Season Ten: Goren and Eames Say Hello and Goodbye...Again!

[WendyCR72]

The last chapter of Bobby Goren and Alex Eames. And gee...doesn't Captain Hannah bear a striking resemblance to a serial killer they once knew?

[WendyCR72]

Yep, still like S10's low-key ending. And now...back to S1!

[cooksdelight]

I had to do a double take when Julia Ormond came on the show as Bobby's shrink. I was so used to seeing her on Mad Men with a French accent. One of my favorite ending scenes on any show, ever, when they ride off into the sunset in the big black SUV with Eames at the wheel, both of them smiling.

[WendyCR72]

I agree, cooksdelight. CI did have a great ending. Especially when I think of how badly other shows so screwed things up by the end that the whole show is now tainted for me. (I'm looking at YOU, HIMYM!)

 

So I'm glad CI kept it simple.

[GHScorpiosRule]

So I'm glad CI kept it simple.

Maybe it's my love for the mothership (despite the Rohmbot years), and that the original is my favorite, but the series finale for that was just...perfect.  Van Buren receives the call that she is cancer free, and our cops go on to continue with solving crimes. Just how it should be.

[WendyCR72]

Maybe it's my love for the mothership (despite the Rohmbot years), and that the original is my favorite, but the series finale for that was just...perfect.  Van Buren receives the call that she is cancer free, and our cops go on to continue with solving crimes. Just how it should be.

 

That was good, too! CI seemed to end on that same "life goes on" theme, so I like that it seems like the characters just forge ahead. We just don't see it, is all!

[cooksdelight]

"Lady's Man" is on USA now and I love Raul Esparza in this episode. Was so glad to see him brought back as a DA on SVU. Watching Eames try to figure out who's gaslighting her is good TV.

Too many good lines in this one....

M.E... "I love saving the best for last." when showing them the man's missing penis

Interviewing the dead guy's wife, with the other guy

"Does he have to be here? Does he have to be here?"

"Do you have to be here?"

Goren finding the broken bottle on the beach.... Eames "Where is his....?"

Goran, "Killer could have taken it, a fetish.... seagulls are hungry"

Edited June 26, 2014 by cooksdelight

[WendyCR72]

Yeah, I really loved "Lady's Man". It was nice to see Eames in the thick of the story. Don't get me wrong. I love Goren. (Duh!) But it was nice to see him use his considerable skills because of his concern (as he told her as such) for Alex to catch creepy Mulrooney.

[WendyCR72]

So I wanted background noise, and Ion has its annual marathon on. It's showing "The Last Street In Manhattan". While I do like the episode and the insights into Alex, it is here we go from the Ledger (said in the 9 prior seasons) to The Post (fake to real) and the thing that really is annoying: Eames' dad telling Alex he has no grandkids. We know Alex has a sister; we also know she has an older firefighter brother married to a nurse with two kids (the episode - titles escapes me - where the perp was someone who donated organs to those he felt would make the world better) and a younger brother that liked quiz games (the episode where an ex of the victim's husband killed her with anthrax just like she did her own sister).

 

Since Eames carried a kid for her sister and has mentioned nieces and nephews, it's clear that line was a goof...unless I hand wave it that Johnny Eames was referring to Alex, specifically.

 

ETA: In context, maybe it was specific. The scene was just on. Johnny tells Bobby that he has his daughter to protect him as Alex wryly responds with, "I carry a gun."

 

Her dad responds with, "And a badge. But no grandchildren!" (Since the carrying thing referenced Alex's gun and badge, I guess the third part was also specific to her, too.)

[WendyCR72]

So, if Chattygal should see this, did you finish the entire series? Or have the new shows got your attention? (There are some decent-ish ones this season, IMO.) Just was curious as you didn't have much left! (That celebration GIF of the Seinfeld crew you posted for completing S9 will never not be funny.)

[WendyCR72]

Awww. Well, for an ending, I kind of liked "To The Boy in the Blue Knit Cap" (even if the title goes on forever. Ha!). Hopefully, you will, too. But even if you don't, I'd be interested in your observations.  :-)

[Maherjunkie]

I thought that was the only good part to an otherwise disposable episode.

