Law & Order: Criminal Intent - General Discussion

[Xeliou66]

3 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

So was I. I felt every bit of Goren's frustration. 

I think had Jack McCoy been the prosecutor he would’ve had Whitlock charged, Carver was just too afraid to take the risk. It was the only time on the show when I was irritated with Carver, I think he had a decent case against Whitlock. 

[WendyCR72]

Oh, Lord. "Want" is on WE as I type. I hate this episode. John Tagman got off too easy as far as his fate went. Although Neil Patrick Harris did a great job. But it's one of the few episodes I can barely stomach.

[Xeliou66]

8 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Oh, Lord. "Want" is on WE as I type. I hate this episode. John Tagman got off too easy as far as his fate went. Although Neil Patrick Harris did a great job. But it's one of the few episodes I can barely stomach.

What I dislike is Goren’s extreme sympathy towards sicko Tagman. I will never understand why Goren didn’t want Tagman to get the death penalty, Tagman tortured those women in horrific ways, he poured boiling water onto their brains and he ate part of their calf muscle. He was as sick as they come, and seeing Goren go to bat for him was just downright irritating. 

[peacheslatour]

WE is showing a whole line up of Season 4 today. Eosphoros, In The Dark, Magnificat.

[WendyCR72]

12 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

What I dislike is Goren’s extreme sympathy towards sicko Tagman. I will never understand why Goren didn’t want Tagman to get the death penalty, Tagman tortured those women in horrific ways, he poured boiling water onto their brains and he ate part of their calf muscle. He was as sick as they come, and seeing Goren go to bat for him was just downright irritating. 

That's why I was actually on Team Alex at the end, when she didn't seem at all fazed upon hearing about Tagman being killed. It's what the freak deserved (just as his real-life inspiration, Jeffrey Dahmer, did!).

I am just glad Goren seemed to get back to his version of normal after this.

9 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

WE is showing a whole line up of Season 4 today. Eosphoros, In The Dark, Magnificat.

And will also show more of S4 tomorrow (Friday), as usual, too.

[peacheslatour]

Watching Collective right now. Goren is having a blast with the Johnny 7, seven weapons in one!

[Gramto6]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

Watching Collective right now. Goren is having a blast with the Johnny 7, seven weapons in one!

That was so funny! And boy did it bug the clerk!

[peacheslatour]

54 minutes ago, Gramto6 said:

That was so funny! And boy did it bug the clerk!

Oh yes! He was so afraid Goren was going to break one of his priceless collectibles.

[WendyCR72]

6 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Watching Collective right now. Goren is having a blast with the Johnny 7, seven weapons in one!

One of the few "light" scenes from Season 4. I absolutely love that whole scene - and like Alex's smirk as Bobby plays, knowing he is doing it to rattle the clerk. And liked the Pennsylvania cop looking the other way and "going for a walk".

[WendyCR72]

"EGG CUP!" said for posterity! LOL! ("The Good Child" just ended on WE.)

And now, Colleen in "Beast", who had the worst mother ever!

[peacheslatour]

13 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

"EGG CUP!" said for posterity! LOL! ("The Good Child" just ended on WE.)

And now, Colleen in "Beast", who had the worst mother ever!

Don't forget Wrongful Life. "STONES AROUND MY NECK!!"

[Xeliou66]

15 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

"EGG CUP!" said for posterity! LOL! ("The Good Child" just ended on WE.)

And now, Colleen in "Beast", who had the worst mother ever!

“EGG CUP” has to be one of the funniest moments in CI history. The Good Child is a really good episode, Rachel’s bio parents were ice cold, they were going to kill her for the money and pin it on the mob family.

I really like Beast as well - that’s a very twisted plot with how the dentist killed Colleen’s sister yet Colleen was still obsessed with him and poisoned his wife years later out of jealousy. Colleen was obviously very screwed up, but it’s not surprising given her awful mother, who only loved her “beautiful” deceased daughter. CI had some god awful parents and she had to be one of the worst.

[WendyCR72]

7 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

“EGG CUP” has to be one of the funniest moments in CI history. The Good Child is a really good episode, Rachel’s bio parents were ice cold, they were going to kill her for the money and pin it on the mob family.

