Law & Order: Criminal Intent - General Discussion

[WendyCR72]

So I have the SiriusXM site up and on the Hallmark Christmas music channel [which usually is only around for the holidays, but it was strangely restarted once the pandemic hit], Alicia Witt was singing some duet with a guy whose name now escapes me called "Merry Christmas, I Missed You". Not the best singing, but neither was she awful.

And now I can leave that channel as the song is done. Too schmaltzy for me, at least now. But I saw her name and got curious!

[WendyCR72]

Among the episodes on WE today was "Alpha Dog". Every time I see the perp hubby played by Roger Rees, who was Robin Colcort on Cheers, I could not get over how gaunt he looked, compared to his time on Cheers. 😞 I thought it was illness, but I see he did not pass away until 2015.

Maybe it was just his getting older. This episode wasn't "bad", per se, and at heart was a husband murdering his wife's lover. But all the twists and turns and Alex knowing one of those involved from her old police days, it was just a wee bit too chaotic for me.

Still got a kick out of S8 as a whole with its being so out of order with Bobby's changing hair length and beard/lack of beard. (Which we discussed.) I still do wonder about the production order. I'm thinking "Faithfully" may have been meant as a premiere with Bobby returning early from his family visit, etc. Guess we'll never know.

[Xeliou66]

4 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Among the episodes on WE today was "Alpha Dog". Every time I see the perp hubby played by Roger Rees, who was Robin Colcort on Cheers, I could not get over how gaunt he looked, compared to his time on Cheers. 😞 I thought it was illness, but I see he did not pass away until 2015.

Maybe it was just his getting older. This episode wasn't "bad", per se, and at heart was a husband murdering his wife's lover. But all the twists and turns and Alex knowing one of those involved from her old police days, it was just a wee bit too chaotic for me.

Still got a kick out of S8 as a whole with its being so out of order with Bobby's changing hair length and beard/lack of beard. (Which we discussed.) I still do wonder about the production order. I'm thinking "Faithfully" may have been meant as a premiere with Bobby returning early from his family visit, etc. Guess we'll never know.

Faithfully was definitely meant as the premiere IMO, it made sense with Goren returning from visiting family and all. 

Season 8 wasn’t bad at all IMO, for the most part the episodes were good, however the order of the episodes was thrown off some, and it still makes me laugh that they never show “The Glory That Was” on reruns because apparently some Brazilians got offended over the episode, it’s ridiculous that it’s never shown. 

Alpha Dog was decent, but it was hard to keep straight who was who and the plot was rather overly complex, but it was still a decent episode. 

Season 8 wasn’t as good as seasons 1-5, but it felt like somewhat of a return to form after the soapy dreck of seasons 6-7. 

[WendyCR72]

Well, the last ION sabbatical for the show was a year and a half. (Yep!) This one is a lot shorter. Per TV listings and double checking with ION's site, the show returns with S4 on May 25th.

[peacheslatour]

47 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Well, the last ION sabbatical for the show was a year and a half. (Yep!) This one is a lot shorter. Per TV listings and double checking with ION's site, the show returns with S4 on May 25th.

Awesome! Thanks.

[WendyCR72]

4 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Awesome! Thanks.

You're welcome! Obviously, I meant MAY 25th, not April. Which I have edited.  😉

[peacheslatour]

11 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

You're welcome! Obviously, I meant MAY 25th, not April. Which I have edited.  😉

Lol, no worries! Who even knows what day it is any more anyway?

[WendyCR72]

5 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Lol, no worries! Who even knows what day it is any more anyway?

God, isn't THAT the truth?  😛 Oh, well. Just glad for a short hiatus, though it's weird it is restarting at S4 after ending at S10.

[peacheslatour]

11 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

God, isn't THAT the truth?  😛 Oh, well. Just glad for a short hiatus, though it's weird it is restarting at S4 after ending at S10.

I wish they'd bring back to all day Sunday Leverage marathons while they're at it.

[peacheslatour]

Watching Palimpsest right now, where Nichols old flame's father is murdered and think what an excellent vehicle it would have been for Goren. He runs into a woman he once loved in the course of the investigation, she is beautiful, romantic and dreamy. His love for her is obvious but she has lost her mind and is like a delicate flower. Bobby would have been heartbreaking in the role of a man grieving over a lost love.

