The Law and Order: Organized Crime episode that followed, “Chinatown,” was even weaker, obviously intended to set up a long-running “story arc” which I can’t stand. Frankly, I’ve liked the few episodes of Organized Crime that were complete in themselves, like Dick Wolf’s other New York-set crime shows, better than these sprawling homages to the Great God SERIAL. Written by Josh Fagin and Candice Sanches McFarlane, “Chinatown” is an extended tribute to the 49-year-old neo-noir Chinatown, made in 1974 and directed by Roman Polanski from a script by Robert Towne (which Polanski rewrote to be more nihilistic than Towne had intended). The Chinese-American community in New York is depicted as under relentless terror from street gangs operating with impunity and dealing in drugs, smuggling and human trafficking – much the same as the Black community as it was depicted in previous Organized Crime episodes – and there’s even a parallel in the assassination attempt on Jennifer Lee (Esther Chen), wife of reform-minded City Council candidate Stephen Lee (Grant Chang). Jennifer has angered the gang lords because she’s set up a safe house where young women who were trafficked can recover, get their lives turned around and ultimately find homes and steady legitimate employment. Midway through the show Stephen is so broken up by the assassination attempt on his wife he decides to drop out of the City Council campaign – and his campaign manager, Michael Quan (François Chau), agrees to run in his place. To absolutely no one’s surprise – no one in the audience, anyway – Quan turns out to be the mastermind of the human trafficking ring and the person who ordered the hit on Jennifer Lee. The writers obviously loved filling their script with variants on the famous line, “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown,” from the Polanski-Towne film. About the only truly interesting plot twist is the meeting between the head of the Organized Crime Control Bureau, Sgt. Ayanna Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt), and the Asian-American detective she alternately crosses swords with and works with cooperatively, Detective Isabelle Chang (Angela Lin). Both are depicted as Lesbians whose wives left them because of the strains of being married to a cop, and one wonders whether Dick Wolf’s writers are hinting at a possible romance between the two. That would be nice!
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Law and Order: Organized Crime: "Chinatown" (Dick Wolf Entertainment, Universal Television, NBC-TV, aired March 23, 2023)
The Law and Order: Organized Crime episode that followed, “Chinatown,” was even weaker, obviously intended to set up a long-running “story arc” which I can’t stand. Frankly, I’ve liked the few episodes of Organized Crime that were complete in themselves, like Dick Wolf’s other New York-set crime shows, better than these sprawling homages to the Great God SERIAL. Written by Josh Fagin and Candice Sanches McFarlane, “Chinatown” is an extended tribute to the 49-year-old neo-noir Chinatown, made in 1974 and directed by Roman Polanski from a script by Robert Towne (which Polanski rewrote to be more nihilistic than Towne had intended). The Chinese-American community in New York is depicted as under relentless terror from street gangs operating with impunity and dealing in drugs, smuggling and human trafficking – much the same as the Black community as it was depicted in previous Organized Crime episodes – and there’s even a parallel in the assassination attempt on Jennifer Lee (Esther Chen), wife of reform-minded City Council candidate Stephen Lee (Grant Chang). Jennifer has angered the gang lords because she’s set up a safe house where young women who were trafficked can recover, get their lives turned around and ultimately find homes and steady legitimate employment. Midway through the show Stephen is so broken up by the assassination attempt on his wife he decides to drop out of the City Council campaign – and his campaign manager, Michael Quan (François Chau), agrees to run in his place. To absolutely no one’s surprise – no one in the audience, anyway – Quan turns out to be the mastermind of the human trafficking ring and the person who ordered the hit on Jennifer Lee. The writers obviously loved filling their script with variants on the famous line, “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown,” from the Polanski-Towne film. About the only truly interesting plot twist is the meeting between the head of the Organized Crime Control Bureau, Sgt. Ayanna Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt), and the Asian-American detective she alternately crosses swords with and works with cooperatively, Detective Isabelle Chang (Angela Lin). Both are depicted as Lesbians whose wives left them because of the strains of being married to a cop, and one wonders whether Dick Wolf’s writers are hinting at a possible romance between the two. That would be nice!
