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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Twenty-One, Season Five
NBC Production
"I don’t like it but I guess
things happen that way"
This season ender suffers from the rather
difficult to overcome storytelling problem of providing a suspect in the opening teaser
who looks to good for the crime that has been committed. I mean when the early part of an
episode features a character who is covered in blood and no memory of what happened than
you know he’s not guilty, as this is far too easy a solution and it’s not nearly
enough to fill out an entire episode. This is turn leaves one looking around for a new
suspect, and while we get a brief moment where it looks like a drug debt might’ve
resulted in a murder, this is shot down in pretty quick order by the obvious question of
why would drug dealers kill the parents of person who owed them money? However, once a
business partner was mentioned I had pretty much figured out the path this story was going
to take and the writing didn’t disappoint, as we soon discover the murder was
motivated by a business partner who wasn’t big on sharing. Now the episode does
manage to offer up a fairly engaging sequence where we see Detective Logan guilts a young
man into turning on his father, and this questioning session is nicely paralleled by an
unsettling interrogation earlier in the episode where we see another detective manages to
convince the son of the murder victims that he killed his parents during a drug induced
rage. However, the case itself is a rather plot-by-numbers affair as it moves from point A
to point B with relatively few surprises, and I can’t say I was overly impressive by
the simple motive behind the crime. The performance of the young man who looks good for
the murders was also pretty effective though, as the scene where he comes to believe that
he could’ve killed his parents rests entirely on the actors ability to sell his grow
sense of dread, and he manages it to near perfection. I guess I should also make mention
of the fact that Captain Deakins leaves the series, and he joins the long line of thinly
characterized supporting players who have exited the Law and Order franchise whose
departures have left me unmoved, as the closing shot where he’s walking away simply
reminded me how little I know about his character. I mean is he going home to a wife
and/or family. In the end he looked to be a good boss who gave his detectives room to be
good detectives, but really that all I know about the character.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Twenty, Season Five
NBC Production
"I'm my own grandpaw. Talk about
incest!"
While the episode certainly earns points for
it’s splashy ending as the motive of the person setting the church fires is
sensationalistic enough to be featured on an episode of Jerry Springer, I found myself
wishing the episode had taken a moment to explain why the elderly church worker who died
in the opening moments of the episode took it upon herself to drag this dirty family
secret into the open. I mean revealing this information clearly did more harm than good,
and the big question that the writing didn’t even bother to address is how exactly
was this woman expecting this to turn out? Truth be told while the lengths that the
stepmother went to win over her stepson was disturbing, the church worker’s decision
to expose this family secret felt downright mean-spirited, and the writing utterly fails
to provide a proper motive for this action. Of course the episode also has to reach quite
a bit to to explain why this young man would decide to target the church that his brother
worshiped at rather than venting his anger upon the true target, but I guess that the
writing had to have him do something splashy to grab the attention of the Major Case
Squad. In any event the episode managed to offer up a pretty solid investigation as
Detectives Goren and Eames quickly recognize that there are two very different patterns
with the church fires, and they quickly gravitate toward the fire more that was carefully
planned, and looked to be rift with symbolism. I also have to give full marks to the young
actor who player the roommate of the chief suspect, as how can one not smile when our
detectives attempt to question this walking ball of excitement. In fact for having such a
limit amount of screen time I have to say the scene where his body was discovered left me
rather sad, as while he was a serial arsonist he was also a very entertaining character.
