Law and Order: Who Said Chivalry Was Dead?
Ed Green Goes Out in Style
I have to admit that I had some trepidation going into “Burn Card,” Wednesday night’s episode of Law & Order. The apprehension wasn’t so much because the installment marks Jesse L. Martin‘s last turn — for now, at least — as affable Detective Edward Green, but because I was afraid showrunners would try to pull another ridiculous surprise lesbian plot twist like they did when Elisabeth Röhm departed the series in 2005.
Thankfully, that didn’t even come close to happening. Instead, viewers got a nice send-off for a deserving character, even if he left with his tail between his legs, so to speak, after risking his career for a woman he befriended during his long-ago time as a gambling addict.
To their credit, showrunners also avoided the obvious. I’m sure I wasn’t the only watcher thinking almost to the very last minute that the child of Ed’s friend from his dark gambling days was his child, as well. It’s good that the show didn’t go down that predictable route, although I was totally expecting it to.
After seeing the episode, which introduced the new partner for Jeremy Sisto’s Detective Cyrus Lupo, namely Anthony Anderson‘s sensible and wisecracking Internal Affairs detective Kevin Bernard, I have to say the future of the senior Law & Order is looking brighter than ever.
Anderson has terrific rapport with both Sisto and S. Epatha Merkerson’s Lieutenant Anita Van Buren, making it likely that the partnering of “Saint Bernard” and Lupo will be one worth watching. Maybe the newcomer will even manage to draw Lupo out of his shell more than his recently acquired, adorable Pit Bull Terrier has.
We’ll see next week on “Bogeyman.”
Related Post: Comings and Goings in the ‘Law and Order’ Universe
Law & Order currently airs Wednesdays on NBC at 10pm EST
Jeremy Sisto and Jesse L. Martin/Law & Order photo courtesy of Will Hart/NBC
it was an outstanding show. i have been watching this show since jeremy sisto got on board, and i will watch every wednesday and when it goes on re-runs.
I too was apprehensive going into the episode, but in my heart, I knew Ed Green’s character was too well written to end up anything other than a hero.
I was crying by the end of the episode.
“Because we thought you worth saving.”
Read also love, respect, admiration, trust and loyalty in that statement.
Hopefully, the producers of Law and Order won’t get the same flack from fans that the producer of Stargate SG-1 received six years ago, when they had the gall [according to some fans] of introducing the character of Jonas Quinn during [at the time] Michael Shanks’ last episode, ‘Meridian.’
I thought then, as I thought last night, that introducing the new character at the same time the established character is leaving, provides opportunities for character(s) comparison, and a reminder…that life goes on.
Morjana
i will watch every wednesday and when it goes on re-runs.
I’m with you. This season, the show has really gotten a new lease on life. It’s my favorite L&O again, just like in the good old days.
I thought then, as I thought last night, that introducing the new character at the same time the established character is leaving, provides opportunities for character(s) comparison, and a reminder…that life goes on.
Absolutely, Morjana. It was also nice to see Ed and Bernard in some scenes together because it gave us fans the opportunity to get a sense of what Bernard is like in comparison to Ed. While he’s not an Ed clone, he seems to have a similar ability to get along with others when he has to.
Both cops also know how to throw out a timely wisecrack (I loved Bernard’s sarcastic line in the DA’s office about the lawyers having bigger brains than the cops). So far, I think Anderson will have a great run in the role, and he and Sisto are going to be partners we’ll get comfortable with very quickly.