Chinoiserie (27 Oct. 2002)

The death of a young mother in front of her children while they're in Chinatown points towards the events at Tiananmen Square, but the clues send them towards antiquities instead.

Director:

David Platt

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Rene Balcer (developer),

Stars:

Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Jamey Sheridan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Detective Robert Goren
Kathryn Erbe	...	Detective Alexandra Eames
Jamey Sheridan	...	Captain James Deakins
Courtney B. Vance	...	A.D.A. Ron Carver
Peter Frechette	...	Stuart Gaston
Stephen Sable	...	Pang Ghiangji
Frank Wood	...	George Weems
Kim Chan	...	Mr. Hsu
Sean Cullen	...	Liam Montgomery
Harvey Atkin	...	Judge Alan Ridenour
Elizabeth Wilson	...	Lucille Mobray
Jordan Lage	...	John Littleton
Karen Tsen Lee	...	Annie Littleton
Leo Tran	...	Tao Jim
Ross Bickell	...	Harry Plimpton

Storyline

The death of a young mother in front of her children while they're in Chinatown points towards the events at Tiananmen Square, but the clues send them towards antiquities instead.

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Plot Keywords:

statuette | art gallery | ascot | daughter seeing mother murdered | dishwasher | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

27 October 2002 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, Universal Network Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

55 min 55 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Goren says that the shooter could not have been more than two feet away from the victim, but when she is shot, we can see more than two feet behind her, and there is no one there.

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Quotes

Lucille Mobray: [fighting tears] I just *had* to have it!

User Reviews

Okay, But A Bit On The Dry Side

Annie Ming Littleton is shopping in Chinatown with her two little kids when she recognizes someone, goes into hysterics yelling and chasing the guy. This is reminiscent of the 1976 film "Marathon Man" when Holocaust victims recognized an old Nazi on the streets of New York and yelled out, as this woman did. In this case, the woman recognized a man called "the butcher" who massacred people in the student uprising of 1989 in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Anyway, the man she was pursuing eludes her, gets in a car but the driver advises him to go back and do something about that because the woman recognized him. He does, killing her with two shots in the back.

That dramatic opening is really the only riveting part of this episode, which is sub-par only because it has limited appeal. It's really a story about smuggling Chinese artifacts and the dealings with that, much of which will bore most listeners. I wasn't bored, but most episodes are little more edgy than this one.