Law & Order: Los Angeles brought back an original cast member again this week in "Carthay Circle." Detectives Winters and Jaruszalski were, for a second week, back working together, solving a double murder this time. 

Overall, the episode was fairly intriguing with twists and turns; there was even a dialogue upon the civil liberty of gay marriage in the episode.

Although not the strongest episode of the series, it did top most of the episodes after the cast change. I cannot say whether the show would have been spared cancellation if they had stuck to the original cast, but given the episodes of the past two weeks, it seems the original cast would have had a better chance.

There was palpable chemistry between Winters and T.J. that appears natural in comparison to the partnership of T.J. and Morales. Winters and T.J. had a great give and take while trying to solve the murder case that develops into political fraud.

The dialogue between the two seemed to flow and even though Winters is the leader in the relationship T.J. still has his moments in the limelight, and there was a fairly ironic moment when Winters offers Lt. Gonzales’ son advice on the safety of being a police officer.

The detectives conducted an entertaining investigation, searching for the already deceased Derek and once discovering his corpse finding the real killer, or killers in this case. The misdirection and changes certainly worked to keep one’s attention.

Morales is also back where he belongs, in the District Attorney’s office. It was disappointing and slightly confusing that he was completely absent from last week’s episode, yet he reappeared in “Carthay Circle”  as lead prosecutor. 

After seeing him back in the courtroom it immediately became evident why this was the proper role for him - there is very little need for dialogue.

As a prosecutor. he can have longer speeches that only require slight inflections of accusation peppered in. The court case itself seemed to carry an agenda of sorts as it completely vilified proponents against same sex marriage.

In perhaps his most rousing speech, Morales condemned Reverend Davison as a hypocrite for all of his years fighting for human rights to then work so hard to deny others’ human rights. It would appear that the show itself takes a position with the way the events of the episode unfolded.

It seems almost a tease to audience members to show these pre-cast change episodes; giving them a glimpse of what could have been. Yet, at the same time it provides a sense of satisfaction and comfort that the series will end the same way it was introduced to the audience.

Do you think they should have pulled the show entirely, or are you glad that these previously unaired shows have the opportunity to be seen? Discuss below!