Quote of the day: Do you know this man? Have you SEEN this man recently? (Do you suppose that something terrible could have happened to him?)

In case you don't recognize him, this is former Manhattan District Attorney Arthur Branch, and unless we missed something in Wednesday's belated 18th-season premiere of Law & Order, we were given no clue as to what happened to Arthur, just that Jack McCoy had been appointed to replace him two weeks before the events of this episode.

Poor Arthur appears to have dropped off the face of the earth. You don't suppose there could have been foul play involved, do you?

Whatever Arthur is doing now, there was a suggestion in the season-premiere episode that perhaps it's not a whole lot less than he was doing during his time as New York County district attorney. We're still pondering this exchange from a scene in the DA's office, newly occupied by Jack McCoy, as new-to-viewers Assistant District Attorney Mike Cutter made an observation to the new boss about the room decor:

ADA MIKE CUTTER: "Branch used to fill these shelves with knickknacks and awards."

DA JACK McCOY: "This is a working office now, not a showroom."

We get it that Jack is going to be a much more hands-on DA than old Arthur was. But do you suppose we're meant to read anything more into this crack?

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