I thought I had seen all the "Law And Order" episodes, darlings, but there are still a few out there that have not been viewed, and one of these was "Pledge," from 2009, which I happened to catch yesterday. Matt Molloy, pictured, delivered an Emmy worthy performance as the tragic embodiment of one who hangs on to their youthful obsessions....with fatal consequences.
Before we get into that, though, let me say someone on the writing staff must have read Gerald Di Pego's 1978 novel, "With A Vengeance," as "Pledge"uses aspects of that novel.
In the Di Pego novel, Stephen Nye, a middle-aged teacher, sends his son off to college. The boy pledges a fraternity, and part of the hazing is being left alone in the woods all night, tied to a tree, with a campfire nearby to keep one warm. This has worked for years, with no problems. But, with Nye's son, the wind tragically shifts, causing the flames to ignite the tree, and the boy is burned alive. Nye is understandably grief stricken, and the reader can empathize. He also yearns for revenge, which makes an odd kind of sense. But, instead of going after the fraternity members who entrapped his son, he waits two decades until these boys, now men, have children of their own. And he goes after the offspring.
I always found this a little far fetched. How would a man, now, say in his sixties, have the energy to do this???? The desire, yes; unless the desire fuels the energy, as Nye becomes psychopathically dangerous.
The same holds true for Ned Lasky, played by Matt Molloy. His goals were lofty; he wanted the Ivy League, and was probably smart enough for it, but his parents were blue collar--his father a factory worker, his mother working in a bakery--and all they could afford was a state school, the University of Massachusetts, at Amherst. Lasky met this girl, Susan, with whom he was smitten, who belonged to the sorority Kappa Delta Alpha, at Amherst. She invites Ned to a party there, but the president, Joyce (later played by Erin Dilly) asks him to leave, dismantling the entire construct he had of himself. True, she could not have known, but she did not have to be a bitch about it.
Just like when I was in school, and those bitch teachers, Susan Sher, Robert Barber, John Frankowsky, and Alice C. Santamarina would not give me the time of day and no one understood that I belonged in Advanced Placement because I was smarter than all of those wrong side of the tracks kids I had to endure in elementary school.
So, I know where Lasky is coming from. His mistake is, he doesn't move on. It is OK to remember, but after now, why bother? I would never have done the things Lasky did. He is smart enough to get a degree in Chemistry from U Mass, but he wanted to transfer to a more noteworthy school. He marries a woman he considers having to settle for, and constantly tells her that, ending up with a daughter he maintains, to her, is consistently, third rate. He pushes her to the Ivy League goals he wanted, not understanding she hates it, because she understands not everyone is cut out for it, and she is not!!!!!!!!! Hey, Ned, be grateful someone loves you! How can you say that about your wife and daughter? This proves sickness, and we learn from daughter Molly that Ned suffers from depression.
Ned has never forgotten that Joyce Foley, now a successful neurological researcher, with her husband, threw him out of the sorority, feeling she ruined his life. Instead of going after her, he murders her son, and the housekeeper, saying he wants her to feel real pain.
Hey, Ned, it's OK to carry a grudge, but you don't kill for it! You make your life as happy as can be, and that's how you show people!!!!!!!!! And it has taken me years to find out!
The tragedy of Ned is he never grasped it! Now he goes off to prison, and his wife and daughter suffer. How tragic for all!
Except, despite her pain, Joyce Foley did deserve just one slap across the face!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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