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

Watching Palimpsest right now, where Nichols old flame's father is murdered and think what an excellent vehicle it would have been for Goren. He runs into a woman he once loved in the course of the investigation, she is beautiful, romantic and dreamy. His love for her is obvious but she has lost her mind and is like a delicate flower. Bobby would have been heartbreaking in the role of a man grieving over a lost love.

Got to disagree here. Not necessarily about a lost love but her having schizophrenia. Goren was already dealing with that issue 24/7 with his mother. I think a girlfriend having it would have been overkill. Overkill was actually already achieved once we met his heretofore unknown bipolar (or whatever) nephew, Donny. But tomato, tomahto! 🙂

Although "Palimpsest" highlighted the writers seemed to fall on schizophrenia as an issue constantly. They should have thought of another condition now and then.

As an aside? I HATE "Palimpsest". It felt nothing like CI and the stilted Harlequin-esque dialogue from almost everyone drove me batty. And no way would Nichols be allowed to be the investigating officer if this were the Mothership. And I said the same thing about Alex in "Amends" as she reopened the case of her husband's death. (At least, in that case, the show tried to explain it by Eames telling Ross that she never took her husband's last name so no one could tie her to the case.)

And, I STILL ask, what was the point of the British woman Nichols was talking to? Meh.

Yes, I'm nitpicky, why do you ask?  😉

[Xeliou66]

6 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Got to disagree here. Not necessarily about a lost love but her having schizophrenia. Goren was already dealing with that issue 24/7 with his mother. I think a girlfriend having it would have been overkill. Overkill was actually already achieved once we met his heretofore unknown bipolar (or whatever) nephew, Donny. But tomato, tomahto! 🙂

Although "Palimpsest" highlighted the writers seemed to fall on schizophrenia as an issue constantly. They should have thought of another condition now and then.

As an aside? I HATE "Palimpsest". It felt nothing like CI and the stilted Harlequin-esque dialogue from almost everyone drove me batty. And no way would Nichols be allowed to be the investigating officer if this were the Mothership. And I said the same thing about Alex in "Amends" as she reopened the case of her husband's death. (At least, in that case, the show tried to explain it by Eames telling Ross that she never took her husband's last name so no one could tie her to the case.)

And, I STILL ask, what was the point of the British woman Nichols was talking to? Meh.

Yes, I'm nitpicky, why do you ask?  😉

Palimpsest was a disaster, what a joke of an episode. Nothing about it felt like CI, I don’t know what the fuck it felt like but it was really odd and not in a good way, and it was a poor concept that was poorly executed. And yeah I’m glad Goren never had some “lost love” with mental health problems, that would’ve been way overboard, since Goren already dealt with a mentally ill mother, plus the issues with his brother and nephew. 

[WendyCR72]

13 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

Palimpsest was a disaster, what a joke of an episode. Nothing about it felt like CI, I don’t know what the fuck it felt like but it was really odd and not in a good way, and it was a poor concept that was poorly executed. And yeah I’m glad Goren never had some “lost love” with mental health problems, that would’ve been way overboard, since Goren already dealt with a mentally ill mother, plus the issues with his brother and nephew. 

And I guess it differs for each viewer, but Lenore was such a DRIP. I have no idea why Zack would be so in love with her and, of course, it was funny that we never heard of this grand love affair before this episode or after.

"Palimpsest" could best be described (to me, to clarify!) as someone's fevered dream in the midst of too much cold medicine or something. LOL! As a matter of fact, it would seem like something Goren could have hallucinated during his Tates misadventure when he was zoning out.

[WendyCR72]

Watching "Rispetto" on WE as I type, and the "does your father know you're a whore?" (unedited version) scene just aired. For the first time, in that scene, I hate to say it, but the actress looked a bit like Paris Hilton.

[peacheslatour]

WETV is starting with Season 1 tomorrow at 10AM PT.

[Xeliou66]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

WETV is starting with Season 1 tomorrow at 10AM PT.

The first 3 episodes of season 1 air late tonight on WE starting at 1 AM. 

[peacheslatour]

I always thought Jamey Sheridan looked really familiar. He was Randall Flagg in the original The Stand mini series.

[WendyCR72]

I have said this before, but I still get a kick out of seeing how much Goren and Eames had evolved from Seasons 1 to 10, especially when S10 and S1 have been shown back to back.

Ah, "The Third Horseman", with Dennis the doc killer is on now. I know a kettle was used for the wife not to hear the shot, but wouldn't her kid have SCREAMED? Oh, well.

