From NBC Universal Media Village

LAW & ORDER
ANGELGROVE
03-19-2008 10:00PM

THE BRUTAL MURDER OF AN ART DEALER LEADS TO A DEBATE BETWEEN RELIGION AND FANATICISM - When art dealer Audrey Lortell (guest star Lisa Peluso) is found stoned to death, Detectives Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) suspect her killing may have been linked to some of the cultural and religious artwork showcased in her gallery. After Lupo listens to an intimate taped conversation between Lortell and an artist, the detectives look further into her personal life; uncovering infidelity and her son’s, Jason (guest star Will Denton), troubled past and current involvement in a fanatic religious group. Initially, the murder appeared to have a terrorist link, but Jason’s new behavior suggests the killer is closer to home. Also starring: Sam Waterson, S. Epatha Merkerson, Linus Roache, and Alana De La Garza.

Show Cast: S. Epatha Merkerson, Jesse L. Martin, Sam Waterston, Alana De La Garza, Jeremy Sisto, Linus Roache

Who is the actor playing Pastor Hensley? He looks really familiar.

The pastor is Sean Astin, son of Patty Duke and John Astin and best known for his work in the Lord of the Rings movies.

Actually, now that I looked at his IMDB profile, I recognize him from "50 First Dates" and "The Goonies"! Never saw any of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Didn't you noticed that during the episode Mike didn't pick up his blackberry just once, but yet Connie was seen with a laptop outside the court and with a blackberry back in the office. I never knew she had one or a laptop. So would it be ok to say that Mike is having some influence on her?

The'' prophet'' Jason was played by Will Denton who played the victim on Kidnapped last season where his co-stars included Jeremy Sisto and Linus Roache.As anyone who watched tonight's episode can attest Will is a superb actor and I predict He will be a big star some day.Having said that I felt the episode was a bit heavy handed.It was a clear attempt to equate evangelical Christianity with radical Islam.Pretty much a joke in my opinion.Not very impressive Mr. Wolf!

This episode was great right up until the end. They should have found them guilty, and the case should have been proven WITH the Bible. First, they could have pointed out the story of Mary Magdolin and and how when the pharisees were going to stone her for adultery Jesus came and told them "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Then the fact that it is shown in the Bible that John the Revelator was the final prophet and no others would come after him, this would have shown that their basis for the cult's beliefs were not founded on Christian principles. The final thing that should have been pointed out by the prosecution is the biggest one of all, the verse that Jesus states "I am the way, the truth, and the life, No one comes to the Father but by me." This verse would have shown how Jason's "sacrifice of the flesh" was not Biblicaly sound, and went against everything that Jesus taught. Poking these holes in the cases would have won the case for the prosecution and showed how the Bible IS full of truth and how wrong this cult was so wrong.

Completely disagree. They specifically portrayed this group as a secluded bunch of radicals. Waco anyone?

We know they exist, and they are every bit as dangerous as the radicals in Islam, or Judaism or any other religion. It's an unfortunate fact of life.


Personally, this episode sealed the fact that L&O is back where it belongs. They suffered the past couple seasons, since Orbach left (and then, sadly, passed), to find some footing with the writing and cast chemistry. This new group has the touch.

Someone tell Dick Wolf that not all Christians are fanatics bent on domestic terror. I chuckled during the terrorist/Patriot Act Red Herring...we know your opinion Dick, no need to waste valuable air time repeating it.

I would agree with that.

"They should have found them guilty, and the case should have been proven WITH the Bible." - I absolutely agree with you!! Using your references and the fact that the 10 Commandments clearly states Thou Shalt Not Commit Murder! I was actually hoping Jeremy Sisto as Det. Lupo would have said something because his character always has good comments on their cases. And Linus Roache as Michael Cutter is great casting. But during the trial I kept waiting for his character to pull out the Bible while he was questioning Sean Astin's character and he never did! I'm disappointed the writers didn't do that! Still love the show though, just started watching when Jeremy Sisto joined the cast

I just saw the episode of Law and Order that showed a radical Christian minister enlisting "God's Army". This was the most disgusting anti American, anti Christian propaganda.
1. The government was monitoring the phone of an innocent citizen by "oops a mistake"
2. Muslims were initially incorrectly targeted as subjects of the investigation
3. The jury (of Christians that consulted their bible) found the minister not guilty because they agreed that the 1st amendment allowed this minister to incite violence.

