It hardly seems possible, but I liked the opening credits music even less this week than last. In fact, I'm bumping it up to hate.

Alicia Witt's character I liked more than Noth's. She had Bobby-esq moments (well, infinitely more so than Logan, who I just consider a bit of an oaf), and that's what I like in my L&O:CI.

The episode overall seemed a bit more put together than Amends, but I still felt like there was a lot of setups with no resolution. Why bring in that the guy impregnated so many of his patients without having any payoff at all? Not to mention that that seems like something the writers pool came up with for SVU, but decided to keep when they went to USA.

And giving the impression at all that the guy can get off by donating marrow? Was I just not paying enough attention, because that's really the read I got from the detectives.

The only person who could clear the doctor of his brother's murder was his son. That's because the son was the killer. Mike called it a heat of passion accident. The doctor staged the crime scene so as to hide the fact that his son did it. He wasn't protecting his son, he just didn't want anyone to know he had a son. The son wouldn't tell his story on the record until the father donated bone marrow to his other son who was dying.

L&O the mothership did a doctor starting his own baseball team story. Jack and Claire had to work around a chinese wall. Fortunately, Jack was able to solve his part of the case so that they could have a nice dinner together. That doctor had some rare disease I'm blanking on at the moment which tipped them off that he was the father. This guy just had red hair.

Alicia Witt grates. I'm watching for CN but once the original show starts up again, I won't need him to satisfy my L&O needs. He's doing his bit, but he can't overcome her annoying-ness. I so wanted him to toss those car keys out into traffic and have her run after them.

A brief interview with Alicia Witt, who points out that, confusingly, the episode in which Logan and Falacci first meet has been moved back in the airing order.

GoldberryWaits writes:


To my mind, it's thirty seconds out of the episode, and, heretically, I've never really liked any of Post's L&O themes (as opposed to the cues in the episodes themselves, which are almost always delightfully quiet and moody).



The character seems really strange on paper, almost a deliberate counter-stereotype: a bookish, improbably young (I wonder if they had an older actress in mind, and decided on Witt because she was amenable to the short commitment and not hard on the eye) hotshot detective/working mother with an attitude problem. It's as if they had a list of character traits broken up into columns and selected a group out of pique, like a Chinese restaurant menu. Still, Witt somehow managed to tie it all together with her breezy, energetic haughtiness. I could almost believe the character was that efficient and driven.

Since I haven't seen the rest of the ep, just the opening, Mike didn't mention it? He worked on it! Lennie and Mike broke it first, then Jack had to work backwards because it came out of the medical records they'd supoenaed for another reason. Jack followed the money (no AIDS testing of the donors), Mike and Lennie just noticed that the same donor turned up twice within a block or so, then started going through all the records.

In fact...the Mothershiip ep has the same title, IIRC.

I missed last weeks ep so hadn't heard the new opening theme - yikes! Everyone was right, it's awful.

Falacci is a terrible name. I think the writers know it too as they forced the other characters to say the name a million times each. Note to CI writers: repeating it over an over doen't make it less stupid.

So far not loving the newbie. I knew AWs voice was going to annoy me, but I just don't think the det. is interesting or necessary. However she does make me realize I actually like Wheeler and how she and Logan interact. Maybe the point is to give Logan a partner that actually needs him to evolve a little more, into someone more stable. But they need to make her way more compelling.

As far as the story goes it absolutely is a retread. I think this has been done at least once in every procedure show of the modern era. The whole L&O franchise I think need to start rethinking their story lines.

Just a weird thing of mine & I know it's now Logan's 3rd season, but the whole show being filmed with the viewpoint on the opposite side of the squad room still freaks me out. Is it weird that I feel compelled to spot the G/E work area the whole time? (I also think it would be fun to spot the dets in the background of each other's episodes sometimes. Kinda like Where's Waldo.)

You just know the kids called her "Falacci-o" in junior high school. I think I like AW better than I liked JN, however.

What the heck is Callie Lonegan doing in ANOTHER episode?

Oh and word on all the theme hate.

