‘The Night Of’ Season 1, Episode 5: Seeing Naz in a New Light

"Two people of middle eastern descent" except one is of North African and the other is of Pakistani descent ...

The other thing that's bothering me......since when are doctors so mean, sarcastic and terribly uncaring to their patients? I don't understand why the writers are characterizing Stone's doctors like they are a bunch of A-holes who have about as much bedside manners as carnival workers? Its the strangest thing.

All of us have a dark side that we are able to suppress under good conditions. Isn't this why so many people go to church--original sin and all that jazz? But, if you sign up for the military, it's okay if you kill people. If you become president of the US, it's okay if you create an assassination list and bomb cities day in and day out, killing countless innocent people in the process.

Just because Naz took adderall and lied about it does not mean he has latent criminal tendencies. Most people won't admit to these little sins. And anyone going to Rikers who can see that they probably won't survive the month is either going to concede defeat or fight for their life. Hmmm. If I had my bed burned, then my body burned by inmates, I'd probably fight for my life and swallow a few 8 balls myself. What should Naz do? Complain to the guards?

In The Prophet, we start out with a homeless boy who's a petty thief. He's forced to kill or be killed himself. Yes, he does change, but ironically he also betters himself. He learns to read in prison, he learns another language, he improves his communication skills. Sure, he's a criminal, but as just another poor Algerian felon, he really had no chance in life among the sea of poor, uneducated minority felons. He'll have a short life, but he'll have some money in his pocket and an ability to pay the rent.

What a great way to end an episode. Blue lights. Very dramatic and suspenseful cliffhanger as Turturro stumbles into a Wal-Mart.

Spoiler alert: the cat did it. That's why Turturro is bribing it with toys. Anybody else notice there's no litter box?

We don't know much about Naz or Stone. So it's difficult to tell whether Naz is a quiet kind of timid person or an aggressive type. I think we will see that he's not as naive as we expect. This episode showed a bit of who Stone is. He seems to have some street smarts and knows how to play the system.

I was glad to finally see a bit of information come out. Naz's toxicology report and who the missing man is. (Duane Reade)

doesn't Freddy have the chessboard set up wrong? Is that why Naz is smiling?

doesn't Freddy have the chessboard set up wrong? Is that why Naz seems to be smiling?

I'm a little confused as to Allison's Crowe and her firm's involvement in Naz's case. First, her personality is so unpleasant that we assume she must have some ulterior motive for helping Naz pro bono in the first place, though we can't see what that motive might be. Then in episode 4, after Naz refuses to admit guilt, she informs Naz's parents that she cannot proceed further without payment which they can't afford, so one assumes she's out and Stone may be back in. And then she flat out quits. But somehow her law firm, in the person of her employee Chandra, stays on the case. Chandra spends $500 of the firms's money for the info on Andrea from the rehab facility, even before any recompense for the firm is arranged. And in episode 5, Chandra and Stone come to some arrangement whereby Stone will be paid $30K, but by whom? By Crowe's law firm? And where will the firm get the money?

Also, I was disappointed that Weiss was revealed as an evil person, when she solicits false testimony from the pathologist. It would have been more interesting if the story hinged around basically good people in conflict rather than manufacture a villain. And I agree with others that the writers are way overdoing it with how the world humiliates and underestimates John Stone. People are saying things they never would in real life.

Not that it matters, but the DA didn't offer Trevor a cookie. She told him to take the cookie with him that he had already started.

Why wouldn't Hitler, had he lived, been tried at Nuremberg with the rest of the Nazi leaders? They all had lawyers.

Another excellent episode. The scene with the DA and the coroner was enlightening....I don't trust the DA. I don't trust the cops either. And the cat...again....it makes me wonder.

Being an avid trial watcher and a watcher of lots o British murder mystery series, I can't help wondering about a couple of things: Unless Naz had time to clean up, he had absolutely no blood splatters on him, except for where his hand carried the knife. The way Andrea's wall and bed looked, he would have had blood splatter all over him. Also, the way she was savagely, brutally murdered, it seemed typical of a crime of passion, not a crime of opportunity. Someone really hated her. (Kind of like what Jodi Arias did to Travis). And for the love of God would someone PLEASE figure out that the freaking back door was open!!