[WendyCR72]

So WE had its late-night marathon on last night/early this morning, and one of the episodes, "Phantom", (the one with Michael Emerson pretending to work at the UN), Goren mentions this guy had NO bank accounts or credit cards, etc.

I know this was based on a real case in France (where the kids ended up dead, sadly, and I think the spouse, too...), but in this episode, how would the wife NOT find that at ALL strange? Even if this guy handled all the bills, wouldn't the wife at least want receipts or whatever? And she NEVER visited him at his supposed place of employment? I don't know. It just made the wife look extremely naive at best and dumb as a box of rocks at worst.

Of course, I like the show, and Emerson rocked it as the guy feeling the walls close in. But this rendition of a real crime had holes a truck could drive through, IMO.

[WendyCR72]

ION has "The Posthumous Collection" starting now, not to mention Oxygen having its own block...

[LemonSoda]

7 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

how would the wife NOT find that at ALL strange? Even if this guy handled all the bills, wouldn't the wife at least want receipts or whatever? And she NEVER visited him at his supposed place of employment? I don't know. It just made the wife look extremely naive at best and dumb as a box of rocks at worst.

I know and have known women who are like this. I couldn’t live like that. 

[WendyCR72]

9 minutes ago, LemonSoda said:

I know and have known women who are like this. I couldn’t live like that. 

Obviously, neither could I. And to discover he had killed the wife's father AND was going to kill their kids? Yikes. I can't imagine how Tessa Rankin functioned after that.

[WendyCR72]

On 5/20/2020 at 5:35 PM, peacheslatour said:

I always thought Jamey Sheridan looked really familiar. He was Randall Flagg in the original The Stand mini series.

Never saw it, not for the lack of trying by friends in college that had a watch party. But I don't do scary movies or whatever if I can help it! (Huge chicken here. Cluck, cluck!)

[Broderbits]

On 5/26/2020 at 1:41 AM, WendyCR72 said:

Never saw it, not for the lack of trying by friends in college that had a watch party. But I don't do scary movies or whatever if I can help it! (Huge chicken here. Cluck, cluck!)

 You REALLY don't want to watch it now, in the time of Covid-19! I liked Jamey Sheridan in The Ice Storm; that was sad but not scary.

[WendyCR72]

5 hours ago, Broderbits said:

 You REALLY don't want to watch it now, in the time of Covid-19! I liked Jamey Sheridan in The Ice Storm; that was sad but not scary.

Sad, I can take. Maybe I'll look that up. As for "The Stand", thanks for the warning!  😉

[wknt3]

So Crimininal Intent is trending on Twitter! Unfortunately it's because some blowhard was going on about "LAW & ORDER" but at least people besides us are talking about the show again...

[WendyCR72]

8 hours ago, wknt3 said:

So Crimininal Intent is trending on Twitter! Unfortunately it's because some blowhard was going on about "LAW & ORDER" but at least people besides us are talking about the show again...

I saw that! Yeah, the context was not optimal, but it also got "Dick Wolf" trending as well as "Criminal Intent". So yeah. Glad to know some do realize the franchise is/was more than just the Mothership and SVU.  😎

[wknt3]

2 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

I saw that! Yeah, the context was not optimal, but it also got "Dick Wolf" trending as well as "Criminal Intent". So yeah. Glad to know some do realize the franchise is/was more than just the Mothership and SVU.  😎

Heck I saw a couple of blue check mark accounts bring up UK and Trial By Jury! Even Hate Crimes. Nobody mentioning True Crime though which might be part of the reason it was one and done...

Edited June 1, 2020 by wknt3

[WendyCR72]

20 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Heck I saw a couple of blue check mark accounts bring up UK and Trial By Jury! Even Hate Crimes. Nobody mentioning True Crime though which might be part of the reason it was one and done...

Poor Los Angeles, forever erased. Oh, right. Probably not a bad thing. Hee.

[Xeliou66]

I saw Mad Hops today, that’s probably my favorite episode with Bishop, Goren and Bishop had established enough chemistry at this point that the dull Bishop didn’t detract from the episode, and one of my favorite season 3 episodes overall, very strong and intricate plot with a lot of good investigative work. I found Powell to be smug and despicable, and I didn’t find Karen Watkins to be very sympathetic either, she was just leading Powell on in order to help her son. 

I liked the scene in the morgue with Goren and ME Rodgers with Goren getting up close with the body and Rodgers having to take the swab from him as Goren was going to swab the nose himself. The interactions between Rodgers and the detectives, especially Goren, were always entertaining. 