So wait a second. Doctor Cad said at the beginning of the episode that he discovered his brother's body and removed the instrument (I forget what it's called) from his mouth to give him mouth to mouth. We don't know how much of that is true, but seems that he did actually remove the instrument because it was just lying on the floor by the time the police got there.

But then we discovered later that Doctor Cad actually found his brother dead in his office and then trussed up the body, forcing that instrument down his brother's throat. Why did he put that thing in...and then take it out again?

Ah well. I'm still glad to see Chris Noth again.

The whole L&O franchise is stale, stale, stale. All of Dick Wolf's pet peeves have been worked to death. The revolving door of partners and ADAs makes it difficult to get emotionally attached to any of them. And, since the themes seem to be interchangeable (yeah, this could easily have been a Perv Squad ep), it as if the mothership has been on for 30 seasons. Is it possible I've had enough? Na-a-h.

I did like Alicia Witt's occasional little snicker. It's like she's reprising her role from Cybill. Smart and more than slightly contemptuous of the rest of her species.

I can't believe it, you're right. I remember seeing that episode on TNT only a month or so ago. Its from season five:



At least C&I changed the episode title. The extra "s" does make all the difference. SVU have probably done a ton of episodes on this theme as well.

Also actively hating the new theme song when I'm usually indifferent to them. Its a bit too 80's or something.

I was pretty sure it was a Mike case, but then I decided there's no way they would do that so I attributed it to me misremembering which season it was in. Sad doesn't begin to cover the state of L&O these days and to think for whatever reason they skipped over an episode to get to this one is alarming.

The doctor at first staged the body to look like someone was making a statement. Then he had to account for all of his dna being found all over the crime scene. So he pulled up the brother's pants, making it obvious he rebuckled it, and removed the instrument from the mouth. He wanted the police to come to him with their initial suspicions, but have a good reason ready to throw them off.

It was a decent episode even if I did see almost the same thing on the original show. The writers so should of had Logan have a deja vu moment. The didn't like how the ending didn't give much of a resolution. The new detective doesn't bother me that much but I like the Wheeler/Logan partnership better.

Is it just me or does Chris Noth look ten times better than he did last season?

I really hate the new music too. Blech.

Best line ever:





It's not just you. It's like some kind of weird backwards VDO thing.

ITA that Chris Noth looks good this season. I've always liked Mike Logan, though I never considered Chris Noth to be all that handsome. He's more striking than conventionally good looking, IMHO. However, the very short haircut he's sporting has toned down that overdyed look he had and brought out a cowlick that I find to be unexpected and endearing. Plus, I think he's lost some weight.

I think it's a cool idea in terms of character growth to pair Logan with a young hot head, since he was the young hot head for so long. And then he was just the hot head. However, my initial impression was that this lady was abrasive and loud for no real reason. Or maybe it was just the actress investing a certain "BEHOLD, I'M ABRASIVE. AND FIERY. AND STRIDENT ON OCCASION. LOOK ON ME, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR." into her initial performance to establish the character. I hope she'll tone it down.

I did like when the assy teenage son called her "fire-crotch" and both Mike and Falucci started up like they were going to pulp him, and then Mike looked over at her and seemed to realize, "oh wait, I'm the level-headed one now." And proceeded with light verbal smack instead of physical aggression/intimidation.

I also enjoyed "Are you all blackmailing me?" Darn tootin'. He freaking deserved it. I feel a bit bad that Tom is going to end up going to jail though.

The instrument is a speculum; they come in different sizes, models, etc. and are used to hold various orifices open for examination, collecting tissue samples, etc. The thing in the brother's mouth was a vaginal speculum, which totally makes sense in an og/gyn/fertility practice. Frankly, I'm surprised that TPTB Went There. Before it was revealed that the killer put it there to throw off the cops as to motive of the attack, I was squicking myself thinking about the motivation and symbolization of doing such a thing.

I agree that the new theme is terrible and grating, and I wasn't that fond of the earlier one. Why the producers felt the need to change it escapes me.

