Killerz

This was a classic L&O episode. A ten year old girl comments murder. What does the law do with a child that may not have understood the consequences of her actions. That's the crux of the story. Return her to her parent and mandate intense counseling. And hope she doesn't grow up and continue to behave like a sociopath. An episode to follow up on thIs story would be great. The best part is the actress who played the character is still acting. Halle Hirsh, I would love to see her reprise the role. Frankly since Law and Order is still rolling right a long, why not?

Their are certainly worse ideas.

Back in 1956 the film The Bad Seed shocked moviegoers with the idea that 10 year old Patty McCormack could be a killer. Nevertheless there it was and it became McCormack's signature role.

Law And Order picked up on that theme and cast Hallie Hirsh who leads the older Madeline Blue into killing a seven year old boy and leaving the body in a drainpipe. The same kind of amoral act that Leopold and Loeb did way back in the 20s..

What to do with her, Hirsh that is who just shows no remorse, no empathy whatsoever. This turns into a duel between J.K. Simmons and former Law And Order resident psychiatrist Carolyn McCormick who is retained by the defense.

Some folks can't comprehend pure evil existing, yet there is Charles Manson. How much more incomprehensible when it's a child.

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. "Killerz" on paper immediately intrigued, to some (not me) it may seem too basic and ordinary. 'Law and Order' does have a good track record at making something great and more complex than expected out of stories that don't sound out of the ordinary on paper and understandably one expects similar from "Killerz".

After such a great start in "Gunshow", Season 10 continues the high standard with the even better "Killerz". It is another episode to be consistently attention grabbing and high quality throughout the entire duration but be even more special in the second half. Am saying that after seeing some 'Law and Order' episodes lately where the second halves were better than the first, a few quite a bit so. There have been a fair share of unsettling female perpetrators throughout the show and franchise, and the one here is definitely up there with the most unsettling.

"Killerz" is brilliant in every area. The production values are still fully professional, the slickness and subtly gritty style still remaining. The music is sparingly used and is haunting and thankfully non-overwrought. The direction shows some nice tension in the legal scenes. The script is well balanced, taut and intelligent, and handles complex themes tactfully yet with unyielding grit. McCoy made a lot of spot on summing ups of perpetrators, he sums this one up perfectly.

Moreover, "Killerz" has a compelling and clever story that delivers on plenty of unexpected and plausible twists and turns as well as some dark suspense. Helped by that the perpetrator is so amoral and really makes the skin crawl. The police portion is great but the legal scenes are absolutely riveting. Green has settled remarkably well and he and Briscoe are already well gelled and this is only their second episode.

While all the regulars are great, particularly Sam Waterston's authoritative and ruthless McCoy, the episode belongs to Hallee Hirsch. Who gives one of the show's best and scariest child performances, one would be hard pressed to find a more creepy performance from her and to this day it's still one of her best.

In conclusion, brilliant. 10/10.

At the beginning of the show, we see the boy in the pipe. When the EMT's pull him out and place him on the body bag, the 'dead' boy moves both feet to get his legs flat on the ground.

A little boy was found dead in a construction site (inside a pipe) with his pants down, hit with a rock. Some children from the neighborhood found the body before the police and they called 911. One of them sold tickets to see the body (LOL). A pervert, working on a gas station, might have been the murderer, but the only witness (a little girl) lied to the police the first time. She, together with another friend of the same age (Hallee Hirsh), was seen with the victim shortly before the murder. Green knows how to deal with children and he let one girl talk. The perp was the daughter of a car thief recently arrested, but the one who confessed could have lied to police another time. Who pulled the strings?

In this episode you could see what run inside a brain of a child whose father was ripped off at early age that led her violence to escalate. Did she deserve a juvie home or a nuthouse? Figured it out by yourselves. Much work to be done for both psychologists (Skoda and Olivet).