Has anyone been watching this show? It's an 8 part miniseries by HBO, and the last episode was last weekend I think. I just finished the second episode and was wondering if anyone else had seen it. It got excellent reviews, and everyone seems to love it. From what I understand so far, it's about the criminal justice system. Since I'm only two episodes in, I'm not exactly sure where the writers are going with this, but I'm hooked nonetheless. It would be nice to have a few people to talk to about this show.
It's on my watch list but I haven't started it yet. Maybe I'll check it out tonight so you have a buddy.
Alright, just watched the first episode. And I'm not gonna lie, I got pretty bored. It dragged on quite a bit, and I feel like they could've cut a lot of that down. I didn't really start getting interested until John Turturro showed up. Getting ready to start episode two. Hopefully it picks up some.
I began watching it last night and it is excellent. Great writing and acting. It's definitely a critique on the justice system as a whole. It explores a lot of different sides.
It picks up after the second episode. I just finished the last episode, and it definitely leaves a lasting impression on you. It does a great job of highlighting the faults of the justice system and how it all works. As a law student, I saw several parallels between the show and my experiences, especially when it comes to relationships within the justice system. But I'll stop there so I don't spoil anything. Let me know when you guys have watched more episodes, so we can talk some more.
I also finished it and forget to recheck this thread. It was really well done and I enjoyed it but the court scenes annoyed me. *SPOILER* (maybe?) I'm no court room expert but it seemed more hollywood-ized than usual and since they seemed to go for such realism it struck me as really odd. I mean, they were just handling the "murder weapon" like it was a toy, even using it to demonstrate the game the two played. Wouldn't it be tagged, in an evidence bag, etc, etc? And the questioning seemed very unprofessional and mostly assumption based. I thought objections had to be attached to legal jargon that its breaking? Not just yelling objection when the questioning is not going your way? I don't know, just some thoughts haha. I also thought it would have been a perfect ending if Nas got arrested for drugs he's now addicted to after being in prison. It would have really hit home the criticism of the justice system it seemed to want to portray so badly. I also find it crazy that they just throw people awaiting/going through trail with the main prison population to fend for their lives. Anyway, I really enjoyed it and would probably give it a 8.5/10.
*Spoilers ahead* One of the things that bothered me was how many irrelevant things were brought up during the trial. So what if he pushed a kid down the stairs? So what if he threw a Coke can at some kid's head? That was years ago, and that stuff isn't relevant to the crime at hand. Also, it's amazing how many details the prosecution missed, like Andrea looking over her shoulder while walking to the cab. All in all, I got the impression that either the prosecution team is very sloppy or this was done for the sake of drama. I'm not even sure which is worse. The one thing that stood out was the relationships between the judges, the lawyers, and the law enforcement officials. These people have been a part of the justice system for years and know each other well as a result. They look out for each other, even if it means putting an innocent man behind bars. This is no doubt a reference to all the police shootings and brutality stories we hear in the news. A lot of times the police officer in question will get a slap on the wrist and that's that. As Box reminds Naz, to a lawyer, the defendant is simply another job. The lawyer is looking to get paid, which was even the case with Jack Stone at the beginning. He didn't care if Naz did it or not as long as he could profit from it somehow. I'd like to think the trial changed him because he was sitting and chatting with Naz at the very end, but then we see him get a phone call from a client in the very last scene, and we realize he's once again doing it for the profit. I agree with @HistoricalScience that it's crazy how they threw a kid in Riker's and expected him to come out of him unscathed. There has to be a better way to handle such cases. Finally, the thing that tripped me up was how, after the prosecution suspected the ex-boyfriend, they didn't reveal that to the defense. That's an ethical violation. Overall it was a good show. There were mistakes here and there (maybe they're more obvious to me as a law student), but the solid acting pulled it all together. When the show first aired, people were saying it's the next The Wire. I strongly disagree, but given that it was only 8 episodes, it was a very good effort.
