Law & Order – The Hardest Thing – Review: End-of-Life Decisions

An older man puts on his headphones to listen to classical music. Someone breaks in and executes him, shattering his peace. His daughter, Victoria Beyer (Katie Lowes), reported the murder, setting Detectives Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) and Vincent Riley (Reid Scott) on the investigation trail.

The first suspect is Sean Harper (Jack Cutmore-Scott), a scofflaw son who was attempting to flee to Connecticut the day after his father’s death. During interrogation, Lt. Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) learns he’d been feuding with his father over money. Sean was apparently not a successful businessman like his dad. In fact, he’d lost both his father’s investment and the investment he received from the neighborhood’s wannabe goodfella, Anthony Niducci (Michael Basile). Sean insinuated the Niducci threatened to kill him for failing to repay and was likely the person who killed his father. This wasn’t true.

Circling back to Sean, Detectives Shaw and Riley get him to implicate his sister, Victoria. He straight up rats her out, claiming she was in possession of his mother’s wedding ring stolen from the scene and that she was scheduled to meet her dad the night he died. When the police search Victoria’s home, they find her mother’s ring and the sweatshirt like the one a witness saw someone wearing as they fled the scene. The sweatshirt tested positive for her father’s blood. Police arrested Victoria and charged her with first-degree murder.

Executive ADA Nolan Price believed Sean Harper would be an excellent witness against his sister. But Sean refuted everything he said in his statement to the police. ADA Nolan assumed that Victoria, who was worth about $50 million, agreed to help her brother financially in exchange for him lying on the witness stand. This wasn’t the case. But this is where the plot got more relatable and interesting.

Victoria’s defense was that she was merely carrying out her father’s meticulously crafted plan. Her father’s doctor testified that he was suffering from a fast-moving form of dementia called Pick’s disease. This condition made him vulnerable to financial fraud, stripping away the once-proud businessman’s sense of self and control over his life. In his desperation, he bought the gun and orchestrated the details of the break-in, knowing that insurance companies do not pay beneficiaries for suicides. His ultimate goal was to recoup his losses from the fraud and ensure that his son received something, as he had always intended.

The script remained unflinching in its portrayal of the complexity and torment associated with losing everything that defines one’s identity. DA Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn), upon discovering the father’s wish to end his life on his own terms, urged Price to consider offering Victoria a plea deal. Baxter realized that, despite the violent method she used, the jury might sympathize with her making this immensely difficult life-ending decision in the face of her father’s debilitating dementia.>>
ADA Nolan Price vehemently rejects DA Baxter’s suggestion to offer a plea. DA Baxter and ADA Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) note that Price appeared overly invested in throwing the book at Victoria. He was because his own father was nearing the end of his life, and he and his brother, Thomas (Justin Chatwin), were at odds over how to make the final decision.

Nolan, acting as his father’s health proxy, represented the unyielding force of hope and the refusal to accept an inevitable loss. His determination to exhaust every medical intervention, regardless of the diminishing returns. Price was clearly struggling with the universal fear of losing a loved one and the denial that comes with it. On the other hand, his brother, Thomas embodied the role of the pragmatic yet deeply empathetic sibling who believed in respecting their father’s dignity. He encouraged Nolan to let their dad go.

  “The Hardest Thing” — LAW & ORDER, Pictured: Justin Chatwin as Thomas Price, Hugh Dancy as A.D.A. Nolan Price. Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC

“The Hardest Thing” portrayed the struggles of two families grappling with the impending death of a father. One family was torn between allowing him to pass away peacefully and clinging to hope by exploring every possible method to prolong his life. The other family faced the harrowing reality of a daughter assisting in her father’s violent suicide. In this case, viewers were left conflicted, torn between sympathy and suspicion, as Victoria navigated the delicate line between being the victim and perpetrator of her father’s end-of-life wish.

This is an example of solid storytelling, serving as both a reflection and a window into one of life’s most challenging moments. This dual approach not only enriched the narrative but also provided a nuanced exploration of the multifaceted nature of grief, love, and familial duty. It was this constellation of conflicting emotions that allowed Price to ‘let go’ of his dad and to allow Victoria Beyer to plead to a lesser charge of manslaughter and a five-year sentence.

How both families handled the end of their respective parent’s life was comically extreme, but nevertheless the showrunners succeeded at confronting uncomfortable truths about life, death, and the lengths to which people will go to maintain control over their destiny. It is storytelling that challenges and resonates, leaving a lasting impact.

How did you perceive ADA Nolan Price’s internal conflict and decision-making process? Do you think his actions were justified? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Overall Rating:

 

8:10