What in the world is wrong with you people?
1. The investigators would have analyzed the first conversation and realized there was no justification for the monitoring and would have suspended it.
2. Police are required to follow any lead, and if it leads no where they go to the next lead. What's wrong with that?
3. Any jury with a modicum of intelligence would have found the minister guilty. Especially with the video used in the prosecution's summation.

I really had to chuckle (especially after a few years of catholic school) at the comment about nuns being gangsters posing as catholics!

Most episodes "ripped from the headlines;" did I miss the headline where any pastor anywhere told any kids to kill any people for any reason? Were such an outrageous, indefensible stereotype used for any groups other than Christians NBC & Wolf would be issuing an apology. This stuff hurts, deeply, but the one group you can bash with impunity is Christians.

Yes, the whole thing about following the laws of the bible was total baloney.

I just can't believe that this religious nut would have been found not guilty on all counts. If this were a real-life case, in which a man was inciting children to commit violent acts, *never* have been found not guilty on all counts, so the only explanation I can find is that the execs at Law & Order or NBC are afraid of the religious right or something to that effect.

Very very bad decision - one of the worst Law & Order endings I can remember - I am definitely feeling like this series is losing it.

First of all, I consider myself to be a Christian, and I did find some parts of this episode offensive. I think they should have done more to diffferentiate this group from mainstream Christian groups. For instance, they could have included footage of standard brainwashing techniques such as sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, or violence against the children. I think that would have made it seem less like it was bashing Christianity. However, these objections will not prevent me from continuing to watch the show.

As for the ending, remember McCoy scolding Mike for erasing the board before the verdict came in? I think the point of the ending was more about Mike's overconfidence and ego than about the verdict.

And I don't think the verdict was entirely unrealistic, because I don't underestimate the stupidity of juries.

Hello to all,

A couple of years ago there was a documentary called Jesus Camp. I never watched it but read about it in newspapers. It supposedly portrayed a radical Christian youth camp. There was much talk about First Amendment Rights, children brainwashing, etc. It was controversial. I don't have an opinion about it since I did not watch the documentary. I think this L&O episode may be based on that.
I will "google" it later on and read about it.

Anybody ever see the documentary "Jesus Camp" or remember Waco as previously suggested??? Well acted episode from Sean Astin, to the girl that stood up and freaked out in court yelling "God bless the prophets, you'll all burn in hell for this!!!" I've seen her before, she's good, and cute for a fanatic! Anybody know her name?

In the first fifteen minutes of this show, I turned to my sister and brother in law
and told them I thought the show would portray Christians as radical terrorists.
Why? Because it has been a major trend in Hollywood to show Christians in
a demeaning way, and often as hypocritical, as though there are no
'good' Christians.

It was painful and offensive for me to watch this episode, because it
showed a fringe element of Christianity without opposing its radical
ideas with ideas from mainstream Christianity. The implication is that
sensible ideas only come from a non-religious part of society.

The worst theme from this episode, is the idea that Christian radicals
threaten our society to the same degree as radical Islamic terrorists.
That notion is far from reality! Doesn't the truth matter?

Look at the newspaper headlines of the last twenty years.
Christian kids are not being taught to kill. Christian radicals are
not blowing up people in the London subways, or hijacking planes.
The Christian crusades ended a long time ago.

I have to ask the obvious question: Would Law and Order create
an episode where an Islamic terrorist is on trial for a mass murder,
and, with a close up shot, explains to us his desire for his
reward in heaven with all those delicious virgins. Yeah, that
would be politically incorrect .... but much much closer
to a show based on reality. By the way, would Law and Order
create a similar plot, but substitute another religion for
vaguely general Christianity, such as Judaism? Hindu? etc.
No- but Christians are fair game? It's offensive.

