Sinbad strikes again.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
"Ordinary Death" could almost claim the honor of being the strongest all-around chapter of The Night Of to date. There was plenty of drama to go around this week, both inside and outside the courtroom, all of which served to make Naz's future look more bleak and hopeless than ever. Sadly, one bizarre plot twist managed to dampen the excitement leading into next week's finale.
As the show dug deeper into Naz's high-stakes trial this week, one of the qualities that stood out was the matter-of-fact way the trial is being handled. I've compared The Night Of to Law & Order in the past, but this is one area where the comparison doesn't really hold. Writers Richard price and Steven Zaillian aren't attempting to dramatize the trial. There's no big "Aha!" moment where the defense suddenly pulls the rug out from under the prosecution and everything we thought we knew about Nasir Khan is changed. That's despite the fact that this episode could easily have gone in that direction when Detective Box was reluctantly dragged into the spotlight. In a different, more sensational show, it's easy to picture the inhaler questioning blowing a hole in the case and possibly even leading to a mistrial. But The Night Of largely grounds itself in reality, and barring any huge, last-minute developments regarding potential suspects like Duane Reade or Don Taylor, there's not going to be an easy out for Naz.
If anything, this episode only further cast doubt on Naz's innocence. ADA Weiss did a pretty thorough job of painting Naz as a a young man with a history of troubled behavior and questionable decisions behind him. Between the reveal that he was involved in more than one high school altercation and the revolving door of witnesses that testified about his habit of dealing Adderall, Naz no longer comes across as the naive, innocent, sheltered college kid he seemed at the beginning of the series. That's to say nothing of what unfolded within Rikers this week. More than just settling into his new life as right-hand man to a prison kingpin, Naz is now an active, willing accomplice to murder. Sure, the victim deserved it for what he did to poor Petey, but still, murder is murder. It's suddenly that much easier to believe that Naz could have stabbed Andrea 22 times and feigned innocence.
The one thing still working in Naz's favor at this point is that none of the people we know he's wronged were innocent. The students he attacked at school were bigoted bullies. Victor was a rapist who betrayed his boss and drove Petey to suicide. There's a sense that the writers were subtly trying to remind us of these facts even as Naz emerged ever more as the villain of his own story.
Through it all, Riz Ahmed continues to carry the show with his quiet, seething performance. There's a marked difference between the way Ahmed played Naz in the first few episodes compared to now. He's no longer a character dominated by fear, but rather a quiet rage and a sadness at the knowledge that his old life is slipping away from him. The brief, quiet flashbacks to that night were a nice added touch. They created the impression that Naz is on the verge of remembering something vital about that night, either something that was drowned out in the haze of drugs or simply something he doesn't want to allow himself to remember. Either way, we can probably expect an epiphany next week.
This episode also stood out because it succeeded more than most when it came to juggling the various major players. Obviously, John Turturro's John Stone still enjoyed the lion's share of the spotlight. But while there were the obligatory scenes focused on his persistent health problems and strained relationship with his son (which, weirdly, took on a completely different tone from their earlier encounters), a good deal of Stone's material focused on his legal detective work. He made an important breakthrough this week in exposing Taylor as a habitual gold digger with a history of spousal abuse. Unfortunately for him, Stone found himself on Taylor's bad side without much to show for his brush with death. The case against Naz is looking stronger by the day, and no one cares about these other potential suspects that slipped through the cracks.
Is Naz's journey to the Dark Side now complete?
I was happy to see Box himself enjoy more screen time. Bill Camp continues to impress with his quiet, strained performance. Box's profound unhappiness was very palpable this week. He's finally reached the end of a long, successful career, but he's plagued by doubts about his final case and the knowledge that he's now run out of time to set things right. Plus the unhappy realization that he has no idea what to do with himself for the final few decades of his life. There was something profoundly tragic about watching Box dejectedly walk into the bar and face a crowd of cops who had no idea he'd rather be anywhere else in the world. Box is one of the best characters on the show because so much about the character is conveyed through Camp's acting rather than dialogue or exposition.
It was also great to see Naz's parents factor so heavily into this episode. Poorna Jagannathan stood out especially as her character struggled and failed to remain supportive of her son in light of the horrific evidence against him. Nowhere is the tragedy of this story more prevalent than with the Khans. They've sacrificed so much to provide their son the legal aid he needs, and now Safar can't even bring herself to attend the trial or answer the phone when her son calls. She's convinced she raised a monster. At this point, even if Naz is acquitted, there's probably nothing that's going to change her mind about that.
In terms of performances, I also enjoyed the extended courtroom standoff between Jeannie Berlin's Helen Weiss and Chip Zien's Dr. Katz. Katz's testimony was the lone bright spot in an otherwise foreboding week for Naz, and it had as much to do with the charm and confidence Katz brought to the defense as any actual evidence. So seeing Weiss and Katz butt heads and the former do her best to dismantle the latter's credibility was very entertaining to watch. Katz seemed to be the only person actually happy to be in that courtroom.
Only one scene dragged down what was otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable episode - the kiss. Naz kissing Chandra was such a random and bizarre turn of events for a show that normally avoids such soap opera-y flourishes. It felt very out of place in terms of tone. But more importantly, it didn't really make sense in terms of the relationship as it's been established so far. We've seen Chandra form a sympathetic bond with Naz and his family, but nothing to suggest she was sexually attracted to Naz. For that matter, nothing to suggest that she's prone to such boneheaded professional gaffes. That one moment wasn't enough to derail the entire episode, but it does stick out like a sore thumb. It also leaves the lingering worry that the finale will feature more of these abrupt, illogical plot twists as the trial is resolved. I'd hate for The Night Of to follow the same path as True Detective Season 1 and lose its footing right at the very end.
The Verdict
For the most part, "Ordinary Death" showcased The Night Of at its best. This episode delivered strong performances all around (with Bill Camp and Riz Ahmed being the highlights this week) and cast further doubt on the notion of Naz being an ordinary, innocent college kid plagued by extraordinary bad luck. Unfortunately, the bizarre romantic moment between Naz and Chandra harmed this episode a bit. Can the series wrap up without any further moments of tonal disconnect?
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