"This kid Holden's lost control of his set."
That pretty much sums up this episode's whole crazy chain of events. The hour may have been a little convoluted but was compelling and fresh from the first frame to the last.
I'll admit that I was a little skeptical going into this one, after last week's ripped-from-the-headlines story style, which was both too literal
and too out-there for its own good. But I think the writers handled the technique correctly this week, using the LonelyGirl15 debacle as a springboard rather than a crutch. What we got was a carefully plotted hoax, amateur film and kidnapping all rolled into one.
I thought it was great to see the detectives scrambling to play catch-up to a new type of crime they definitely weren't trained for at the police academy. It would have been interesting to see Goren handle this case, but
Noth played just the right blend of bravado and bewilderment - while still offering up his trademark sarcastic wit. Favorite line (to Wheeler): "Your face now represents the entire NYPD." (To makeup artist): "Do what you can."
And while sometimes I get the feeling that the
Criminal Intent writers are throwing in twist after twist just to keep us guessing, a constant shifting of reality (or lack thereof) was just what this case called for. It wasn't until Willow was being interviewed at the end of the episode by
Larry King - in his 1,000th or so cameo as himself - that I really knew who was telling the truth and just what their motives were. At least, I think I knew.
Anyway, it was nice to see
Wallace Shawn of
Princess Bride fame in a scenery-chewing cameo as a film-school professor lamenting his students' affinity for MTV-style quick-cutting. Has that guy aged
a day since he was trying to figure out which cup Westley put the poison in?
A couple nice movie references to note, as well: First, there was the film-school-cum-video-store-clerk (aka young
Tim Meadows), who claimed director-boy stole from his script, drawing a connection between this episode's on-camera ear-slicing and the one in
Quentin Tarantino's
Reservoir Dogs... which itself paid homage to the late, great Japanese director Akira Kurosowa's influential
Rashomon. And no, I haven't actually seen
Rashomon yet, but it's in my Netflix queue somewhere, so get off my back already.
One minor quibble: [
Begin rant] Why is it that TV writers insist on confusing the fans of old WB series as much as humanly possible? First they named
Jared Padalecki's brother "Dean" on
Supernatural, when everyone knows that was the name of Padalecki's character on
Gilmore Girls. And now they go and name
Michelle Trachtenberg's character on this
CI Willow, when faithful
Buffy fans know Trachtenberg is Dawn and a certain redheaded witch is Willow. What gives, guys? [
End rant]
Next week: No preview, but according to our trusty
TV listings, it looks like we're in for a Goren & Eames repeat from last season, featuring Head Droog
Malcolm McDowell. Can we hope for a bit of the old ultraviolence?
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“This kid Holden’s lost control of his set.” That pretty much sums up this episode’s whole crazy chain of events. The hour may have been a little convoluted but was compelling and fresh from the first frame to the last.I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical going into this one, after last week’s ripped-from-the-headlines story style, which was both too literal and too out-there for its own good. But I think the writers handled the technique correctly this week, using the LonelyGirl15 debacle as a springboard rather than a crutch. What we got was a carefully plotted hoax, amateur film and kidnapping all rolled into one.I thought it was great to see the detectives scrambling to play catch-up to a new type of crime they definitely weren’t trained for at the police academy. It would have been interesting to see Goren handle this case, but Noth played just the right blend of bravado and bewilderment — while still offering up his trademark sarcast...
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