As for the big surprise reveal where we discover the reason that inspired the church fires
I have to give a big thumbs up to the trio of guest-actors as their characters struggle
with the big family secret that is being brought kicking and screaming into the light,
with the performance of the stepmother being particularly effective.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL
INTENT
Episode Nineteen, Season Five
NBC Production
"Fare thee well, but be back
soon"
The degree of violence that we see in this
episode is a bit much, and while I’ve certainly seen worse on network television this
season, it’s a little depressing that the Law and Order franchise has decided to hop
on this bandwagon. Still one can’t deny the sheer impact of that opening crime scene,
and it brought an extra sense of urgency to the sequnce where we watch this group paying a
visit to a second home. On the other hand the episode doesn’t really take the time to
properly explain why they felt the need to kill their victims, as given they had the
layout of the homes as well as a shopping list of what they were looking for, one has to
ask why they simply didn’t wear masks, and tie up the families while they took what
they came for. I mean the only thing these murders manage to accomplish is increase the
attention that the police would directing your way. Now I realize that the crimes have to
be quite serious in order to warrant the involvement of the Major Case Squad cast, but the
writing really should’ve taken a moment to explain why these young men felt the need
to kill entire families when there was no real need to. Now it’s pretty clear that
the writing is trying to invoke the spirit of the Charlie Manson family, as we have a
charismatic leader figure holding sway over a collection on emotionally stunted
individuals, and guest-star Whoopi Goldberg turns in a fairly chilling performance with
the highlight being the moment where she reveals that she saw right through Detective
Logan’s efforts to get her to confess. However, the episode makes it clear that her
central motive for these crimes is finical, and this makes the murders feel quite
unnecessary, as the real advantage a dead body provides is that it might make it a little
more difficult to figure out what has been stolen, but this extra bit of lead time when it
comes to selling these items is undercut by the simple fact that by resorting to murder
you vastly increase the attention your actions receive from the police. Still the episode
does earn points for a very powerful side plot that has Detective Logan gunning down an
armed suspect who turns out to be an undercover police officer, and there’s some
powerful moments where we see the guilt of what he’s done is clearly eating him
alive.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL
INTENT
Episode Eighteen, Season Five
NBC Production
"Cause every hand's a winner"
Truth be told this episode has our detectives
making some poorly motivated leaps of intuition that end up being right on the money, and
while Detective Goren has always been presented as a bit of a savant when it comes to
making these deductive observations, normally the writing actually makes an effort to
offer up some moment where we can see him connecting the dots. This time out though the
writing has our detectives moving through the story like they have a map that leads them
to the proper suspect and I found myself wondering how they managed to ferret out various
bits of key information. Still the underlying story was pretty engaging as it involves an
emotionally immature gambling machine who is being exploited by a ruthless opportunist,
and when one of the men that this gambler took for a half-a-million dollars ends up dead,
this young man becomes suspect number one. Now logic states that you aren’t likely to
kill a man who owes you half-a-million, and considering this young man is the golden goose
I honestly can’t see why the man behind the curtains would come up with a plan that
made him look like a possible suspect. I mean if nothing else I’d make sure that I
had a low level thug ready to take the fall, as the episode makes it quite clear that this
young gambler is providing a steady stream of revenue, and as such one would think he
would be an invaluable asset that you would protect. However, when the detectives begin to
question the other men involved in this murder, it would seem that the plan was to have
the young gambler take fall for this murder rap. Now perhaps they were hoping the case
against him would be so weak that it wouldn’t hold up in court, as there was no
physical evidence to tie him to the crime scene nor any witnesses that place him in the
room where the man was murdered. However, the plan itself does seem to leave the young man
rather exposed, and since he can draw a straight line back to the real murderer this seems
like a rather poor choice of a fall guy. Still the episode does benefit from a strong
performance from the young gambler, as the scene where he learns the truth about his
benefactor was surprisingly effective.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL
INTENT
Episode Seventeen, Season Five
NBC Production
"I got a black magic woman"
Take away the voodoo elements of this episode
and you have a very ordinary murder plot, but I have to give the writer full marks for
taking these more fantastic elements and fashioning a pretty engaging episode. I mean the
show is guilty of offering up a rather limited range of suspects, as once the original
suspect is murdered the whodunit element of the plot goes pretty much out the window.
Still the episode does open with a rather unsettling scene as the pair of bodies wrapped
up in cocoons made for a rather striking cut to the opening credits moment. The episode
also does a pretty fair job of deflating the magic of the voodoo curse, as the Detective
Logan finds himself on the wrong end of a voodoo spell, and the scene where the magic of
the spell is explained away was rather enlightening. In fact one of the main goals of this
episode does seem to be to striped the magic away from the voodoo healing/spells that
takes place in this episode, and I have to wonder where I can get my hands one some of
that lithium laced water. It’s also nice to get a television show dealing with voodoo
that doesn’t play up the more extreme excesses of the religion, and it actually makes
a pretty interesting argument for why voodoo is looked upon as the ugly, slightly creepy
stepchild of the religion family. I do have to say I was less than impressed by the way
our detectives managed to catch the real killer though as Detective Barek’s
performance before she planned on drinking down the poison laced concoction was painfully
obvious, and given this false priestess has made a career out of selling her lies the
writing should’ve had the character at least try and explain her way out of this
corner. In fact she really should’ve taken a chance and drank what was placed in
front of her, as this would’ve blown a huge hole in the detectives case against her,
and I’m sure they would be pumping her stomach faster than you could say insanity
defence. Plus, the scene of her drinking that glass down would’ve been a great punch
to the gut moment, and would have taken the show in a truly unexpected direction.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL
INTENT
Episode Sixteen, Season Five
NBC Production
"This method acting, well, I call
that living."
