Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV Series) Gods & Insects (2010) User Reviews

My mother taught me to work within boundaries.

[Mrpalli77 · 7/10 · 10 October 2017]

A bank CEO (Dominic Fumusa) was celebrating with his staff: bad times had long gone and company was back on track, making profits again; a mid-level manager thanked him, but his look let us know he was concerned about something. Meanwhile, a lowlife unemployed fights against his uptown call girl over the way she make ends meet, not knowing she had just been fired due to make public some john's information. When the slacker's body was dug up from a sewer with arms, feet and head mutilated, detectives figure out that is not a common murder: something related to the past lead them to the motive. The two bankers were fellow soldiers in Iraq and one faced a dishonorable discharge. Who is the real killer?

Stevens plays well the part of undercover high class hooker; she's really smart other than cute and she knows different languages due to her father's job, making her attractive to businessmen's eyes.

Identity of the victim was something to be avoided.

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 10 April 2016]

The boyfriend of a high end call girl is found with torso in a sewer and extremities God knows where. But Leslie Hendrix our expert medical examiner manages to identify him which was something no doubt the killer wanted to avoid. I have to say it was a bit of extraordinary luck that Jeff Goldblum and Saffron Stevens have with this.

The late Reginald Veneziano had a lovely sideline in selling blackmail photographs of Bree Williamson's clients. And one of those clients has some real kinky tastes.

In fact the killer who is Wall Street bigwig Dominic Fumasa already has a plan B involving his good buddy from the Iraq War to take the fall for him. This was the part of the episode I wasn't that crazy about. Jim True-Frost already did it once. I can't believe this guy was such a schlep that he was going to have it happen again.

Not one of the better CI stories.

More an insect than godly

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 9 September 2021]

When it comes to talking about the previous seasons of 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent', Seasons 1-4 were very good as an overall whole, the weakest episodes still being decent and the best being absolutely outstanding and 'Criminal Intent' high points. From Season 5 onwards, the show became a lot less consistent, the best episodes were still outstanding but the worst episodes were real misfires (two of which being in this season).

One of them being this episode "Gods and Insects" and the other being "Palimpsest". This episode is marginally better as there is a lot less of a sense of it feeling out of place within the show. "Gods and Insects" doesn't have enough of the ingredients that makes 'Criminal Intent' so great at its best and indicative of the show having run out of ideas, but at least it didn't feel too much like a horror spoof or something. While a big disappointment, it's not a complete mess.

"Gods and Insects" has a few good things. The production values are fine, have always liked the photography's intimacy and grit and the look of the show has come on a good deal over-time (and it was good to begin with). The music doesn't intrude and has a haunting quality, have not always remembered to say that the theme tune is easy to remember and holds up.

Jeff Goldblum definitely has presence and doesn't overplay any of Nichols' quirkiness, which has significantly toned down by this point. Also did like Reginald Veneziano's subplot, which was intriguing and not near as sleazy as it sounds.

However, a lot of things could have been done better. The story tends to be very silly, with a very far fetched reveal, and is also very familiar ground and thin with no suspense or surprises. Meaning that a lot of the episode drags, until the very rushed ending where the killer is revealed in a way that feels too late and throwaway. The writing tends to ramble and doesn't flow naturally sometimes.

Saffron Burrows doesn't look comfortable here and she and Goldblum are still not gelling enough, their personalities are too different and one is a lot stronger than the other. The supporting cast are not particularly memorable in thinly sketched roles and all the changes that were introduced two episodes previous aren't fully settled enough.

In conclusion, lacklustre. 4/10.