I really like Beast as well - that’s a very twisted plot with how the dentist killed Colleen’s sister yet Colleen was still obsessed with him and poisoned his wife years later out of jealousy. Colleen was obviously very screwed up, but it’s not surprising given her awful mother, who only loved her “beautiful” deceased daughter. CI had some god awful parents and she had to be one of the worst.

And, just as I wish Bronson Pinchot (Gregory the killer dentist) had somehow did a Perfect Strangers reunion cameo with Mark Linn-Baker (Wally in "Probability, seen later in "Endgame"), I wish the awful mother in "Beast" had somehow met up with killer granny Mrs. Sussman from "Shandeh" in prison, too, since Linda Lavin and Celia Weston had appeared in the old sitcom, Alice, together!

But Colleen, like Marla later in "Please Note...", probably should have just dealt with her ogre of a mom instead of offing the sister, just as Marla killed all of those parents to frame her nasty mother-in-law. (Funny how Colleen is actually my middle name, hence the C in my username! But my mother was actually terrific. Ha.)

Yeah, it's true: This show ran the gamut on fucked-up family ties, didn't it?!

[Xeliou66]

10 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

And, just as I wish Bronson Pinchot (Gregory the killer dentist) had somehow did a Perfect Strangers reunion cameo with Mark Linn-Baker (Wally in "Probability, seen later in "Endgame"), I wish the awful mother in "Beast" had somehow met up with killer granny Mrs. Sussman from "Shandeh" in prison, too, since Linda Lavin and Celia Weston had appeared in the old sitcom, Alice, together!

But Colleen, like Marla later in "Please Note...", probably should have just dealt with her ogre of a mom instead of offing the sister, just as Marla killed all of those parents to frame her nasty mother-in-law. (Funny how Colleen is actually my middle name, hence the C in my username! But my mother was actually terrific. Ha.)

Yeah, it's true: This show ran the gamut on fucked-up family ties, didn't it?!

But Colleen didn’t kill her sister - Gregory did, Colleen killed Gregory’s wife years later because of her jealousy and the fact she was still obsessed with Gregory. Yeah that was a twisted plot. 

And yes this show had some incredibly dysfunctional families, the episodes featuring them were almost always entertaining - and parents favoring one child over another popped up a couple of times - remember the parents from Saving Face who only cared about their dead son and used their daughter just as a replacement for him, and of course the awful dad/grandfather in Bedfellows who only loved one of his sons/grandsons. 

[WendyCR72]

7 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

But Colleen didn’t kill her sister - Gregory did, Colleen killed Gregory’s wife years later because of her jealousy and the fact she was still obsessed with Gregory. Yeah that was a twisted plot. 

You're right. Chalk up my last post as a late-night brain fart!

[Xeliou66]

My favorite episode, In The Wee Small Hours, is on now!! So much to love about this 2 parter, it’s great seeing Goren/Eames working with Logan/Barek, plus courtroom scenes with Carver, plus a crossover cameo from Arthur Branch. Great case with the scummy Garrett family, great investigation stuff and they touched on a couple of personal things without making it soap opera-ish or distracting from the case. Fantastic 2 parter.

[peacheslatour]

46 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

My favorite episode, In The Wee Small Hours, is on now!! So much to love about this 2 parter, it’s great seeing Goren/Eames working with Logan/Barek, plus courtroom scenes with Carver, plus a crossover cameo from Arthur Branch. Great case with the scummy Garrett family, great investigation stuff and they touched on a couple of personal things without making it soap opera-ish or distracting from the case. Fantastic 2 parter.

I'm watching it right now!

[Xeliou66]

15 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I'm watching it right now!

I love the scene where Goren provokes pervert creep Judge Garrett into admitting he had sex with the victim, Goren did a great job of getting under his skin and mocking him for being a shriveled up creepy perv and not losing his temper, I would’ve completely understood if Goren had beaten Garrett to a pulp for sending someone to threaten his mother, but Goren did a really good job of instead getting Garrett to incriminate himself.

The court stuff is really good as well - I really wish we had gotten to see Carver in court more often.