The idea that the method actor would take his
work so seriously that he would actually commit murder felt like a bit of a reach, and the
final scene where we discover the deep, dark secret that this actor unleashed during his
efforts to get inside the mind of a serial killer was equally implausible. Still it’s
pretty clear that the writing has put a great deal of care and attention behind this
theory, and as always seems to be the case on this series Vincent D’Onofrio’s
performance during the final exchange is able to lend the proper sense of gravity to the
situation no matter how silly the motive might seem. This episode also managed to offer up
a pretty engaging little sequence before the murder, as most of the time on the Law and
Order the only real camera time the murder victim receives is the show where their body is
discovered in the opening teaser, and when they show up on the coroner's table later in
the episode. However this episode opens with a rather extended sequence where we follow
two young woman as they end up stranded in a rather seedy section of New York for the
night, and there’s a nice sense of growing danger established as we know one or both
of these women are going to be murdered before the opening credits start. We also get an
very rare but welcome glimpse into the personal life of one of our detectives as we
discover Detective Eames bears a grudge against drunks. However, the episode does lose
some points for the over the top hysterics that erupt when the woman who discovered the
body comes to believe that she’s the killer, as the director really should’ve
reigned this actress in and told her the less is more, as her performance up to that point
was actually quite effective, but it was completely undercut by this Meryl Streep moment.
In fact the episode is full of big acting moments that felt a bit disingenuous, as we get
a silly explosion of anger from the real killer when his wife call their son to dinner. I
mean I’m all for big acting moments if the script provides the proper build-up, but
this episode simply inserts them into the story with little to no justification, and as
such they wound up feeling like contrived outbursts.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL
INTENT
Episode Fifteen, Season Five
NBC Production
"Cause some day some weight gonna
come on your shoulders babe"
A well crafted episode that makes the most of
it’s theatrical setting as Detectives Logan and Barek investigate the murder of a
young woman who was killed backstage at an opera house. I also have to credit the writing
for avoiding the obvious gag as I spent most of the episode waiting for someone to mention
that they should be looking for a disfigured masked man. However, the writing brought
enough clever ideas to the table that it didn’t really need to be making such obvious
references, and I have to say I was rather impressed by a couple novel explanations that
this episode produced, as the detectives uncover a rather clever drug smuggling scheme,
and we also get an ingenious plot device involving a bit of manufactured evidence.
However, I did have a bit of a problem with the latter bit of writing as Detective Logan
is able to spot the frame job by noting that the evidence isn’t an exact size match,
and from what I know of making casts I have to ask why wouldn’t the cast be a perfect
match, as the whole point of making a cast is to perfectly match the source material.
Still, I’m guessing the writing needed to provide some reason why Detective Logan
would doubt the evidence, and perhaps dental casts are manufactured in a manner that would
account for this size difference. In any event one does have to admire the frame job that
was put in play, and I’ll applaud any episode that is able to catch me off guard by
shifting the spotlight away from the most likely suspect, to reveal the real truth of the
matter is far more unsettling. The episode also does a lovely job of selling the
motivation for the murder, as we see the real murderer has a very good line of reasoning
for why she committed such a horrid act, and by the end one can’t help but feel a bit
sorry for her, even if the final line of the episode would seem to be trying to discourage
this. I do have to say I was rather surprised by how ruthless the detectives were in
revealing that they knew the truth, but than again given the nature of her crime it’s
easy to understand why the detectives decided to employ such a mean-spirited method of
exposing her web of lies.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL
INTENT
Episode Fourteen, Season Five
NBC Production
"I love you like a ball and
chain."
