Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV Series) Chinoiserie (2002) User Reviews

Great characters, character actor actors

[jbirks106 · 8/10 · 22 December 2015]

Others have explained the plot sufficiently so there's no point rehashing it. What made this episode memorable for me was the outstanding supporting cast and the fine use the script made of them. There's Elizabeth Wilson, who played Ben Braddock's mother in "The Graduate" 35 years earlier, as the grande dame who sets the action in motion. There's Peter Frechette, accomplished Broadway veteran whose supporting credits include several other L&O episodes. And there's a fantastic performance from Frank Wood, classic "where do I know this guy from" case who appears, basically, as himself, a Broadway actor down on his luck and paid to impersonate an English aristocrat (and is indignant when Goren and Eames call him on his lame accent). In all, highly entertaining way to spend an hour.

Greed in art

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 27 February 2020]

Have always really liked 'Criminal Intent' and have done for a long time, for over a decade even. Namely in the early seasons, more compelling cases in my view, had more balanced chemistry and screen time between the leads and didn't take themselves as seriously as the later seasons did. The previous Season 2 episodes, following on from a consistently solid first season, were very good to outstanding. "Anti-Thesis" (a season and 'Criminal Intent' high point) faring best of all.

"Chinoiserie" up to this point of Season 2 is for me the weakest and one of the lesser episodes of Season 2, despite having one of the more intriguing on paper premises of the season. It is still very solid work, which just goes to show how good the previous four episodes of the season are, and has a lot to recommend it. "Chinosierie" starts off brilliantly, though generally it is a case of everything done well with no massive problems but not in a way that was special at the end of the day.

It perhaps could have done with more edge and tension and some of the middle act after the opening are on the ordinary, predictable side. Intriguing premise but the execution on occasions Ra

Things get a touch convoluted on occasions when it is revealed all is not what it seems.

However, the production values are still slick and doesn't look overblown or static. Opening up the drama enough despite the locations not being a large number. The music doesn't get excessive in quality or quantity, not being too constant or too melodramatic. The script is smart and provokes thought, as well as going along at a tight pace. The story drifts a bit in the middle act, but it has a riveting opening sequence and plenty of twists and turns that genuinely surprise and ring true.

When things go a completely different direction in a way one doesn't expect, "Chinoiserie" finds its groove again and Goren and Eames' satisfaction at the end in a denouement that leaves one floored matches our own. Goren is still a great character with great chemistry with Eames (more of her wouldn't have gone amiss though). Vincent D'Onofrio is a joy and Kathryn Erbe does very well as usual at providing a more subtle contrast. The supporting cast are also dead on, with Frank Wood managing to give charm to a snobbish character and Elizabeth Wilson chilling the bone.

Overall, good if not quite great. 7/10

Big as life

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 21 December 2014]

A woman from China some ten years later recognizes a Chinese army officer from her past as one who really enjoyed his work massacring students in Tianamen Square. Right there in New York's Chinatown big as life. She screams at him and he runs. Minutes later she's shot down in the back in front of her little girl.

Her background brings the Major Case squad in and it's quite a roundabout bit of business that leads to her death. Our Chinese suspect formerly with the People's Republic Army is now in the lucrative business of smuggling antiquities with some Occidental partners. Behind all of that is a woman played by Elizabeth Wilson who was orphaned in China way back in Kuomintang days and is now a Park Avenue dowager. She's got an insatiable need for these artifacts.

Why this innocent young mother had to die is really both revolting and narcissistic. You'll love seeing Goren and Eames meting justice here.

Okay, But A Bit On The Dry Side

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 16 December 2006]

Annie Ming Littleton is shopping in Chinatown with her two little kids when she recognizes someone, goes into hysterics yelling and chasing the guy. This is reminiscent of the 1976 film "Marathon Man" when Holocaust victims recognized an old Nazi on the streets of New York and yelled out, as this woman did. In this case, the woman recognized a man called "the butcher" who massacred people in the student uprising of 1989 in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Anyway, the man she was pursuing eludes her, gets in a car but the driver advises him to go back and do something about that because the woman recognized him. He does, killing her with two shots in the back.

That dramatic opening is really the only riveting part of this episode, which is sub-par only because it has limited appeal. It's really a story about smuggling Chinese artifacts and the dealings with that, much of which will bore most listeners. I wasn't bored, but most episodes are little more edgy than this one.