Alicia Witt was not as annoying as I thought she would be, but I think that the casting people should have gone a bit older. Witt is too young to pull off the air of experience and expertise that her character supposedly has. I'm also surprised that they gave her an Italian surname. Her character pointed out the relative lack of redheads in the general population compared to the all the redhaired children on the baby board. Wouldn't a natural redhead of Mediterranean descent be even rarer in comparison? (I apologise if I'm overgeneralising on the hair color issue.)

I really miss Wheeler, though, both as a character and for her chemistry with Logan. It's good to see Logan looking better and Noth finally settling back into the character. I loved the way he started to go after BratBoy (Jason?) when BratBoy called Falacci "firecrotch". Go Mikey!

That's awesome. Now if the Logan episodes start getting more all-knowing and slightly nerdy and shockingly emotionally/motivationally insightful then the transfer can be completed.

I'd rather just have old-school L&O:CI back, though.

Nothing against Julianne Nicholson, but for the most part, Wheeler is a snooze: To say she is low-key would be putting it mildly. Falaci has style - I'm finding her very amusing. I already like the chemistry between her and Logan. I don't mind the theme at all, it too is kind of amusing. I'm even warming up to Capt. Ross - so far I'm diggin' the whole USA vibe.

Wow, I'll say.

Vinny, WHAT happened to YOU?

This was a particular interesting comment, considering she is the third female red-headed partner on this show.

She prefaced it by saying how many redheads were in her high school class (very few.) According to my old class notes, redheads make up 1-2% of the global population, with the majority coming from Scandinavia and the northern UK. Even in a city as cosmopolitan and diverse as NYC, I could see Falacci noticing the discrepancy on the baby board, especially given her own personal experience.

As to her being the third redheaded partner on the show, I suspect that is more due to casting politics than anything else.

What kind of "casting politics"? Affirmative action for redheads?

Yeah, I meant I thought it was some meta-snark -- obviously casting likes the red-headed female partner. And if I really want to think about it, Wheeler is more auburn; Fallaci is more like flame-haired ("enhanced") like Eames' temp replacement was. Maybe the show wanted to point that out before anyone else does -- it's part of the uniform for replacement detectives -- and since life doesn't have a casting dept, not realistic.

Yes, I think too much.

I love that the kid was wearing a Bayside Tigers shirt.


Goooo Bayside!

I enjoyed seeing Rogers put Fallacilala (or whatever her name is) in her place. Don't mess with Rogers.

I found Falaci extemely annoying. The acting seemed forced and phoney. I thought she made a terrible partner for Logan.

Noth IS looking quite fine. I guess doing the SATC movie has forced him to trim up a bit.

I thought the ending of the story fell horribly flat.

After last week's great season premier, this episode was a huge disappointment.

Logan is looking better becuause CN is getting better grooming in his other part time job - as Mr Big in the SATC movie.

Word, word, word! I loved her on Cybil, but that's because the bratty know-it-all act works for a teenager. Here it just comes off as very annoying. Also, is it just me or is she walking all weird?

I thought she was talking pretty high. Like she sounded like Bebe Neuwirth Jr. on Cybill. Here not so much.

The 2% is right, and timely article to back it up!

I thought this storyline was a recycle!! Glad someone else pointed out the original. Whew!

AW wasn't bad as Falucci - but it might be hard having to hard-azzes on the same case. I liked Wheeler - she seems to humanize Logan IMHO so that he wasn't just a high BP, vein's a poppin' one dimensional kinda guy.

I do have to say that the writers are starting to write a better episode for Logan (and revolving door partner) than in the past seasons. Hope they keep it up and stop recycling stories.

I don't know what I've been using for brains, but this just now reminded me that Logan's always been the revolving door partner guy. In the mothership, there was a moment where somebody accused him of being a jinx because he couldn't keep a partner (and two of them had gotten shot). Apart from Lennie, has Logan ever had a partner that lasted more than a season or two?

No wonder the writers think they can get away with recycling plots. There are viewers like me that are blithely missing it when they actually do something right with consistent characterization. :::facepalm:::

I'm ready now though...no more slipping anything past me.

