November 17, 2005
The Countrymen
Last nights Law & Order stirred up quite a storm on talk radio today. I watched it and was disappointed, though mostly just in the fact that the quality of the show has slipped so far.
The episode, a supposedly "ripped from the headlines" tale about the Minutemen, was quite a stretch for them. They had to somehow bring Arizona to New York, which led to several bothersome bits.
Point by point, the story was sort of:
- Owner of a New York (or NJ) trucking company works as a Coyote on the side, making regular trips across the country to ferry illegals across the border, leaving them somewhere in Arizona then driving back home - in one of his very large trucks. Doesn't seem cost efficient.
- On one run the illegals get cooked in the back of the truck. That has really happened here, because the coyotes are scum. In this instance, however, the illegals cooked because the truck was sabotaged by one of "The Countrymen" and the incident scarred the driver so much he was having nightmares.
- The driver/coyote was gunned down - on a New York street - two months later - and he just happened to be driving the same rig that he was driving on that fateful trip - and it just happened to be empty making the remnants of blood/urine/fecal matter easier to spot.
- The suspect is seen hiding the gun by an illegal working as a domestic in some ootzie womans home (the previous night she had hosted a 'salon'
) The illegal had been here for 10 years and her children were born here, therefore citizens.
- The suspect and his cohorts, all "Countrymen" just happened to live in NY/NJ.
- When discussing their chances of a conviction, and the "idiocy" of the "Countrymen", the ADA says something to the effect of "the people of New York will see right through that" Because, of course, New Yorkers are so much more intellectual.
- The illegal maid is attacked on the street by a knife wielding "Countrymen" member.
- The illegal maid testifies despite the risk of being deported.
- "Countrymen" member gets convicted of murder - as well the character should have, he gunned the guy down in cold blood. It is chalked up to New Yorkers willingness to see what is right.
- Illegal maid is deported because the hard core judge reports her to INS. Soft hearted ADA tries to make a case for her but is rebuffed by the hard nosed DA.
- Spanish speaker then asks the DA if he would like more water, to which the DA answers "Si"
What we gather: The Countrymen/Minutemen are cruel thugs who will resort to any means to stop Mexicans from crossing the border. Coyotes are just well meaning business men trying to augment their income. New Yorkers are far too sophisticated to engage in such racist thinking - even though all their suspects were locals. We need illegals to round out our work force and do the menial jobs that we don't want to, and they are all just sweet law-abiding people trying to do what is right.
In general, this isn't the most offensive show they have ever done politically. It was definitely one of the worst they have done in general quality - poorly written and outlandish stretches of credibility. Not bad enough to keep me from watching in the future, but they have been pushing it ever since Dennis Farina joined the cast - they have not figured out how to write for him, or he just sucks, either way - blah.
Posted by Vox at November 17, 2005 09:54 PM | politics