Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Adam H. Kerman" Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv Subject: Re: Law and Order "Facade" 3/21/2024 Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2024 19:36:25 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 110 Message-ID: References: Injection-Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2024 19:36:25 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="a2c88dff4d7d1a1f7b00f1e08727cdda"; logging-data="4017875"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/LJnzdhy6z0k4fHtqR5SKOJxsurw1x8wY=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:6X+Z5YFmoo7/dYKsAtvYVYybAyc= X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test77 (Sep 1, 2010) Bytes: 6121 BTR1701 wrote: >Adam H. Kerman wrote: >>"Facade" is massively stupid in different ways. The episode opens like >>a horror movie with a young pretty female victim willingly going into >>scary situations to meet her fate, except she hasn't first had hot sex >>with a teenage boy. She enters an empty subway station with no one on >>the platform except maybe a homeless guy. I thought she'd find a corpse. >>On the train, some tallish guy in distress falls against her; she >>apologizes. Cut to the crime scene in which he's the murder victim. >>Turns out he's a comedian. Riley also thinks he's a comedian but cannot >>pull off the gallows humor like Greevey, Cerreta, and especially >>Briscoe. >>They find evidence that he'd gotten into an altercation with an older >>comedian. That was a red herring. It leads to the dead guy's boyfriend. >>Then there's this, well, it's not exactly a dojo. It claims to be MMA, >>but it's this weird training academy for men that, later in the episode, >>we learn is being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force (do >>they literally do investigations or coordinate investigations being done >>by member law enforcement agencies?) >They have members from various state, local, and federal agencies, and >yes, they do their own investigations. I was on the FBI-JTTF in Austin >for three years and worked about a dozen cases. Thanks >That being said, the case on the show was not a JTTF case. It was an >NYPD Counter-Terrorism case, I think I forgot whose logo was on the wall of the room Baxter had the meeting in. >which raises a whole lot of other questions >in light of what they said about this group having 'cells' in both other >states and in Canadia. If all that's true, this absolutely is FBI >jurisdiction and the NYPD is going to be in some hot water if there's an >attack and they hadn't bothered to tell anyone about this group and >their investigation of it. Don't I recall Frank once claiming that their counterterrorism unit had worldwide jurisdiction? I'm not sure who has broader jurisdiction versus Five-Oh. >Also of note, the Commissioner on all these L&O shows is a smarmy pol >who throws his people under the bus and/or steals their glory when they >solve cases. He's not worthy of carrying Magnum's jock strap. Heh >>All along, the defendant claimed he acted because a woman was attacked. >>Finally, just as the defense is about to put on its case (I think she >>was a defense witness and not called as a rebuttal witness) she makes >>herself known. >>Price objects to the surprise witness. If she weren't a rebuttal >>witness, then defense had to give notice to the prosecution, right? She >>should have at least been interviewed. Denied. >The defense claimed they should be forgiven for not notifying the >prosecution about her because "we just became of aware of her today". >Okay, but it's not like you only became aware of her 10 seconds ago. You >could still have notified Price about her before the judge called court >into session for the day instead of waiting until literally the moment >she's called to the stand. >And instead of arguing that, Price puts on his usual hang-dog look and >sits down defeated. But was she a regular defense witness or rebuttal witness? I thought with the latter, prior notice to the other side isn't required. >>Price tells her to investigate. She talks to an instructor, who reveals >>himself to be an undercover cop. He explains that the training is based >>on Navy SEALS training. In the armed forces, you are taught OFFENSIVE >>fighting techniques. You are being taught to kill. The cop is teaching >>recruits into a neo-Nazi movement how to kill. >>Baxter goes to see the JTTF and agrees not to blow their operation. >>Price is upset that he cannot call the undercover cop as a witness. >>At this point, the prosecution rested (I think) so how was he going to >>call him anyway? >No, at that point he called the owner of the gym. But that guy offered no evidence in favor of the state! I'm confused as to why he was a prosecution witness. >>I'm thinking, DON'T call this guy because... he's committing felonies as >>part of a conspiracy before the fact! He's helping to teach newly >>indoctrinated neo-Nazis how to kill! >Undercovers are allowed to commit crimes up to a point to maintain their >cover. Drug dealers and mobsters found out early on that the way to weed >out undercover cops was to put everyone through a litmus test-- make >them do drugs, fuck prostitutes, rob stores, etc.-- knowing that a cop >was not allowed to commit crimes. So the police along with state >officials developed policies which allow for the commission of certain >crimes by undercovers to maintain their cover. Obviously there's a limit >to it. A UC can't murder someone to prove his bona fides, or rape >someone, so there's still a litmus test to be had for the more hardcore >crime bosses out there. I'm thinking a course of instruction in how to kill should have been one of those bright lines! If he's a good instructor, he's made a bad situation worse!