When new episodes of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" begin on USA Network on Sunday, they soon enough show that this series has completely lost its way — and not just because Vincent D'Onofrio's Goren is looking more like Orson Welles by the day …
Sunday's episode, "Purgatory," picks up after Goren's suspension, as he wonders if he can redeem himself with the department. This whole tortured-Goren thing has struck me as a way to keep D'Onofrio interested in playing the character, but it's taken the show away from its core premise: that of a master detective solving complicated crimes. In the show's early years, Sherlock Holmes was often brought up as a Goren prototype. And yes, Holmes had his flaws, but Sunday's episode is so burdened by the Goren story — and a not very interesting crime involving it — that it sags and drags. About the only good moment comes late, when Eames (Kathryn Erbe) has a few words for her partner; they're good words but, again, they belong in a different show.
There's also an odd bit of casting that threw me during "Purgatory." Dean Winters, of "Rescue Me" and "Oz" fame, plays a cop who draws Goren into his schemes. Winters also played, briefly, a detective on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Since the "L&O" universe has often moved characters around, I wondered if Winters was supposed to be playing his old character again — and that his use of another name was meant to suggest that Winters' character was undercover. The bottom line is that that was a lot of overthinking, but it was still a distraction that could have been avoided with different casting.
Speaking of casting, in the June 15 episode of "CI," duly note the brief promotional appearance by Mary McCormack as her character from USA's "In Plain Sight." Utterly useless.
That episode, called "Contract," focuses on Logan (Chris Noth) and the newly returned Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson). If I'm charting the places "CI" went wrong, I have to put a big star next to the show's bringing in Logan — Noth's character from the original "CI" — supposedly to ease the burden D'Onofrio felt from carrying the show every week. While Logan fit nicely in the original "L&O," that never suggested he was a crime-solving brain. On "CI," his cases have felt more pedestrian, and his confrontations with perps nowhere near as engaging as Goren's.
Anyway, "Contract" is muddled, an invocation of the movie "Sweet Smell of Success" but also a reworking of the scandal where a New York Post gossip columnist was accused of extorting money from one of his gossip subjects. The cast is intriguing — Jeff Gaspin, Illeana Douglas, Furio from "The Sopranos" — but the story is weak and the finale absurd. "CI" has already been picked up for another season, but it's clearly running out of inspiration.
{ 4 trackbacks }
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Dean Winters is also Dennis "The Beeper King" Duffy from "30 Rock" (insert a noogie for Liz Lemon here).
And I agree: D'Onofrio tends to go over the top sometimes. There's quirky and then there is whatever he'd doing. I always hope Eames just would smack him upside the head.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I'll save mine until Sunday night. A lot of people have bemoaned the direction the show has taken the last two years. Personally I have liked it. I've liked seeing more of Goren's background and Eames (and wish to see more of hers). I have liked a lot, but not all, of the crime stories. Untethered actually wasn't my favorite episode, although I thought VDO and KE did a great job. I just thought they should have really "extended" it to 90 minutes or even 2 hours and given us more Criminal Intent–why did the warden do what she did, why did the CO's go along with it, was the conflicted psychiatrist trying to find a way to report it, etc. However, I'm looking forward to Purgatory and what they have in store for us. I do hope that there is an end in sight to angsty Goren, but I'm good for the ride.
As for the casting, that isn't a problem for me. I'm used to seeing actors playing different characters on the three shows, or even on the same show. The newest detective on L&O has also played a detective on SVU. I did wonder if he would play the same character, but found out quickly he wasn't and I adjusted. I think I'll live with seeing Dean Winters play a different cop on CI.
And finally, about our Mikey. I am SO sick of hearing how Logan is no Goren! OF COURSE HE'S NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's the whole point. Eames is no Goren either, and no one complains. The show was built around Goren, fine. But I think it would have been a HUGE mistake if they had brought in a Goren wannabe to trade episodes with him. We would all be sitting around making fun of him because there simply is NO other Goren. I like that Logan is familiar from the original show. I like that he is a different type of cop. And he seems to be closing cases just fine, thank you. Is Major Case restricted to only Sherlock Holmes types? Doubt it. Goren may be my favorite, but Logan ain't no slouch. And the truth is that the episode that I think is the all time best episode ever is a Logan episode–Senseless.
OK, getting off my soap box now.
Actually the orginal premise of the show was supposed to be crime for the criminal's point of view, something that was abandened during the 1st season! In time , they decided that vincent was too good an actor to leave him off screem so much.
