The Faithful

The first three episodes of 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent', when still in its very early stages, was a little bit like an up and down roller-coaster, but a not too big or steep one. Instead of the getting better with each episode that one somewhat likes to see (but understands if not the case) and have found that to be the case with a good deal of shows. The show started off very good with "One", then great with "Art" and then very good again with "Smothered".

With "The Faithful", we have in my personal opinion, 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent's' first "outstanding" episode, though as is clear above not disparaging what came before. It has all the positive qualities that the previous three episodes had, executes all of them even better (thought that would have been difficult to do when "Art" especially did its positive attributes so well, but this episode achieves that) and has even more of them. That is always great to see in early stages of a show, or even a season.

Can find nothing really to criticise. Didn't find how Goren is written an issue here as he is always like that on 'Criminal Intent' (though this is perhaps the first extreme example), his personality does take getting used to admittedly and it did so with me first time watching and getting into it.

Production values are slick and gritty, the photography complementing the atmosphere and locations very well. It is great that all the 'Law and Order' shows let the dialogue do all the talking in talk-heavy (but never overly so) shows and used the music sparingly and a lot of it was low-key while having more presence in dramatic moments or during revelations. "The Faithful" does that. While the main theme is not one of my favourites of the franchise, it sticks in the mind.

As is on the most part the case, the writing is thought-provoking and not too simple or complicated. Easy to understand while still handling it with maturity. The case is gripping and has the right amount of twists, didn't find it too overtly obvious and thought that it tackled a challenging subject very well. Every bit as interesting is how the detectives work and how they solve the crimes, Goren's methods are pretty unique and he is hardly a forgettable character either.

Vincent D'Onofrio portrays him splendidly and Kathryn Erbe is an equally as good softer contrast. Courtney B Vance shines at the end with his soft-spoken but attention grabbing threat. Alex Feldman comes very close to stealing the show as his nasty character, and Michael O'Keefe's conflicted priest likewise.

Overall, outstanding. 10/10

Back in my working days at Crime Victims Board I handled a claim for the murder of a church sexton at none other than St. Patrick's Cathedral. There was no investigation there except to delve into the perpetrator's psyche to find out why he clubbed a sexton to death when he tried to throw out the mentally disturbed perpetrator in front of a lot of witnesses.

This CI episode also involved the murder of Stephen Henderson a church sexton at a much smaller Catholic Church which is known for doing good works with the homeless population.

The focus is at first on Alex Feldman who is a kid from the foster care system who has a violent temper and a nasty drug habit. We know he's capable of it when we see him and running buddy Renoly Santiago beat up a hotdog vendor for some cash to score.

Then later Feldman is murdered and Goren and Eames have to shift their attention.

All I'll say here is that both priest Michael O'Keefe and Vincent D'Onofrio prove themselves mensches.

Feldman really steals the show in this story.