[WendyCR72]

Definitely liked the closing minutes with Goren and Eames, that was a nice cap to the run. Although it did seem like they left enough time and "meaningful" silences to toss the 'shippers some fuel for their fan fiction.

 

Not to mention Bobby calling Alex "Alex" and not "Eames", the little delighted smiles they gave each other, etc. The tone was definitely...different, including all those stares and pauses. (And there's a symmetry that's pretty cool with "To The Boy..." and "Siren Call" in S6, when it is Bobby waiting for Alex to come from her shrink session.)

 

But whatever side of the fence people fall on, 'ship or not, I like how it was just a quiet, normal ending, off to another case. (SVU be damned, I say.)

 

I did read that, originally, the ending was a bit busier with passers-by and Rene Balcer (former EP, S1-5) made a cameo, but those behind the scenes went with the more muted ending here.

 

And what was the point of bringing in Tovah Feldshuh for one little scene where we could only assume she was appearing as Danielle Melnick? I mean, especially given the show and its propensity for repeat offenders, for all we know, she was supposed to be another lawyer. But with a minute or two of screen time, who knows?

 

How odd.

 

I thought she looked familiar! And yeah, that is odd that she was on for so short a time and her name was not even uttered. Maybe it was an easter egg of sorts, being the last episode, and easter eggs are usually never obvious. But still...

[WendyCR72]

And back to S10 again...  Jay Mohr did the Charlie Sheen riff pretty well.

[WendyCR72]

For all of the times I have seen S10 on ion (but it's a good season, so it's okay), I never noticed until now that ion cut out the scene in "Rispetto" with Nyle Brite and some young hooker when he asks her if her father knows she is a whore and makes her promise to call her father.

 

It doesn't surprise me since ion was derived from the former Pax station, but still...I just realized it when I didn't see it.

[Eolivet]

Heh, I'd forgotten Goren and Eames just show up at the station like nothing has happened. A better written show would've had Eames glance briefly at the Captain's office before the new guy appeared. Would've been a nice nod to the job she almost had.

 

"Rispetto" is a good episode, but the end goes off the rails for me. Teddy Scola just loses his ever-loving mind -- always found that a really bizarre choice, acting-wise. Of all the violent, disturbed criminals the show apprehended over the years, and the fashion designer was one of the most unhinged and non-cooperative when he was arrested? Seriously, that guy was so over-the-top, it reminded me of the Seinfeld episode about the guy who talked about himself in the third person: "Take your hands off Jimmy! Don't touch Jimmy!"

 

Guess they blew the budget on G/E (and Jay Mohr this episode, who's campy in a great way) and couldn't afford better actors.

[WendyCR72]

Heh, I'd forgotten Goren and Eames just show up at the station like nothing has happened. A better written show would've had Eames glance briefly at the Captain's office before the new guy appeared. Would've been a nice nod to the job she almost had.

 

"Rispetto" is a good episode, but the end goes off the rails for me. Teddy Scola just loses his ever-loving mind -- always found that a really bizarre choice, acting-wise. Of all the violent, disturbed criminals the show apprehended over the years, and the fashion designer was one of the most unhinged and non-cooperative when he was arrested? Seriously, that guy was so over-the-top, it reminded me of the Seinfeld episode about the guy who talked about himself in the third person: "Take your hands off Jimmy! Don't touch Jimmy!"

 

Guess they blew the budget on G/E (and Jay Mohr this episode, who's campy in a great way) and couldn't afford better actors.

 

I was just so glad to see G/E again that I let a lot slide. :-)  As some know, I loved when Bobby impersonated the fashion dude on the phone after "let's lie!". The smile he gave Eames afterwards as she grinned back was cute. Bobby seemed to have some fun in him again and was, thankfully, back to the suits.  Yes, I'm shallow.