[peacheslatour]

35 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

I saw Mad Hops today, that’s probably my favorite episode with Bishop, Goren and Bishop had established enough chemistry at this point that the dull Bishop didn’t detract from the episode, and one of my favorite season 3 episodes overall, very strong and intricate plot with a lot of good investigative work. I found Powell to be smug and despicable, and I didn’t find Karen Watkins to be very sympathetic either, she was just leading Powell on in order to help her son. 

I liked the scene in the morgue with Goren and ME Rodgers with Goren getting up close with the body and Rodgers having to take the swab from him as Goren was going to swab the nose himself. The interactions between Rodgers and the detectives, especially Goren, were always entertaining. 

Bobby has this hilarious habit of touching things that drives both criminals and law enforcement crazy. I forget the name of the episode, they were investigating a sad vampire club and they were in a collectibles store. Goren picks up a toy gun with seven different functions. He had a blast firing off every one of the things it does while the store owner was practically in tears.

[Broderbits]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I forget the name of the episode, they were investigating a sad vampire club and they were in a collectibles store. Goren picks up a toy gun with seven different functions. He had a blast firing off every one of the things it does while the store owner was practically in tears.

Wasn't that "Collective"? I think it was on yesterday, either WE or ION. One of my favorite scenes, looked like he was having so much fun!

[Xeliou66]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Bobby has this hilarious habit of touching things that drives both criminals and law enforcement crazy. I forget the name of the episode, they were investigating a sad vampire club and they were in a collectibles store. Goren picks up a toy gun with seven different functions. He had a blast firing off every one of the things it does while the store owner was practically in tears.

That was downright hilarious, it was from the episode Collective. I don’t care for that episode but that scene is one of my favorite Goren scenes and one of the funniest scenes in CI history. 

[WendyCR72]

6 hours ago, Broderbits said:

Wasn't that "Collective"? I think it was on yesterday, either WE or ION. One of my favorite scenes, looked like he was having so much fun!

It was "Collective", yeah. And yeah, it was on either WE or Oxygen just the other night. I think the latter. But that was a hilarious scene. And I loved the Philly cop playing blind and saying, "I'm going for a walk." as Bobby started in with the gun.

[WendyCR72]

"Rock Star" is on MyNetwork now in my area. (I stress that because other parts of the country keeps the back-to-back 2-hour block. But my area has an early news on at 9, breaking the block so one episode airs before the news and one after.) And this episode (introducing Nichols), with the musicians, I really still do not get why Major Case was needed.

Yes, the explanation was the demographics of the neighborhood, but I still think the regular detectives from the Mothership would have investigated just fine! Oh, well.

[wknt3]

8 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

"Rock Star" is on MyNetwork now in my area. (I stress that because other parts of the country keeps the back-to-back 2-hour block. But my area has an early news on at 9, breaking the block so one episode airs before the news and one after.) And this episode (introducing Nichols), with the musicians, I really still do not get why Major Case was needed.

Yes, the explanation was the demographics of the neighborhood, but I still think the regular detectives from the Mothership would have investigated just fine! Oh, well.

Hey they made an effort! That's more than the last 5 seasons of SVU has done! Seriously this is an issue with any series featuring a specialized or elite unit that lasts more than a few seasons. Either they have to come up with reasons for why the unit is working cases they normally wouldn't or they become stale and repetitive in the COTW plots. Some do it better than others - I always liked the way The Closer did the transition from Priority Homicide to Major Crimes since it was an interesting storyline as well as a way of expanding their purview a bit. I'm willing to let the writers handwave it away as long as they make an effort. Especially if the explanation is politics or bureaucratic stupidity since in real life that explains a lot of stuff that makes no logical sense.

[peacheslatour]

I just finished watching The Dark. The guy was killing homeless dudes and selling their body parts to labs? Because his wife had a "daughter" named jenny who was a calcified fetus? I get all that but where did the money go?

[WendyCR72]

14 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Hey they made an effort! That's more than the last 5 seasons of SVU has done!

Okay, you got me there!  😉

Actually, I think, as you say, CI stretched that reasoning for a while. It also seemed to come up a lot for some reason in the odd S9 about what is MCS worthy and what is not.

I will say, when the show came back for its last hurrah, I do think there was a better effort to make these cases something that the MCS would devote time to, as well. Another reason I liked that final season.