Eventualy,due to illness Vincent cut back to every other show. I perfeer it with Mike Logan than with vincent, his character makes me nurvious, just as Monk.
Yes, Jay, part of the original concept was this crime as seen by the criminal, but even that was fluid; at a press conference before the series premiered, exec producer Rene Balcer noted they had already done an episode where you didn't know who did the crime until the fourth act. And there was always the idea that Goren was a different kind of detective; in promotional material for the show, D'Onofrio notes that Goren will sometimes deduce things "out of the blue" and that he's an "odd guy." Certainly by the time the show began to air, Goren was playing the master detective. As for the Logan issue, Shawn, I don't mind Logan per se, just Logan in this format. The various "Law & Orders" each have their own kind of storytelling, and "CI's" just hasn't felt like the right place for Logan.
My my didn't we all get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! If you have a problam with the shows take it up with the writers, not the actors. Vincent is a fine actor, Goren is a complicated and difficult character, love him or hate him you can't ignore him. And as for the Orson Welles remark I think Vincent would not be offended he has said many times how much he admires him. Fans, watch the show and judge for yourself after it airs not before.
I'm so hooked on the character Goren that I'll take almost any storyline involving him. Though I admit I could not watch the episode in the insane asylum because seeing Goren so crazy in the promos upset me too much. And, I do prefer the older episodes which concentrate on Goren's amazing detective skills and his cerebral confrontations with perps.
I have this fear that Vincent D'Onofrio might leave the show, which would ruin it for me. Hang in there, Vincent.
I'm wary because the showrunner is probably leaving to go to HBO, and may coproduce and write their series In Treatment, which is my favorite new show. So, I'm torn because I'm dying for more In Treatment, but worry that CI will suffer with the absence of showrunner Warren Leight. From Variety:
"Leight had been with "Criminal Intent" since the show's second season. A noted playwright, Leight won the Tony in 1999 for "Side Man." He also wrote and produced Sidney Lumet's A&E drama "100 Centre Street."" {Great show!}
I thought Bridges of Madison County was ruined with distracting casting as well. I couldn't help but think that Dirty Harry was going to blow poor Meryl Streep's head off.
I'm also disappointed that Julianne Nicholson is returning. I liked her on the show, but Alicia Witt, who filled in last year during Nicholson's maternity leave, was a much more interesting and vibrant performer.
Personally I love the direction the show is taking. I am a Goren fan, through and through. I will watch and enjoy any episode he is in, and I am especially looking forward to this upcoming episode. I really like all the background they are giving us on Goren, it's actually something I've wanted for a long time. I could go with angsty Goren for a long time. But I like him no matter what.
As for Logan, he's alright, but I also think he was better suited for the original L&O.
My favorite episodes are, of course, the Goren ones.
Uhh … Sandra. The Orson Welles remark was meant as a shot at the guy's increasingly bloated appearance, not as a comparison to Welles' acting. Few people appreciate being called a fat pig, so you'd better believe D'Onofrio would be "offended." But truth be told, five more boxes of Twinkies, and he'll need an apple stuffed in his mouth while he's twirling around on a spit.
I'm a devoted Vincent D'Onofrio fan, but, when the original Law and Order series began, I loved the Mike Logan character played by Chris Noth.
The episode that I really loved was when the two teams worked together as they did in the episode in a take-off of what happened in Aruba srarring Colm Meaney as the rapist judge and his sad wannabe son.
It was fun to watch Goren and Logan bonding over Frank Sinatra, or, as Eames so aptly said to Annabella Sciorra as Logan's first partner, "There they go, Ocean's Two"
I think that the show has gotten a very dark edge but that is the norm when a show has been on a long time– I guess the writers get homicidal feelings towards their characters.
I wish that they would give my Beloved Bobby a break– no one's life is filled with such unrelieved gloom and depression– there is always some humor(even dark humor) to filter in and slightly raise the spirits.
Vincent D'Onofrio is equally adept at comedy and I wish that he would get a script that would allow us to see that goofy and quirky side to him again in LOCI.
As to his weight, the man is Hot Sex on legs no matter what he weighs, although, for his health sake, I wish that he would take off twenty or thirty pounds. I don't want to lose my favorite character to heart disease or some other obesity related illness!
uh, Vincent Donofrio PLAYED Orson Welles in Ed Wood. They already have that link
I disagree that Logan is out of place. He definitely reasoned out some tough cases on the original L&O, and they especially showcased his crime solving talent in "Exhiled", the L&O movie. While you are right that lately the episodes have been not so great, Logan on the show since his return has been captivating, especially if you were a fan of him on the first five years of the original.