[Eolivet]

I think the same argument about how the crimes weren't befitting of Major Case in S9 could be made for S10. Just finished "The Consoler" and I'm still at a loss why Major Case got that case. It wasn't like the deceased was someone high up in the Catholic church.

 

And I hate to cast aspersions on USA, but there's just no complexity to the writing compared to NBC. One of the great things about early CI, in my opinion, was how cases would turn based on information we already had -- that suddenly, we'd see it in a different way or it would mean something else. But this was just...ugh. Knowing Johnny was an abuse victim is the key to the entire case, and yet that fact gets conveniently omitted until the final interrogation. It's easy to have a mystery when you have next to no clues about a major twist in the case and then suddenly reveal it at the last minute. Ugh. Just lazy, simplistic writing.

 

The show did get me, though -- I thought for sure Neal McDonough would be the killer, since he was the highest-profile guest star. Call it The Rule of Castle.

[WendyCR72]

I think the same argument about how the crimes weren't befitting of Major Case in S9 could be made for S10. Just finished "The Consoler" and I'm still at a loss why Major Case got that case. It wasn't like the deceased was someone high up in the Catholic church.

 

But I don't think it was about the victim's status so much than it was the church being investigated. It had landed under their jurisdiction in S1 with Kevin the Meth Head and the homeless guy being murdered, also centered around a priest and the Catholic Church.

 

Although I do admit the writing was better in the NBC years.

 

Call it The Rule of Castle.

 

Ouch.  :-P  But sadly true as far as the obvious writing goes.

[Eolivet]

OK, so I just watched "Trophy Wine" again, and wow, while some cases were overly simplistic, this one was overly complicated. It was like a season one case, but not very good.

 

So...wife confesses to husband's murder, but implicates boyfriend by saying he was there and then planting Viagara in his apartment? Boyfriend and girlfriend think they're setting up wife, but really husband is paying boyfriend to seduce wife and...void their pre-nup/infidelity clause? Meanwhile, husband sleeps with girlfriend under wife's nose. Husband leaves wife key to his love nest, which wife finds, along with divorce papers, so she kills husband for...humiliating her? How did she know husband was paying boyfriend? Or did she?

 

I thought this was being set up to be another "lll-Bred" (good-looking guy pushed toward trophy wife for money) but I couldn't follow all the twists at the end.

[WendyCR72]

I know this sounds bitchy, but the actress playing Avery in "Trophy Wine" distracted me because of her inflated lips. Maybe they really were what God gave her, but it didn't look right to me.

 

And I do wonder if the actors playing the victims even know the story since, in this case, the husband (before he died, obviously!) didn't play his scene with Avery with any bastard undertones.

 

Season 10 seemed very uneven with the writing, and I do agree that this was not one of its best. I did enjoy "The Consoler" and "The Last Street In Manhattan". (And the aforementioned scene with Bobby pretending to be a flamboyant fashion designer in "Rispetto", even if the overall episode was, again, uneven. But I'm forgiving there as it was G/E's comeback.) I really wish Rene Balcer would have written some (as I don't think he did) since I think he "developed CI for Wolf and I'm thinking CI was more of his baby. Since he did a cameo for the show's original [not used] last scene, he still seemed to be aware...

[Eolivet]

Yeah, uneven is right -- "The Last Street in Manhattan" was kind of sweet in its own way (as "sweet" as a murder case can be, that is -- with the Staten Island girlfriend and the watch). "Cadaver", which I just saw, is kind of underrated, too -- a soapy case that played on dysfunctional family bonds, which I always found to be a classic CI trope. Each grant candidate was like its own little mini-arc within the episode -- all with their own soapy issues. I enjoyed it -- acting wasn't the best (though the guy who was the morgue supervisor was the "new husband" in the memorable "she married her stalker" case from the Mothership) but a solid story.

 

Those Julia Ormond scenes are from another planet, though. Seriously...they're so off with the tenor of the show and again, the idea that Bobby needed therapy at all is even more ridiculous now that I've rewatched the majority of the G/E eps. He's the most self-aware, self-examining guy on the planet. I voice my objection once more to that stupid diversion of a subplot.

