The day after breaking a case, and the anniversary of the death of Goren's mother, Frank Goren is found dead, and Goren just happens to be at the scene of the crime. Goren is keen to be involved, particularly when it looks like Frank's killer might have been Nicole Wallace. However, after tracking down Nicole, they discover a heart which Rodgers confirms belongs to Wallace. Goren begins to lose sight of the case, not helped by Ross's belief that Goren might be the killer. Forced into investigating Goren, Eames finds herself in an unenviable position, and Rodgers also is forced into betraying Goren's trust. With no one to turn to, Goren finds himself again keeping company with Declan Gage, who is convinced that the killer is someone close to Goren - possibly even Eames herself.
I laughed my arse off during this episode when I got a phone call from a friend to tell me that he thought Goren looked like a fat, hobo - all he was missing was a bottle of whiskey, and there is a certain truth in that statement. It's a little ironic that the plot of the episode is about Dr Declan Gage believing that Goren has fallen off the rails and he is determined to put him back on track. Of course, as only a complete nutcase could think, his solution is to murder a large number of people.
This is Warren Leight's last episode as showrunner and one gets the feeling that he's decided to wrap up Goren's life completely with a completely fresh start. As a result, aside from the return of Dr Declan Gage, we also see the return of Nicole Wallace (although rather surprisingly her appearances are actaully very small), Gwen Chappell, Frank Goren and copious amounts of flashbacks to previous episodes. And, with the exception of Gwen, they are all bumped off (although, to be fair, Gage's death is still impending).
I don't have any conscientious objections to episodes featuring returning characters, although in Criminal Intent I'd probably prefer it happened a lot less, although that said I didn't mind Goren's tussels with Nicole Wallace - she was, after all, the Moriarty to his Holmes. I was never terribly happy with the whole Goren family storyline, and the death of Frank, and the discovery that serial killer Mike Brady was indeed Goren's father will hopefully end the entire situation.
The problem with this episode was that there wasn't any real invesitagation. It was Goren and Eames following a series of stupid clues and never actually solving a crime. There was no real showdown between Goren and Gage because Gage pretty much confessed and spent the rest of the time talking about why he did it. And, most annoying of all, it seems Nicole's final end is almost an offscreen thing. The last Nicole Wallace episode, for anyone who may remember, was the episode which had two endings that the public had to vote for. The ending they voted for, of course, was the one where Nicole escaped before the police arrived, but it seems such a shame as the alternate ending where Goren shot her seemed a far more appropriate end to her. And in light of this episode, it was a much better finale for her.
This episode also cemented the relationship between Goren and Eames, as Eames is forced into investigating her partner, but it's nice to see later she is pretty firm in her defense of her partner, not just to Gage, but also to Ross. I've spent the last few years hoping Goren would punch Ross in the face, but sadly as close as Goren gets to doing in this episode it never happens. In fact Ross is a complete prick in this episode, and while it's understandable that he should consider Goren a suspect, his complete lack of faith in his best detective is constantly surprising. Last week he lost Logan, this week he's coming close to losing Goren - given the amount of cases these two detectives close, you'd think that the COD's would have something to say about it - except as we all know he hates Goren as well. Whatever happened to the days when Deakins ran the department and Goren merely had to think someone was guilty for Carver to issue a warrent.
With Leight moving on, hopefully this is the end of the two year period of deep, dark personal issues and we can go back to solving cases with that quirky Goren manner.
"B"
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