Law & Order: Criminal Intent--The First Year

Dick Wolf's Law & Order empire expands again with Criminal Intent, his modern-day take on Sherlock Holmes. CI swings the focus around to delve into the mind of the criminal, devoting far more time to the psychology of the law-breaking mind than do the other L&O's --but, in the tradition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the sleuth is as fascinating as the people he's investigating. Vincent D'Onofrio portrays Detective Robert Goren, a criminal profiler, with a twitchy mélange of intense intelligence and charismatic personality. Along with his Watson, Detective Alex Eames--played with a subtle humor by Kathryn Erbe; her character knows she's in her partner's shadow and accepts it with aplomb--Goren takes on the extra challenging crimes of the Major Case Squad, the ones with particularly devious perpetrators. As in the other L&O series', the mug book here embraces the full range of seedy New York, from the spoiled offspring of wealth, to new immigrants struggling to assimilate, to dirty cops and corrupt politicians. But CI debuted mere weeks after 9/11, and with the entire first season laid bare here, it's clear that the series almost immediately began to reflect the traumatized atmosphere of New York, with plots turning on the city's economic downfall, the pervasive fear of terrorism, and religious fanaticism. On the other hand, maybe it's the intimate focus on the individual--what deranged personality would commit such an awful crime, and why?--that lends this series its urgent, terribly relevant air. Highly recommended. (M. Johanson)