 

(And what even was the whole "You can't have romantic feelings for someone you respect" scene? A bone for G/E shippers? Trolling G/E shippers? Hitting on the therapist? Thinking aloud? Who even knows?)

 

And I do wonder if the actors playing the victims even know the story since, in this case, the husband (before he died, obviously!) didn't play his scene with Avery with any bastard undertones.

 

Good point. VDO played the scene like Bobby totally knew everything that happened, but to be fair, that's sort of his default presentation. Maybe they all were as confused as I was (or we were!).

[WendyCR72]

Those Julia Ormond scenes are from another planet

 

Watching them now, they really did seem like quick add ins. And tacked on, especially when they would fall at the end (wrapping up the cases at the 50-minute mark to accommodate it). It would be one thing if we had any new information, but it was all rehash, either via flashbacks or just the discussions themselves. I wonder if this angle was a last minute bone for Leight, whom I read wrote all of these.

 

If I'm remembering right, Ormond's casting drop at TV Line was well after everything else was settled, and those scenes were often dropped in at weird points (when not at the end), disrupting the flow.

 

On paper, as aware as Bobby was, I could see him having therapy, especially given the way he left the force last time, but it was just so sloppily done. For all of its impact, those sessions could have been done off screen and not have affected a thing.

[Eolivet]

I remember you saying that Leight wrote them, WendyCR72 and that's probably why they're so off: the other writing staff returned Bobby to his self-assured crime-solving best (even if the cases weren't quite up to his level) in season 10 and then he just radiates discomfort in these scenes, it's actually tough to watch. I keep wanting to yell at the TV "What do you actually want from Bobby here?!" I wonder if VDO didn't like playing them either, because they're just so stilted, it's one of the only explanations that makes sense.

 

And really, Ormond is a caricature of every TV/movie therapist ever: "Tell me about your mother. How does that make you feel?" For a guy who routinely (in the beginning anyway) purposely presented himself in different ways to snare suspects, I like to pretend he was snowing her, too.

 

ETA: "Icarus" is an interesting example of how much the dramatic bar was lowered by S10. Compared to some of the tour-de-force "confession" scenes from S3 and earlier, the confession scene here is just so overdone. Bobby is YELLING and the suspects are just chewing scenery. Contrast this to something like "Pravda," where the tone is so measured and the suspects do so much acting without saying a thing (or saying very little), this plays...well...like amateur theater.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Eolivet

[WendyCR72]

To be fair, @Eolivet, I do remember some confession scenes in the early years with Bobby yelling. "Jones", the episode with that guy, Connie, which I am blanking on, and Connie got that slap in with Goren's famous "ouch", etc. I think the difference was, the writing for those cases, one didn't notice the theatrics as much because the construction was better? I don't know.

[Eolivet]

Good point, WendyCR72. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but it seems like Bobby's yelling in the early years was meant to rankle a suspect. He always got quiet once the suspect started yelling back. (and that scene in "Sound Bodies" is great: "(what's-her-face) or Tina? (What's-her-face) or Tina?"

 

It's actually one of the reasons why I enjoy the series finale so much -- it feels like a throwback. Confronting the girl and her boyfriend in the park, presenting the facts and (if I remember correctly) just letting her hang herself with conversation.

 

Maybe that's what I miss: when Bobby would yell at someone, he was usually giving them enough rope to hang themselves in the early years. Or he'd let them tell their story and then hand them the noose their words had formed by discrediting them. In the later years, I feel like he was just shoving them off the scaffold.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Eolivet

[Maherjunkie]

Carolyn or Tina.

[WendyCR72]

I also liked the last interrogation in TTBitBKC for its low-key approach. The "true love" bit was a tad corny, but it was nice. And Bobby seemed sincere when he told Natalie that he "wanted to believe" (in love).

 

There was a lot of schmaltzy subtext going on there, and considering the end, I think it was another bone to the 'shippers, but what do I know? Still, for a finale, I actually liked the episode. I just liked the "life goes on" ending and the simplicity. No Bobby or Alex dying (happened on another show I watched ages ago), no looming dark clouds. It was refreshing.

