Law & Order (TV Series) Personae Non Grata (2008) User Reviews

Chump

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 25 April 2020]

The discovery of a body in a couch being thrown out leads Kevin Bernard and Jeremy Sisto all the way to Plattsburgh to Melissa Leo a woman with a runaway teenage daughter who's identity she's taken over on social media.

Taken it over for the purpose of scamming men and she's got her hooks into Barry Del Sherman who has lavished thousands of dolars in presents on her sight unseen. Sherman maybe chump of the decade.

But that's only the beginning of Melissa Leo's evil. She is truly a monster of the worst kind.

Watch this one for Melissa Leo.

You see that charming chipped tooth in her smile? Well, here it is.

[ts-39702 · 9/10 · 9 January 2022]

After this episode, I realized that Mike is different from McCoy. While McCoy bends the law and pulls some stunts to make his case, what Mike does is just bizarre.

In this episode he's show a victim's X-ray... with her bone as a pointer. Man, he really have a dark sense of humor. The man's confused and horrified "what is that" is just icing on the cake.

And then he showed him her skull.

We know Ben Stone is just and by-the-book, Jack McCoy is prone to pull stunts exploiting the law. I really didn't expect a new A. D. A. With a new trait, but here is Michael Cutter. He pulls stunts just like his boss, but it's not about the law, it's about people, like this episode and S18E15 Bogeyman. He is the character that made S18 a new flavor, and while the plot is not always good, it amuses me when he succeed and break the guy.

Bonbons on Planet Bob

[lifeisgood110 · 8/10 · 5 April 2022]

This episode has got a lot going on: A crazy woman impersonating her missing daughter, dirty politicians, a guy named Bob and a lot of Bonbon eating.

Quote of the episode: "What planet is this guy on?" "Planet Bob."

It's Chrissy's arm, Bob. What's left of it.

[Mrpalli77 · 8/10 · 15 March 2018]

Two "sanitation" officers caught two guys who were trying to take an abandoned couch into their van. A dead man was hidden inside the sofa. The victim was a marine deployed in Iraq; he had a partner in business, they stole maps from the local library, trying to sell them online; Van Buren faked her identity (32 years old girl!) online to locate the perp and he was arrested. But it's not about business: they shared interests over a girl they met online. Detectives didn't find the teenage girl, her mother (Melissa Leo) said she had been missing for over two years, but she's a pathetic liar: she used her daughter's b-frenz page to lure out money from innocent people. What detectives found in her boyfriend's basement is unbelievable.....

That's what happen recently: people pretend to be someone else in their avatar, much younger, charming and mysterious; it's easier for con artist to succeed. I'd rather meet someone I like face to face instead of chatting online, with surprises around the corner.

Unwelcome

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 19 October 2022]

"Personae Non Grata" struck me as a mostly good if uneven episode, with one half being better than the other and one key relationship being still bland but also with a great guest turn. It's not a novel scenario here or a theme that is new, but the topic is hardly irrelevant and does hit hard when done right. As has been said with many other episodes of 'Law and Order', the show has proven many times at doing wonders with familiar or basic stories.

While not quite fitting this distinction, "Personae Non Grata" was pretty much what was remembered from first watch. So a good episode, but not a great one with a mix of good and not so good (thankfully more of the former) and very much worth seeing for the guest star (Melissa Leo in her third of three 'Law and Order' appearances) primarily. As far as Season 18 goes, its penultimate episode is neither one of the best or worst and is one of the solid middle ones.

Not everything works. The first half is inferior to the second, not just because of the predictability but also the chemistry between Lupo and Bernard is still rather bland to me. Lupo also doesn't have the spark that he had when he was partnered with Green and is always overshadowed by the more animated Bernard.

It is another episode that could have benefitted from a less "wrap as much as we can up with five minutes to go" sort of conclusion. It's all well staged, written and acted, the truth just needed longer to unfold.

However, a lot works really well. It is shot with the right amount of intimacy without being claustrophobic and that the editing has become increasingly tighter over-time has been great too. Nice use of locations too. The music doesn't get over-scored or overwrought, even in the more dramatic revelation moments. The direction doesn't try to do too much and is understated but never flat or unsure.

The script is lean and thought-probing with the right amount of grittiness. The story is riveting in the second half and is intricate and tense without being over simple or too complicated. The acting is very good, especially in the second half. With Leo at her most monstrous, and chilling at that, coming out on top.

Concluding, good but not great. 7/10.

Law and Order Version of talhotblond

[cweidenbach-07142 · 7/10 · 17 December 2021]

You can tell this episode is inspired by the case of the murder of Brian Barret. They switched some things up that they usually do when they are writing episode based loosely on real cases. I actually found the real case of this to be more fascinating than this re imagining. I understand they change things up so it still falls into the realm of fiction, but yeah. If any one wants to know the real case I highly recommend the 2009 documentary Talhotblond and the Morbid podcast's episode 280: The "TallhotBlond" Murder.

In short: good episode, but the real story this was inspired from was far more gripping.