It's two ways to get hammered, but neither involves a nail. The performances are reliable (Lahti in fact is very good), but the plot is just preposterous and so contrived it defies logic. Florek is this episode's 'scales of justice', trying to convince the belligerent Lahti that 'alcoholism' is a disease to be treated (or in a legal sense, serve as mitigation), and not merely a vice of the weak nor wicked.
The moral question being posed is fine, but the way it's addressed is borderline farce; the bungles and contrast of the final few scenes render the resolution much too trivial for the gravity of the crime committed, and the lesson much too laboured.
Hargitay and Meloni are virtual bystanders as Lahti's conflicted character takes centre stage in this all-too-simple instalment. Belzer and Ice trade familiar dialogue on the evidence, question a would-be witness, then it's back to Captain Florek to ground the argument on his character's own tenuous sobriety.
Technically it's fine, but the plot is just too thin and rushed to do the subject matter justice (no pun intended).
The moral question being posed is fine, but the way it's addressed is borderline farce; the bungles and contrast of the final few scenes render the resolution much too trivial for the gravity of the crime committed, and the lesson much too laboured.
Hargitay and Meloni are virtual bystanders as Lahti's conflicted character takes centre stage in this all-too-simple instalment. Belzer and Ice trade familiar dialogue on the evidence, question a would-be witness, then it's back to Captain Florek to ground the argument on his character's own tenuous sobriety.
Technically it's fine, but the plot is just too thin and rushed to do the subject matter justice (no pun intended).
