If you're not already doing so, you should probably take my opinion with the big caveat that this show and its ilk are not really my cup of tea. I watched a few episodes of Criminal Intent when it first came to the UK and I remember quite enjoying it in the non-committal, far-from-hooked way in which I have always watched this series and those of other similar franchises such as CSI. However my girlfriend quite likes this sort of thing because, she will freely admit, they don't represent a massive demand on your brain, while the 42-minute story arches mean you can dip in and out without worrying about missing anything too important (unlike shows such as Sopranos, The Wire, 24 etc). Anyway, the reason she decided to watch season 8 of this show was because of the addition of Jeff Goldblum to the cast – an actor who is perhaps not that varied but is quite enjoyable with what he does.
Starting the season informed us that this would be a tag-team approach between the two male/female set of detectives, with Goren and Eames doing one episode, Nichols and Wheeler doing the next and so on. With no real overall narrative flow the show does come down to the individual episodes to work, which I guess means that the writers deserve credit for coming up with as many solid crime stories as they do. None of them ever set the screen on fire but they are not "bad" by any means and if you are looking for a simple story that will be resolved by the end of the episode then it delivers on that. Personally I find it rather dull and lacking any sort of hook but each to their own. The problem for me being bored is that I start picking holes and wondering whether some of the lies that the detectives used must surely be easily used by the defendants' lawyers to get the case thrown out when it comes down to the trial, but this sort of stuff comes with the genre I guess.
The main thing that stops me really enjoying the show is the overly serious and sombre tone it has throughout. It never seems to deserve this or be able to justify being this way and it feels like it has been papered on. The music is the worst example of this and it really bugged me at times, with this constant brooding score playing over the vast majority of the scenes making me feel like an idiot who needs to have this heavy presence to make me realise that "this is a proper crime drama". The performances seem to be pitched the same way. I remember quite liking D'Onofrio when I dipped in and out of CI some years ago but here he is just morose and lacking much in the way of character. On top of that his greying hair and increasing bulk makes him seem like CSI's Grissam but with any flair or life sucked out. Erbe plays it very straight perhaps to a fault. As a result of this, after a few goes we ended up just watching the episodes led by Goldblum and Nicholson. Goldblum does add a bit of life to his episodes. Like I said, his routine is almost at point of self-parody but he does at least have a bit of spark to him. Perhaps the writers push this too far though, since they cannot help but have him play piano at every given chance and maybe overdo his tricky, smirky turn at times. Nicholson plays off him well – letting him hog the scene but not just being dull. Bogosian delivers a solid performance although the well-worn rut of his character is a bit of an open goal. The various special guests that come and go do pretty good work with the only downside being that mostly you can guess the killer (or someone who is key in the solution) simply based on the fact that you know their face from somewhere – example being Herc from The Wire playing a minor character who apparently has no connection to the crime being investigated, I called it within a second of seeing his face and generally this sort of logic does work every time.
I know that this is one of the big network shows that gets a lot of viewers but, on the evidence of season 8, even with the fresh addition of Goldblum, I struggle to see why. It carries itself with an unjustified heavy and sombre air and generally lacks spark or a hook across the board. It is all too expensive and professionally made to be "bad" but I found almost nothing in it to be excited or enthusiastic about.
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