Malignant

"Malignant" has a very interesting concept, that sounded like one that would be easy to relate to. Really seem to have a thing for relating to a story or a character because it allows me to connect more emotionally with what is going on. Even to anybody who has not been in that situation and hopes never to be, myself included. Have said more than once about being very fond of 'Criminal Intent' and other 'Law and Order' shows when in their prime years, so that was another reason for the appeal.

While not as outstanding as "Anti-Thesis", which was quite a special 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' episode, "Malignant" is still an improvement over "Chinoiserie", which was still a solid episode but something was somewhat missing at the same time. Found "Malignant" to be excellent in almost all aspects and as an overall episode, it was intelligent, it was poignant with some amusing moments too and Stephen Tobolowsky's character is an interesting one.

Getting the negative out of the way first, again there could have been a little more of Eames and her chemistry with Goren.

On the other hand, there is a lot to recommend. The wrestling ring throwdown with Goren is very funny. Other parts are very moving, like with the widower and much it gets to Goren. The case is easy to connect with and is always cohesive, things not being as easy as they seem thanks to the ever intriguing turns in the plot.

It is also quite a hard watch, with a subject/moral dilemma not easy to get across in a sensitive manner or in a way that could potentially cause controversy. It was handled with respect and not one-dimensionally here in "Malignant", in a way that has tension and induces anger but brings a lump to the throat too. As said, Tobolowsky's character is an interesting one, one does feel anger at what he did but can't find themselves completely hating him because he is surprisingly complex and tortured. It is the reverend that one hates and that is from the beginning, which may have been too early to feel that way.

Tobolowsky is very powerful in his role and Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe are their usual fine selves (especially D'Onofrio with more to do). The production values are solid too and the music a good fit. The episode is intelligently and sensitively scripted and never directed in a leaden way.

Concluding, excellent. 9/10

Stephen Tobolowsky gives a simply superb performance as a druggist who cheats his customers in order to fulfill a pledge he made to his church. It is indeed some of the truly powerful television acting ever recorded for the medium. Tobolowsky manages the audience to hate his character while at the same time eliciting tremendous sympathy. He makes the character real, neither a black and white villain nor a tragic failure. This is a complex person, with deep seated mental anguish and heart breakingly confused. Few other actors could do what this gifted actor does in this episode of Criminal Intent. The rest of the cast are also excellent and the script is a terrific foundation for them to work from. One of the best Law and Order: Criminal Intent episodes thanks largely to the incredible work of Stephen Tobolowsky.

A pharmacy trunk is robbed and two men killed, the driver and his replacement, out for a trial run. The veteran driver, while showing him one of his shortcuts on the route, is held up by three guys. Four boxes of a some steroid-like muscle- building drug are taken. However, if the stuff is taken by a diabetic, it could be fatal. One guy is in a coma already. Goren and Eames must find the four boxes and get them off the street or wherever they went.

The police (our crew) finds these killers/thieves pretty fast and this case leads directly to one that's far worse: a pharmacist diluting cancer drugs and making a big profit (while hundreds of cancer victims dying because the medicine wasn't strong enough). Goren, Eames and the crew go after him, of course.

Unfortunately, the episode becomes another excuse for the typical Law & Order cultural agendas, such as having a reverend made to look greedy, having the corrupt pharmacist's excuse for committing his crime being that the man could keep his big financial pledge to his church, and a plug for euthanasia, et al..

This is a weird episode. It starts with one story and the becomes another. Basically the first half with the robbery in the van and the kid in Queens and the boxing ring is all irrelevant until we get to the real story, which is about the pharmacist diluting a cancer drug to make a better profit so that he can honor his pledge to a church.

The problem with this is there is not enough to make the threat between the church boss and the pharmacist believable. In the restaurant when the church boss is demanding payment, what's to make the pharmacist not say screw you and your church, I'm quitting. This is never explained, nor is the wife's weird bossy and culty behavior.

It's nice to see the actor who played Al Neri (Richard Bright) turn up in this episode, but I'm not at all sure his apartment on the Lower East Side would have a large private garden in the back.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fun episode, but there are issues for sure.