Law & Order Season 23 Episode 9 Review: Family Ties

Some cases that Price and Maroun are handed aren’t easily straightforward, especially when the case hits them under the chest. Law & Order Season 23 Episode 9, “Family Ties,” becomes a struggle for Maroun when she realizes she connects to the defendant.

It’s a side of her we haven’t ever seen before, which is nice, but it also kind of takes away from the case. All too often, it feels like her emotions and opinions are more important than the facts being presented.

It doesn’t help that overall, this case isn’t cut and dry. In fact, there are so many moving parts that, at times, it feels like we are left scrambling to find out what’s important.

A Case That’s Hard to Follow

From the start, Law & Order throws a lot of information about the victim at the viewers. We quickly find out that she worked for a politician who has questionable ethics violations. 

On top of that, Ilene Porter had just testified against this politician to the FBI. Then we find out her husband also has connections to things that could have made them enemies.

The plot moves at warp speed and doesn’t slow down enough for us to even catch all the details before another wrench is launched. Now, we have a surrogacy organization involved with helping the Porters have a family of their own. 

It’s upon finding out this detail that viewers feel like they can finally take a breath and relax. The surrogate has quite a bit of evidence stacked against her and is the most plausible suspect. 

However, there is more than meets the eye, and once again, it feels like we are trying to play catch up as the writers through any possible twist to this story as they can. She’s a Ukranian refugee with PTSD, but she cleaned up after herself, and she was also trying to sell the Porters’ baby to someone else. 

They should’ve picked one and run with it instead of trying to plaster this murder tale with a million deviations.

Maroun Struggles With Herself

For the first time since arriving at the DA’s office, Maroun gets called out for not pulling her weight on a case. If I am being completely honest, I can count on one hand the number of times I remember Maroun having a significant impact on a case.

While Baxter is still ruffling a few feathers, mostly Price’s, he does make a good point about Maroun’s backseat driving. All too often, she voices an opinion in chambers but then lets Price take full control in court.

It’s an interesting character study to put her in the spotlight with a defendant who is a refugee. Maroun’s family comes from a war-torn part of the world, so she knows firsthand the effects PTSD can have on someone.

What’s disappointing about this particular instance, though, is Maroun’s personal ties to this woman and the case get in the way of the facts. Price even calls her out for being too sympathetic, but the problem isn’t with Maroun. It’s with the writing.

Law & Order has decided it wants Maroun to have a teachable moment and give her room to grow. Great. Just not at the expense of sending a murderer to jail.

This teachable moment actually pulls viewers out of the story and forces us to focus on her instead. It’s not ideal, and by the end, we don’t know where to look or what to care about.

Stray Thoughts:

• How is it legally possible that this surrogate was able to sign the birth certificate? I feel for Mr. Porter. She kills his wife and then takes custody of his daughter.
• I appreciated Price taking Maroun aside and reminding her that sometimes they have to put aside their beliefs for the job.

 

What did you think of this episode of Law & Order? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Law & Order airs Thursdays at 8/7c on NBC.

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