First off as a lifelong comic book reader I
have to say I’ve always been curious if the rooftops of New York City buildings were
really littered with water towers, and thanks to the opening section of this episode I now
know there’s at least one, and in a more curious development I also learned that some
New York residents actually draw their water from these towers, which to me seems a little
unsanitary, but than again it’s probably for the best that I don’t put too much
research into water that comes out of my taps. The writing also makes another tip of
it’s hat to comic readers as we see an issue of "Love and Rockets" makes an
appearance. In any event I guess I really should be making an effort to discuss the actual
episode which involves the murder of a young man who managed to get his hands on
information that could derail a multi-million dollar lawsuit, and as such he had to be
killed. Now while I rather enjoyed the fact that the case took a few unexpected twists and
turns as our detectives tried to figure out who would have the motive to kill this young
man, I was a little disappointed that the mother was transformed into little more than a
money grubbing witch, as this motive felt a little simplistic a finish to what had been
shaping up to be a pretty engaging debate. In fact speaking as a viewer I’d much
rather the motive had been the brother acting alone to protect his sister, rather than his
carrying out the murder under the orders of his evil, uncaring mother. One also has to
wonder about this episode’s idea of a happy ending, as we see this woman is going to
be in charge of caring for this young woman, and one has to feel sorry that the poor girl
is going to have any future contact with her mother, let alone rely upon her to be her
primary caregiver. Still, the episode did manage to hold my interest from start to finish,
and it benefited from a number of very effective performances by the guest-actors, with
the brother who committed the murder and the disabled sister doing a very effective job of
interacting with out detectives. Plus, the detective work on display was pretty solid, as
Detective Goren’s intuitive leaps weren’t all that difficult to accept.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL
INTENT
Episode Thirteen, Season Five
NBC Production
"Odds are you won't live to see
tomorrow."
You know you’re in trouble when you find
yourself struggling to recall the actual plot of an episode, let alone comment on the
elements of the episode that one found enjoyable/disliked. Now, a large part of my problem
with this episode is that it took such a predictable path, as once it was established that
the husband was involved in such dirty dealings, and that the wife was a secret agent it
didn’t take any time at all to establish the motive for the murder, and the opening
barrage of scenes also made it fairly clear who the leading suspect was. Now I’m not
asking for a whodunit every time out of the gate, but I would like to see a little more of
a effort from the writing than the plot-by-numbers outing that we saw on this week’s
episode. This episode also offers up the exact same tired climax that was offered up on
the previous episode, as we see the suspect is caught confessing to their involvement in
the murder on tape, and given I wasn’t a fan of this lazy ending when it was used
last week seeing it make a return appearance in this episode was even less welcome. Now
I’ll give the episode credit for a couple nice misdirections in the early going as we
see the murder victim wasn’t cheating on her husband in spite of the opening scene
which left a pretty clear impression that she was. I also enjoyed the scene where we
discover how the young man across the street was involved in the murder, as his shady
glance in the opening scene made him a very likely suspect. There’s also a well
played interrogation scene in this episode as Detective Logan spells out how everything is
likely to play out to the thug who committed the actual murder. I do have to wonder why
the detectives didn’t work at bit more at pulling apart the alibi that was created
for this murderer though, as it looked like that box was playing host to at least a dozen
other witnesses who could’ve confirmed whether the man was actually there, and yet
the episode had our detectives acting like having the man’s name on the list was
unshakeable proof. Still, I guess being so close to the end of the episode, the writer
didn’t have enough time to have our detectives actually act like detectives,
especially when the taped confession trick provided a much easier path.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Twelve, Season Five
NBC Production
"I'm a mess without my, little
China Girl"
While it’s always good to see Malcolm
McDowell in action, and he makes the most of his camera time in this episode, the simple
truth of the matter is that this episode is so invested in creating a complex web of false
clues and misdirection that eventually I lost interest in actually discovering the truth.
I mean I do like the idea of a rich man using his considerable means to buy off witnesses
who lead the detectives in circles, and even after the detectives discover that they are
being lied to we discover that the lies are being used to cover over yet another lie.
However, the writing takes a few too many twists and turns along the way to the real truth
of the matter, and I have to say that when the real murderer was revealed I was a bit
disappointed that such a pedestrian reason was sitting at the centre of this web of lies.
