Review(s): DVD Law & Order Criminal Intent - The Third Year (2003-04 Season)
Where the Heck is Season 2
This is not a review of Season 3 as much as a major complaint that season 2 has not yet been released. What's that all about. I have been waiting somewhat patiently but my patience is about gone. This is my favorite of the L & O Series and I am quite ticked off that S-2 has not been released. I'm hoping someone who has clout will read these reviews and take note.
Mas de lo mismo
Quienes hayan visto "Law & Order - Criminal Intent" Primera Temporada, lo habrán visto todo. Se trata de una serie construida sobre la base de un único personaje , el detective neoyorquino Robert Goren, encarnado por Vicent D'Onofrio, rodeado de personajes que más bien parecen figuras decorativas. Las tramas no muestran ninguna mejora con respecto a las primeras, ni tampoco los personajes. D'Onofrio compone muy bien su personaje, pero los guiones caen reiteradamente en finales previsibles, donde la presión sicológica ejercida por el intuitivo policia logra la confesion del crimen. Los personajes carecen de rasgos emotivos que otorguen matices a sus comportamientos. Ademas, visualmente la serie es pobre, y los relatos carecen de sorpresa y escenas de alto impacto.
A VERY GOOD SEASON
i'll admit - Law & Order Criminal Intent is an acquired taste. The stories can be so complicared that more than one viewing is often necessary. The stories are also very cruel, but then those murders brutal enough to gain notice by the Major Case Squad would be. Many find Vincent D'Onofrio's outlandish characterization of Det. Bobby Goren hard to take. And it is the most formula of the Law & Order franchise.
Goren gets away with things in interrogation that the suspects' kawyers would never sit still for. And I don't know how well the evidence would hold up in court.
I feel a good actor like Jamie Sheridan has little to do. Kathryn Erbe as Det. Alexandra Eames is a personal favorite, with her frequent asides and remarks about Goren's quirks. By the way, why does series creator Dick Wolf name so many of his female characters Alexandra? There was Alexandra Cabot on SVU and now on Law & Order Alexandra Borgia.
Eames'presence this third season is reduced due to the actress's real life pregnancy. Goren's partner in seven episodes is Samantha Buck as Det Bishop. The big mistake is that there is no episode intriducing Bishop and her character's first name is never revealed.
I'm hoping next season's addition of Chris Noth, reprising his original Law & Order character Det. Mike Logan (signed for 11 episodes) will diversify the format. Maybe the addition of more detectives, as there is in SVU, would be in order.
in this season there are quite a few references to the second season, which begs a question - when is universal going to release those episodes on dvd?
The big problem with all the Law & Order series is the inconsistency in dates. Title cards appear before several scenes telling the audience when these events are taking place. They are often inaccurate, which seems the antithesis of their purpose. For example, Eames returns from maternity leave in January. but Bishop's last eoisode takes place in February, Are we to assume Eames came back then took another month off later? In the episode The Saint, it is supposed to be February. The detectives find a letter they say was mailed two weeks earlier - but when they show a close up of the envelope the postmark is in March! And in the episode Fico Di Capo, it is supposed to be April but the ground is covered with snow. As a former denizen of the east coast i can tell you there are rarely flurries in April - and almost never a full blanket of snow that time of year. Does no one at Wolf Films own a calendar?/
One mistake is in the episode Pas De Deux where the writers can't seem to decide if the perp's name is Johnny or Donny. These quibbles aside, I enjoy the series and this season in particular.
Universal - get that second seaon on the shelves. And let's hope the producers will pay more attention to these important details in the future.
Related DVD's Law & Order Criminal Intent - The Third Year (2003-04 Season)
Dick Wolf (Law & Order) has claimed that Arthur Conan Doyle inspired him to create Criminal Intent. Indeed, the brilliant--if socially awkward--Robert "Bobby" Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) and cool-headed partner Alexandra "Alex" Eames (Kathryn Erbe) do come across like a modern day Holmes and Watson. Rather than England, however, they're members of New York's major case squad. (Trivia buffs may find it of interest that D'Onofrio played Holmes's arch-nemesis Moriarty in the 2002 made-for-cable movie Case of Evil.) The show, which premiered in 2001, added "criminal" to the successful "law" and "order" equation. Each episode moves back and forth between the efforts of Goren and Eames to track down "the worst criminal offenders" and the efforts of the offenders to evade... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Vincent D'Onofrio DVD Release Date: Released the 21 October 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I love this series, but I refuse to buy season 5 until 3 and 4 come out. Call me crazy, but why would I not want to watch the episodes in order? I've been waiting for years for them to fill in the gap between 2 and 5. What are they doing?! More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 14 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Reviewers like John Q. Public "vhspreowner" annoy me. Here's a person that obviously doesn't care about what he's reviewing, he just wants to trash anything popular. Don't beleive me? Look at his reviews. The guy doesn't like anything.
I, however, do like things. Many things. I include among them the Law & Order franchise. This season was released as a tribute to Jerry Orbach, as it was his last season playing Lennie Briscoe. Sadly, it turned out to be a tribute to Jerry as well, as he died shortly after leaving the show. Over the course of almost 11 seasons, Jerry became the man people thought of when you said "New York Detective." Dennis Franz was close as Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue, but Jerry was king. The man made the performances of those around him better... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jerry Orbach DVD Release Date: Released the 14 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The second season of Law & Order: SVU differs from the first as not as much time is spent on the detective's families. Ice-T and Stephanie March debut in the first episode of the season as Det. Fin Tutuola and ADA Alex Cabot, respectively. Michelle Hurd leaves the show shortly into the season as her character quits after being relegated to desk duty since being accused of having sex with a suspect. The show really hit its stride in this season. Seemingly everyone is involved with every episode, as opposed to today where Fin and Richard Belzer's Det. Munch do very little. Late in the season, B.D. Wong debuts as psychiatrist Dr. Huang. His character is a bit darker (for lack of a better word) in earlier episodes. Overall, this is a great season for the show and I highly recommend... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 27 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Law & Order's third year marked a transitional one for the top-rated drama. In 1992, Jerry Orbach (Prince of the City) joined the cast. His Det. Lenny Briscoe would turn out to be one of its most enduring characters. After Sgt. Phil Ceretta (Paul Sorvino) is shot by a gun dealer in episode eight ("Prince of Darkness"), Briscoe teams up with Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth) in the next ("Point of View"). It wasn't meant to be a permanent change (Ceretta was injured, not killed), but the two would continue to beat the streets until Logan's departure in 1995 (Orbach, meanwhile, would remain part of the Law & Order universe until his passing in 2004).
The line-up was otherwise the same: Capt. Donald Craven (Dann Florek), ADA Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks), ADA Benjamin... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jerry Orbach DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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