Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV Series) Homo Homini Lupus (2002) User Reviews

Rape in war and peace

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 2 November 2015]

This particular episode of Criminal Intent is one sad commentary on the human condition. There's only one real villain in this story, Ritchie Coaster who is a Serbian refugee and in the wars that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia in the Nineties the armies used a rape as a weapon of war. Now that it's peace time Coaster still takes pleasure in his work as an enforcer for loan sharks.

I can't go into this whole story because it involves the kidnapping of a yuppie's family and what happens in their incarceration. No one comes out looking good here and no one really wants to cooperate with Major Case for their own reasons. Even the person who originally alerted the police backs down.

To see how justice gets done here is to see Vincent D'Onofrio at his eccentric best.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent-Homo Homini Lupis

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 13 November 2010]

Here's one of those types of stories often popping up on Law & Order's other hit show, SVU, and it concerns a Serbian war criminal, now a "collector" who is called on by bookies to kidnap the families of clients who fail to pay up. Lucas Colter(James Colby)owed someone money for getting behind on payments(he was embezzling his companies funds), with his wife and daughters kidnapped by Simon Matic(Ritchie Coaster). Simon rapes Lucas' daughter while holding her captive and this motivates Eames and Goren to catch him before he does it to someone else's teenage girl. A tattoo and Stockholmes Syndrome play into how Simon will be either caught or not, as the rape victim, Maggie(Stephi Lineburg), holds inside her rage, with Goren hoping to pull that out of her so he can give a positive identification of Simon. Rape is never a comfortable topic explored, but its potent subject matter all the same. We see how a father's ill decisions in regards to money can forever scar his family, and the atrocities of the Serbian army against innocent women of their country are brought to the forefront in particularly haunting episode.

Man is wolf to man

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 11 October 2019]

That review title is the episode title's, which is a Latin proverb, English translation, just in case anybody is interested. Have always been fond of 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and like/love all three of the most famous and longest-running ones (this, 'Special Victims Unit' and especially the original 'Law and Order', the others are more variable). The first season of 'Criminal Intent' being a solid one and perhaps the most consistent of the first seasons of those three.

"Homo Homini Lupis" is for me one of Season 1's best. Not just that, it is also the single most disturbing and emotionally powerful one. What could have easily been a standard kidnapping case with no original thought in it turned out to be so much more than that and the complete opposite, with powerful scenes (one also being very hard to watch), a good deal of tension, a complex (main) victim, one of the show's vilest main villains and great character chemistry.

It is a brilliantly written episode. The dialogue is taut and thoughtful, with some chilling moments, like Matic's bragging that particularly shows how despicable he is as a character, and some moments that bring tears to the eyes like with the chemistry between Goren and Maggie. The story is always cohesive and compelling, scoring massively on the complex emotions factor. The scene with Matic and the captors is very tense with some harrowing acting, but it's what follows that is hardest to witness, have not seen a more disturbing rape (even when off-camera) scene and its build up and aftermath in a long time on film or television. Shining just as much is the chemistry between Goren and Maggie, here Goren's eccentricity is toned down and he becomes more paternal and sympathetic. Add to that some truly heartfelt acting from Stephi Lineburg and we have a chemistry that's truly touching and something of the heart of the episode.

Production values are slick and the music is used only when necessary and fits well in placement and tonally when it is used. The supporting characters are some of the detailed of the season and even on the whole of 'Criminal Intent', one can't even hate Lucas despite his greed being uncondonable and truly felt for Maggie and understood completely her emotions. Of the villains, only the sociopathic Matic comes over as evil-incarnate and even he avoids being caricaturish or being one-note.

Vincent D'Onofrio gives some of his best acting of the show, absolutely nailing the different softer side we see to Goren. Kathryn Erbe contrasts well with him and cannot rave about Lineburg enough. Ritchie Coaster is chilling as Matic.

Concluding, wonderful and stays with you for a long time. 10/10