I was also disappointed to see Malcolm McDowell’s character role in the crime was
exposed using such a old trick, and the final plot twist where the real killer is set free
by a false deathbed confession felt more like a gimmick than something that the writing
had worked for. This in turn made the final exchange that Detective Goren has with the
real murderer feel a bit cheap, as one could almost see the writer standing in the
background patting himself on the back for his clever final twist. Now one could argue
that this entire series is built around the cat and mouse games played between the
detectives and the suspects, and that this is simply a case where the bad guys managed to
get away with their crime in spite of the best efforts of the detectives. However, I would
argue that the writing offered up such a tangled bit of misdirection to disguise the fact
that the actual murder plot was a grade-B effort, that most viewers would’ve seen
right through before the first commercial break if it had been played straight. Plus,
I’m simply not a fan of seeing the villain pull one over one our detectives unless
they do it in an extremely clever manner, and this episode’s ending is anything but
clever.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL
INTENT
Episode Eleven, Season Five
NBC Production
"At least I shall have the
pleasure of putting you out of my misery."
First off I have to say this episode opens
with the most unexpected body discovery moments that any series of the Law and Order
franchise has ever offered up, as the jaded viewer in me simply expected the body to
emerge out of the surf, so the moment of it’s actual arrival has a genuine impact.
The ensuing investigation which explained how the body could simply tumble out of the
clear blue sky also managed to produce a rather clever moment as we discover that the
killer has found a near perfect method of disposing of a body, and while I have some
serious doubts about one’s ability to stuff anything into the wheel well of a plane
preparing for takeoff in the aftermath of 911, the episode does take the time to establish
that the person disposing of the bodies would have free access to these planes, and the
idea of using international flights to dump bodies all around the planet is a clever
enough idea that I’m willing to look the other way when it’s comes to a somewhat
nebulous explanation for how he got the bodies in place. On the other hand I’m a
little disappointed with how quickly the episode had our detectives zero in on the
suspect, as after offering up a scene where the detective express their dismay about how
many people have access to these planes they pretty much had their suspect ferreted out a
couple quick scenes later. Now I realize that the writer didn’t want to get bogged
down with this section of the plot, but to me it rushed through this part of the story a
little too quickly. I also have to openly wonder about Detective Barek’s method of
discovering their suspect fit the profile of their killer, as I can see most people would
be nervous when subjected to such close scrutiny from a police detective regardless of the
gender of said detective. I mean the simple truth of the matter is that police make even
the most law abiding citizen nervous, and when they start acting outside the normal
behaviour patterns that one expects from a police officer it only makes sense that most
people would start acting a bit suspicious.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL
INTENT
Episode Ten, Season Five
NBC Production
"Charlie is love."
Michael York turns in a pretty solid
performance as the leader of a group of thieves who have little trouble escalating their
crimes to include murder, and it is worth noting that if it hadn’t been for the
overdoes death that opens the episode than chances are very good that their efforts
wouldn’t have warranted the attention of the Major Case Squad. In fact the episode is
a little fuzzy about explaining how this case actually ended up with the Major Case Squad
as our detectives were on the case before it looked like it was anything more than an
accidental overdoes by a couple partygoers. However the simple truth of the matter is that
I find myself getting too caught up in how the writer brings our detectives into a case
that I often neglect to comment on the more important detail of how entertaining was their
involvement in the case once it’s been established that it’s worthy of their
attentions. The simple truth of the matter is that the electronic typewriter was a little
too good when the writing needed something to provide the next important clue. I mean
I’m sure the writer made an effort to figure out if it was even possible to pull off
this trick, and it’s been well established that Detective Goren has the type of mind
that could invest the time and effort one would need to pull it off. However, from a
storytelling standpoint it’s not all that engaging to see the clues come from what is
essentially a damning tell-all script that had been written by a murdered writer. I was
also a little disappointed that the mental games that make up the episode’s climax
transform Michael York’s character into such a fountain of damning information, as
it’s one thing to have a character realize that they’ve implicated themselves,
but it’s quite another to have them continue to dig themselves even deeper,
especially when the rest of the episode had been trying to sell the idea that this man was
quite intelligent.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Nine, Season Five
NBC Production
"What the Devil hath joined
together let no man cut asunder."
