The fourth installment of the Law & Order franchise debuted tonight with the new spin off LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES, and an episode appropriately titled “Hollywood”. The entire episode focused around young Hollywood, and since I’m a sucker for ANYTHING having to do with tinsel town, I was hooked.
The episode centers around a burglary ring where the criminals are targeting “club kids”; young actors and actresses that are always on camera, whose whereabouts are always known, which makes it EXTREMELY easy for break-ins into their multi million dollar mansions. Especially when you leave the door unlocked, but I digress.
Enter the detectives of the Los Angeles police force and district attorney’s office, and it’s a Law & Order episode!
The guest stars blew me away. Shawnee Smith (SAW), Mira Furlan (LOST), Oded Fehr (who will FOREVER be “that guy” from The Mummy for me), Danielle Panabaker (Friday the 13th, The Crazies), and Jim Beaver (Supernatural) were amazing. Truthfully, I felt the performances of these actors almost, if not completely, upstaged the series regulars.
Skeet Ulrich’s character, Detective Rex Winters, seemed a little boring to me. I understand that this is the first episode of the series, and that there will be plenty of time to get to know these characters and learn their backgrounds, however Winters doesn’t really feel like a anyone that I’m going to care to get to know.
His partner, Detective Tomas ‘TJ’ Jaruszalski (Corey Stoll) however, interested me. It could’ve been that TJ seems a little dryer, more sarcastic than Winters, and also seems to know his way around Los Angeles, and the politics that make up Hollywood. For a cop, I find this intriguing.
Alfred Molina is District Attorney Morales, and I gotta say, I don’t trust the guy. Is he in it for the limelight? Do we, as an audience, believe that he’s looking only for justice for the good guys? Or could he not hack it in showbiz? (Or is your reviewer reading WAY too much into this??)
There were a few moments in “Hollywood” that intrigued me. They way the Hollywood life was tied into each section of the show was great. TJ’s underhanded remarks about the way things are handled in L.A., Morales’ set up for his press conference to a camera man: “Are you sure you want to shoot from that angle?” to the scripted “reality” TV show; all of these scenes made me wonder just how corrupt is Hollywood, really?
I loved the way that Facebook, TMZ, camera phones, and the paparazzi played a big part in Winters and Jaruszalski breaking the burglary cases. TJ dragging out the starlet from her club because of a picture he saw on Facebook? Priceless. It just goes to show you that social media is eventually going to take over the planet.
As a spin off for Law & Order, “Hollywood” played like the classic Law & Order episodes… except for one thing.
The theme song!
I want that disembodied voice to tell me that there are two branches of the criminal justice system! I felt robbed.
But it was a decent beginning, and while the gritty, dirty feel of New York is gone; I think the glossy, airbrushed world of Hollywood will make a great replacement.
What say you?
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