| "Pravda" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | CI, Episode 3.05 | → |
| Production number: E4509 First aired: 26 October 2003 | ||
 | ||
| Teleplay By Warren Leight Story By Warren Leight & René Balcer Directed By Alex Zakrzewski | ||
Plot[]
Suspects in the murder of a reporter's girlfriend include an editor, a writer, and his father. It's revealed the victim's boyfriend plagiarized all of his own work. When his father Roy Hines, himself a journalist who fought in the civil rights movement, discovered the truth, he was so ashamed that he went to his son's apartment to kill him and then himself. The plan failed when his son's girlfriend awakened, and Roy killed her in a panic.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Vincent D'Onofrio as Detective Robert Goren
- Kathryn Erbe as Detective Alexandra Eames
- Jamey Sheridan as Captain James Deakins
- Courtney B. Vance as A.D.A. Ron Carver
Recurring cast[]
Guest cast[]
- Anthony Mackie as Carl Hines
- Glynn Turman as Roy Hines
- Judd Hirsch as Ben Elkins
- Michal Sinnott as Katya Jalenak
- Karen Tsen Lee as Valerie Huang
- Gameela Wright as Detective Amanda Giles
- Count Stovall as Attorney Davis
- Buzz Bovshow as Charles Edward
- Carole Healey as Eleanor Janeway
- Carlos J. Da Silva as Guy
- Sarah Elizabeth Burke as Waitress
- Flora Diaz as Girl
- Armando Molina as Miguel
- Johnny Garcia as Carlos
- Eleanor Glockner as Rose
- Geneva Carr as Camilla
- Elzbieta Czyzewska as Katya's Mother
- Pete Macnamara as Power Lunch Guest
References[]
Quotes[]
- Detective: Mr. Hines says the door was locked? You two don't take notes?
- Robert Goren: Uh, we haven't worked that out yet.
- Bishop: So you know, I did not enjoy that.
- Goren: No? Eames would've.
- G. Lynn Bishop: If you were showing me how to turn a friendly witness into a hostile one, you succeeded.
- Ben Elkins: Katya's murder is being used not just to smear Carl and me, but to attack the Sentinel's commitment to diversity in its hiring policies.
- Ron Carver: Mr. Elkins, do not play that card with me! Only a racist would turn this into a referendum on affirmative action.
- Ron Carver, after Goren torpedoes the case against a suspect.: You working for the defense now?
- Goren: It must be a family trait.
- Ron Carver: What's that?
- Goren: No stomach for the truth.
Background information and notes[]
- This is actress Samantha Buck's first appearance as Detective G. Lynn Bishop. Buck was brought in for seven episodes to replace Kathryn Erbe, who was on maternity leave leading up to and following the birth of her son Carson.
- The title of this episode "Pravda" is clearly a word play rooted in the name of the leading newspaper of the Soviet Union from 1912 through 1991, which is also a term for the "truth".
- Interestingly, this episode revealed many resemblances with the case of Jayson Blair, a staff reporter for the New York Times for nearly four years, who was forced to resign in May 2003 after he committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud.
- The Law & Order episode "Bounty" (which also came out in 2003) also takes inspiration from the Jayson Blair case.
- Carl Hines mentions plagarism can "make you a US senator [or] give you a TV show". Some people he may be referring could be then Senator and later US President Joe Biden, who withdrew from the 1988 presidental campaign due to plagarism, and Stephen Ambrose, whose book Band of Brothers became a mini-series, though he was accused of plagarism over his book The Wild Blue.
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
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The New York Sentinel |
Home of |
Quatre Saisons |
| Previous episode: "But Not Forgotten" |
"Pravda" Law & Order: Criminal Intent Season 3 |
Next episode: "Stray" |