While this is nothing new for a starting series, ‘Law and Order: Los Angeles’ suffers some growing pains. But thanks to its predecessors, it shows some promise — for now.

In the fourth installment of the venerable ‘Law and Order’ franchise, Rex Winters (Skeet Ulrich) and Tom Jaruszalski (Corey Stoll) work as buddy cops, solving a different crime every week. As for the man prosecuting the offenders, it’s deputy district attorney Ricardo Morales (Alfred Molina).

The show works, thanks to the thought-out characters and acting. ‘City of Angels’ fanatics will enjoy the Los Angeles and Hollywood celebrity shout-outs. But that doesn’t mean the show doesn’t have a few kinks to work out.

Harkening to the past, Winters and Jaruszalski blend elements of past ‘Law and Order’ characters in the best way possible. Winters is part Rey Curtis, part Rob Goren. Jaruszalski is mostly Eddie Green, mixed with some of Lennie Briscoe’s one-liners. The writers establish a strong rapport between Winters and Jaruszalski, too, an important feature of any ‘Law and Order.’

Creator Dick Wolf proves, again, he can attract movie talent to his television show. After a successful stint with Jeff Goldblum, ‘Law and Order’ strikes gold with Molina, who acts like he was born to play his character, conveying that necessary blend of intensity and deadpan sarcasm for a TV lawyer. After one testy courtroom scene, right after Morales delivered a closing argument full of evoked tragedy and pathos, a judge turned to look at Morales.

‘There’s never a dull moment with you,’ he told Morales.

Nope. Leave it that way.

Noting the success of the location switches in ‘CSI’ for each series installment, Wolf has moved his latest show across the country. For Los Angeles natives or avid Perez Hilton fans, the move’s good. And on a critical level, the locale change pumps new blood into the series.

And yes, Los Angeles sets up the show for some creative homicides. In the premiere episode, a producer, cougar and mother of a starlet faced murder prosecution. The detectives learned that mommy dearest liked to keep young men on the side, too. During an investigation of the case, the detectives were led to a hotel, where a security guard showed them a videotape of a young blond man and the mother having sex in an elevator.

‘Who would’ve believed it?’ Winters asked.

‘It’s LA: everyone,’ Jaruszalski replied. 

But the show sometimes gives us a sneak peak behind the actual crime, like in ‘Law and Order: Criminal Intent.’ The original series pulled this feature off the most effectively, starting when the police detectives arrived at the scene and moving from there. Unfortunately, watching the investigation from the beginning of the crime cuts out some of the drama of the chase. In any mystery series, it feels better to only know as much as the detectives.

Though the show’s location has been advantageous, Hollywood’s influence has found its way into the writing. Even with more than 20 years of experience from its franchise members, the show diverts from procedural banter to deliver popcorn fluff lines. Granted, most network cop shows do this. Last week’s episode found Winters marching two sons out of their home, presumably guilty of a crime. The sons’ father warned the police to leave the boys alone.

‘Don’t worry, Mr. Campbell. We leave rough stuff to people like your sons,’ Winters said.

A recommendation: Start watching ‘Law and Order: Los Angeles,’ even if you don’t know who Jack McCoy is.

We also watched…

A friend asked Don Draper in last night’s season finale, ‘Wouldn’t you like a steak waiting for you at the end of the day?’

The answer: Yes.

In the end of a great season, Don (Jon Hamm) proposed to his secretary, making her the homemaker and steak-maker of his future.

If that sounds anti-climatic — yes, it was. Don juggled women all season, including a seemingly better choice than the secretary.

Oh, well. The ending does fit into a season that made every character struggle and develop. A nice change from the last season, in which few struggled until the very end.

This season, Sterling Cooper Draper Price almost floundered. Roger Sterling (John Slattery) knocked up Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks), and she’s keeping it, pretending the child belongs to her husband — the one serving in the U.S. Army in 1964 Vietnam.

Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) grew most of any. She flirted with a lesbian and dated a beatnik. And it was fitting that last night’s best moment belonged to her.

Fresh from hearing the news of Don’s engagement, she walked to Joan’s office. They talked about how men always fall for their secretaries, how those kinds of women get places.

‘I learned a long time ago to not get all of my satisfaction from this job,’ Joan said.

‘That’s bulls***,’ Peggy said, exhaling smoke from her cigarette.

Yeah, something like that.

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Published on October 17, 2010 at 12:00 pm