Law & Order (TV Series) By Perjury (2009) User Reviews

A Big Pay Day Tied Up

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 2 January 2012]

By Perjury refers to one of the ways that attorney Dallas Roberts uses to prevent anyone from standing in his way from collecting a really big pay day in a class action lawsuit involving an airline crash. Roberts comes to the attention of detectives Jeremy Sisto and Anthony Anderson when one of the participants in the class action lawsuit is killed. Afterward some more murders directly and indirectly are connected to Roberts and all were involved with being roadblocks preventing from collecting on that big rainmaker case he's been working on.

Just his whole manner makes Roberts the kind you make lawyer jokes about, but this guy is deadly serious and I do mean deadly. He wriggles out of one murder because Jeremy Sisto cut a couple of corners in obtaining evidence. But it's Linus Roache who really gets his back up and its Roache who Roberts contemptuously calls an 'earnest civil servant' who makes it a crusade to creatively bring him down.

Ned Eisenberg who is a semi-regular defense attorney appears here as Roberts's lawyer when he decides that maybe he is a fool for defending himself and Mercedes Ruehl has a nice turn as a judge with a rather strange southern accent for a New York City courtroom. Still this episode belongs to Dallas Roberts.

great plot except for one thing

[botfeeder · 7/10 · 11 July 2019]

This was a very entertaining episode, due partly to the unusual legal concepts that were used to prosecute the case.

There was one big plot hole, however. The lawyer would have smelled a rat when the DA asked if he could smoke in his office. The cigarette butt his client left in his office was the key evidence to framing him for the murder of the judge, so alarm bells would have gone off in his head when the DA asked if he could smoke.

Manipulation

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 19 November 2022]

"By Perjury" was one of those 'Law and Order' episodes on first watch that had a number of good things but did feel on the ordinary side and didn't stick in the mind long after. There are episodes of the show and the 'Law and Order' franchise in general that felt like this, but there are many on both counts where that type of episode on first watch fared better on rewatch and were better than remembered seeing it through older eyes.

This is an example of one of those episodes. "By Perjury" is not as great as the previous three episodes or the first two of the season, as well as a few episodes after, but it is very good with a number of great things. Along with a couple of things that could have been even better. Not one of the best episodes of the season (the previous two episodes), also a long way from being one of the worst ("Lost Boys", "Crimebusters").

Not a perfect episode by all means. . It is a bit ordinary to begin with, which is not uncommon with 'Law and Order' and this is throughout the show's run, not just one period.

Also thought that the whole thing with the smoking not raising immediate alarm bells was a rather big stretch.

However, "By Perjury's" good things vastly outweigh those. The acting is great all round in particularly the legal portion. Dallas Roberts has always done creepiness and unsettlement so well and he once again excels. Linus Roache commands the courtroom beautifully too and the tension between the two is where the episode is at its most intriguing. As said before by me, Lupo and Bernard and their interaction have come on a lot. While the story starts off on the predictable side, it is riveting once it comes to trial. It no longer becomes too simple, surprises more and lots happens in terms of events and twists without being too complicated. The ending is satisfying.

Furthermore, the dialogue is thought-provoking and has a pull no punches grit without being heavy-handed. 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.

On the whole, very nicely done once it gets going. 8/10.

Acting

[clafong-98009 · 26 February 2020]

What is up with the accent being used by Mercedes Ruehl

So Victor Cruz's defense attorney seriously couldn't find just ONE person??

[segunolababalola · 1/10 · 26 September 2020]

Are we really expected to believe that Victor Cruz's lawyer couldn't find even one person to testify that the lawyer allowed people to smoke in his office?? What is more ludicrous is that HIS WIFE actually said that Mr Winston let Victor smoke in his office and yet she didn't seem to have any problem with him saying the opposite on the stand??? In fact she still felt the lawyer was a good man coz he sent her son $100 every year on his birthday???

Ludicrous

[HarryLime-3 · 3/10 · 26 February 2020]

"Yeah I used to be much more hardcore about not letting people smoke in my office. I've relaxed on that in the years since then."

Problem solved.