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

I love the scene where Goren provokes pervert creep Judge Garrett into admitting he had sex with the victim, Goren did a great job of getting under his skin and mocking him for being a shriveled up creepy perv and not losing his temper, I would’ve completely understood if Goren had beaten Garrett to a pulp for sending someone to threaten his mother, but Goren did a really good job of instead getting Garrett to incriminate himself.

The court stuff is really good as well - I really wish we had gotten to see Carver in court more often.

Same. I forget the name of the episode but it had a plastic surgeon who chopped up his wife and between Goren and Carver, they got him to totally lose his shit on the stand.

[Xeliou66]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Same. I forget the name of the episode but it had a plastic surgeon who chopped up his wife and between Goren and Carver, they got him to totally lose his shit on the stand.

Are you talking about The Good Doctor, season 1 episode 9, with the plastic surgeon who killed his wife in their bathroom and disposed of her body over the ocean when he flew his plane the next day? That’s a great episode, and I love that we got to see courtroom scenes in that one as well. 

[WendyCR72]

On 7/8/2022 at 3:23 PM, Xeliou66 said:

The court stuff is really good as well - I really wish we had gotten to see Carver in court more often.

Maybe if we had, Courtney B. Vance wouldn't have left. By S3 or 4, he was a glorified extra, except for S4's "No Exit", another good episode with courtroom stuff.

And yeah, how Goren restrained himself from turning Hal Garrett into mulch is anyone's guess. He was well within his right to do so. But, as you said, at least he got the dirtbag to incriminate himself.

[Xeliou66]

4 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Maybe if we had, Courtney B. Vance wouldn't have left. By S3 or 4, he was a glorified extra, except for S4's "No Exit", another good episode with courtroom stuff.

And yeah, how Goren restrained himself from turning Hal Garrett into mulch is anyone's guess. He was well within his right to do so. But, as you said, at least he got the dirtbag to incriminate himself.

Yeah it's a real shame how underused Carver was - I get that this show was never about the courtroom stuff but it still would've been nice to see him used more and go into court more. That's one reason why I love In The Wee Small Hours, good courtroom stuff and a heavy role for Carver. We even got to see him interact with Arthur Branch, which was great. 

[peacheslatour]

10 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

Yeah it's a real shame how underused Carver was - I get that this show was never about the courtroom stuff but it still would've been nice to see him used more and go into court more. That's one reason why I love In The Wee Small Hours, good courtroom stuff and a heavy role for Carver. We even got to see him interact with Arthur Branch, which was great. 

Yes, it's no wonder Courtney B. Vance wanted to do other things and it's also no wonder VDO broke down from exhaustion. They worked him like  a rented mule. 

[WendyCR72]

7 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Yeah it's a real shame how underused Carver was - I get that this show was never about the courtroom stuff but it still would've been nice to see him used more and go into court more. That's one reason why I love In The Wee Small Hours, good courtroom stuff and a heavy role for Carver. We even got to see him interact with Arthur Branch, which was great. 

Still wish Carver and/or Deakins could have returned for even a cameo in S10. Oh, well. Carver could have been a judge or needed G/E's help with something. Maybe G/E could have consulted with Deakins about...something, anything!

[Xeliou66]

11 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Still wish Carver and/or Deakins could have returned for even a cameo in S10. Oh, well. Carver could have been a judge or needed G/E's help with something. Maybe G/E could have consulted with Deakins about...something, anything!

That would've been great, I would like to think Carver went on to become a judge and that's why he left his position as ADA, and it would've really been great to see either him or Deakins again in season 10. Carver and Deakins were great characters that were underused. 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Xeliou66

[WendyCR72]

13 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

That would've been great, I would like to think Carver went on to become a judge and that's why he left his position as ADA, and it would've really been great to see either him or Deakins again in season 10. Carver and Deakins were great characters that were underused. 

I do think it's sad that Carver really didn't even get an exit. At least Deakins/JS got that much. (Trying to recall if CBV left in between Seasons 5 and 6, but honestly, I really don't remember.)

[Xeliou66]

11 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

I do think it's sad that Carver really didn't even get an exit. At least Deakins/JS got that much. (Trying to recall if CBV left in between Seasons 5 and 6, but honestly, I really don't remember.)

