‘The Night Of’ episode 4 review: Is Alison really the right attorney for Naz?

At the end of last week’s episode of “The Night Of” on HBO, we learned something rather valuable about Naz’s new attorney Alison: She is so invested in high-profile cases that she is willing to work the case for free.

However, over the course of tonight’s installment, we started to learn that she was really more about the case than the actual person involved in it. Her instructions to Naz were cold and calculated, she got upset when her father requested a chance to speak to the public, and then there was the scene at the end of the episode where Naz walked back the original plan to take the plea deal. He couldn’t bring himself to plead guilty because he honestly felt he didn’t do it.

Now, we have to prepare for the case to go to trial, and in the process of that, the representation is going to change. Alison offered the family Ms. Kapoor, but the case was no longer going to be for free. Suddenly, John Stone does seem like more of an option. He spent much of the episode working on the investigation independently, and did seem to find a few clues that there were people in Andrea’s life angry about her death.

The unfortunate thing about Naz still waiting back at Rikers is the torment he receives from the other inmates. We still feel like the prison scenes are the show’s weakest component, mostly because we’re here for the mystery, but there is no doubting the greatness of Michael K. Williams. The other weak point may just be how often we hear about John’s feet, almost like this is the only defining characteristic of his personality.

In the end, though, we still feel this to be a sensational series, and what tonight taught us was that there are multiple different kinds of attorneys. We just have to see who ends up stepping up to the plate. Episode Grade: A-.