October 24, 2006: Acts of Contrition
Great episode. I missed this one the first time around because, as I confessed a couple weeks ago, I was a lapsed
Criminal Intent viewer last season...just like Goren is a lapsed Catholic altar boy. Who knew? Well, I guess everybody that caught this one last year...
But really, this one did have it all from a nun buying prostitutes out of a seedy van (decidedly not of the mini variety), to the bloody murder of another nun inside a church. And that was all within the first five minutes. Okay,
Bad Lieutenant it wasn't, but you've gotta admit, Goren was pretty rough on that one pimp. "I said, hands behind your HEAD!" You tell him D'Onof.
While there was a classic
L&O murder-scene setup, I was pleasantly surprised that instead of following the case straight through, this ep took a number of interesting detours. Rather than the focus, the nun's murder only served as the catalyst to shake some skeletons out of another sister's closet with more than a little help from an uncommonly angry, crusading Carver.
The heated exchange that erupted mid-episode between the old D.A., Goren and Eames was one of those rare windows of insight into what makes these law machines tick. Instead of being driven by facts and phlemography (it's entertaining
and educational!), we saw Carver's fervent quest for not only justice, but absolute truth, butting up against the usually cool-and-collected Goren's impassioned defense of Sister Skinhead.
Heady stuff, but as usual,
Criminal Intent managed to deal with hot-button issues like race and religion (just missed the trifecta of bad dinner-table topics by avoiding politics) in a straightforward but thoughtful way.
Carver and the detectives even brought an atypically sensitive touch to wrapping the case(s) up. From the D.A.'s offer of sympathy
and a plea deal to the nun-murderer (See, you almost forgot about her, didn't you?) to Goren and Eames' gentle interrogation of Sister Skinhead, this wasn't one of those rousing slap-the-cuffs-on-'em endings, but more of a knowing head-nodder followed, perhaps, by a contemplative "hmm." But in my book, those are really the best kind, and the ones that'll stick with you.
However, I've gotta say, this ep really threw the trailer for next week's in sharp relief, as it gaudily trumpeted "
Ripped from the Headlines" in big, bold letters while flashing oddly tinted shots of a rather scary Liza Minnelli (is there any other kind, David Gest?). Let's just hope it's classier than it looks.
