'The Night Of' Episode 5 Review

Image from Mashable

By Darian Scalamoni

            It’s been interesting to see the arc that Naz’s character has had since the beginning of this series and this week shows him in a new light, or really a darkness that we haven’t seen from the protagonist yet this season. That all changes when he aligns himself with Freddy. Freddy runs things in prison, he’s the most powerful guy and you definitely want to be on his side. After Naz is burned by coffee by another inmate, he decides that he’s going to need help on the inside.

            We see early within this week’s episode that Nasir is spending more time with Freddy and his crew, even so much so that his personality is changing. In the beginning of the series, Naz is a quiet and studious young man but now it seems that he is a lying, violent felon who showcases what he is actually capable of doing. That even includes pummeling the same guy who burned his arm with coffee so badly that he’s in the ICU. It’s scary to see the path that Naz is going down within the confines of the jail because you can see the effect it is taking on him. He now is sporting a shaved head and is even sneaking in cocaine for Freddy as a favor to a new inmate. This obviously isn’t a good sign for Naz going forward with his trial and Stone is definitely not happy with the new haircut. This makes it harder to sell to the jury as an innocent victim of circumstance within the murder.

            Last week’s episode showed Stone continuing to work the case and is hired by Chandra to be her assistant because he knows Naz better than anyone. In this week’s episode, he plays an investigator even more so than a lawyer. He finally gets a true lead that the prosecution does not have, Trevor’s friend from the first episode who encountered Nasir and Andrea on the sidewalk. Stone gets this information after waiting with Trevor for hours in a laundromat and becoming agitated when he finds out that his friend’s name ironically enough is Duane Reade. The pharmacy chain named the same as the guy Stone is looking for is conveniently located right behind them as they’re talking but after doing more research, this is exactly the guy Chandra and Stone need as another suspect in the murder. Stone chases after Reade but he gets away and the episode ends with no real closure.

            The work that Stone is doing is not the same groundwork that Detective Box and Helen Weiss are up to. They’re working to piece the whole entire night together by utilizing the words Naz said previously as well as the surveillance images that we saw within the first episode. Weiss also stretches her importance within the city by visiting a coroner to demonstrate and coach a witness to sound believable which as a viewer makes you feel sick to your stomach by how corrupt law could be at any given time just to get what you want.

            This week’s episode was great and so important to see where this case is going, especially with Naz’s transformation beginning to take shape. He started as a nerd who didn’t get recognition from anyone and now he’s a part of the “popular kids” so to speak in jail, watching Boxing, playing chess and hanging with the guys. I’m excited to see where it goes from here.

9/10