[WendyCR72]

Funny how some of us are talking S10 lately; MyNetwork has "The Last Street In Manhattan" (on now) and "Trophy Wine" airing right after it.

[Eolivet]

Cool -- can someone watch "Trophy Wine" and tell me what actually happened? The whole plot reminds me of that line from "Friends:" "They don't know that we know that they know." "They don't know we know they know we know."

 

"They tried to set her up with him, but she didn't know that he was seeing her and tried to frame him." "He knew she knew he was seeing her, and tried to frame him, but she killed him instead." Doesn't have the same ring to it.

[WendyCR72]

Cool -- can someone watch "Trophy Wine" and tell me what actually happened?

 

I think what it comes down to, @Eolivet, is the pertinent stuff. Which is, wife without money marries rich dude (after willingly signing a prenup). Wife and rich dude are married for very near 10 years, but hubby wants out before said prenup becomes invalid. (If they remained married for 10 years, the prenup went away and they were equals.)

 

Hubby, wine connoisseur, bribes younger dude to seduce said wife. Younger guy fails, but tells hubby he did and was going to perjure himself to get a cash bonus. Younger guy's young girlfriend is an actress by day, escort by night. SHE schtups wine hubby. Young girl and young guy wanted to get as much money out of both as they could (even though young actress claimed to have liked the hubby. (Whatever.)

 

Wife thinks guy who hubby tried to get to seduce wife loved her, and confesses to make it look like she was protecting young guy she thought loved her (and hubby wanted to seduce her), but Goren made sure Avery knew her would-be lover was in it for the cash and was willing to lie.

 

Oh. And Goren figured out Avery DIDN'T REALLY confess to protect young guy, but to create reasonable doubt for herself later on.

 

And she killed her hubby with wine and Viagra because...er, he liked wine? And Viagra in wine (or was it another heart med, whatever) is dangerous and deadly.

 

The end.  :-)

[WendyCR72]

The whole plot reminds me of that line from "Friends:" "They don't know that we know that they know." "They don't know we know they know we know."

 

Well, if CI must frame a plot with something else, that was a great Friends episode to use!  :-)

[WendyCR72]

Funny how I never really paid attention with all the times I have watched "Trophy Wine", but the blonde female detective that filled G/E in was the same detective in "Privileged" and "Vanishing Act", among others.

 

Cool bit of continuity there.

[SFoster21]

I think what it comes down to, @Eolivet, is the pertinent stuff. Which is, wife without money marries rich dude (after willingly signing a prenup). Wife and rich dude are married for very near 10 years, but hubby wants out before said prenup becomes invalid. (If they remained married for 10 years, the prenup went away and they were equals.)

Hubby, wine connoisseur, bribes younger dude to seduce said wife. Younger guy fails, but tells hubby he did and was going to perjure himself to get a cash bonus. Younger guy's young girlfriend is an actress by day, escort by night. SHE schtups wine hubby. Young girl and young guy wanted to get as much money out of both as they could (even though young actress claimed to have liked the hubby. (Whatever.)

Wife thinks guy who hubby tried to get to seduce wife loved her, and confesses to make it look like she was protecting young guy she thought loved her (and hubby wanted to seduce her), but Goren made sure Avery knew her would-be lover was in it for the cash and was willing to lie.

Oh. And Goren figured out Avery DIDN'T REALLY confess to protect young guy, but to create reasonable doubt for herself later on.

And she killed her hubby with wine and Viagra because...er, he liked wine? And Viagra in wine (or was it another heart med, whatever) is dangerous and deadly.

The end. :-)

And the husband was a con artist selling phony wine! It never ended!

[WendyCR72]

And the husband was a con artist selling phony wine! It never ended!

 

Ha! Yeah. I mentioned this, I think, but I do often wonder if these actors used in staging the crime that will be investigated were given any background or not or are just told to play things straight. Because we found out Avery's husband was a total ass, yet the actor playing him when giving Avery her anniversary gift seemed to play the guy as truly loving.  :-P

[cooksdelight]

They get a full script, so they know going in that they're an asshole. Good acting on that guy's part.

