The Night Of: “Ordinary Death” Review

Chandra brings one hell of a defense to Naz’s ongoing trial.

Image via HBO

“Did I Raise An Animal?”

Note: The following review goes into detail about the episode. SPOILER ALERT!

The second chapter in Naz’s trial was dry and slow, but by some magic, captivating. Last week I talked about Helen Weiss’s no-holds-barred initiation into her tale of what happened the night of Andrea Cornish’s murder. This week, however, Chandra continued taking the helms of Naz’s defense with great confidence.

Image via HBO

Everything inside the courtroom was the most compelling, fittingly. There was some new information still slowly being gathered, but with both the trial in full swing and there only being one episode left, it all seemed non-essential… for now. At the top of the episode, we got a look at another murder that matched the M.O. of whomever killed Andrea. Seeing as Naz is a bit preoccupied with prison and his trial, it’s safe to say he didn’t do this. Who could have done it? Well, we have three suspects in Don Taylor, Duane Reade and the hearse driver Royal Day. Whereas Episodes 5 and 6 explored Duane Reade and Royal Day, respectively, this penultimate episode dove into the habits and past schemes on Don Taylor. What we saw didn’t necessarily paint him as the killer type, just a man with immoral values. This murder could turn out to have been random or indeed the action of Reade or Day.

Chandra, as smart and capable as she is, took a step backwards this week in her shared kiss with Naz. I’m not knocking her attraction to the guy she’s defending, it’s the fact that it was such a sketchy thing to do. Anytime The Night Of shows the surveillance footage perspective, it’s sure to haunt whomever is in it. Outside of this, she did stunning work with her defense. The highlight to all of this was one Dr. Katz who revealed not only to those in attendance what theories he discovered in his photos, but to us as well. The combination of Dr. Katz, and the drilling of the M.E. Harry Chester’s oh-so-rehearsed verdict and Sgt. Box’s tampering of evidence alike made for an excellent rebuttal to last week’s brutal introduction of Naz to the jury.

Lastly, Naz’s prison life is one I’m increasingly disgusted by. Was the death of Victor paced, shot and scored incredibly well? Yes. But it’s what Naz is involving himself in that’s nerve-racking for someone rooting for his release. The first shot of Naz this week was him continuing to do drugs. In the trial, we discovered that he put two kids in the hospital just a week apart from one another. And now he’s an accomplice to a murder. As more of this type of behavior persists, the less I want to see this man freed. And this only adds to the validity of the question Naz’s mom asked to Chandra: “Did I raise an animal?”

THE BREAKDOWN

Watching Naz’s trial was like observing a great game of chess. It was slow and methodic, but when one side put the other in check, it produced a subtle energy that made for great drama. Chandra won the week with her sturdy defense of Naz even in the lieu of new, damaging information learned in the thick of it. The Night Of has a lot to handle next week. With four suspects in play, the resolution of the trial and the resolution of the its result all needing to be presented in an hour or so of TV, it will be quite the roller coaster to ride.

What’s your views on Naz’s actions this week? Is Chandra killing it? Tweet me @NerdDot or us @YouNerded.

*We do not comment on anything relating to previews for the next episode and beyond.