Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Silencer

Law & Order: Criminal Intent featured an episode called “Silencer”, starring a talent-heavy cast of Deaf actors, including:

Deanne Bray
Alexandria Wailes
Garrett Zuercher
Darren Frazier
Hillary Baack
Willy Conley
Raymond Luczak

NBC broke history by hiring the most Deaf extras (35 people) for a network TV episode.

Season 6 Episode 06017

SILENCER 9/8pm 4/03/07

ESTEEMED EAR SURGEON KILLED AFTER TESTIFYING AGAINST COLLEAGUE — When esteemed ear surgeon, Dr. Jack Mallory (guest star Jack MacGruder) is found murdered in his office, Detectives Goren (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Eames (Kathryn Erbe) suspect a prescription pusher. After further investigation, the detectives learn the doctor had testified in a controversial case involving another doctor — Dr. Strauss (guest star Timothy Carhart) — who had performed a cochlear implant on a baby. The baby got an infection and died as a result of the surgery, leaving the deaf community with strong opinions about the procedure. Detectives Goren and Eames race to uncover a tangled web of beliefs in a community they’re not members of. Alexandria Wailes, Deanne Bray, Garrett Zuercher, Darren Frazier and Eric Bogosian also star. TV-14

Watch episode videoclip on YouTube

Steve was unable to watch this show, but I watched it. This is what I got out of it, and I may have to watch it again to make sure I got it right. It was interesting. It turns out this man who was deaf had a sister who was born hearing. When she turned 17, she left home to go to college and he never heard from her again (she abandoned her deaf brother). The deaf man had a deaf girlfriend who was in the process of getting a cochlear implant. He was afraid that after she got the implant and could hear, she would abandon him like his sister did.

So he blamed the doctor who performs CI surgery and was going to give his girlfriend an implant. The man shot the doctors hand so he could not perform the surgery. I guess there was a lot of yelling going on, so the man stomped on the doctor’s throat to stop him from yelling. It appeared that the doctor was still yelling (his mouth was open but the deaf man did not know that the doctor could no longer use his voice), so the man shot the doctor and killed him.

Amongst all of this, the Deaf Power activists picketed another CI surgeon and added a little more drama to the show.

Interesting and dramatic, like most of these TV shows. From what I read on the Deaf Forum, I guess there are some Deaf people who get pretty upset about cochlear implants.

When I told Steve what the show was about (emailed him what I’ve written above), this was his comment:

“I can relate to the deaf man being afraid he will be abandoned by his deaf girlfriend if she gets a CI. Also I know of even parents abandoning their deaf kids. The kids usually get put in places for the mentally retarded. It’s all downhill for them from there. My own brother and sister did not really want to help me at all when I was young. Neither did the other hearing students in the regular schools I was in. The teacher would ask someone to show me a chapter in the textbook the teacher was using. All refused to do it. Remembering all this makes me feel bad.”