Yeah it's pathetic how Carver never got an exit, and Deakins exit was really poor, I did not buy that Deakins would fold so easily, I always thought he would fight Adair. I wish they had just had Deakins choose to retire on his own, and I wish he had gotten a better goodbye with Goren/Eames. 

[peacheslatour]

It just hit me that Jane Adams, who played Sylvia the "psychic" in Gift was Mel, Niles' second wife on Frasier.

[WendyCR72]

10 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

It just hit me that Jane Adams, who played Sylvia the "psychic" in Gift was Mel, Niles' second wife on Frasier.

I never even knew Niles was married besides the unseen Maris and Daphne. Huh. On a side note, David Hyde Pierce hails from my area.

In "The Gift", the actress that played Sylvia played Sylvia a bit spaced out to me. But maybe that was supposed to represent an altered state from her epileptic seizures.

As Alex said about her boyfriend, Julian, true love was his only redeeming feature, although Bobby Canavale was pretty decent in the role! The actress (Florencia Lozano) playing the art dealer accused of having an affair with the victim's father, as I think I said before, was the same actress to play Theresa, widow of Eames' late husband's partner, in "Amends" in S7.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

I never even knew Niles was married besides the unseen Maris and Daphne. Huh. On a side note, David Hyde Pierce hails from my area.

Yup, They get married in season 7. Right after that, Niles declares his love for Daphne and wants to divorce Mel. She agrees as long as he pretends they are still happily married for a specified period of time but that kept getting longer and longer until Daphne gives Niles an ultimatum.

Edited July 12, 2022 by peacheslatour

[WendyCR72]

7 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Yup, They get married in season 7. Right after that, Niles declares his love for Daphne and wants to divorce Mel. She agrees as long as he pretends they are still happily married for a specified period of time but that kept getting longer and longer until Daphne gives Niles an ultimatum.

Huh! Never knew that. Thanks.

Today, Sundance showed a bunch of S2 episodes, one of them "Cherry Red". I know we discussed this, but I still get a kick out of Alex telling Bobby that he had to come out of that classic Porsche or whatever it was. And the scene with Carver looking at the toy cars as Alex talks of their play date was good, too.

And seeing Lewis again as he helped identify the cars by their tire tracks (and, again, his second and last physical appearance). Liked his drawling "Detective Alex" when he saw her, again.

[Xeliou66]

40 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Huh! Never knew that. Thanks.

Today, Sundance showed a bunch of S2 episodes, one of them "Cherry Red". I know we discussed this, but I still get a kick out of Alex telling Bobby that he had to come out of that classic Porsche or whatever it was. And the scene with Carver looking at the toy cars as Alex talks of their play date was good, too.

And seeing Lewis again as he helped identify the cars by their tire tracks (and, again, his second and last physical appearance). Liked his drawling "Detective Alex" when he saw her, again.

Cherry Red is a great episode, it's been a while since I've seen it but I liked the twist that it was the sorry old man dad who killed the victim at the start to prevent his son from going to jail for the murder committed before the episode started, not because he liked his son but because he was just a freeloader who wanted his son to take care of him and do everything for him. I also love Carver and Goren looking at the cars, Carver was always so reserved and serious I liked having a lighter moment with him. And it was nice to see Lewis again.

[peacheslatour]

12 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Cherry Red is a great episode, it's been a while since I've seen it but I liked the twist that it was the sorry old man dad who killed the victim at the start to prevent his son from going to jail for the murder committed before the episode started, not because he liked his son but because he was just a freeloader who wanted his son to take care of him and do everything for him. I also love Carver and Goren looking at the cars, Carver was always so reserved and serious I liked having a lighter moment with him. And it was nice to see Lewis again.

Bobby: ""What will happen to me? Who will take care of meee?"

[WendyCR72]

21 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Cherry Red is a great episode, it's been a while since I've seen it but I liked the twist that it was the sorry old man dad who killed the victim at the start to prevent his son from going to jail for the murder committed before the episode started, not because he liked his son but because he was just a freeloader who wanted his son to take care of him and do everything for him. I also love Carver and Goren looking at the cars, Carver was always so reserved and serious I liked having a lighter moment with him. And it was nice to see Lewis again.

Makes one wonder just where that Porsche ended up since it was bought by plundering the estates of deceased victims!

