Detectives and prosecutors believe that a smug comedy club owner shot his wife and put her in a coma, but they can't come up with enough hard evidence to get him convicted.Detectives and prosecutors believe that a smug comedy club owner shot his wife and put her in a coma, but they can't come up with enough hard evidence to get him convicted.Detectives and prosecutors believe that a smug comedy club owner shot his wife and put her in a coma, but they can't come up with enough hard evidence to get him convicted.
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Did you know
- TriviaKincaid scoffs, "A junkie comedian?" and McCoy replies, "Ever hear of Lenny Bruce?"
Lenny Bruce was a notorious funny man throughout the 1950s and 1960s, purposely violating various obscenity laws with his frank and cynical comedy. He thought Freedom of Speech should extend to comedy performances and the police disagreed. This led to frequent arrests and notoriety.
He was also dogged by an opiate addiction, eventually succumbing to a morphine overdose in 1966 at the age of 40.
- GoofsA patient with a Glasgow Coma score of 4 would be on a ventilator, even if they were able to breathe on their own. Protecting the airway requires an endotracheal tube, not a nasal cannula for oxygen.
- Quotes
Jack McCoy: Are you giving me attitude? My father was a cop for 31 years, and he would never leave a DA twisting with a half-made case and ask him to get an indictment.
Mike Logan: Give me a break. You could get a ham sandwich indicted.
Jack McCoy: That might be easier. There's meat on a ham sandwich.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Vulture's the 100 Best Episodes of the 1994-95 TV Season (2014)
"Coma" does manage to make its case a lot more interesting than it sounds on paper, as conceptually it is pretty basic, although it doesn't quite have the special quality. It is a very good episode, better than "Second Opinion", with attitudes towards the case in question holding up a good deal more, with a huge amount to enjoy. "Coma" is not quite a great episode, it nearly was, and it is a long way from being a 'Law and Order' high-point. But it really is well worth watching.
McCoy is better written here, less of a jerk here, but he has still handled latter cases much more professionally. Too much premature conclusion jumping with too little evidence.
This may have been solved a little if the evidence found late in the game was found sooner in the story in a twist that actually is still very well executed and unexpected but feels like it comes too late.
It is Larry Miller who steals the show and the main reason for watching "Coma", he really gives one the creeps and does fast-talking with ease. Giving a pretty cliched and potentially annoying type of role a refreshingly unsettling personality without being too obvious. He also has one of the best and darkest, also darkly funny, lines of the season and of the early seasons (starting with "I don't need you to tell me...", unrepeatable here so am not writing it in full). Debra Monk is affecting. The case is always intriguing and is not too obvious or convoluted, there are a couple of decisions in the writing mentioned already that don't quite come off but it was always compelling. The performances really help, not just Miller in particular but the regulars are all great (despite reservations about McCoy's character writing Sam Waterston is fine in the role).
Character interaction has tension and snap, but also looks natural and never too rehearsed that it comes over as clinical, the exchanges between McCoy and Logan (involving ham sandwich) and McCoy and Schiff regarding conflict of interest). Production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The dialogue is smart and always intriguing, with plenty of it moving, chilling and provoking thought, the mentioned line from Dobson is pure genius.
Overall, very well done. 8/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Nov 11, 2020