Wow. Hands down, this was the best episode of the season, and it certainly ranks among the top
Criminal Intent outings to date. The craftsmanship was just far more superior to what most crime dramas offer today - particularly in the way Killer Scheider's death-row countdown dovetailed with the deathwatch over Goren's cancer-stricken mother.
I loved the whole format of this episode, the way we worked backwards to slowly unearth decades of brutal crimes and long-buried bodies. And it was made all the more disturbing by
Roy Scheider's chilling portrayal of a serial killer delighting in his murderous reminiscences, lovingly flipping through his scrapbooks of victims like they were cherished family albums.
Like Goren, I knew it was all leading somewhere (thanks in part to those overly revealing previews last week), but I never would have guessed the trail was leading back to his own mother - and the possibility that the detective's father was that very same killer, a man known to Goren's deadbeat brother as "Uncle Mark." So it was cathartic to see the rage and frustration building in Goren throughout this season finally explode as he leapt at Scheider and nearly strangled him to death (with no intervention from those stoic guards).
Though we'll get to see Eames again next week, we'll leave Goren a broken man, and even if
D'Onofrio does return next year, I suspect we'll see a different Robert Goren. That final shot, with the detective sitting alone in a darkened hospital room was just so heartbreaking and so completely bleak, it was the perfect coda - and possibly, farewell.
NBC should have taken a good, hard look at this episode before shuffling
CI off to cable: A series capable of this kind of work deserves better.
Next week:: It's season finale time for our beloved
Criminal Intent, and the last first-run NBC episode for the foreseeable future. Though I would have preferred to see this incredible Goren/Eames episode close the season out, next week looks to be an action-packed finish light years beyond the recent Logan/Wheeler outings. I'll take it.
Watch online:: Can't wait for next week's season finale? For more than 100 clips of
Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes, visit TV Guide's new
Online Video Guide.
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Wow. Hands down, this was the best episode of the season, and it certainly ranks among the top Criminal Intent outings to date. The craftsmanship was just far more superior to what most crime dramas offer today — particularly in the way Killer Scheider’s death-row countdown dovetailed with the deathwatch over Goren’s cancer-stricken mother. I loved the whole format of this episode, the way we worked backwards to slowly unearth decades of brutal crimes and long-buried bodies. And it was made all the more disturbing by Roy Scheider’s chilling portrayal of a serial killer delighting in his murderous reminiscences, lovingly flipping through his scrapbooks of victims like they were cherished family albums.Like Goren, I knew it was all leading somewhere (thanks in part to those overly revealing previews last week), but I never would have guessed the trail was leading back to his own mother — and the possibility that the detective’s father was that very same k...
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