"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" Con-Text (2003)

Director:

Alex Zakrzewski

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator)
Rene Balcer (developer)

TV Series:

"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2001)

Original Air Date:

5 January 2003 (Season 2, Episode 10)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

When a mob related father-son murder-suiWhen a mob-related father-son murder-suicide doesn't hold true, detectives Goren and Eames find a connection to a nobody younger brother, a self-help guru, and two million missing dollars. |

Plot Keywords:

Detective | New York City | Trial | Gun | Interrogation

Cast

Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Detective Robert Goren
Kathryn Erbe	...	Detective Alexandra Eames
Jamey Sheridan	...	Captain James Deakins
Courtney B. Vance	...	A.D.A. Ron Carver
John Benjamin Hickey	...	Randall Fuller
Sean Dugan	...	Doug Morgan
Graeme Malcolm	...	Mickey Connelly
Mark Blum	...	Dr. Philip Oliver
Karen Black	...	Vera Morgan
Heather Goldenhersh	...	Roseanne Connelly
Gibson Frazier	...	Jimmy Connelly
Julie Lauren	...	Lena Caruso
Eric Martin Brown	...	Kevin
John Viscardi	...	Barry Cooper
William Jess Russell	...	Keppler

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

New Zealand:M (DVD rating)

Company:

Wolf Films

Quotes:

Detective Robert Goren: They use the same psychological coercion as cults.
Detective Alexandra Eames: So did the guy who sold me my car.

Putting Things In 'Context'

Meek little "Dougie Morgan," kind of a momma's boy who needed some "context" in his life, some positive re-enforcement in his personality, kills his father and brother. Money is the big motive as Doug, thanks to the murder, can help finance this psychic take-control-of-your- type New Age positive-thinking-self-help-group.

Goren uses an analogy of the Manson girls, the way they always looked at Charles, after seeing Doug eying someone as as he caught on camera taking big money out of a bank account. A closeup of that video also spots a woman in the background, the one Doug as eying for reassurance. She is one of the two gurus Doug talks to regularly and he is especially enamored with her. Thus, he is more than reluctant to say he knows who she is. Goren and Eames have to go after these "cult" leaders.

The show has their normal agenda, which really becomes obvious when Morgan is shown at the end with this boyishly-innocence. Sad the writers almost forgot that he still murdered two people. The leader of the group was, indeed, a bad man - but so was the kid. To make him look like a misguided Andy Hardy is ridiculous. Also, the leader, in real life, would never have risked going down to the police station at the end for a talk with the kid.

Anyway, it's still 40 minutes of pretty good entertainment and, of note, playing Doug's mother was Karen Black, who I haven't seen since she was star movie actress in the early '70s. However, her resume shows she's been busy ever since, but in a lot TV spots or B-type movies few people have heard about.