Got a kick out of Paul Dooley playing the Freeloading Father since I always associated him as the dad in Sixteen Candles! (Which, ironically, is airing now on AMC!)

[Xeliou66]

Vacancy was just on - as I’ve said before I love the cold open of this episode, it’s very creepy. The investigation was good, and then the episode just fizzled towards the end, something about it just didn’t quite work for me, I was unsure of why the killer was so angry at the victim, the perp’s backstory was interesting but I was just unsure of why he chose to go and kill the victim, it seemed so random to me, I was unsure of what triggered the murder exactly. Something about this episode just didn’t quite feel right to me. 

[peacheslatour]

38 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

Vacancy was just on - as I’ve said before I love the cold open of this episode, it’s very creepy. The investigation was good, and then the episode just fizzled towards the end, something about it just didn’t quite work for me, I was unsure of why the killer was so angry at the victim, the perp’s backstory was interesting but I was just unsure of why he chose to go and kill the victim, it seemed so random to me, I was unsure of what triggered the murder exactly. Something about this episode just didn’t quite feel right to me. 

Ugh. Emily Bergl. Nuff said.

[WendyCR72]

I know we were probably supposed to see Alex's bias against Alice as misguided/wrong (because of Alex being influenced against drunks because of an incident with her aunt), but Alice was SO damned annoying that I sided with Alex, anyway.

[Xeliou66]

36 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

I know we were probably supposed to see Alex's bias against Alice as misguided/wrong (because of Alex being influenced against drunks because of an incident with her aunt), but Alice was SO damned annoying that I sided with Alex, anyway.

Alice was exceptionally whiny and annoying. Vacancy was an episode that could’ve been really good, but something about it just felt off towards the end. 

[WendyCR72]

10 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Alice was exceptionally whiny and annoying. Vacancy was an episode that could’ve been really good, but something about it just felt off towards the end. 

I liked it. I did think it was creepy that the perp was sort of reliving the time his own mother was stalked (even though he wasn't aware since he was a kid!) and let his anger at his mom for moving him around erupt at a stranger, though...

[Spartan Girl]

God, I hate “Siren Call.” Most egregious example of victim-blaming I’ve ever seen. Oh, the poor asshole cop, his stepdaughter was such a slut, going around with older men—SPARE ME. All that crap about how her mother was never going to beat cancer with her getting into trouble was bullshit. Cancer is gonna cancer, there is no magic wand. And her stupid mother just shrugging off her own daughter’s murder with the “I lost her a long time ago” spiel.

Yeah, the only person I felt sorry in the end for was the little sister. She at least seemed to care about the victim, no matter how flawed she was.

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

God, I hate “Siren Call.” Most egregious example of victim-blaming I’ve ever seen. Oh, the poor asshole cop, his stepdaughter was such a slut, going around with older men—SPARE ME. All that crap about how her mother was never going to beat cancer with her getting into trouble was bullshit. Cancer is gonna cancer, there is no magic wand. And her stupid mother just shrugging off her own daughter’s murder with the “I lost her a long time ago” spiel.

Yeah, the only person I felt sorry in the end for was the little sister. She at least seemed to care about the victim, no matter how flawed she was.

Agreed - fuck that murderous cop, he infuriated me, and yeah fuck the mom as well. Nothing justified that murder and it was pure victim blaming.

Season 6 is probably my least favorite season, even more so than 9, just because of the mountain of personal crap they gave the characters. This show went from zero soapy stuff to a gigantic steaming pile of soapy shit in one season. The cases seemed to take a backseat to whatever personal crap they wanted to show. There are only a handful of season 6 episodes I like. 

[WendyCR72]

4 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

God, I hate “Siren Call.” Most egregious example of victim-blaming I’ve ever seen. Oh, the poor asshole cop, his stepdaughter was such a slut, going around with older men—SPARE ME. All that crap about how her mother was never going to beat cancer with her getting into trouble was bullshit. Cancer is gonna cancer, there is no magic wand. And her stupid mother just shrugging off her own daughter’s murder with the “I lost her a long time ago” spiel.

Yeah, the only person I felt sorry in the end for was the little sister. She at least seemed to care about the victim, no matter how flawed she was.

