the story of what happened in the courtroom rather than hocus-pocus information that the media bombarded with. His effort to find out truer version of the crime is commendable. The narrative is well-organized in chronological order with appropriate amount of flashback.

On the other hand, Edie Falco's performance is disappointing. Her particular pronunciation (somewhat sounding like lisp) and facial expression (such as opening her eyes extremely big with too much white exposed) stop me from getting into the show every time and are repeated too many times. I will be harsh but honest. She lacks many qualities to be a leading actress.

This mini-series held my attention throughout with great acting and a solid story untill the final episode. Why the 2 boys lawyers did not simply put all their effort into an appeal that they would obviously get because of the numerous errors made by the judge goes beyond any rational thinking.

Just nothing else to say....the errors by the Judge are blatant!

There are some really good docs-dramas out there. The People vs OJ (2016) is one, and Manhunt: Unibomber (2017) is another. The British also make these types of programs, Appropriate Adult (2011) comes to mind. I've seen other movies that cast doubt on the ultimate trial outcomes, and it is these that this production resembles. A recent example of this type of filmmaking would be the brilliant Escape At Dannemora (2018), which questioned the sentence of one of the two escapees, and his further punishment after capture. In style Law & Order True Crime resembles The People vs OJ, yet the bias is definitely on the side of the defendants, enough so that after writing this review I'll look up what happened to the case in recent years. Law & Order shows were always highly charged and topical, and executed with high standards. This is a brilliant addition to their legacy, with full marks to the writers. It's full of suspense and worthy performances, great casting and good camera direction. At eight episodes it was possibly a tad too long, although one could argue the defence was such a burning issue it could perhaps have been longer. I'm full of questions. Great television from America.

A lot of these I never realized happen. I was very young when the case was going on. Not going to put any spoilers in here, but who doesn't like true crime and of all things the famous, DUN DUN! Is included. Will there be anymore true crime cases in the future?