[Sigmagirl]

On 6/5/2020 at 7:03 PM, peacheslatour said:

I just finished watching The Dark. The guy was killing homeless dudes and selling their body parts to labs? Because his wife had a "daughter" named jenny who was a calcified fetus? I get all that but where did the money go?

Well, now I can’t stop thinking about it! I guess Butch was giving it to Rose to give to Jenny and she was ... giving it to the homeless shelter? Buying sweet pickle relish by the barrel? 

[WendyCR72]

7 hours ago, Sigmagirl said:

Well, now I can’t stop thinking about it! I guess Butch was giving it to Rose to give to Jenny and she was ... giving it to the homeless shelter? Buying sweet pickle relish by the barrel? 

Yeah, we got into a lengthy discussion about this one in the old forum. What a creepy episode that was! Good question about the money! Pickle relish. Hee. I doubt even Rose could tell you what she did with the money as it was crystal clear that she had advancing dementia.

[Xeliou66]

I saw Death Roe today, and I have to say I think Tommy Onorato is one of the most evil perps on CI - he was an epic piece of human waste, murdering his son in law and putting him in the meat grinder, murdering the food critic just to frame his son in law, and all so he could continue to sexually abuse his daughter. He was a total monster, an ogre like Goren said, quite a chilling episode. I like the episode a lot, quite an intricate plot but not overly complicated. I loved Goren’s final confrontation with Tommy and how they got the evidence to arrest Tommy. I think Tommy belongs on the list of worst perps in the history of CI and maybe the whole L&O franchise. 

I did wonder why Duke’s wife never said anything about Tommy attacking her to her husband, and it seemed like she knew about the abuse as well, why didn’t she say anything?

[peacheslatour]

25 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

I saw Death Roe today, and I have to say I think Tommy Onorato is one of the most evil perps on CI - he was an epic piece of human waste, murdering his son in law and putting him in the meat grinder, murdering the food critic just to frame his son in law, and all so he could continue to sexually abuse his daughter. He was a total monster, an ogre like Goren said, quite a chilling episode. I like the episode a lot, quite an intricate plot but not overly complicated. I loved Goren’s final confrontation with Tommy and how they got the evidence to arrest Tommy. I think Tommy belongs on the list of worst perps in the history of CI and maybe the whole L&O franchise. 

I did wonder why Duke’s wife never said anything about Tommy attacking her to her husband, and it seemed like she knew about the abuse as well, why didn’t she say anything?

She seemed kind of like she liked the guy. She acted just as messed up as the daughter.

[Xeliou66]

32 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

She seemed kind of like she liked the guy. She acted just as messed up as the daughter.

Yeah her behavior was weird, I didn’t get why she never told her husband about what Tommy had done to her, or why she hadn’t reported him to the police. And did Duke have any idea about Tommy abusing his daughter? 

Season 4 had a bunch of episodes that were weird/creepy/disturbing. Not that that’s a bad thing, season 4 was strong overall but I would say it’s the darkest season of CI. 

[peacheslatour]

28 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

Yeah her behavior was weird, I didn’t get why she never told her husband about what Tommy had done to her, or why she hadn’t reported him to the police. And did Duke have any idea about Tommy abusing his daughter? 

Season 4 had a bunch of episodes that were weird/creepy/disturbing. Not that that’s a bad thing, season 4 was strong overall but I would say it’s the darkest season of CI. 

Like when Beatrice was squeezing lemon juice on Tommy's cut? Yeah, that was dark.

[Xeliou66]

33 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Like when Beatrice was squeezing lemon juice on Tommy's cut? Yeah, that was dark.

Yes it was, and the ending scene of the spilled glass of wine I guess it was dripping on to the floor was good imagery to end the episode on. 

Season 4 just seemed to have a boatload of dark-weird-creepy episodes. You have The Posthumous Collection, In the Dark, Want, No Exit, Collective, Magnificat, Death Roe, Shibboleth, maybe even Ex Stasis and Beast would qualify, all of those episodes fit the bill of being dark/strange/creepy. 

[WendyCR72]

5 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I did wonder why Duke’s wife never said anything about Tommy attacking her to her husband, and it seemed like she knew about the abuse as well, why didn’t she say anything?

Probably the oldest excuse going: That Duke wouldn't believe her and/or want to believe that of his best buddy. As was shown, Duke seemed sure that Tommy was innocent and his wife pointed out it wasn't an act.