I really wish the show did a callback to this episode. With everything that happened to poor Emily, she had to be messed up. Losing her half-sister, father murdering said sister then committing suicide like a coward, and her mother probably died not long after, leaving Emily an orphan.

Just depressing no matter how you look at it!

(But yeah, totally agree how gross it was to have Ashley just sort of shrugged off like she was!)

[peacheslatour]

I didn't feel that bad for Emily. I thought she was a creepy little brat. If my dad were in his study, talking to a pair of police detectives and I was thirteen years old, I wouldn't be outside the door whining "Daddy! What are you doing? Daddy!"

[WendyCR72]

17 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I didn't feel that bad for Emily. I thought she was a creepy little brat. If my dad were in his study, talking to a pair of police detectives and I was thirteen years old, I wouldn't be outside the door whining "Daddy! What are you doing? Daddy!"

Gotta disagree there. There was enough chaos and raised voices that would alert people to something not being right. If anything, I think that was the appropriate reaction. The wife should have been calling for her husband through the door, too, especially since she was the one that showed Goren and Eames in.

[Xeliou66]

World’s Fair was just on, probably my favorite season 6 episode, a compelling case with a slew of unlikable characters. I loved seeing a fiery, passionate Logan in this one. Season 6 is my least favorite season as I’ve said before, but this episode is great, Logan was at his best in this one, there were a slew of bigots and lousy people in this one and Logan was great in dealing with them. Gripping case, and I liked the use of the Unisphere as the crime scene.

[WendyCR72]

"World's Fair" was just chock full of awful people, minus the actual victims. Come to think of it, "Weeping Willow", which aired early yesterday morning/middle of the night also had generally awful people throughout.

As did "Masquerade", where the neighbor friend actually killed the kid!

And "Siren Call" with the party teens and Wasneski, also mostly annoying or horrible...

Sensing a theme here...

[Xeliou66]

11 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

"World's Fair" was just chock full of awful people, minus the actual victims. Come to think of it, "Weeping Willow", which aired early yesterday morning/middle of the night also had generally awful people throughout.

As did "Masquerade", where the neighbor friend actually killed the kid!

And "Siren Call" with the party teens and Wasneski, also mostly annoying or horrible...

Sensing a theme here...

CI certainly had themes of a slew of awful characters and/or dysfunctional families - there are too many dysfunctional families in this show to count! That would make for an interesting discussion - what was the most dysfunctional family in CI history? 

[peacheslatour]

52 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

CI certainly had themes of a slew of awful characters and/or dysfunctional families - there are too many dysfunctional families in this show to count! That would make for an interesting discussion - what was the most dysfunctional family in CI history? 

I'll nominate the sisters in The Posthumous Collection.

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

I'll nominate the sisters in The Posthumous Collection.

Oh god they were horrible.

My first thought were the parents in Shrink-Wrapped, those 2 were nuttier than a fruitcake, and to think that they were therapists! I can only imagine how many people came to them and left worse off than before! I hope someone reported their asses to the licensing board and they lost their licenses.

Other good candidates for most dysfunctional family were the Reid’s from On Fire, and of course the Garrett’s from In The Wee Small Hours. 

[WendyCR72]

I think the easier question is, what families WEREN'T the very dregs of humanity?!

I mean, I get it. The very premise of this show was the focus on the worst of the worst, but there were so many degenerates, it's hard to recall if any were just victims of circumstance or whatever and not just generally awful, you know?

Anyway, another awful pick: The dad in "Bright Boy", who tried to live his academic life through his kid and was willing to kill a social worker just because she may prevent said kid from entering a prestigious academy that he truly had no business being in.

Robbie lied because he wanted to be a kid and play baseball, but that's just it: It was a kid response. Robbie didn't know his father was a psycho and was not about to let his (the dad's) fantasy of academic excellence go without a fight, and killed an innocent social worker to make sure of that.

As I have said before, Robbie was not a small child, so I wonder how he coped with the fallout. The social worker dying was NOT his fault or HIS intention. But I can't imagine the guilt the poor kid carried. The dad may have taken a plea and avoided a trial, but I think it is extremely naive to think Robbie would NEVER find out just why Kim died.