Season 1 Episode 3: The Reaper's Helper

Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive on November 7, 1991. It was a death sentence but people thought that because of his access to the best doctors he might live as many as six years. Now, seventeen years later, watching him as a studio guest on the NBA on TNT studio crew you could compare him to fellow host (and four years his junior) Charles Barkley and claim, straight-faced, that Magic will outlive Charles. Seventeen years later, hard living (boozing and overeating in Charles' case) is more dangerous than HIV.

But in 1990, HIV was so scary that a person might plausibly commit suicide before showing even the first signs of AIDS. This episode uses that premise to explore right-to-die issues. They also used this episode to explore some camera angles, nuanced acting and new plot devices. This is going to sound cold, but I was much more interested in the latter.

They had one shot coming over the stairway balcony onto two lawyers walking through the lobby below, as if you, the audience, were just stumbling on to the conversation. They don't do that anymore. They've turned L&0 into a science that lets them work with any actor (and there have been thousands) and deal with any crew. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they have a list of approved camera shots that doesn't have more than seven or eight items: the crime scene, three in the courtroom, the judges office, Adam Schiff having a drink, and the grieving parents.

The grieving mother in this episode was the most nuanced rendition of this role that they've ever allowed. You could see the realization coming over her while she alternated between being helpful and being distraught. Now they limit the parents to one emotion and a few words to move the plot along. That's a more sustainable strategy once you realize you're going to have to find 600+ pairs of actors to play this role. In this episode, before they'd turned the show into a science, Barbara Andres was given the chance to shine.

The experiments with acting and camera angle came off great. However, their first try of the "DA bends the law" twist didn't quite work. DA Ben Stone did something very peculiar and probably unethical. But they never resolved it. The twist was practically a throwaway. Now, they'd always use the twist as an opportunity to bring in the ethics committee and show the other attorneys in shock.

Comments

[Sarah]

Personally, I was most interested in this episode for its fleeting, partial glimpse of the Twin Towers.

When the detectives were down on the waterfront interviewing people, I said, "Oh, we're going to see the World Trade towers in the background." That prompted Tony to tell me about a show he'd seen about September 11 on the History Channel. Which somehow led to my retelling a few pieces of my own 9/11 story (I was working from home on the Upper West Side that morning). I'll hold off on those details here, except to say: Laura Rockefeller, I'm thinking about you.