Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV Series) Legacy (2008) User Reviews

Manipulation through social media

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 7 June 2016]

Stories about posh prep schools seem to be popular. Everyone loves living vicarious lives with the people shown at these schools. When they get taken down we also like seeing the rich get their's.

Detectives Goren and Eames catch a case at a prep school of a kind of misfit kid whose death is ruled a homicide. A couple of days earlier video of the victim was broadcast on social media of him getting beat up by a gang of girls. But as it turns out the incidents were separate.

But they are related because the perpetrator is masterminding a whole lot of what is going on in that school through social media. As Eric Bogosian points out kids even at the elite schools don't realize the social media stuff is permanent, something that us old folks like me never had to deal with.

In fact it all points to a member of a group who think they are the elite of the elite. Love seeing that crew get taken down.

The yearbook was gonna look like the cover of national geographic

[Mrpalli77 · 7/10 · 4 October 2017]

Paul Phillips (Peter Oliver) is a senior in a high-school academy restricted to rich brats. He's shy and he's afraid of his despotic father, a magnate displayed in the last Forbes front page, who likes sailing and playing squash in exclusive clubs. He woos a classmate who didn't show up at the prom; after few days he was beaten up by no reason in a park and he hanged himself in the school basement. Anyway Goren figured out soon after the suicide was actually a murder. Someone in this school wanted some people to turn on each other in order to pursue his personal interest and to prove he's a smart and successful guy, capable of set up a scam on his own, even by building fake identity online.

This episode shows a boarding school, where uptown boys and girls, bored and sick to grow up in the shadow of breakout parents, act as if there is no consequences over their conducts.

The popular kids

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 27 May 2021]

Season 7 of 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' was like an up and down yo-yo. There were outstanding episodes such as "Amends" and "Purgatory", but also disappointments like "Seeds" and particularly "Assassin". Do appreciate "Legacy" for even daring to tackle this subject matter, it is such a sensitive and topical subject and will always feel fresh no matter how many times it's portrayed in film and television. It's been covered a lot, but has so much relevance.

"Legacy" is a truly excellent episode, and as far as Season 7 of 'Criminal Intent' goes it is one of the best, while not quite being a show high-point. Also conceptually and in how it approaches the subject consider it one of the more interesting latter season episodes. Will always have appreciated it for even addressing social media, popularity and their dangers, regardless of how the execution fared. "Legacy" manages to do a great job with the execution, some potential traps when doing this type of story with none fallen into here.

Pretty much everything is done wonderfully. Would have liked to have seen a little more interaction between Goren and Eames, both character writing has been scaled back after such meaty character development for both in most Season 6 and 7 outings of theirs without losing what make them such great characters.

However, that is not a major issue. Not with the rest of the episode being so good. The production values are solid and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting. The direction is sympathetic enough without being leaden.

The script is thoughtful and is written in an accessible yet never simplistic way. No extraneous fat either and even Ross has some great truthful and matter of fact lines. The story drew me in straightaway and never let go until the surprising end, with the twists not being predictable or confusing. Really admired how layered it was in content and emotion, without trying to do too much and how it goes places where one doesn't expect. What could have been sordid and unpleasantly exploitative turned out to be thoughtfully and sensitively handled while not holding back when portraying the dangers of social media (something that is becoming more relevant with each day) and wanting to fit in.

Also thought that the aspect that could easily have not been tastefully done and been overused is kept at minimum. Interesting too to see some emphasis on class divide and the role it plays in the issues shown, a large one it plays too. Luckily that is not laid on too thick while not being trivialised. Did like the strong emphasis on the supporting characters and their relationships, done with tension and poignancy. Definitely some of the most well developed supporting characters of the season. The acting is very good from all, Vincent D'Onofrio's reaction to finding out about the schizophrenia within the family was very telling and moving.

On the whole, excellent. 9/10.

Yes i did it .. i did it

[mloessel · 6/10 · 21 September 2021]

As usual the last four minutes of the episode when the music is so morose (spelling?) the bad guys hand deliver the confession to the detectives. Goren and Eames just stand there and listen. This final scene is what makes this Law and Order series less appealing to me. The writers take a huge leap from reality and borrow from Perry Mason.