‘Law & Order’ Recap: ‘The Meaning of Life’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

LAW & ORDER -- "The Meaning Of Life" Episode 24004 -- Pictured: (l-r) Mehcad Brooks as Det. Jalen Shaw, Reid Scott as Det. Vincent Riley, Ameerah Briggs as Bomb Tech -- (Photo by: Ralph Bavaro/NBC)

​Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 2404 of ‘Law & Order’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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It is definitely safe to say that we are living in some supremely concerning times when it comes to how people are expressing their world views and concerns. For we’ve moved past a point where people pointedly speak their mind. Now they will shout over anyone else and make life uncomfortable to be heard and recognized, and if that doesn’t get them the result they want, then they just plain get violent, which is worse. Sadly, it seems there will be little change in such matters, and its genesis point remains a mystery. But that doesn’t stop us from wondering how we can perhaps enact change on such matters and it would seem that the best way to make that happen, is to simply make examples out of certain instances to point out how wrong this is and how extreme discourse needs to stop.
 
As to how that gets done, well it needs to happen in the legal system, where the public can hear the message and never was this more evident than during last night’s episode of Law & Order on NBC. For ‘The Meaning of Life’ saw the NYPD and the DA’s office deal with quite the shocking surprise within their town. In that, an innocent woman was injured to the point of brain death by a IED that went off in her own home, and at first… it seemed as though this was the work of a religious fanatic. For her husband wrote about faith, and worked to debunk faith often, and that was deemed offensive and rude by some and made him a prime target for certain. One that forced the team to look for clues revolving around revenge for such views. But there was nothing to be found on such matters and that prompted Shaw & Riley to work with Lieutenant Brady to narrow down who else could be involved.
 
As it turned out, there were some suspicious notes surrounding this symphony of destruction, the kind that spoke to the possibility that a pro-life individual might have been responsible, since the deceased was a fertility doctor, and when more bombs showed up to other doctors in that field, the team was able to get to one in time and use forensic evidence to finally narrow in on a suspect. One who was the significant other of a pro-life activist and who was in the end, the bomber. For he believed in those extreme views regarding such matters and firmly believed it was up to him to bring about pain and  suffering to those who messed with the natural order, and while it was a wonderful thing  that he was put behind bars, the more difficult portion of this fight was figuring out how best to charge him and how to send the message in question.
 
Because ADA Maroun truly believed the world needed to see a lack of tolerance for extremism and hideous behaviors in this vein. So, she pushed hard to have the man tried for first-degree murder and slap a life sentence on him as penance. But that was going to be tough to prove since it was new territory for certain, but the DA’s office gave it a whirl and ran into some roadblocks. Largely because the defense brought in long-shot experts to speak to the case, who of course, put some doubt in the jury’s mind and that prompted Maroun, to go over certain files with a fine-toothed comb to discover, that the victim had a DNR, and because of that… she needed to be taken off of life support. A move that allowed for the jury to unequivocally understand that murder had taken place, and that got a conviction.
 
Granted, there was some internal debate regarding the morality of such a move on Maroun’s part, but she wanted to make that example. Simply because, she understood what we do about this problem. In that, so many keep pushing and pushing to be heard, to enact the specific change they want, and when does it end? When does enough become enough on such matters? Granted, that has to be better defined by law enforcement and the judicial system in our modern world. But this made it clear, we have to do more and have to make better efforts in shutting this down because of how dangerous some of this is getting. All of which made for a powerful and poignant episode. One that poses more questions for the real world but made it clear… this polarization has to stop, because it’s causing nothing but harm and hopefully, change does come before matters such as these get way out of hand. Until next time.

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