I've been watching violence on TV since they they plugged it in-62 years ago. Nothing really gets to me. I can't take the feet!! I gag. The chopstick is the queasiest utensil in Manhattan. I can't face Saran Wrap. Crisco is not crossing the threshold. I had a friend with Renal Cell Cancer who bathed in bleach on the advice of his nutcase GF. Sadly, it didn't help. Feets please fail me now!!

Another terrific episode.

Wonderful cameo from Richard Price as the Viagra dealer.

The feeling I was left with at the end of episode 4 and now confirmed in 5 by the chess game, blood offering, "I like it." comment and the eightballs, is that Freddy has a new best friend and protege and will have no trouble keeping him home and safe at Rikers. Much like Stone locking up the cat. The trial is pointless as far as Naz's future is concerned. Still, would be nice to find out who done it.

Ok, apologies in advance if this has been addressed before, but if Naz killed wouldn't he have been absolutely drenched in her blood? And since he wasn't, wouldn't this be something the defense would jump on? This has been nagging at me since episode one and every time her blood splatter wall and blood soaked mattress are shown.

It's not a prison, its a jail. And pretty much everyone takes a plea (90%+), so a wait for a trial will take much longer than a few days or weeks. Naz hooking up with the boss con seems more like good fortune than being a victim.

He got an incredibly favorable plea deal, but turned it down. Stone thinks he might be innocent, unlike all his other clients. Who are guilty. Prison's aren't full of innocent people. Or casual, non violent drug dealers. The least realistic aspect of the series is that he's innocent.

Ketamine explains a lot. Namely waking up next to the refrigerator. It also means that Naz's memory is unreliable.

Duane looked guilty from the moment he appeared in episode 1, but attribute that to racial stereotyping. But then, it turns out he has both a record and uses knives.

I love the cat & Stone's way of being humanized by his benign caring for it.

I thought when Naz went upstairs there was a kind of hat, like a cowboy hat, hanging on the deer's head, and it was gone when he went back up the next morning from the kitchen. Which made me think its owner was the killer. Did I imagine that?

Hello, all. I felt that this episode contained the best and the worst of Steve Zaillian--meaning that the explosive scene with Naz summoning his rage and brutalizing his attacker was the most effective. But a lot of time was wasted in the John Stone-as-Laughingstock subplot; why the classroom? And the Viagra? The failed attempt with the prostitute? Why the prostitute at all? All the ridicule distracts from the story of Stone's growth as an attorney. I can get him Stone turning Trevor, who's clearly an undeveloped person who now needs his help. And what about the other good scene, with Stone and Chandra questioning Naz and Stone calling him out on his lie about the tox report? Stone's line about the drugs was restrained but stern, just the sort of message and tone Naz needed.

There were some other sloppy moments. I agree with the commenter who said that Helen would not toss Trevor so quickly; he's the only witness they have who saw Naz entering the crime scene. And yes, Box's diligence is to be commended. But you tell me why someone driving from Jackson Heights to the Lower East Side would take the Queens Midtown Tunnel. That's a slip in the writing. Sorry, folks. Let's hope for better in episode 6. Let's get on with the story--there are only 3 episodes left.

One can (and many do) say that Naz's change is abrupt. But I don't see it that way.

From the first episode, Naz has displayed a Mother Theresa-like patience when things don't go as planned.

Recall his friend (& ride) backing out of accompanying him to the party - a party Naz desperately wanted to attend. One in which he might "fit- in".

Other events of that night - wide ranging in severity - elicited little reaction (let alone outrage) from Naz. Recall how long he sat in that patrol car? Not a peep.

When we meet his parents we see that behavior again. Calm. Accepting of the wheel of fate without much demonstration. Maybe it's Naz's upbringing. Or an ethnic trait. Or, as I prefer, being strangers in a strange land not wanting to be noticed or make waves. Add to the mix their religion and the need to be doubly careful in a post 9/11 America. (Would work for me.)

In any event, once his life gets seriously threatened - burning bed, acid bath, knife attack - he was able to modify his behavior knowing he could obtain Freddie's offer of protection.

Agreeing to Freddie's protection, allows him to drop his guard. A guard he's always had to keep up as a Muslim and child of immigrants from a suspect land.

So, for me, it's not so much an abrupt change but changed circumstances. In a way, Naz is safer inside with Freddie's formidable protection than outside in New York.