Falacci wasn't horrible, but of all the actresses out there to hire for this gig, why her? Someone on another board suggested hiring Shannon Dougherty for the competent bitchy type, and I agree. Plus she's older. Witt's too young to be a realistic Major Case detective.

I'm willing to give her a chance, but please someone dress her like a grown up, OK?

Once upon a time (in what seems like a lifetime ago) I was a flight attendant. I worked with a red haired, green-eyed lady named Marie Casagrande. Of course I had to ask how a green-eyed redhead could have such an ethnic sounding name...yes you guessed it she was adopted.

As for Falacci...that could be her married name...

I think Witt did a good job in the role but the character is so grating. I always liked Alfalfa but Falacci isn't a likable but I suppose she's not intended to be.

I've always preferred Goren and Eames week to Logan weeks and I think this show is a good example of why. At no point, was I curious as to what would happen next. I felt like it was all too obvious and the actors very boring. The guest stars this week were particularly lackluster.

Wow, I would love to see SD on L&O as a cop. She would really give Logan a run for his money.

Maybe this will sound sexist, but I would have liked to have seen CN paired with a man while Alfalfa is gone. He does good buddy chemistry when given the chance.

Now that's funny, Dana Girl. I was just getting used to her when 'hey! I'm acting here!' came along.

I guess I'm the only one who would have liked a reappearance by Barek? I thought she was just fitting in when they wrote her out.

Wow, lots of hate on here for Falacci! Am I the only one who likes her? I think she's supposed to be inexperienced, but THINKS she knows it all from her Master Classes, a point that Logan made clear to her. Wheeler never made any impression at all on me - I like Falacci much better.

Why, yes, I named my first-born Zoe after a certain character on Cybill; why do you ask?

No, really... I did.

I'm enjoying Falacchi so far. I'm enjoying the amused look on Logan's face as he tries to be the adult, diplomatic partner.

Nope. Max was one season (although it's implied they'd been partners for at least 3 previous years in one ep), Ceretta was a season and a bit and Lennie was two seasons and a half. I think Mike had had his Staten Island partner like two years when Exiled started? (that I'm not sure of).

I also like Falacci, it is fun to see Mike be the adult and I think he likes having a partner as snarky as he is (which is why Mike and Lennie worked so well--I was shocked to see a Mike & Lennie ep actually running on TNT yesterday).

I caught this as a rerun last night. I haven't actually seen any non-Goren/Eames episodes, so it was interesting. I actually couldn't distinguish this from normal L&O (at least with the other pairing, you have VDO's thing going on). Considering they were re-doing a L&O episode, I guess the confusion is warranted.
Plus, I didn't really see the doctor as a red-head, more blond-ish, so I was really confused about the comments about the babies on the board at first.
And, I really don't belive that the cops would have arrested the brother for murder if he didn't donate the bone marrow. They couldn't prove the case against Tom, but I can't see them going forward against the brother when they knew he didn't do it because of the bone marrow situation.

I missed the ending - did the son get the bone marrow?

Yeah, I agree that this show has a yen for redheads.

crabcakes, don't think Dr. Eli Rush had a choice once Logan and Falacci and one of his sons had him cornered at the end.

One of the greatest lines ever on CI, at least imo, was Logan's very last word on the subject: Family, with the appropriate head gesture to indicate how he felt Eli's pain. ROFL

I just saw this tonight.

My God, I can't stand Alicia Witt. She's annoying. It's not the character that's annoying, it's Witt. She has an irritiating face, and she pouts too much. She's too aware of the camera and comes across as self-satisfied and vain. That's not acting--that's how she is in everything she's ever appeared in.

I like Noth, not NEARLY as much as I like D'Onofrio, but I like him. Kate Erbe is my gal, and I didn't mind Sciorra. But Witt? Holy cannoli, she's one of the most irritating people on television.

The Goren/Eames partnership is the only one that's real to me with all these configurations. Watching these feverishly within the last year, I think Goren/Eames have replaced Benson/Stabler as my favorite partnership (that's almost blasphemy). Noth isn't as interesting as Goren, but who is? Noth is likable and has swagger. They need to get rid of Witt and find someone who can actually act. They lost that when Sciorra was replaced.