Love Sick

A drug dealer's girlfriend (Megan Tusin) was beaten up outside a club and she needed to recover in hospital. There she befriended a nurse aid, spending the rest of the night with her drinking wine. The next morning, she was found strangled in a crappy neighborhood in the classic working girl outfit. Shortly after the investigation had begun, detectives discovered another dead body dressed the same way. There is a serial killer outside who enjoys himself in killing young girls, then clean them up in private parts, make them up carefully before dropping the bodies in the street. A troubled mind who takes care of human bodies the same way hunters used to tend deers that had just been killed.

Good performance for Dash Mihok as the fireman who like rough sex, a sex predator who get used to tying partners in bed. In this episode we find out Zoe Callas is from Greek origin.

The Zach Nichols and Serena Stevens partnership that dominated Season 9 didn't get off to the strongest of starts, both in terms of episodes and the partnership itself. Liked but not loved their first episode "Broad Channel", but didn't care for any of the episodes between that and "Abel and Willing". The latter episode being their first very good one and one of their best in a mixed bag of a season. Season 9 had to deal with a good deal of change but it was change that never completely settled.

Like the previous episode "Abel and Willing", "Love Sick" turned out to be one of the best episodes of Season 9. Again, like that episode, it isn't great or perfect but it is very good (nearly great in fact), is a big improvement over the previous Nichols and Stevens episodes and has more than enough to show that 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' hadn't completely lost it. Despite being past prime, well hit and miss, for quite a while.

There is not an awful lot wrong with "Love Sick". Again, like their previous episodes the chemistry between Nichols and Stevens (while getting better) doesn't have quite enough spark, they are hardly disconnected just not on fire.

Caroline Dhavernas to me came over as bland as Maya.

Everything else though works very well and the best things are great. Jeff Goldblum carries the proceedings with ease and Saffron Burrows looks a lot more relaxed here than in previous installments. Dash Mihok's creepy performance is a major asset too. Nice to find something out about Callas and her origins, development that was much needed as up to this point she was too much of the stereotypical formidable boss character.

As ever, the photography and such are fully professional, the slickness still remaining. The music is used sparingly and is haunting and non-overwrought when it is used, and it's mainly used when a crucial revelation or plot development is revealed. The direction has some nice tension while keeping things steady, without going too far the other way.

Furthermore, a big improvement can be seen here in the supporting characters writing compared to the previous Nichols and Stevens episodes, a lot more depth. Although it does have a way to go, the partnership between Nichols and Stevens has shown signs of progression. The writing is smart, taut and thought-provoking and also really liked the darkness and complexity of the story.

On the whole, very good. 8/10.