Law and Order Sixth Year

Season 6 of Law & Order begins with another cast change - Chris Noth is no longer present as Detective Mike Logan. As you may recall, in the 5th season finale, he punched out a city councilman who got away with murder and was mocking the outraged crowds. But Logan's action got him 'exiled' to Staten Island.

Benjamin Bratt takes his place as Detective Reynaldo 'Rey' Curtis. Curtis was a good cop, in need of some seasoning though, but on a personal note, I found him too parochially minded at times. The season ends with the surprising death of a main character, but to keep things interesting, I'm not listing the character here.

The 6th season of Law & Order continues the series tradition of addressing current social issues such as hate crimes, drugs, rape, racism, and various other crimes. This season also features the first crossover episode between Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street. Whether the episode from the second series is included in this set, I do not possess that information.

Of course, the cast delivers excellent performances as always, from the wise-cracking Lennie Briscoe, played by the late, much-lamented Jerry Orbach, to the passionately driven Jack McCoy played by Sam Waterston, as he relentlessly pursues justice in the cases he receives.

Now, Universal, get the rest of the seasons out!!!

Season 6 of Law and Order ranks up there with some of the other truly incredible seasons of the show...Rather than listing all of the great episodes, let me say this...pretty much every episode is highly entertaining...I have my personal favorites, but I enjoyed it from start to finish...

This being the last season for Jill Hennessey playing Assistant ADA Claire Kincaid, definitely makes you appreciate her character...she portayed it very VERY well...her chemistry with ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), is practically unmatched...maybe Seasons 8 and 9 with Briscoe and Curtis, or seasons 11 and 12 with Briscoe and Green...but other than that, these two really worked well together and were an amazing pairing...you really feel like they work for the District Attorneys office...and you never really find out if they are actually sleeping together, but you kind of sense that they are...given McCoy's "history" with prior female 2nd chair ADA's...it is heartbreaking to see how Claire Kincaid bites the dust in the season finale, but fortunately Carie Lowells portrayal of Jamie Ross was good enough of a replacement in Seasons 7 and 8...

Also, we are introcuded to Briscoe's new partner, Detective Ray Curtis, as Det Mike Logan gets transfered to Staten Island as punishment for his temper getting the best of him in the Season 5 finale...they get off to a rocky start, but after a handful of episodes they are pals and start to develop some chemistry...which they perfect a couple seasons later...it's great to get a fresh face in the department after 5 years of Mike Logan...no knock on him, but it was definitely time for him to bow out and for someone new, and a bit more in contrast personality-wise and appearance-wise than Briscoe, to join the team...Logan was a bit too similar to Briscoe that the pairing got tiresome after a while...Logan works better with a femaie partner which we later see on Criminal Intent...and Briscoe, well he works great with anyone, but he was way more entertaining being paired with Curtis, and later with Det Green...

So kudos to the addition of Det Ray Curtis, who shined for 4 wonderful seasons, beginning here in season 6...and a thank you to Det Mike Logan, for 5 solid seasons and helping get this show on the map...for the first time ever, we get a peak into the personal lives of most of the characters...in the first 5 seasons I can barely recall knowing anything about the private lives of anyone on this show...finally we get to know a thing or two...and that definitely helps the audience relate to the characters and embrace them as such.

On a side note, in my personal opinion this was the beginning of about a ten year run of this show setting the bar super high for future detective/lawyer shows...Seasons 6-15 were arguably the best of the 20 seasons...and this is where that all started, in a sense...the recipe was developed right here.

Highly Recommended, 100% guaranteed!

Once again I thoroughly enjoyed this series. I would be happier if the rest of the series was distributed this year.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 25 reviews  4.8 out of 5 stars