Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders

The scripts, mostly written by L&O veteran Rene Balcer, do a nifty job of carving a clean narrative trail through the usual true-crime cloud of ephemera.

Despite the me-too-ism of it all, the result is a slick, impressively cast trip down memory lane, saddled with the unwieldy title Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders.

The story, like it did in early 1990s, grabs your attention. The actors are the reason it keeps it.

The series was created by Rene Balcer, whose writing staff does a very good job with the script to make it feel real, so much so that it may seem almost perfunctory. But that’s the point, really, and underscores the naturalism of the series. The performances are very solid overall. ... Falco, of course, is a standout.

Falco and her curls steal the show. They’re both are fascinating. The “true crime” part is much less so.

What results is an oddly watchable combination of “Law & Order” and “American Crime Story.” The Menendez Murders borrows so heavily from both, its only identity comes from a new true crime story (that younger viewers may not know the ending to) and Lesli Linka Glatter’s tense, observant direction.

The Menendez story is not as immediately consuming as the celebrated O.J. series, perhaps because there was no dramatic car chase or fallen-celebrity scenario to kick off the story. But with a solid cast and Falco in the lead, The Menendez Murders has the potential to dominate in an otherwise crowded field of true-crime dramas.

Falco is good, but Josh Charles is doing the stuff that made me smile. Of course, smiling is not something you’re supposed to be doing while watching a show about a double homicide, but the pleasures of familiar facts presented in a lively, engaging way will not be denied.

Rene Balcer's writing and Lesli Linka Glatter's direction keep things moving, and if these two episodes don't promise anything terribly deep, they're packed with enough good performances and details (an alibi conversation revolving around a supposed meeting at the Beverly Hills Cheesecake Factory, for instance) to make us curious about what comes next.

There were reasons, other than the character of the Menendez brothers themselves, for the enduring notoriety of this case, and we’re introduced to one of the major ones early in the series (just two episodes of which NBC released for review). She’s Leslie Abramson (Edie Falco), attorney for Erik Menendez.

Falco is fine in this role and Jaeger brings some nice touches to the role of detective Zoeller. Josh Charles (The Good Wife) adds a little extra marquee value as the brothers’ compromised psychiatrist, Dr. Jerome Oziel. ... Just don’t expect any style points or departures from the straight ahead Wolf playbook.

At best, it's a glossier Criminal Intent. ... Still, [Erik's lawyer Leslie Abramson (Edie Falco)] is barely a footnote in the first two eps, as the writers struggle to weave her into the early investigations. [29 Sep, 2017, p.54]

The Menendez Murders lacks the multiple social themes of “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” settling instead for an occasionally pulpy story that takes a turn into purple prose when it begins to explore the role of Erik’s therapist, Dr. Jerome Oziel (Josh Charles). ... The presence of Ms. Falco, whose character gets a husband (Chris Bauer) and workaholic back story, elevates the proceedings, but she appears sparingly in the premiere.