Law & Order (TV Series) Rumble (2008) User Reviews

These guys, they're feeding their egos.

[Mrpalli77 · 9/10 · 19 March 2018]

After a date with an asian girl during lunch break, a white collar started feeling sick. Internal bleeding caused his death after few hours. Detectives thought at first he was poisoned, but after attending a street fight in Union Square, they realized he was beaten very hard during a "sporting event". The girl pointed out a construction worker as the opponent, maybe he kept on beating the victim despite he surrendered: even in this fight you must play by the rules. Negligence homicide was the best Cutter managed to do, but the victim's brother, a fireman (again Pablo Schreiber), was not agree with the plea and he started a feud in which he killed the defendant together with some coworkers. Even an innocent bystander died in the riot. McCoy took advantage of terrorism statute to prosecute the offenders.

Video posted on the internet helped detectives and lawyers throughout the episode. An episode that reminds me "Gangs of New York" movie staged on the new millennium. McCoy seemed to be proud of his second in command.

Scary rumble

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 9 November 2022]

When it comes to talking about the original 'Law and Order', there is a strong preference for the earlier seasons (Seasons 1-10), the standard of the seasons were more consistent and hit hard more, they were the seasons with the more iconic characters and had none that annoyed me. Season 11 onwards was still very watchable and there were a number of great and more episodes, but the show was not as consistent or as fresh in stories and characters.

"Rumble" is a great start to a surprisingly good Season 19 (certainly much better than 'Special Victims Unit's' Season 19). One of the season's best, most tense and most complex. As well as most thoughtful, with so many viewpoints and all understandable, and most relevant topic-wise (scarily so). Is "Rumble" one of the best 'Law and Order' episodes? No. Is it a sign of that the show was still worth watching despite not feeling the same? Yes indeed.

Still find Lupo and Bernard's chemistry a little on the bland, so their tensions never quite ignite and certainly not to the same extent as Lupo's with McCoy.

However, all the legal stuff is absolutely riveting, with plenty of snappy and thought provoking dialogue and a lot of tension. The subject is a difficult one to get right, with it being so political oriented it could easily have been heavy handed, but instead turned out to be disturbingly unflinching and tense as well as scary in its relevance (with this issue still happening today and to this extent, more so) and truth. Neither does it feel convoluted or over-stuffed. The moral dilemmas are thoughtfully handled and don't come over as laid on too thick or one-sided.

All the acting is fine, with Linus Roache (who has settled incredibly well) and Sam Waterston firing on all cylinders. The disagreements between them blister. Pablo Schreiber, who always does unsettling expertly, and Margot White, as the only person in the case to come off well, are excellent too.

Production values as ever are slick and with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear with the theme tune still memorable. The direction keeps things tight while allowing time to breathe.

Summing up, absolutely great. 9/10.

Battle Royal in Union Square

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 10 January 2016]

Watching this episode it occurred to me that both sides of the fighting in this episode are probably faithfully attending Donald Trump rallies today. Those that is that escaped doing jail time.

This all starts when a young yuppie stockbroker is found dead on the men's room floor in his office showing some serious beating injuries. Seems like this idiot was spending his lunch hours doing some bare knuckle fisticuffs in Union Square.

The perpetrators are a bunch of loathsome testosterone driven white guys and the police don't do a thorough investigation and the idiots walk. That doesn't sit well with the firefighter brother of the deceased who gets his firehouse buddies and they have another rumble at a park near the East River. Mind you both brawls are videotaped anonymously and put on the Internet.

More than any other episode of Law And Order this one had the regulars themselves at each other's throats. Sam Waterston seeing the case go up in smoke tries to use a post 9/11 terrorism statute to get all of them. That doesn't sit well with Linus Roache, but he does what he's told. Waterston now the DA is making political decisions as he's going to have to run for election in his own right to the job he holds.

Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson are also of differing opinions. But that's nothing compared to Sisto and Waterston having it out.

The only truly innocent person in this whole affair is Margot White a young married woman who was out at the park with her husband and young child. They get caught in the middle and he's beaten to death by God knows exactly who, but they really are all responsible. Her's is one touching performance.

What a horrible commentary on society today. Are some of us truly seeking our amusement, our kicks in behavior more suited to the gladiators in the Roman Coloseum?

You know Lupo and Bernard will do better due diligence in the next episode. At least we hope.

Political Statements

[prodigalpete2005 · 22 November 2008]

I noticed at the end after Jack McCoy held his press conference and was walking away, someone shouted "Is it true you were asked to join the Obama administration?" I have a problem with that. This episode aired on the day after the election. When was this episode filmed? It had to have been filmed before the election. It seems plain to me that Hollyweird is much more into manipulating the people to carry out their desires than for letting the political process move as it will. As a fan from the beginning, I have lost a lot of respect for the producers and writers. You need to curtail your political statements (ironic that the episode was about political statements. I will view future episodes with a great deal of skepticism now. Shame on you all.