Which makes me wonder - as there was compelling evidence of Tommy's guilt - how Duke came to terms with it and if his wife maybe told what happened to her then, etc.

[Xeliou66]

42 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Probably the oldest excuse going: That Duke wouldn't believe her and/or want to believe that of his best buddy. As was shown, Duke seemed sure that Tommy was innocent and his wife pointed out it wasn't an act.

Which makes me wonder - as there was compelling evidence of Tommy's guilt - how Duke came to terms with it and if his wife maybe told what happened to her then, etc.

Yeah that was my guess as well, and I wonder how Duke handled knowing Tommy was guilty of 2 murders and of abusing his daughter, and I wonder if his marriage survived that. I also wonder how Duke didn’t see the signs that Beatrice was being abused, I guess like you said, he didn’t want to believe Tommy was capable of it. Tommy was a total piece of shit, if anyone deserved the death penalty he did, I really hated him and I think he ranks high on the list of worst criminals in the franchise. 

[WendyCR72]

19 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Yeah that was my guess as well, and I wonder how Duke handled knowing Tommy was guilty of 2 murders and of abusing his daughter, and I wonder if his marriage survived that. I also wonder how Duke didn’t see the signs that Beatrice was being abused, I guess like you said, he didn’t want to believe Tommy was capable of it. Tommy was a total piece of shit, if anyone deserved the death penalty he did, I really hated him and I think he ranks high on the list of worst criminals in the franchise. 

Chris Penn played the hell out of it, though. Too bad he died not long after this episode. But hard to believe it was the same guy that played Kevin Bacon's best friend in the original 1984 Footloose.

Still, yeah. Season 4 took a turn into the weird, warped, and creepy.

[Xeliou66]

15 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Chris Penn played the hell out of it, though. Too bad he died not long after this episode. But hard to believe it was the same guy that played Kevin Bacon's best friend in the original 1984 Footloose.

Still, yeah. Season 4 took a turn into the weird, warped, and creepy.

Do you agree with me about season 4 being the darkest season of CI? There were so many episodes that were disturbing/creepy in one way or another. But overall I thought it was a very good season, I don’t care for the start of it as I don’t like Semi-Detached, I don’t like Great Barrier (I would’ve liked it if they had gone with the ending of Nicole being killed) and Want and The Posthumous Collection aren’t my favorites either, but after that the season became really good IMO. 

[WendyCR72]

8 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Do you agree with me about season 4 being the darkest season of CI? There were so many episodes that were disturbing/creepy in one way or another. But overall I thought it was a very good season, I don’t care for the start of it as I don’t like Semi-Detached, I don’t like Great Barrier (I would’ve liked it if they had gone with the ending of Nicole being killed) and Want and The Posthumous Collection aren’t my favorites either, but after that the season became really good IMO. 

Minus "The Posthumous Collection" (and I don't know why, because, yeah, it was also dark, but I did like that one!), I agree about the other early S4 episodes you list and agree the public that voted way back on the NBC poll got the ending wrong for "Great Barrier". While that season WAS dark, I think S7 in its own way was even darker.

At least on a psychological level where Bobby was concerned (and literally as it seems that was a season where the lights at MCS were rarely freaking on! Made me wonder, when it moved to USA that season, if it had a reduced budget from NBC.) Although, ironically, I believe I read that S7 was one of the series' highest rated in the USA years. Also darker for Alex in having old wounds with her husband's murder re-opened and having her partnership with Bobby sour for a time. And Logan, of course, left that season. And not happily.

While Wheeler also had issues with her crooked fiancé, I oddly really don't count her misery as that seemed tacked on. It's like once Julianne Nicholson came back after her first maternity leave, the show had no clue what to do with Megan Wheeler. (Aside from the job.) I get you didn't like this period (no judgment, to be clear, just stating a fact! 😋), but for good or bad, the personal stuff colored the season. Yet Wheeler still felt like a void. That's not good.

I think Nola Falacci got more character development in her 6 episodes or so than Megan Wheeler did in two seasons. Even Bobby and Alex were pretty defined by their second season, IMO. But all we knew is, she was Ross' protege that moved to MCS when he came over, was raised by a single mother with a criminal dad (in an episode synopsis but never made it to air) that abandoned them, and had a crooked fiancé and became a single mom herself.

In terms of the character herself, outside of the outer stuff, her personality was never really defined to me. Not blaming Julianne Nicholson, but it's true.