Agreed about the kiss possibly serving as a plot point. But we still don't know if it is a plot point because "The Night Of" is meant to be a fictional exposé of the criminal justice system (and all of those who work in it), or if it is a plot point because this is the coming-of-age story of a particular young man…

New AV Club Category: BUZZ OF THE WEEK

Thanks for the pushback. Interesting to think that possibly when we regress (and we all do, now and then) we may not recognize how we look to others as we do so. I thought the creators of the series wanted the audience to see that the very things, which Naz thought made him look tough, he did because he was in a…

I don't credit this detective unit with a forensics team capable of analyzing nail polish as well as automobile paint, and we must consider the possibility of several layers of nail polish. The recurrent frame of the Andrea's hand on the autopsy table may come to nothing in the end, like so much of the imagery the…

Good point. There is the recurring frame of Andrea's hand with rings and nail polish and blood, on the autopsy table. Will the polish on her fingers be found inside that drawer? The mortician seems to be a bit of a fetishist about painting the fingernails of the dead.

Weird writing is the culprit, I'm afraid. I’m starting to lose interest in “The Night Of.” The creators exploit elements of a police procedural but in a pointless way, not in a way that says anti-“Law and Order.” They cannot hope to prove that the criminal justice system is broken when they have introduced so many…

You've touched on something interesting that no one else has (I think) on this comment thread: The "you were there" sensation created by making Naz the character with whom the audience is meant to identify. One scene in particular where that comes through very clearly is when Naz is trying to swallow the drug…

I've enjoyed your posts throughout this comment thread, this one included. I'm tempted to agree with it, particularly the idea that the neighbor, Box, and Stone do not seem to act on prejudice stemming from their personal beliefs.

Excellent point! I edited my post to change "aptitude" to "preparation," for surely that is the distinction.

Now there is a depressing thought: The idea that it is garden-variety cronyism that turns the wheel of fate in the criminal justice system. But how then to explain the detective's love of opera and his expertise in mapping out Naz's journey the night of . . . ? Box does not seem like the type of individual who would…

That's just my point: In TNO, there is no longer a clear enough demarcation between the good guys and the bad guys to put together the kind of popular epic narrative in which two of them battle it out and one of them wins. Put another way, INO demonstrates how the system that delivers "criminal justice" in New York…

In a play, a play-within-a-play is designed to remind the audience that what it is witnessing is only a work of art, just make-believe-for-telling-a-story, not reality. In works of modern literature or theater, when one story frames another or a television program appears within an episode of scripted television this…

Speaking of the timeline, I'm drawing a blank on the significance of the title of the episode. What did I miss?

Combine sly transgressive behavior (like giving Naz an old inhaler with amphetamines) with his love of opera and Box might turn out to be a con man of operatic proportions winning cases throughout his career by seeming to be a hard-working public servant but acting out the drama of a black-and-white worldview in…

So well put. And yet, Naz may have been in a drug-induced rage IF he were the one who killed Andrea Cornish. This is the door of interpretation that opens with the toxicology report.

"The Night Of" seems to be demonstrating how the criminal justice system in New York has become so corrupt that the workers within it cannot survive: Box has to go into retirement, Stone is using up his own shoe leather on work the police should do, Helen has been reduced to the arbiter of deals:"Take a cookie," she…

Don't forget Naz: He could be their "snitch in the joint," with Freddy as his side-kick/muscle.

Right back at you. I'm still waiting for Naz to remember that Andrea told him she could not go home alone that night. If he were a manipulator capable of timing this disclosure to solidify the case against someone other than himself, I might be able to believe that Naz did, in fact, kill Andrea. But I just don't…

So this is the week we see the "nasty punishment" that Freddy had in store for Calvin. The role Naz plays in this beat-down reveals the true genre of this would-be police procedural. It is instead a coming-of-age story, but not just the story of a lovable character growing up, like Nicholas Nickleby. It is more…

About that speech, this is the book's author (and I) clapping you on the back. (You can do that on the Internet.) Also, it's beyond flattering when a confessed book geek gives you generous credit for a plausible idea.