Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV Series) The Good Child (2005) User Reviews

So Many Questions, Starting With 'Rachel'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 7 July 2008]

I don't understand the title to this episode, as there is no "good child" that I saw, just a chip-on-her-shoulder young woman who is part of a witness protection program and appears to becomes a victim herself after her parents are murdered.

This is a very complicated episode as the parents - the ones escaping mobsters from Buffalo and living under assumed names in Queens - are the targets. However, the adopted young woman, "Rachel," winds up being a key part of the story, too. As you watch this, she becomes a suspect, too, which is why I said "appears" in the above paragraph. The writers keep you guessing regarding her characters. Maybe she killed them. Perhaps it was the mob in Buffalo, who figured out where the "stoolies" lived. Maybe it was the people who claim they are Rachel's "real parents." Are they for real? If so, what's there connection in this whole deal? Are they in on the murder, or just one of them, or are all three? Could these real parents even kill Rachel for her money?

So many questions. Greed, false accusations, murder and a lot more are involved in here, which is why it gets confusing at times.

Oddly, the key to solving the case winds up being something to do with kleptomania. Yup, you never know what will pop up in these stories.

Keeper of secrets

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 28 October 2020]

On first watch, the title of the episode did strike me as curious and when seeing the episode irrelevant. Digging deeper into the meaning of the title, it made more sense. There is actually more than one definition of "Good Child", but the one that makes the most sense within the context of the story is it referencing a character that appears very respectful on the outside but deep down is one that hides appalling secrets and would do anything to keep it that way.

"The Good Child" on recent re-watch, one of two, still strikes me as a very well done episode with a number of great things. It does though feel like a let down after such an incredible previous episode ("Shibboleth") and the season showed many times that it could be great. Something that overall "The Good Child" didn't quite get to being. If it slowed down and did less it would have been even better than it turned out. Liked the episode but didn't love it.

It is not a bad thing that it is an eventful episode, but part of me did feel that it tried to do too much so it can have an over-stuffed feel. Which does sometimes affect the cohesion, with not everything being easy to follow and as said it did for me leave questions swimming around in my head.

Something that would have been solved if the pace had slowed down a little and was a little longer.

However, there is a lot that is good about "The Good Child". The episode is slick-looking and visually doesn't try to do anything too fancy or indulgent while also not being too safe. The music is not too dramatic and to me doesn't over-emphasise. Enough of the script intrigues and entertains, Goren's perceptions and such are as apt and amusing as one expects. The story is diverting enough and when things start to come together it's clever stuff.

Absolutely loved the scene between Goren and the female jewellery store clerk, as well as his rapport with Eames. Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe are spot on and seeing Melissa Leo pre-'The Fighter' in a similarly strong performance was interesting. Although the character is a fairly obvious one, John Shea gives it his all and is both fun and unnerving.

Summing up, pretty good but not great. 7/10

A single red rose, love and fidelity

[Mrpalli77 · 9/10 · 14 September 2017]

A couple of con artists are bounded by the only things that matters to them in their pity life: money. He's a two-bit reporter (John Shea) and she's a former member of USA Olympic team (Melissa Leo); they are both broke, every little business in which they call the shot goes to bankruptcy. Anyway, there's a daughter they left years before without papers who could change their lives for the best. So a perfect scam is set up and planned in every single detail, but it's hard when you bump into a detective like Goren, whose portrayal of the murder scene looks like Disneyworld. He also faked to be a fan of Edwin Moses.

This episode shows that witness protection sometimes is not reliable, but in this case it's not police fault.

Not a wise child

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 February 2021]

Young Gaby Hoffman's parents have been slain in their home while watching TV. They were living n Queens under assumed names because they were in fear of the local Mafia family from Buffalo where they lived.

At the same time Hoffman has become acquainted with her biological parents John Shea and Melissa Leo who never married and still maintained a relationship of sorts. It gets a bit weird here as regard to their daughter.

It also becomes clear to Vincent Donofrio and Kathryn Erbe that the motive for the homicide is getting murkier and murkier.

Do you doubt that the team will clear up the murk.