intertribal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
intertribal) wrote2007-05-15 10:02 pm
intertribal) wrote2007-05-15 10:02 pm
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what do new york (television) couples fight about?
I watched the two newest episodes for Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Criminal Intent tonight. I was amazed by how much better the Criminal Intent episode was.
SVU has become histrionic. Really - see the definition for Histrionic Personality Disorder. Not only did it rehash a previous SVU episode (which was, in its day, and in comparison, quite good) about a 28-year-old woman masquerading as a 16-year-old girl, jumping from foster home to foster home in a desperate attempt to stay 16 and loved, but it rehashed it in a way that made me laugh out loud several times. The girl was constantly in pigtails, was run into by a car, had her jaw wired shut at one point and just moaned in anger at the detectives when they accused her of being 28, and eventually defended herself in court on statuatory rape charges brought by her former boyfriends, in crutches and pigtails. Of course, the whole episode was histrionic - starting with the woman who's been convinced that a sex offender was behind her son's death for the past 10 years, then misidentifies the dead body as her son when she hasn't seen him in 10 years, leading the detectives to nearly arrest the sex offender - on that evidence alone. See what I mean? If they had stuck with the "extreme fighting" thing and allowed the teenage boy who killed his best friend during an attempt at "extreme fighting" to just say what he originally said: that he failed at everything that was rewarded at high school, and so he found extreme fighting, and in that he could be God - now, that would have made for a good point, and a point that I believe parents of high schoolers need to hear. The disenfranchisement and alienation of many teenagers nowadays, leading them to turn to outlets otherwise not acceptable in adult society, is very powerful. Instead, SVU managed to turn it into a scintillating soap opera about a grown woman who still looks 16 and sleeps with lots of little boys, like Mary Kay Letorneau or something. I was so disappointed.
Criminal Intent, however, has become personal and yet remains extremely cerebral. I actually only came in during the latter half of the episode, but the most important part was in the second half anyway. Basically, there was a serial killer - in his 60s. They found a bunch of photographs that he'd taken of women who he'd later raped and killed, spanning the decades, and were trying to identify the women from the pictures. In the end, naturally, they had to get the serial killer himself to identify them, though in exchange he wanted a delay in his execution. They find a new batch of photos at his summer house and as he's going through them, describing them, he talks about one of them as being from the same neighborhood as, and having the same family members as, Goren's mother. Goren's mother is still alive. He questions her about it, and then his older hobo brother. Both are a little schizophrenic and his mother is dying of cancer - there's indication that his brother has only shown up at her side at this late hour because he wants to make sure that he's in the will. He finds out that the serial killer was known to the family as Uncle Mark, the handyman, who would spend weekends with his mother while the father was away - and they had some kind of a "car crash" together that changed his mother (he raped her?). All this leads the captain to take Goren off the case, but Eames asks that he be put back on, promising to look out for him if he starts losing control, which he does, of course. He talks to the serial killer again and after realizing that his suspicions are correct, he tries to choke him in the brick prison tomb. The killer says, "Kill me, I know you can do it", but Goren stops. He then visits his mother in the hospital again, asking, "When did you see him? What about the year before I was born?" Becoming hysterical, his mother says, "Why do you have to bring this up?" and then, "I never knew, Bobby..." She was never sure who his father was - the absent husband, or the serial killer. She then dies. The serial killer is executed. Goren is clearly devastated, and for good reason - I can't imagine there are much things worse than having to disengage from one of your pillars - your parents - because they have turned out to be so bad.
I am, a) very glad that Criminal Intent has been renewed for a seventh season, because I think it does have a strong core audience of fans, and b) somewhat disappointed that SVU is so much more popular. I think SVU used to be much better - but popularity has gone to its head, as popularity has a way of doing, and has turned it into a show that is not worthy of the mighty Law & Order franchise, because it has lost its intellectual complexity. Criminal Intent has always been the most cerebral, explaining why it's the least popular (sigh), but it's also the most rational and level-headed, which makes the personal character developments all the more meaningful.
Yes, I know it's very shippy, but I think it's also fairly restrained and in-character... especially if you've read some of the Goren/Eames out-of-character fanfictions out there.
Oh yeah, I've decided that "What New York Couples Fight About" would be a great song for a Criminal Intent AMV. Somebody should go make it.
SVU has become histrionic. Really - see the definition for Histrionic Personality Disorder. Not only did it rehash a previous SVU episode (which was, in its day, and in comparison, quite good) about a 28-year-old woman masquerading as a 16-year-old girl, jumping from foster home to foster home in a desperate attempt to stay 16 and loved, but it rehashed it in a way that made me laugh out loud several times. The girl was constantly in pigtails, was run into by a car, had her jaw wired shut at one point and just moaned in anger at the detectives when they accused her of being 28, and eventually defended herself in court on statuatory rape charges brought by her former boyfriends, in crutches and pigtails. Of course, the whole episode was histrionic - starting with the woman who's been convinced that a sex offender was behind her son's death for the past 10 years, then misidentifies the dead body as her son when she hasn't seen him in 10 years, leading the detectives to nearly arrest the sex offender - on that evidence alone. See what I mean? If they had stuck with the "extreme fighting" thing and allowed the teenage boy who killed his best friend during an attempt at "extreme fighting" to just say what he originally said: that he failed at everything that was rewarded at high school, and so he found extreme fighting, and in that he could be God - now, that would have made for a good point, and a point that I believe parents of high schoolers need to hear. The disenfranchisement and alienation of many teenagers nowadays, leading them to turn to outlets otherwise not acceptable in adult society, is very powerful. Instead, SVU managed to turn it into a scintillating soap opera about a grown woman who still looks 16 and sleeps with lots of little boys, like Mary Kay Letorneau or something. I was so disappointed.