I’m always game for a well put together
mystery that plays it’s cards close to the vest, but this episode played more like a
promising looking board where it took so long to explain how the rules of the game that
you simply don’t feel like investing the effort it demands. There’s also the
simple fact that the detective work that’s offered up in this issue largely consisted
of our detectives following the various suspects until they do something that informs our
detectives the next step they should be making. I mean I was already a little disappointed
that this was an episode that was focused on the other pair of detectives, as up to this
point neither character has really grabbed my attention, but I have to say this episode
certainly doesn’t do them any favours when their detective work looks like it was
lifted from a Hardy Boys novel. However what really turned me off this episode is that I
spent the first three-fourths of the episode trying to make sense of it’s rather
disjointed narrative, and piecing together who was doing what to whom, and how character A
was linked to character B, that it was rather irksome to have to curtain pulled away to
reveal such an utterly conventional explanation. I mean since we never got any suggestion
that their relationship was anything other than barely concealed hostility, it’s
difficult to get overly caught up in the big reveal that one sister was responsible for
the murder attempt on the other sister, or that the other sister would help the police
keep her sister behind bars. Now the final move that Detective Logan makes to ensure that
both sisters are punished for their crimes made good use of the idea that the character
does project the vibe that he could be the type of detective that would lose vital
evidence, but a clever bit of writing at the end isn’t enough to overlook the fact
that the writing was far too complicated for it’s own good.
2 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Eight, Season Five
NBC Production
"Generally it is the tortured who
turn into torturers."
This episode is a bit of a mixed bag as while
it has an interesting idea at it’s core, the simple truth of the matter is that the
execution of said idea is terribly uneven. I mean I welcome a look at the idea of whether
it’s right to subject prisoners to torture, as the debate of where the line between
inhuman treatment and aggressive questioning rests has the potential to produce an
interesting debate, as does the question of when does the need to protect American lives
outweigh the human rights of prisoners of war. However, the simple truth of the matter is
that while torture plays a key role in this episode, the writing avoids the key elements
of the debate, as the victim who is subjected to torture is not an enemy combatant but
rather he’s a poor guy with mental problems. What’s more we see the motive
driving the person that subjected this man to torture isn’t to get answers that could
potentially save lives, but rather this person was looking to assuage their guilt over
having taken part in the torture of prisoners of war by treating her patient using the
same methods. Now one could openly wonder why this woman thought this would be even
remotely close to a good idea, but the episode never bothers to explain her reasoning, as
it far too invested is showing us how poorly suited torture is when it comes to curing
mental illness, as we see that all it managed to accomplish is turn a mentally disturbed
computer technician into a crazed killer. The episode also attempts to invoke some
sympathy toward the doctor, by revealing she was tormented by the role she played in the
torture of war prisoners, but her behaviour over the rest of the episode as she worked to
conceal what she had done make her tearful confess feel downright hollow. I was also a
little disappointed that DJ Qualls wasn’t given a more to do beyond acting like a
tightly wound basket case.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Seven, Season Five
NBC Production
"Secrecy is the badge of
fraud."
I watched the film "Maria - Full of
Grace" a few weeks back and as such the opening half of this episode felt a little
too familiar, but the writing managed to play off these expectations, as we see our
detectives automatically assume that the mutilated victim was a drug mule. As such
there’s a nice little scene where we see our detectives get a forehead slapping
moment as they discover that in spite of all the evidence that suggests the victim was a
drug mule, the truth is a little more complicated. In fact the problem with this episode
is that the explanation gets a little too involved, and while I’m fairly certain I
understand the how and why the two murders were committed, the path we took to arrive at
this final destination wandered around a little too much, and as such by the time the big
climax arrived the person responsible for these crimes was brought down using a rather
abrupt plot contrivance. Now I did enjoy the scene where the murder was explained by the
nursing aid, as the actor does a wonderful job of selling the emotional breakdown where
his character explains how it played out. Also while I found the mechanical pencil trick
to be a little silly, the scene where she lashes out and confesses her crime did have a
nice volcanic quality about it, and the final shot of the episode made it all too apparent
that this woman had good reason to be an emotional basketcase. In the end though this
episode spent a little too much time playing with the red herring that the first victim
was a drug mule, and it also spent a little too long detailing the actual crime that this
woman was killed to protect, that the writing simply didn’t have enough time to offer
up much of a climax. As such this has to be one of the most rushed confession scenes that
has ever been offered up on this series, and as I mentioned before the plot device that is
used to expose the character’s guilt was a bit goofy.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Six, Season Five
NBC Production
"When you judge another, you do
not define them, you define yourself."
