The Night Of (HBO)

[DireWolfSpirit]

"Pick your chin up, finish the case.......and then clean out your FUCKIN DESK!!"

Ughh her (Chandra's) boss was insufferable. But Chandra let herself get in a horribly inappropriate place.

Jury deadlocked 6 to 6, I'm surprized the audience didnt get any view of the deliberations, that may have been some more interesting insight. Anyways, the series was great, I cant think of a single character in this drama who wasnt well acted. The script was above average through every episode and the scenes not at all predictable. I wish it wasnt a mini series, I could watch a whole season of this easily imo.

[Astromech]

I thought the kiss last week was terrible and knew it was a very poorly written excuse to get John to shine in the final episode. Still Chandra's worst moment was calling Naz to testify. Way to open him to cross examination. Another poor choice by the writers to add more courtroom drama and tension. It's almost as bad as the last second surprise witness in countless legal shows and films.

In spite of those two glaring issues with the finale, I enjoyed most of it. I never enjoy having all of the damning evidence revealed in final episodes, but it's part and parcel with mysteries. The only suspect I really would have been surprised to be revealed as the killer was Naz himself. I'm not a fan of red herrings, but they were actually handled quite well in this series. Having them all testify in the final episode was well done.

I loved the final half-hour of the show with the slow resolution of each character, mainly Naz and Stone. The irony of Freddy's line about protecting Naz as they smoke drugs together. Naz's fractured relationship with his mother. His parents selling the house. The community's reaction to Naz once he's released. And the sad scene of him smoking at the spot on the water where he was with Andrea. John's falling back into his routine of endless plea bargains. His recurring eczema. And it being revealed he rescued the cat.

Very good series, not heavy-handed with messages and one of the, if not the, best pilots I've ever seen.

[RumHam]

9 hours ago, Astromech said:

Very good series, not heavy-handed with messages and one of the, if not the, best pilots I've ever seen.

Yeah, that first episode was so great that the rest of the series feels a little disappointing. Like it peaked too soon. Still a good show though. 

[Bastard of Boston]

Liked it a lot, but wish they would've done more with the whodunit aspect of the show. I realize that wasn't the point of it, but that pilot was so compelling. The character stuff was great, don't get me wrong, but they could've really exploited everything they did in that opening episode.

[aceluby]

Loved this show.  It was just well done all the way around.  Only parts I didn't like was Chandra's boss, who was extremely one dimensional, the kiss that was VERY out of character for Chandra given what we knew about her, and Naz testifying which was just incredibly dumb; nothing good was going to to come from that.  Other than that I pretty much loved everything else.  The prison, the parents, the main characters, the acting, the cinematography, the story telling.... just top notch and I'm really glad this is just a one and done thing.  Put the effort into a really good production to get something better than the sum of its parts.  I really hope we get more mini-series like this (not cop dramas, but just well done, concise stories).

[kairparavel]

re: Chandra

Guys, this was set up in the bar the moment she blurted out that she had just broken up with her boyfriend. That was the signal to her emotions and inability to put them aside when dealing with the car. So that was coupled with the knowledge Naz's mother thought he was guilty plus her inexperience plus plus. She had her own vulnerability that played out against Naz's. Was is great that this became part of how her story was portrayed? Nope. But everything made sense in how she was written culminating with blind and wrong -headed insistence on putting Naz on the stand. The entire series is based on poor choices, hers included.  And it led to that fantastic take on the greater point of the show,  as laid out by Stone.

I'm quite ok with the ambiguity and the fact that every character was left worse for their contact to this situation. 

[Martini Sigil]

I am not a happy camper...

Putting N

az on the stand with three possible --and plausible-- other suspects?... That jumps every shark in the ocean ...

Chandra buying drugs for him?.... that jumps every form of other aquatic life ....

and Box finding Halle *after* he retires?... a DA with a closing arguments conscience?.... Seven episodes of compelling TV to lead us to .... to.... just.... yuck.. 

[Commodore]

who would have guessed

Spoiler

the killer would be a privileged white male wall street type who likes to beat up prostitutes

in spite of that, this was very well done

minor nitpick is that Naz seemed woefully unprepared for an obvious line of questioning

[dbunting]

Strange show, liked it though and I am glad it is over. It was well done and shows like this if they turn into a series end up getting full of themselves or try to capture and exploit what they think the fans want to see.

Spoiler

I wasn't too happy with the financial guy being the killer. It does help link a few things, like why the argument at the funeral and how he pointed us to the step dad.

 Does anyone know how the other show, the one this is based on finished, is this similar?

Chandra, seems like they were consistent with her character as far as I am concerned, young and naive. She was window dressing at first when her boss had the case, and didn't realize it. Then she was oblivious to how to conduct a trial. She seemed to be flirting with Stone at the bar when drinking, then kisses Naz in the cell, on camera. How does she not know there is a camera...she is naïve and young. She decides to call him as a witness, which never happens. Then, with almost no prodding or reason to she smuggles drugs in for Naz, again on camera.

Stone, it was funny watching his transition from confident when being second chair, then freaking out and breaking out once he is in the spotlight.

Naz's family and community after he is released seemed absolutely accurate. Especially since he wasn't found innocent he was not prosecuted further. Once the other guy gets arrested and potentially convicted it might help him and his family some.

