This series focuses on the NYPD's Major Case Squad, a force of detectives who investigate high-profile cases, whilst also showing parts of the crime from the criminal's point of view to the audience.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent returned for its final season, with a treat for long-time fans. Its original stars, Detectives Robert Goren and Alex Eames, played by Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe, were back.
Fine acting, a fast-moving script, and a central paradox drawn from Greek tragedy. Still, the plot that sparks this dramatic energy, as happens too frequently with the ageing L&O franchise, is humdrum.
The problem with trying to scale a TV character back down after he's gone all intense and Promethean and charged out there where the buses don't run is that, once he's made it back down to Earth, the character seems diminished.
For 90% of its running time, "To the Boy in the Blue Knit Cap" didn't feel particularly finale-like. Nor, for that matter, was it an especially compelling episode of "Criminal Intent."
Another Law & Order is getting packed off into television history, and however melancholy that prospect may seem to fans of the institution, at least it's starting the home stretch strong.
