Review: Law and Order CI: Playing Dead (2009, US)

ByCBG Reading Time: 1 minute

Series 8 of Law and Order Criminal Intent returned to UK Screens last night. It opened with a Goren and Eames story after a drug-dealing blackmailer is murdered.
Since it’s not the Special Victims Unit strand, the child abuse angle follows through to the end as an added twist. However it receives equal weight in the second act. Criminal Intent normally shows you who did it, but not in this episode. It also departs from classic Law and Order in showing the murder rather than just discovering the body. So whilst you were introduced to the likely criminals, you just didn’t know who did what to whom and when.

The wrong-footing of the audience to the very end keeps this old epsiode fresh and smart, and since Jeff Goldblum can be a much more showy actor than Vincent D’Onfrio, it’s good that the original partnership starts this series with Goldblum’s character joining next week. It’ll be a re-run to Americans, whilst UK viewers can check the DemandFive site to see if this series will be streamed alongside Series 9 of Special Victims Unit.

Check the catchup site at DemandFive here to stream it if you missed it.

– CSI

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