Naz, again a really accurate portrayal. The sense of not knowing what to do and feeling like he didn't belong, then him leaving and smoking drugs when he and Andrea were.

Loved the cat running across the floor to end the show.

[Talleyrand]

I enjoyed that, they went with a different path from the original so it was fun to be kept guessing at least.

[Ramsay B.]

You would think Box would've checked out where Andrea was coming from, before she got into the cab, much earlier in the case. Especially considering he was having his doubts from the get-go. I guess the overwhelming evidence made it a moot point...or just incompetence all around?

[Talleyrand]

3 hours ago, Ramsay Blow said:

You would think Box would've checked out where Andrea was coming from, before she got into the cab, much earlier in the case. Especially considering he was having his doubts from the get-go. I guess the overwhelming evidence made it a moot point...or just incompetence all around?

To me it felt pretty similar to the Wire when Omar gets framed for murder and the attitude of most of the cops there, you don't go unsolving murders.

Sure you could do a bit more looking around but you've got enough evidence to bury the suspect there so just charge him and move onto the next one.

I could imagine the rest of his squad and his supervisors being less than pleased if Box wanted to keep stalling to look for more.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

23 minutes ago, Talleyrand said:

To me it felt pretty similar to the Wire when Omar gets framed for murder and the attitude of most of the cops there, you don't go unsolving murders.

Sure you could do a bit more looking around but you've got enough evidence to bury the suspect there so just charge him and move onto the next one.

I could imagine the rest of his squad and his supervisors being less than pleased if Box wanted to keep stalling to look for more.

Yup. One thing this show got right was the depiction of modern police work - all the obvious evidence pointed to Naz so there was no sense wasting time and resources on looking for alternatives. They "got their man" so why continue digging around. Post-retirement Box was an outlier and an irritant to this process.

I also liked that most of the characters made some bad/illogical decisions. Made the whole thing more realistic to me. People make stupid decisions in real life all the time. 

The only part about the ending that bugged me a little was when the prosecutor decided to "do the right thing" by siding with Box and not pursuing a re-trial. I know they based that on her trusting Box's instincts about Naz (and the financial advisor guy) but it seemed a bit of a reach.

Overall it didn't live up to the tremendous potential of the pilot, but it was pretty good and I'm glad I watched.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

3 hours ago, Ferrum Aeternum said:

 

The only part about the ending that bugged me a little was when the prosecutor decided to "do the right thing" by siding with Box and not pursuing a re-trial. I know they based that on her trusting Box's instincts about Naz (and the financial advisor guy) but it seemed a bit of a reach.

 

I could see her motivation being more about saving money and face. Trials are expensive, and she only had a 6/6 split.  If it was a 10/2 or 11/1 split, I could see her making a different choice.  And she would be obligated to turn over the information the Box gave her, making getting a conviction the second time even harder.  Retrying him was a lose/lose proposition

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Great finale, I am so glad Nas got off the charges and will undoubtedly begin a life of crime and drug abuse. Never ever thought the finacial advisor was the murderer. Really great series, glad I watched it.

[Ramsay B.]

5 hours ago, Talleyrand said:

To me it felt pretty similar to the Wire when Omar gets framed for murder and the attitude of most of the cops there, you don't go unsolving murders.

Sure you could do a bit more looking around but you've got enough evidence to bury the suspect there so just charge him and move onto the next one.

I could imagine the rest of his squad and his supervisors being less than pleased if Box wanted to keep stalling to look for more.

Yeah, I can see that. I just thought Box would've checked things out no matter what pressures he was facing. 

I agree with everyone about the pilot, it was almost too good. 

[Astromech]

My take was Box was going through the motions since he was so close to retirement. However, he was a professional and realized he made a mistake which was eating away at him after his testimony. Then he fixed it by continuing to investigate the murder.

[Prince of the North]

9 minutes ago, Astromech said:

My take was Box was going through the motions since he was so close to retirement. However, he was a professional and realized he made a mistake which was eating away at him after his testimony. Then he fixed it by continuing to investigate the murder.

This was my take, too.  I interpreted it as Box not wanting to end on a "sour note" of sorts

[PetyrPunkinhead]

Finished this series and my feelings echo a lot of what I've read from this thread so far: spectacular pilot episode and pretty much downhill from there, but a slow, not steep decline. I think it hit the bottom of the hill with Chandra's folly with putting Naz on the stand as far as writing goes. But the performances  were great. I don't know who this actor that played Box was, but he is the unsung hero in this great cast. He played subtle beast to perfection.

[DaveSumm]

The trouble is, the first episode sets it up as if we're going to immediately start chewing on all the events......except it then turns out that we're getting a thorough look at all the aspects of the criminal justice procedure. And it was good at that, but I was just eager to get to the court case and see how it was argued from all sides. On top of the Chandra writing mentioned, I thought Naz's sudden descent to model convict was a bit sharp. I did consider whether Freddie was intentionally sabotaging his case with the tattoos as he wanted the company in prison, but that didn't seem to go anywhere.

Did anyone notice how Stone's eczema died down precisely when he got the cat? (EDIT: more specifically, when the cat got out and slept in his bed.) I think the Chinese herbal remedy was a red herring, it suddenly got way worse when he got rid of the cat and cleaned and hoovered the apartment. I have no clue whether that's a thing or not, just an observation.