eyond the Law
eyond the Law
A serial killer who appears to get women completely in his control before killing them is on the loose. But he may be untouchable since it looks like he's a diplomat. Nick's past experience with people who abuse power indiscriminately may make him step over the line in pursuit of justice.
This episode was much more artistically produced than previous ones. In the beginning, after the woman is killed, you see the pearls fall onto the floor and bounce in slow motion, followed by someone blowing out a pair of candles. Most of the decorum was at least nice -- even though they never went to Nick's or to the Raven.
And all of Nick's flashbacks are very nicely merged into the present-day scenes. He glances across the room and sees an old television broadcast on a monitor. At the embassy, he turns and looks through a doorway and sees people from his past. And at the end of a flashback, he hears the Captain over his shoulder, turns in confusion, and is returned to the present. A nice, realistic effect, probably closer to how Nick would be seeing the events.
And there was actually a recurring minor character! Schanke spends most of the episode worried that Daphne Malloch (played by Deborah Theaker) wants him. Actually, it's unclear whether she's just flirting in a friendly manner or not. But at least she returns in future episodes.
I was kind of amazed when LaCroix was shown wearing a dark red turtleneck under his standard black suit. I hadn't thought of it before, but hasn't he always worn solid black in the past? I'm not sure if the turtleneck has any special meaning, but I'd be interested in knowing if it was intentional, or if the actor just happened to wear red that day...
It looked like LaCroix was trying to give Nick one of his cruel "morality" lessons in the flashback. He tried to convince Nick to take vengeance on the murdering senator by noting "you have the right; you have the power". But then Nick would have been guilty of the same abuse of power.
Even though Nick succeeded in his flashback at bringing the senator to justice through the normal channels, a similar technique didn't work (at first) in the present. Of course, bringing in Ambassador Petrashenko (played by David Calderisi) for questioning wasn't exactly by the books. (in fact, Nick had to both abuse and overstep his power as a policeman in order to bring him in...) But when the witness said the ambassador wasn't the right man, it all seemed to fall apart.
Episode rating (0 to 10): 7
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