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Law & Order Season 18 Episode 13

Angelgrove

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8.3

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 3/19/08

A recorded conversation has Lupo and Green delving into the personal and family life of a murdered art dealer, and suspected connections to terrorist activity.

Fan Episode Reviews (4)

The DA prosecutes a Bible-Camp Pastor when one of his brainwashed "students" stones his mother to death for adultery.

5.5

By XfuturePlayer, Jul 01, 2010

I wasn't all that fond of this episode.

1- It struck me as unoriginal. Green and Lupo get to body, make quip, talk to Rogers, go on obligatory false lead, ect, ect.

1.5- I say 1.5 because it close to 1. I think I have seen the plot (Leader prosecuted for the crimes of underlings that he didn't directly order) several times before.

2- Christians seem to get picked on a little too much on this show, compared to other ideologies and religions. Murderer= Christian, Motive= Christianity, Reason the Bad Guy gets off= Christianity (No, not Cutter's fault, it's those damn judges and Christians).

3- Once again, the bad guy goes on the stand to be shredded by the DA. 4- The bad guy gets away in this one, which is a nice departure from the usual stuff.moreless
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National Security Letters & Crazy Christians

10

By kyravon, Jul 01, 2010

This episode had a number of really interesting tangents that I enjoyed.

I wish they had a little more on the abuse of the secret

National Security Letters that's been happening. I did enjoy their poke at how monitoring all calls without context can be totally pointless and a waste of resources.

I liked how the assumptions of the police led them a bit astray at first. It reminded me of when the Oklahoma federal building was bombed (by an American) and everyone immediately jumped to the assumption that it was foreigners.

In this day & age where our country rants about fanatic Muslims and religious extremism, it's important to remember that we have the same kind of fanatics in our own country.

I thought it was an effective comparison -- pastor Hensley to the mullahs, calling for "sacrifices" and waging a "war". Angelgrove is like an extremist madrass.

Ever since I took a class on Thought Control & Cults, I've been interested in how people's beliefs can be "adjusted".

So I was interested in how they show some of the "jesus camp" type video and explained how cults break down free will and self-respect and twists their ideas and thinking into the proscribed manner. Showing the pastor abusing power and corrupting children with hate was very powerful.

The twist about the jury's religous beliefs affecting their judgement was interesting (even if personally unsettling).

P.S. After seeing this episode I saw the 2006 documentary "Jesus Camp" and it's obviously the source material. If you thought Sean Astin was scary- wait until you see REAL people saying these psycho things!moreless
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Appropriate for Holy Week.

8.0

By lawgotham, Jul 01, 2010

Christian based issues led this episode, hence the Holy Week reference. Boy hears the Holy Spirit, boy stones mother the adulterer, boy confesses. One channeler of the Holy Spirit is let off.

Sure we've seen it before on this show. We've seen most every issue and crime dealt with on this show, but sometimes with cast changes over the years we see it in a different way.

I think this episode showed more how imperfect our legal system is. How difficult it can be to collect evidence and how difficult it can be to prosecute crimes. Juries and judges too are imperfect. In this episode it was the judge first allowing perhaps imperfect psychiatric testimony. Then the jury when the defense attorney spun things his way.

Not a great episode, just a good one. Great story, but it seemed like the actors were phoning it in. By the way, Sean Astin guest starred, he of Lord of the Rings fame and son of John Astin.moreless
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Hate to be a hater, but we've seen this "we don't understand other people's cultural and religious beliefs' story line at least half a dozen times before.

7.7

By vendbien, Mar 20, 2008

Throw in kids being manipulated by adults using religious fervor, a slightly different country of origin, change the religion from Sunni (or whatever) to Muslim and you have the same show that we have seen every second, third or fourth year for the past 18 years.

I love Law & Order. For years, it was the only drama I would watch. But I have mentioned this before, Dick Wolf doesn't realize that we can watch 20 re-runs a week all over the schedule and that what he hasn't revisited in years, we may have seen just last week. We are not fooled.

For those who have only started watching in recent years, you may not have encountered this problem. There has also been the little matter of the WGA strike that probably impacted the recent spate of 'non-original' episodes. I have a feeling that Wolf and head writer, Stephanie Sengupta, were doing a little 'retooling' during the 3-4 month hiatus that other shows were on in order to come up with 'new' programming during the strike.

We veteran L&O'ers have put up with it thus far because the new cast members are giving us a different view of these 'recycled' episodes. Hope that changes soon or this show is going to go into the 'over-the-hill' bin.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Sam Waterston	D.A. Jack McCoy
Jeremy Sisto	Det. Cyrus Lupo
Jesse L. Martin	Det. Ed Green
S. Epatha Merkerson	Lt. Anita van Buren
Linus Roache	Exec. A.D.A. Michael Cutter
Alana De La Garza	A.D.A. Connie Rubirosa

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Will Denton	Jason Lortell	Guest Star
Lisa Peluso	Audrey Lortell	Guest Star
Sean Astin	Pastor Hensley	Guest Star
Leslie Hendrix	Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers	Recurring Role
Carolyn McCormick	Dr. Elizabeth Olivet	Recurring Role
Lee Sellars	Judge Kirk Landsberg	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- This is one of only a handful of episodes in which the district attorney (Jack McCoy) shares a scene with a cop (Anita Van Buren).
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QUOTES (9)
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- Judge Rochelle Desmond: Who's your counsel, Mr. Lortell?
  Jason Lortell: Jesus Christ is my counsel.
  Judge Rochelle Desmond: Who's your local counsel?
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- Ed Green: Gangsters masquerading as good Muslims.
  Cyrus Lupo: Yeah, I was raised by gangsters masquerading as good Catholics.
  Ed Green: What are you talkin' about the Mob?
  Cyrus Lupo: No. The nuns in my parochial school.
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- Michael Cutter: This is not about God. This is about the power of an adult over adolescent minds, and the abuse of that power.
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- Jack McCoy (about Billy Boone): Is this one of God's warriors?
  Anita van Buren: All 80 pounds of him.
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- Jack McCoy (about Angelgrove camp): My God, it's a school for fanatics.
  Michael Cutter: And one that isn't in the Middle East.
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- Dr. Elizabeth Olivet: Was it God's plan to kill your mother?
  Jason Lortell: My mother's flesh was sacrificed, to cleanse her of her sin. My mother died in a state of grace, because God is merciful.
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- Jason Lortell (about his mother): She committed adultery. She destroyed herself.
  Ed Green: What, you're saying she had it coming?
  Jason Lortell: We all have it coming.
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- Cyrus Lupo (about the nuns at his parochial school): They could carve out your liver with a 12-inch ruler.
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- Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers (about the woman killed by thrown rocks): I've never seen this M.O. before.
  Cyrus Lupo: I have. In Pakistan, in the tribal areas. The man who was killed was an opium addict.
  Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers: Dope heads stoned to death. Those mullahs have a sense of humor.
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NOTES (1)
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- Special billing was given to Carolyn McCormick (with) and Sean Astin (and) in this episode.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- There are several scenes in this episode that seem to be directly inspired by the 2006 documentary movie about Pastor Becky Fischer entitled Jesus Camp. The preacher teaches the kids to chant "this means war", children are raised to be "soldiers of god", children are exhorted to clear their souls and purge evil and some comparisons to Muslim extremists are present in both.
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