What do you all think?

I think Improv is on to something. Interesting that the inmate calling Naz a "faggot" is what set him off--did Naz have trouble with Andrea? Is he deeply closeted?

Dear Scott Tobias,

Naz is not "of Middle Eastern descent." He is of Pakistani ethnicity. That is, originating fron the Asian sub-continent.

Also, he swallowed "the eightballs," not "the eight balls."

Shasta Dog

They are always flashing to the dear head with the glass eye on the wall. I still think there is something there besides empty space. The seeds of doubt about Naz have been planted in the past episodes by those guys on designer drugs and no memory of their deeds. I still hope Naz is innocent, though he will be a changed a man even if he is.

I think ALL lawyers are trained to answer the Hitler question. I was surprised Stone was dumbfounded. He just had to say, "My just is not to set bad guys free. My job is to make sure my client gets a fair trial where evidence is untainted and witnesses are truthful."

John Turturro deserves an Emmy. Those who find Naz's transition incredulous have never lived in a "bad" neighborhood, and surely have never been to prison. Further, Naz's violent behavior was a predictable release of rage, not an uncovering of some dark personality. Wouldn't you be enraged if you decided to chuck your pleasantly circumscribed life for a sexual experience and ended up caged like an animal? This series has a higher purpose than entertainment. It is trying to show the fortunate the manifest unfairness of the criminal justice system, that poor people serve lifetimes in prison because they don't have the money for lawyers and forensic teams, that prosecutors bend the facts to win.

Maybe the Duane Reade scene is just a nightmare from the high dose steroids that Stone is on. Stone chasing down Duane Reade does not seem plausible, as is tracking him down so easily.

Question: Does anyone know how to find the BBC show, Criminal Justice, on which The Night Of is based? It stars Ben Wishaw, as the Naz character, but not as a Pakistani, but a White working class Brit. And there is a Detective Box because, hey, how could even Richard Price improves on that name.

Sadly, last night's episode was a real disappointment from Naz's "where did that come from" transformation from wimp to assassin, to Stone's, in sandals no less, hot pursuit of Duane Reade down your proverbial dark alley. Richard Price, what the heck happened?

thought this episode wandered into modern crime story cliches to a disappointing extent -- the vain romantic pursuit of a prostitute by Stone, the gratuitous autopsy shots, the creepy M.E. There's really been too much Stone on the whole, even leaving aside the eczema narrative. At this point I would have preferred some more focus on Chandra, Box, or the Khan family.

What's with the faulty back door at the scene of the crime? Doesn't it seem more should be done with that clue?

Naz hasn't passed one eight ball and the ones he passed looked pretty ratty. Are we in for a poisoned mule story line, one which will reveal Naz as a prison mule to an enlarging circle, perhaps the prosecution team?

I agree the transition from meek college kid to prison thug was all-too-abrupt to be fully believable.

Love the soundtrack accompanying Stone's caring for the cat--mid-70s love songs, including The Carpenters.

Excellent summary, but the least credible episode by far:

*Naz's change is too abrupt--especially how jacked up he looks

*Stone would have pushed Naz harder to grow his hair back

*The prosecutor would not have written off Trevor as a witness--he is the only witness she has to place Naz at the townhouse before the crime

*Trevor gives up Duane too easily

*Stone risking his life to confront Duane (after finding Duane instantly) is absurd

The previews suggest a revelation about Naz switching schools is coming

Were Stone's libido-stunting steroid issues and his thoughts on what the woman's then supposed to say/do also intended to plant the seed in our minds that a similar issue for Naz and an unkind response might have set him off during The Night Of? The show's still gripping, but credulity was stretched tonight in a way the would have even challenged Mister Fantastic. Naz is now a beefy, head-shaving, remote control hogging tough (though reluctant to mule eight balls)? Stone chases down blind alleys and dark basements after Duane Reade (after interestingly introducing himself as Trevor's lawyer)? And not one, but at least two NYC pharmacies are out of Viagra???

This episode felt off to me. Naz's transition from lamb to lion seems too abrupt. There has never been even a hint of a dark, angry soul simmering inside him and I didn't buy it. Also Stone pursuing Trevor seemed implausible. He's a bright guy. Surely he know's physically he was no match, especially if he might be a brutal killer. Glad kitty got home. Meh.