Black and Blue

Vanity Fair, 8.25.08

Black and Blue
by James Wolcott

"...The dramatic peak of Sunday night's viewing wasn't the submersive emotions dulled from rusty disuse on Mad Men (which more and more seems like a simulation exercise) but the phenomenal season-end arc climax on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, in which all of the pieces were cleared from the chess board in an Oedipal showdown between Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) and his mentor, played with seedy, reedy panache by John Glover, dres sed in the stained white of a disreputable Southern lawyer. The psychic clash of Goren's sunken-vessel misery and Glover's glinty-eyed dementia against the bluish confines of the interrogation room elevated the series to an existential plane without losing the edge of glee that comes from actors seizing the electric moment. (I also enjoyed seeing Ilana Levine, whom I met on the set of Robert Altman's Tanner '88, in the early scenes with Goren's ravaged brother, played by Tony Goldwyn.) Taking Goren back to tainted zero (no mother, no brother, no mentor, no nemesis, and a dead serial killer for a father), It sets up
the next season of Law and Order: CI beautifully upon return in November, when--in the other partnership--Jeff Goldblum's ostrich head will attempt to fill the spot vacated by Chris Noth. " Full article.

Thank you to Annabelle Leigh!