Oh, God, I mean, WHAT!

[mandragora]

Have just turned over from Heroes and have watched a mere 5 (count 'em, 5) minutes of LAW & Order UK.

So far, the CPS have invited a couple of defendants and the solicitor into the CPS offices for a plea bargain, with a certainty of the sentence to be served if they plead guilty. Which is just... No!

And Freema's been running round the streets of London interviewing a witness, in the street! Words fail me.

5 minutes, that's all. And that 5 minutes is enough to establish that it bears no resemblance to the actual practice of law.

Oh, they've just got one of the defendants in with the same solicitor who represented both defendants earlier but not with the other defendant and are offering him (one of the defendants) a bargain if he'll testify against the other defendant. Oh, 'cos that's not a conflict of interest at all, is it on the part of the solicitor?

Crap. Complete crap. It's been...8 minutes now and that's enough to establish that it may rival Judge John Deed for badness. *cries*

Comments

[fides.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of you while I was wincing.

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

*sniffles* Thank you, hon. Together in our pain.

[olympia-m.livejournal.com]

I thought of watching, but thought of you and didn't :)

Heroes was oddly satisfying after last season (at least, for me *G*)

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I actually enjoyed Heroes and was genuinely moved into rooting for Silar - never thought I'd say that.

[olympia-m.livejournal.com]

I never thought I'd say that either (although I went through a brief phase of liking Sylar back in ... season 1, I think - maybe second half of season 2?)
He was totally cool in this ep!

[temaris.livejournal.com]

::pets teh Mandragora::

I'm watching Reign of Fire on dvd instead -- it's kinda ridiculous, but hey, Christian Bale and dragons!

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

A good choice, I think. Good, cracky fun versus crap legal drama (even with Jamie, and Ben, and Freema) - no contest.

[keletkezes.livejournal.com]

Wyverns! They're NOT dragons! Dragons have two pairs of legs!

... Sorry, it's a grating point with me... :)

[xandutch.livejournal.com]

*hands you tissues and dark chocolate*

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Thank you, m'dear. Very generous of you to share my pain on your birthday!

[seiyaharris.livejournal.com]

I liked it, but a little part of me hated it on your behalf!

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks for thinking of me. Glad that at least you enjoyed it.

[seiyaharris.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I don't know enough to be horrified to be honest lol

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Which always helps - bet if there was ever a series (although it would probably be a comedy, where you can get away with crack) about the Place Where You Work you'd be yelling at the screen too.

[seiyaharris.livejournal.com]

I yell at the screen now! *G* They never get it right, it's just unfortunate when it's YOUR thing they get wrong.

[manna]

Bwah! I've just finished watching it, and I *sprinted* upstairs to see if you'd posted. :-)

Abuse of the legal system aside, it was horrible. I felt so sorry for the poor cast, who were all acting their little socks off as they tried to stop the audience noticing how shit the script was. All the badness of Deed, with none of the cracktastic OTTness. (And no Martin Shaw.)

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

*g* Of course I posted - those 5 minutes from 9:45 to 9:50 were enough to spur me into a rant. I actually yelled at the closing credits, as well.

It's such a pity, though. All those lovely actors. Sigh.

[manna]

All those lovely actors. Sigh.

I know. A couple of times, I found myself wondering what it would be like with the sound turned off :-)

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

That's so sad because I love some of the actors, just like I love Martin Shaw and hated Judge John Deed. I didn't even watch episode 1 but thought I might try it some time. After your two posts I think perhaps I won't!

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you and me both - love Martin Shaw but can't watch Deed. Love Jamie and Ben and Freema, but am not sure the blood pressure could take watching the show.

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

Sorry for suggesting it might not offend you!


Oh, they've just got one of the defendants in with the same solicitor who represented both defendants earlier but not with the other defendant and are offering him (one of the defendants) a bargain if he'll testify against the other defendant.

That's quite odd. Even in the U.S. joint representation would be considered inappropriate under those circumstances.

My guess is that this show is following the model of L&O:SVU (which is like every other legal drama in the U.S., moderately to wildly inaccurate) rather than L&O, original flavor, which is--with a few notable lapses--remarkably accurate for a TV show.

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

No need to be sorry at all, because if they had done an original L&O style show it no doubt would have been pretty good - I remember how dramatically satisfying original L&O was.

And you know, I still had hopes before tonight that they'd manage to pull it off.

On the joint representation front it is just about possible to represent joint clients when there's no possibility of a conflict. But that's pretty rare in criminal cases as you can no doubt imagine and of course it would be impossible to continue to represent either one of them at the point that the prosecution is trying to persuade one to testify against the other. And it would never be done in the way it was in the episode, anyway.

[minotaurs.livejournal.com]

On behalf of the entire US, I apologize. Some things should *not* be exported.

Why does Jamie Bamber insist on doing shows I can't watch? It's like he's deliberately avoiding me or something.

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Nah, it's really not the whole of the US' fault! Just the L&O producers.

Actually, from what I can gather if you don't know much about the English legal system it's reasonably enjoyable so (provided you're not sufficiently conversant to be overly irritated by the errors) don't let my ranting prevent you from enjoying the delectable Jamie.

[kay-taylor.livejournal.com]

I AM NEVER WATCHING THIS SHOW, NOT EVER, NEVER.

*dies a little inside*

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

A wise decision, I feel.

Pity, though. I really wanted to like it.

[rose-gialle.livejournal.com]

it may rival Judge John Deed for badness.

Ha! And there I was, pondering whether to ask you if JJD bore any resemblance to real practice. I guess that answers that question *g*.

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

*g* Yeah, pretty much.

JJD is in the unwatchable category for me, despite the lovely Mr Shaw, because of all the legal errors.

[lexin.livejournal.com]

I may watch it, but am duly warned about its crapitude.

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I think you may be in the unfortunate category of knowing too much about how things really work to enjoy it, but you may be able to gloss over them enough to find it watchable.

The problem seems to be that they used an actual US script, complete with how the legal system works in NTC, and didn't change anything for the English version...

[zellieh]

I have made an executive decision not to watch it, despite the fact that there are so many lovely actors in it, and I am now so glad I didn't break my brain waste my time with it. *hugs you*

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

A wise and farsighted decision, I think. It's such a pity, though.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

*jaw drops so far it hits the desk and bounces off*

I can#'t watch this. Our tv may be broken by projectiles I must throw

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was yelling at the screen by the end.

Apparently, they took an actual US script and plonked it wholesale into the English version with no changes (other than the most cosmetic) to take account of the fact that actual legal practice differs here.

Which is mindbogglingly stupid, actually.