[WendyCR72]

They get a full script, so they know going in that they're an asshole. Good acting on that guy's part.

 

I'll say! He really sold the devoted hubby angle.

[cooksdelight]

It's why I watch "The Boy In The Blue Knit Cap" with extra scrutiny, catching the little glances between Goren and Eames, and that scene at the end which made me cry... they knew it was the end of their road together.

[WendyCR72]

It's why I watch "The Boy In The Blue Knit Cap" with extra scrutiny, catching the little glances between Goren and Eames, and that scene at the end which made me cry... they knew it was the end of their road together.

 

"Loyalty", I definitely saw that. Not so much in To The Boy..., to me. The latter seemed to try to end on a normal life goes on/happy note while straddling the fence for the 'shippers and non-shippers, too. JMO. (The "Alex" stuff and the quiet stares, I suppose.)

 

Whereas Loyalty just seemed depressing as hell. Although the hug was nice.

 

But that's me. LOL!

[WendyCR72]

So I got the screener version of "The Consoler" on the cheap from eBay, and it did have subtle differences. Actually, I liked the screener better than the finished product that aired and liked Eames telling Hannah - after Johnny was led crying from the room as Goren powered down - "he's back" as they stood watching Goren in the observation room. There were other little things, including many more "welcome back" greetings, which made sense as this was labeled (originally) as the premiere.

 

So it looked like the episode was re-edited to subtract a lot of that and that final ending since "Rispetto" ended up being the premiere instead.

[WendyCR72]

Forgot to mention above, one of the more interesting things to me with the screener is, there was no intro to Dr. Gyson. I recall back when casting was announced for the character that the show was already filming, so the therapy stuff was obviously inserted later on (maybe thought of after the fact?). As such, there were different/altered scenes used to cover where Bobby going to therapy was.

[cooksdelight]

I've never heard of a "screener", what is that exactly?

[WendyCR72]

I've never heard of a "screener", what is that exactly?

Basically, it is the rough cut of the episode which is given to media outlets for review.

At the beginning was a disclaimer about how this is a rough cut and that it may contain different locations, scenes, and may not have the finished music, etc.

So it explains why "The Consoler" ended up a bit differently on the screener version (no Gyson/therapy scenes, all personnel at the crime scene welcoming G/E back with a lot more gusto, the ending Eames line, and the altered or expanded scenes in place of therapy, etc).

As I said, I kind of preferred this version!

[cooksdelight]

Cool, I didn't know those types of episodes existed. I've not even looked at my set of DVDs to see if there might be that sort of thing in there.

[WendyCR72]

Cool, I didn't know those types of episodes existed. I've not even looked at my set of DVDs to see if there might be that sort of thing in there.

 

I know eBay has a ton of different episodes of various shows for the Emmys - "For Your Consideration" DVDs. But I think this one was strictly for review as it had zip in terms of award mentions on the case - which just had this picture of VDO/Goren on the cover (minus the title), with the words, "He's back" on it. (Just in case anyone is on the lookout on eBay for it down the line.)

[cooksdelight]

"Boots On The Ground".... there's that damn song again when the guy is in the lingerie shop, scene 1. It's been used all over the place! I want to know the name of it.

[WendyCR72]

And here I never noticed a song. Pretty decent episode, but my favorite from S10 is "The Last Street In Manhattan".

[cooksdelight]

And here I never noticed a song. Pretty decent episode, but my favorite from S10 is "The Last Street In Manhattan".

Yes, me too, but it makes me cry.

[WendyCR72]

Yes, me too, but it makes me cry.

 

Oh, definitely. But the actress that played Vanessa was very good. And it was nice to FINALLY meet an Eames family member, even if there seemed to be tension on Alex's end. 

[cooksdelight]

Didn't her dad appear before??

Vanessa was on a mothership episode, too, I think. Earlier.