« Law & Order: Criminal Intent
December 12, 2006: Tru Love
Now that I’m officially caught up on all of this season’s episodes, I’m glad I got to finally witness Logan and Wheeler’s awkward beginnings — and were they ever awkward. Without going over every example of Logan’s now-standard casual sexism, let’s just say he had a few misconceptions about what it would be like to work with a female partner. He certainly didn’t anticipate Wheeler’s knowledge of motorcycles or her ability to flirt (?) with a lesbian mechanic — nor her ability to translate IM-ese into actual English.
All of which was more interesting than the crime(s) at hand. After the Mary Kay Letourneau case and the more recent Debbie LaFave one, this whole teacher-in-love-with-underage-pupil routine has long passed its expiration date. Ditto for all of those “edgy” camera tricks that made the beginning of this one look more like a late-’90s student film than a dignified member of the Law & Order family.
That said, as usual, all of the actors involved did a fine job — particularly Anne Dudek, who brought surprising humanity as well as the expected insanity to her portrayal of the lecherous teacher, a thankless role that easily could have become a caricature.
But the plot was all so by-the-numbers, ripped-from-last-decade’s-headlines, and the only development I didn’t see coming was that teach wasn’t pregnant with the kid’s kid, but rather with his dead father’s. And that actually served to make the situation more boring. As any M. Night Shyamalan fan (the few that are left, anyway) will tell you, that effect is the opposite of what a good twist ending should do.
Next week: Yet another repeat is on the schedule, which means another Goren-Eames episode from last season. That makes it a total of five new episodes in three months for D’Onof — just how much time off does this guy need?
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Dec 12, 2006 10:39 PM
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I have to admit I am getting tired of seeing repeats, I hope the show is not going on hiatus.
Also, I read that Vincent D'Onofrio was back with his ex-wife Carin Van Der Donk, if that is true I wonder if that has anything to do with his time off as well. If anyone has information on this inquiring minds want to know.
I truly miss his acting!
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Dec 22, 2006 1:10 PM
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