Finally, I have to ask Dick Wolf how Islamic groups might
view this episode? The show might encourage violence,
by furthering the idea that Christians are all for war, rather than
the Biblical directive of Thou Shall Not Kill, which is much more
prevalent among Christians.

What's next for L and O? - the portrayal of an insane Jewish Rabbi
who decapitates people? It wouldn't reflect the real world we
live in, but might get better ratings. Does the truth matter?

By the way, for those who are not aware, Christ was
against stoning people to death and said those(perfect people) without
sin should throw the first stone.

This is a great post, because there might be people out there who see this episode and
think the goofy ideas presented by these radical Christians are actually mainstream Christian ideas.
The cult should've been shown as crazy, in the context of mainstream Christianity.
...but, I guess the writers aren't familiar with Christianity.

The more I think about this episode the more infuriated it makes me.This equation of a moral equivalence between Christianity and Islam is so ridiculous that I find it difficult to believe that anyone could seriously consider it, except maybe the people who write for this show.Contrary to an earlier post
there was no serious effort to contrast the radical ''Christians'' portrayed here with mainstream Christianity, while their was a definite statement that radical Muslims are a corruption of historic Islam.I would submit to you that if any other major religion had been portrayed in such a similar negative fashion Law and Order would have met the fate of Don Imus.That is at a bare minimum LO would have had to apologize if not face cancellation.But I guess I can understand why Wolf and company do this.If you bash Christians the worst thing that will happen is people will write you nasty letters.Whereas certain other religions might impose some real, lasting consequences.Happy Easter, Jesus is risen!

1- I didn't say, or mean to even imply, that they contrasted Angel Grove with mainstream Christianity. What I did say was that they deliberately and specifically portrayed the group as an isolated, radical sect. They showed them as isolationist, and reluctant to allow outsider to even glimpse what goes on behind the gate. (Which is the reason Sean's character attempted to confiscate the camera.)

2- They didn't need to "contrast" it with mainstream Christianity because, in a country where 75% regularly identify themselves as Christian, they didn't obviously feel it was necessary to do so. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with mainstream Christianity knows Angel Grove was an obvious distortion.

3- I actually suggest completely different. We've already seen L&O tackle Islam, homosexuality, abortion and a dozen other "hot button" issues. So far, I've heard nothing outside of some muted complaints.

Jesus Camp was the first thing I thought of once they showed the kids screaming for War. I think Dick Wolf did an extremely good job in making an episode memorable. Personally I could care less about any offensive messages - I have christian beliefs but not religious by any stretch of the imagination, so therefore I didn't take it personal and have a cow.

However, this season leaves little to be desired. I'm not enjoying any of the plots and all the ep's seem to end abruptly and without any dramatic conflict like previous seasons. I anxiously await the return of McCoy as executive ADA and another new ada in Connie's place.

On the one hand, you have Islamic extremists who do pose a threat to many people in many parts of the world, and on the other, you have some bizarre fringe element in North Dakota that nobody's ever heard of, who call themselves 'Christian'. Angel Grove pretends that these two groups are on par, are analogous, are the same kind of threat to us. It's a bizarre and silly analogy. Why would Law and Order make such a point? Has a Christian youth camp been responsible for murders? What's next? A murderous bunch of stamp collectors? Killer Girl Scouts? What are the REAL threats out there? ...Law and Order could do a show about an Environmentalist Cult that believes in burning down new home constructions, which leads to the death of a family of five, who recently fled to the US from Kosovo.

...that have black market kidneys that were procured using drug money from a plastic surgeon who smuggles diamonds in them!

The writers are familar with Christianity. They just do not care. Some have called the General Anti-Christian and in particular Anti-Catholic bias of Law and Order "The Jew-baiting of Liberals." Yet, Mr. Wolf has said his show practices a policy of "Equal Opportunity Offending." The bias is about as subtle as those "Evil Christians" who beat them over the head with the bible. Then again, do not think they will change this bias. It is about as likely as say McCoy going after a Liberal Prosecutor turned Governor who frequent high-priced call girls. It is also about as likely as him going after Anarchists who blow up military recruiting stations.