This was a two hour episode, and the preview
ads looked were selling as a movie, but with the exception of a rather impressive sequence
where the show offered up a full-scale search, complete with a helicopter, this was a
little more than an extra long episode. Now I have to say I did enjoy the fact that there
wasn't a clean split at the halfway point, as it's clear this was designed to be a two
hour event, and not simply two separate episodes that were tacked together, as the two
pairs of detective interact with each other over the course of the entire episode, and a
single investigation supports the entire two hours. Now the case managed to hold up quite
well, as there were enough twists and turns to hold my interests over the course of the
entire episode, and the two hours went by far quicker than I had expected it to. Basically
the episode has a young woman vanish during a field trip to New York, and the subsequent
investigation leads to the son of a powerful judge. Now Star Trek fans will probably get a
kick out of the fact that Colm Meaney is playing the role of the judge, and I have to say
I hope this appearance earns him the attention of Hollywood casting directors, as he's a
marvellous actor who has turned in a number of fine performances over in Europe, from his
deliciously dirty cop in "Intermission", to the beleaguered father in a trilogy
of films based on Roddy Doyle's novels. In any event he does a lovely job of playing a
judge who as the episode progresses is revealed to be linked to the girl's disappearance.
Now I have to openly wonder how a man this morally bent made it to a position of
authority, but when the fight begins it becomes clear that the man knows how to use his
power, as he is able to get under the skin of even the seemingly unflappable Detective
Goren, and in what proved to be one of the more powerful moments, we see Detective Eames
is put in the hot seat when a transfer request is introduced. The final twist also caught
me off guard, which put a nice finishing touch on a very enjoyable couple hours.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Five, Season Five
NBC Production
"To err is natural; to rectify
error is glory."
The problem with this episode is that there's
no real reason given for the murder beyond the simple fact that there needs to have been a
murder to bring in the Major Case Squad. I mean it's all well and good to claim that it
was an accidental death but the murder investigation made it pretty clear that the
murderer took the time to mess with the crime scene to direct suspicion in another
direction, and this doesn't exactly feel like the actions of a person who was responsible
for the death of an innocent person. So with a poorly motivated murder resting at it's
core, this episode didn't exactly do itself any favours by hanging the rest of the story
elements off this flimsy framework, as it the investigation doesn't really have any side
paths that it can take to throw off the expectations that were established in the opening
sequence, as it's pretty obvious that the sister was murdered by the person who inspired
such a fearful expression on the face of the other nun. Now I guess there is some intrigue
to be found in the question of why this man was looking for this woman, and I'll give the
episode credit for coming up with a genuinely compelling motivation. However, once again
the lack of reason for the murder did serve to undercut what was a powerful murder, as
it's difficult to work up much sympathy for a grief stricken man when he's also offers up
such a flat reaction to the fact that he murdered an innocent woman. On the other hand the
target of this man search does manage to give the episode a powerful climax, as her
anguished confession of the role she played in the savage beating was a show redeeming
performance. In the end though, this wasn't much of a showcase for our detectives as
Detective Goren deductive skills weren't really called upon, and our characters were
little better than passive bystanders as the story played out in front of them.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Four, Season Five
NBC Production
"Happy birthday to
you."
I've been away from my computer for the past
couple days so I have to say this review is going to be a little difficult, as the episode
isn't really fresh in my mind, but rather I find myself struggling to draw upon memorable
moments of the episode. Now after a bit of thought, I can recall the basic plot elements
as the episode kicks off with a mob hit where the victim turns out to be just some poor
guy with a same name and birthday as the true target of mob justice. We also see the
resultant investigation uncovers the presence of the mob inside the police department, and
the more engaging sections of the episode centre around one of the dirty cops reaching out
Detective Logan (Chris Noth), whose own less than pleasant dealings with internal have
made him more willing to listen to a police officer who cries foul. There's also a nice
little moment where we see the defence lawyer makes a point of mentioning Detective Logan
is far from being the ideal detective to be investigating such a highly decorated officer.
There's also a nice little bit where we see Detective Barek (Annabella Sciorra) continues
to hold her one person conversations as she mulls over the evidence, and I have to say
this gimmick is actually proving to be more endearing than I would've expected. Still the
simple truth of the matter is that this is another one of those episode that doesn't
really explain why this case was bumped over to the Major Case Squad, as the discovery of
a single body which looks to have been a mob hit would seem to be a case that would land
in another department, and when the presence of a dirty cop entered the picture one would
think the case would automatically be transferred over to internal affairs, if only to
remove any doubt of the blue wall stalling the investigation.
3 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Three, Season Five
NBC Production
"Of all pains, the greatest pain
is to love, and love in vain."
