Law & Order (TV Series) Cherished (1998) User Reviews

Good season opener

[colorsflashing · 9/10 · 14 January 2019]

This was the opening episode for Season 9 of "Law and Order," and was the first episode with Abbie Carmichael (Angie Harmon), who was a wonderful addition to the series.

The episode concerns a little child who ostensibly died of abuse, but her physical injuries were inflicted postmortem. Nothing is as it appears, and the police and prosecutors have to dig pretty deep to get at the truth, which involves the peddling of physically damaged Russian children for adoption to American families.

The family who had custody of the child when she died are the Warings (Graham Winton and Lisa Bostnar), who are saintly in their desire to provide a home to children no one else wants, including their first adopted boy, Nicholas (Spencer Breslin), who suffers from Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) due to the horribly abusive treatment he received during the first years of his life. Kudos to the writers for putting this problem into the plot.

But the adults principally to blame for the child's death mouth some sort of excuse for their behavior, and refuse to accept responsibility. Even though McCoy and Carmichael are able to convict them, it is doubtful any of them will truly believe they did anything wrong.

Nice twists and turns

[michaelangellcanfield · 8/10 · 16 February 2022]

Excellent episode if you don't mind a slight deviation from the L&O formula - very slight. Lot of ins and outs and a sassy intro to the litigiously muscular character of Abbie Carmichael.

Two words

[hanchilles · 10/10 · 15 March 2020]

I got two words for this episode. 1. Abbie 2. Carmichael

Boy is she a personality, aggressive and reminds me of McCoy himself , I'm sure he's impressed by her, cause I certainly am. It's sad that we no longer will see Ross but I think with just one episode, I am over Ross and so into Carmichael now. Good episode to introduce us to the new A.d.a! Plot abit haywire but it's really necessary to show how relentless Abbie can get a conviction! Can't wait to watch the next episode alr

Negligance

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 5 August 2021]

Season 9's first episode "Cherished's" main interest point is that it is the debut episode of Jamie Ross' replacement Abbie Carmichael. Jack McCoy's assistants varied throughout the show, mostly good with only Serena Southerlyn completely (inexplicably the longest serving one) leaving me cold. Carmichael gets my vote as the best and most interesting in terms of personality and it is easy to see why she was one of the longest serving too.

"Cherished" was a more than promising, and actually truly terrific, first episode for Carmichael. It is also a brilliant beginning to Season 9, one of that season's standout episodes and makes one excited for what was to come, as season openers should do. As a standalone episode of 'Law and Order', "Cherished" is also brilliant if not quite one of my favourites of the show, hard though when the great and more episodes of 'Law and Order' are so many.

Everything is great here in "Cherished". On a visual level, the episode is solid and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting. The direction is sympathetic enough without being leaden, while having enough momentum to make the drama sing in its atmosphere.

As said, Carmichael is a fantastic addition and makes a very strong first impression with a personality that is already worth engaging with. A personality that Angie Harmon embodies, but doing so in an understated fashion without being robotic. All the performances are excellent.

Likewise with the polished and thought-probing script that has grit and class. The story is suitably complicated and intricate, without being convoluted.

Overall, bang on the money. 10/10.

Criminally negligent neglect

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 February 2015]

Angie Harmon makes her Law And Order debut as Sam Waterstonn's second chair as both the police and DA's office try to decide who is culpable in the death of a baby who looked to be 3 months old, but was really 2 years old, a bit more. There is neglect here, criminally negligent neglect.

Back they go in the short and sad history of this child and at first the logical assumption is the parents that had him last and who called the police when they found the baby girl not breathing. They look even better for it when they are also discovered to have a serial killer in the making child in Spencer Breslin as an older brother. This kid is Charles Manson waiting to happen.

It settles on the parents who had the little girl before and upon the Russian doctor played by Theodore Steimbach who signed off on the adoption papers. He's got a great little racket going selling off unhealthy kids without telling them.

You also have to hand it to the American health care system. No insurance to cover these kids because of pre-existing conditions. Gotta love it.

Abby Carmichael nails them good.

He has no empathy. No conscience, no remorse

[Mrpalli77 · 6/10 · 25 April 2018]

A baby was taken to the hospital after falling from a crib and he dead shortly after. Actually the accident must have been more violent than what his foster parents described at first: detectives realized they had another child adopted as well who rarely saw the light, but that was not enough for a warrant, so they kept on running in circle. Charmaichel managed to obtain that for a different reason (housekeeper's green card) and they were shocked when victim's brother (Spencer Breslin) suffered from a rare form of attachment disorder that made him dangerous for anyone around him (maid called him "El Diablo"). Lawyers believed he also killed a dog, so he need an around the clock attention by professional. Charmaichel wanted him arrested, while McCoy and Branch had doubts about a 7 years' old conviction. Things gone bad when they figured out the dead baby wasn't the one signed on the paper, but a sick toddler who was about to succumb to a cancer....

An episode that goes from a homicide to baby trafficking that involved more than one family, with issues with the russian consulate. A little boring in my point of view.

The handslap

[jgeo-71571 · 5/10 · 9 June 2019]

Why does 'McCoy" seem to laugh at something off camera when 'Abby" slaps his palm instead of shacking?