Law & Order (TV Series) Precious (1994) User Reviews

Sympathy Junkie

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 26 January 2015]

At first Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth are investigating a reported kidnapping of a baby by the father Kevin O'Rourke. When his story doesn't add up Briscoe and Logan are soon getting a different story of how he buried his infant whom he says died of crib death.

O'Rourke is a beaten and shattered man who is shielding his wife from the law. He's got good reason to shield Julie Boyd from the law, two other of their infants died similarly in different jurisdictions.

Boyd is described as a 'sympathy junkie'. It's a special kind of narcissism where she gets to be the center of attention through the death of her infant children. She smothers them to gain such sympathy and O'Rourke just won't confront the possibility either to the world or worse to himself.

As for Sam Waterston he's frustrated by the fact the judge rules that the prior deaths can't be introduced. How it all turns out is for you to watch the episode.

I will say Boyd is one frightening human being and she gives a great performance.

Cradle of death

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 18 November 2020]

With the episodes from 'Law and Order's' middle period and from its later seasons airing so often, it is very easy perhaps to overlook the early seasons. Meaning in my view pre-Season 7. That is a shame, because 'Law and Order' in its early years was more often than not good to fantastic with some truly fine episodes in each of the seasons in question. Wasn't blown away by every episode but when the show was at its best it was brilliant, and there were obvious good things in lesser episodes too.

'Law and Order' is not at its best with its seventh episode "Precious", other episodes had more tension and emotional impact and had guest stars in the memory longer. The episode is still very good with a lot of great things, if not up there with the Season 5 (up to this point a bit of a rollercoaster quality-wise) high points. So there is nothing disparaging in my critique here, just saying that Season 5 did better (i.e. "White Rabbit").

"Precious" did strike me as somewhat over-heated in parts.

Despite being well played, the character of Marty was a little on the bland and passive side at times.

Having said all of that, there is a huge amount to admire with "Precious". It is shot with the right amount of intimacy without being claustrophobic and that the editing has become increasingly tighter over-time has been great too. Nice use of locations too. The music doesn't get over-scored or overwrought, even in the more dramatic revelation moments. The direction doesn't try to do too much and is understated but never flat or unsure. The writing is intelligent and although, like the show in general, there is a lot of talk it doesn't feel long-winded.

Although not perfectly executed, "Precious" deals with another tough topic and while it did lack subtlety (especially the character of Eileen) its gutsy pull no punches approach was appropriate and appreciated. Making for a good deal of emotionally powerful moments in the latter stages. The moral dilemmas of the case, as was often the case with prime-'Law and Order', are done sensitively. All the regulars are strong, while Julie Boyd is genuinely frightening later on. Kevin O'Rourke is fine but his material is not very meaty in my view.

Concluding, very well done. 8/10

When the cradle falls.

[rmax304823 · 8/10 · 21 February 2011]

Brisco and Logan investigate the apparent kidnapping of a baby from a city playground and uncover the fact that the baby died at home and was buried by the parents in an ice chest in Riverside Park. It develops further that this was the third child who had died of "sudden infant death syndrome" in care of these parents. A fourth, foster child was removed from their house when the mother repeatedly took the baby to the hospital with mysterious respiratory or allergic symptoms.

This could be a very gutsy program, as this episode demonstrates. It deals dispassionately with a problem -- called Munchausen by proxy syndrome -- that seems to have peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The parents, usually the mother, cause the baby to become ill and they thrive on the sympathy of hospital staff and friends. If they try hard enough to make the baby sick, of course, it dies, and the rituals of compassion grow exponentially. What's more pitiful than a grieving mother who has lost a child? Now, those are not easy subjects to tackle -- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Munchausen's by proxy. Not even the medical profession is eager to take it on. Parental abuse as one of the contributory factors behind SIDS was pooh-poohed for years. The doc who finally drew an open connection between the two was openly attacked. Everybody loves babies, especially parents, and attacking motherhood is now worse than attacking apple pie, since we now buy apple pies in the supermarket. Nobody wants to challenge those kinds of axioms.

But this episode does, and it does so with some subtlety. The mother is overplayed by Julie Boyd but she's perfectly cast and groomed for the part. She's not a glossy beauty. She's plain. She smiles bravely throughout and her eyes seem constantly watery, as if on the verge of tears. She's described as having sat next to her babies' coffins all through the funeral service. "The only time she cried was when nobody was paying attention to her." The husband, well played by Kevin O'Rourke, a dumpy non-entity who loves his wife to distraction and supports her until the end. Not that men aren't responsible for infant deaths but, I would guess, they're more likely to cause death by physical abuse rather than smothering, poisoning, or some less obvious means.

McCoy is sufficiently outraged to bring up tubal ligation as a condition for a lesser plea. Kincaid objects that it sounds like Nazi Germany. McCoy -- in a few expertly-written lines -- argues that sterilization is a medical procedure and in itself is neutral. If it's used to exterminate a race, it's evil. If it's used to prevent the deaths of infants in the future, it's a moral act. It's the same logic used by gun enthusiasts. That position -- judging an act by its consequences -- is known as pragmatism.

Anyway, I didn't mean to get up on the soap box here but I did so only to applaud the impious character of some of these early stories.

Two Irritating, Loopy Guest Characters Make For a Clunker of an Episode

[Better_TV · 6/10 · 9 May 2018]

This is one of those L&O episodes where, rather than taking the viewer on a one-hour journey of surprising twists and turns, the viewer is instead guided through a cyclical, narrative back-and-forth; I watched in frustration as the two main guest characters, a couple played by Kevin O'Rourke and Julie Boyd, simply gave the detectives and the DA's office a runaround for an hour.

Part of the problem is the way the characters are played, though I'm sure the actors were only doing what they were told: Kevin O'Rourke as the husband/father has such a defiant "woe is me" victim complex that I found his character insufferable; his wife, Julie Boyd, is so spacey and loopy that I thought I was watching "Ghost Whisperer" or some other supernatural show. While the annals of L&O are filled with characters who try to stonewall the cops, the jurors, and even themselves, there's something about these two that, even if you chock their issues up to mental illness, makes them super irritating to watch.

As with many L&O episodes that end up being duds, this one's got at least a few redeeming elements: There's some fine one-liners, and there's a scene where Sam Waterston as EADA Jack McCoy makes a case for the sterilization of one of the guest characters, to the shock and disgust of Jill Hennessy as ADA Claire Kincaid and Steven Hill as DA Adam Schiff.

While I love those radical, unorthodox legal arguments that walk or cross the line of proper ethics which the Jack McCoy character would later become known for, it's not enough to save this one, in my opinion.

Fine actors, weak script.

Pioneer for Münchhausen by Proxy ?

[NewInMunich · 7/10 · 31 July 2022]

Obviously it is impossible to do a deep, scientific research, but 27 years back the now staple "Münchhausen by Proxy" syndrome was probably an innovative thing. The episode itself is alternating between sympathy and horror for the parents,cluelessness by the detectives and as we go, sorrow for the kids that were exposed. But not a real gem within the L&O universe.