The Night of Episode 7 Review

The Night of (2016)
Mini-series: 8 episodes (2016)

Written by: Richard Price, Steven Zaillian, Peter Moffat (based on the novel by)
Starring: John Turturro, Riz Ahmed, Michael K. Williams

Plot: 
This HBO mini-series features Nas (Riz Ahmed), a Pakistani-American, with no recollection of what happened the previous night, accused of murder. Jack Stone (John Turturro) is his lawyer.

Verdict:
And so the court proceedings continue. This has a couple really absurd scenes that are just silly, like this is some kind of comedy. Stone notices an important detail in a photo, typical of courtroom shows, but Chandra does really well as lead defense. There's a hint of doubt, but without an alternative suspect I think Nas is out of luck. We're either going to get the obvious alternative or something out of left field. There's just one episode left.

Review:
Check out my The Night of episode reviews!

The images of the murder are tough to overcome. That and the murder weapon was found on his person with a wound on his hand from the knife. How is it even possible to argue past those pieces of evidence?

Chandra is killing it. She puts reasonable doubt all over the medical examiner and his claim that Nas's hand wound is from the knife. His testimony has been wrong before, and that's right after he claimed on the stand he's never been wrong. We get a clear indication that Stone thinks Andrea's step father, Mr. Taylor, is involved in the murder.

We're buying a cab, and that doesn't include you.

Nas's dad's partners are cutting him out. They are buying a new cab without him. He's the reason they don't have their cab and a lawyer told them they will never get it back. Nas's mom is wondering if Nas could have done the crime, and she ignores a call from him.
His parents have begun pawning their belongings to pay the court fees. They're getting rid of everything.

Stone is awesome. He's at the step-father's gym spying on him. He also got a contact to pull Mr. Taylor's credit, and his cards are maxed.
Stone talks to Taylor's ex-wife, another older woman. Their relationship ended when Taylor strangled her.
Taylor confront Stone in the gym, upset at the overt surveillance.

The prosecutor brings one of Nas's friends to the stand. He bought Adderall from Nas.
The prosecutor pulls Nas's high school coach into court. He reveals their were two students Nas sent to the hospital. We previously only knew about one.I expected Chandra or Stone to confront Nas about this, as when we found out about the one high school kid they stressed he tell them everything. That scene never came.

Could Nas have gotten worse tattoos that "sin" and "bad" across his knuckles? He's gotten good at smuggling drugs though.

Box has been coached well. He refers to Nas as "the suspect." Chandra makes it clear that Nas never confessed despite ample opportunity.

Stone's cat gets loose and jumps into his bed while he's sleeping. This just seems to comedic for this show. Would he really forget to shut the door? He doesn't seem to have any overt symptoms which is a surprise, but then what's the point of even having it get out? Is it a cat out of the bag metaphor? He had a bad reaction on his neck from the cat earlier without even touching it.

Why does Chandra kiss Nas? This makes no sense whatsoever. Is it that the case has gotten personal? Even then, this seems absurd and ridiculous. The show never even set this up, at least lay the groundwork first with some googly eyes.

Chandra has their investigator state that the knife found on Nas is sold in sets of four. We have Nas's knife, two in the drawer, and one that's not found.
He also states that Nas's wound is not from stabbing, it was part of the game they played.
The basement gate doesn't latch and the basement door wasn't locked. This is a good witness for the defense, but the prosecutor is bound to have a rebuttal. She does. She nails Katz for praising the medical examiner previously and that knives could go missing over time.

Ain't no party like a Box party.

Stone stumbles across a photo of an inhaler that was at the scene but not logged into evidence. Box gave it back to Nas, and that breaks protocol. The defense tries to make Box out as gunning for Nas, but I don't think they succeed. That seems like the point too.

Chandra gets Box on Trevor Williams and for not interviewing his friend Duane Reade. Box also didn't talk to the mortician. Box has his retirement party and Freddy kills one of his crew for indirectly halting the drug smuggling.

Next up, the final episode.