This was an utterly fantastic episode. It's nice to take a break from the procedural formula. Great insight to the characters, especially McCoy and Briscoe. I nice to see this cast just act rather than just push the plot/case forward. I enjoy the show and it's procedural format but it's nice to switch it up.
And for the (few) people complaining about it being anti-death penalty, it's not. It's not making a political statement. It's conveying the weight of implementing/witnessing said penalty. I personally go back and forth on whether I am for it or not but I know I'd have more mixed feelings if I witnessed a state execution. That's what this explores and it does it well. No character, other than Claire, expresses they're against it. They just talk about how they feel being a part of the case/trail that end in someone sactioned death. That's interesting to me. And I don't need every character express only opinions I agree with. Shows would be very boring if that happened. If you don't like this episode because of that or that they broke from the procedural format there's almost 500 other episodes you can watch.
And for the (few) people complaining about it being anti-death penalty, it's not. It's not making a political statement. It's conveying the weight of implementing/witnessing said penalty. I personally go back and forth on whether I am for it or not but I know I'd have more mixed feelings if I witnessed a state execution. That's what this explores and it does it well. No character, other than Claire, expresses they're against it. They just talk about how they feel being a part of the case/trail that end in someone sactioned death. That's interesting to me. And I don't need every character express only opinions I agree with. Shows would be very boring if that happened. If you don't like this episode because of that or that they broke from the procedural format there's almost 500 other episodes you can watch.