Before I get into an actual review of the
episode I have to say there's a throwaway moment that is so utterly strange that it
quickly emerged as my favourite scene of the episode. I mean how can one not love the
little dance that Vincent D'Onofrio does as he checks out the home of the escaped inmate.
There's also a cute little exchange where Detective Eames points out that the Warden's
office is devoid of any objects for Goren to play with. As for the actual episode I have
to say I had it figured out pretty early in the episode that the warden character wasn't
what he appeared to be so when the episode started to turn over it's cards I have to say I
wasn't as surprised as I expect the writing was hoping for. Now I'm not sure why I knew
how the story was going to play out, but the simple fact of the matter is that one's
enjoyment of this episode required one to fall for the illusion that the warden was a
devoted husband who was trying to get his wife back, and I simply wasn't able to get past
my initial feeling that he wasn't what he appeared to be, so I spent most of the episode
waiting for the writing to catch up with me. Now the detective work on display was pretty
clever and I rather enjoyed the revelation that most of the clues were planted by the
warden. I also enjoyed the explanation of why the warden was spurred into taking action,
as it's a clever use of a real world element that I'm surprised hasn't made a previous
appearance in the Law and Order franchise, though I guess NBC shows would be discourage
from giving a heads up to a Fox show no matter how effective a storytelling tool it can
be. I also enjoyed the way the detectives were able to shatter the illusion that the wife
had about being able to return to her former life, by reminding her of why she ran away
from this life in the first place.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode Two, Season Five
NBC Production
"The more things change, the more
they are the same."
This episode earns itself a passing grade
thanks in large part to the fact that I rather enjoy the new pair of detectives that are
introduced in this episode. I mean Detective Logan (Chris Noth) is a bit of a cliché in
that he’s supposed to be a cop on the edge of losing control. In fact this type of
police officer is such a familiar character type that the Law and Order franchise already
has this character type in Detective Stabler over on SVU. However, there’s a nice
little moment in this episode where we see Logan does a little play acting with a suspect,
that does a solid job of suggesting that the angry cop is just a carefully constructed
act, and this in turn puts a new spin on the character type. However, I have to say
Detective Barek (Annabella Sciorra) has quickly emerged as the more engaging of the two
characters, as she plays a cop who is so used to being on her own that she’s gotten
into the habit of holding conversations with herself. Now this is a character quirk that
might’ve felt a little too much like a cut and paste character trait that was brought
into make the character different (e.g. Angelina Jolie’s character in Taking Lives),
but Annabella Sciorra makes it an important part of the character, and it actually serves
to make the character quite endearing. As for the actual mystery it’s a pretty
ordinary out-of-control killer plot that I’m sure I’ve seen at least a dozen
times in the various Law and Order series, and it even goes as far as to use the ever
popular plot device of having the cold and calculating mother acting as the person who is
pulling the strings of her homicidal son. Still, the scene where the detectives steer the
son toward providing evidence against his mother was a pretty effective sequence, and one
can’t help but be emotionally caught up in the robbery scenes.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Episode One, Season Five
NBC Production
"Something wicked this way
comes"
The writers of this series seemed convinced
that they’ve gotten themselves a great reassuring villainess in the character of
Nicole Wallace, but I have to say I’ve never been convinced of this idea and this
episode did little to change my opinion. I mean Olivia D’Abo does make for a
convincing villain, and it’s easy to buy into the premise that she could be the
intellectual equal of Detective Goran. The scenes where the two characters are working to
get inside each other’s head also have a nice chemistry about them, and one almost
gets the sense that there is almost a mutual respect between them even though the plot
requires them to be enemies. However, the simple fact of the matter is that the writers do
seem to be perfectly comfortable working within the confines of well establish plots, as
this time out we get the well worn plot where the two mortal enemies are forced to work
together to bring down a greater evil, and while the writing makes a noble effort to keep
this plot twist under wraps I found myself waiting for the story to catch up with me after
I made the jump when the little girl made a point of mentioning that her father never
showed her any affection. The episode also managed to get off to a bit of a rocky start,
as the series goes out of it’s way to establish that we are following the adventures
of the Major Case Squad, and yet our detectives are pulled into the story before a body is
even discovered, and the episode is well past it’s halfway point before the case
warrants their involvement. As for the idea that Vincent D’Onofrio is going to be
sharing this series with the returning Christopher Noth, it’s a little early to say
much about this move, but so far it looks like it might work, as the scenes that revolved
around the new addition held my interest.
3 out of 5 Stars
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