Criminal Intent, however, has become personal and yet remains extremely cerebral. I actually only came in during the latter half of the episode, but the most important part was in the second half anyway. Basically, there was a serial killer - in his 60s. They found a bunch of photographs that he'd taken of women who he'd later raped and killed, spanning the decades, and were trying to identify the women from the pictures. In the end, naturally, they had to get the serial killer himself to identify them, though in exchange he wanted a delay in his execution. They find a new batch of photos at his summer house and as he's going through them, describing them, he talks about one of them as being from the same neighborhood as, and having the same family members as, Goren's mother. Goren's mother is still alive. He questions her about it, and then his older hobo brother. Both are a little schizophrenic and his mother is dying of cancer - there's indication that his brother has only shown up at her side at this late hour because he wants to make sure that he's in the will. He finds out that the serial killer was known to the family as Uncle Mark, the handyman, who would spend weekends with his mother while the father was away - and they had some kind of a "car crash" together that changed his mother (he raped her?). All this leads the captain to take Goren off the case, but Eames asks that he be put back on, promising to look out for him if he starts losing control, which he does, of course. He talks to the serial killer again and after realizing that his suspicions are correct, he tries to choke him in the brick prison tomb. The killer says, "Kill me, I know you can do it", but Goren stops. He then visits his mother in the hospital again, asking, "When did you see him? What about the year before I was born?" Becoming hysterical, his mother says, "Why do you have to bring this up?" and then, "I never knew, Bobby..." She was never sure who his father was - the absent husband, or the serial killer. She then dies. The serial killer is executed. Goren is clearly devastated, and for good reason - I can't imagine there are much things worse than having to disengage from one of your pillars - your parents - because they have turned out to be so bad.
I am, a) very glad that Criminal Intent has been renewed for a seventh season, because I think it does have a strong core audience of fans, and b) somewhat disappointed that SVU is so much more popular. I think SVU used to be much better - but popularity has gone to its head, as popularity has a way of doing, and has turned it into a show that is not worthy of the mighty Law & Order franchise, because it has lost its intellectual complexity. Criminal Intent has always been the most cerebral, explaining why it's the least popular (sigh), but it's also the most rational and level-headed, which makes the personal character developments all the more meaningful.
If Criminal Intent must someday end, however (and I think it should end when Goren leaves the show - it's not like regular Law & Order's revolving cast), it should end this way: Goren's signs of wear and tear that are already developing get worse. So, perhaps, do Eames's. At the end of one particularly wrenching episode (perhaps the return of Nicole Wallace?) he is told to take time off, and Eames decides she needs some too. They are seen leaving the Major Case squadroom, briefly holding hands as they enter the elevator. The next couple episodes can be handled by Logan and whoever his newest partner is. Eventually, though, Major Case runs into a hitch and feels the need to ask Goren for his brain's help. When they visit him at his apartment (I'm assuming he has an apartment?), Eames answers the door, and it is made clear that she has been staying there. Goren and Eames return to Major Case to solve this case, but at the end, they are seen talking to the captain. Logan and partner-whoever raise eyebrows at each other from outside. Inside the captain's office, the captain asks them where they plan on going. Eames says, "Upstate, maybe Ithaca." And Goren says, "Somewhere quiet." "Yeah," says the Captain. "Sounds nice." He wishes them luck, and they leave his office. They walk by Logan and partner-whatever. Goren just says, "See ya", and heads for the elevator, but Eames feels the need to explain a bit: "Bobby and I are leaving Major Case." "Why?" Logan's naive young partner asks. "Oh, it's just... time for something new," Eames answers. Logan looks at the elevator, where Goren is pacing, waiting for her. He raises his eyebrows (Logan likes to raise his eyebrows) at Eames, who just smiles and bids them goodbye. She goes to the elevator, where Goren finally presses the down button. The captain comes out and stands next to Logan's desk, saying, "I wonder why they chose Ithaca." Logan's partner says, "I hear it's a good place to raise children." The elevator doors open in the distance and Goren escorts Eames in with his arm around her waist. The End.
Yes, I know it's very shippy, but I think it's also fairly restrained and in-character... especially if you've read some of the Goren/Eames out-of-character fanfictions out there.
Oh yeah, I've decided that "What New York Couples Fight About" would be a great song for a Criminal Intent AMV. Somebody should go make it.