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

Nobody's perfect

[lastliberal · 9/10 · 22 September 2008]

It's hard to watch drama without knowing J. O. Sanders. You may not know the name, but you certainly recognize him when you see him. Here he plays a meticulous killer that is so smart it is unlikely he would ever get caught except for coming on the radar of Detective Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio).

Good police work gave them a suspect, but it was Goren's quirky ways that helped him to figure out how to use this criminal's obsessive-compulsiveness to trap him.

Great work and a great performance by Sanders as the hit man who almost got away with it.

Finally, We Get The Second-Season DVD and It's Off To A Good Start

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 14 December 2006]

An embalmer at a funeral home is killed, with strange markings on his chest. He had received a strange phone call a few weeks ago from a man saying embalming was not something God at favorably. Goren finds that man and interviews and quickly deduces that the killer set it up so it looked like a "religious fanatic" (the only kind, according to L&O writers) did it but that is not the case since the man wouldn't have desecrated the body. So, who is this clever killer and what's his motive?

Things get really bizarre when it is discovered the guy who was supposed to cremating bodies the past few years was not, and that the bodies were buried or half buried nearby the crematory and cleverly used for other crime scenes. Did the embalmer find out about this scam and was killed for having that knowledge?

Veteran movie actor J.O Sanders guest-stars in this episode, and he is fascinating.

Overall, an interesting beginning the second season of this series. It took several years for this DVD to be released, even though the third year had been released at least two years. That's another mystery but will never be "solved" by us viewers.

"Dead" is Excellent Episode of Criminal Intent - Law & Order

[philip-47230 · 9/10 · 24 November 2020]

Detective Goren and Eames track down a killer with several victims. On the way they meet one of the killer's (Jay O. Sanders) friends. He is played by Jim Gaffigan, who does a good job. Also, the wife of Sanders - played by Tina Benko has an idea something is wrong, but can't put her finger on it.

As usual, Goren and Eames start to zero in on the suspect. On a side note, Jay Sanders deserves an Emmy for his portrayal of a mad Hit Man. Deceptive, buy fascinating. This is one of my favorite episode for Season 2.

Far from dead and should stay above ground

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 19 February 2020]

Of the three best shows in the 'Law and Order' franchise (the original, 'Criminal Intent' and 'Special Victims Unit' in its prime), 'Criminal Intent' had perhaps the most consistent first season of the three in terms of overall quality. Namely because it only had one (slightly) disappointing episode and even that was good. 'Special Victims Unit's' first season though perhaps had the higher number of brilliant episodes, despite also having the most and worst episodes that could have been better (not by much though and they were still not bad).

So expectations were understandably very high for Season 2 of 'Criminal Intent' on first watch, after being so impressed by Season 1. Things get off to a wonderful start with "Dead". Of the Season 2 'Law and Order' openers for 'Law and Order', 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent', "Dead" gets my vote as the best and most settled, being the only one to not have to undergo so many big changes. Not quite one of the very best 'Criminal Intent' episodes but in the better half easily, with one of the show's most fascinating, cleverest and creepiest killers being one of its biggest selling points. "Dead" is not an episode to bury, quite the complete anti-thesis, and the show is very much still alive when it comes to the quality. Having given every episode in the season and show more than one re-watch over-time, with all three shows airing regularly, my positive opinion of Season 2 and of "Dead" absolutely still stand.

"Dead" is another good-looking episode, the slickness and grit are still there in the photography while, like with the second seasons of the original and 'Special Victims Unit', also with a sharper look. The music is not overused or too melodramatic, even in the revelations, while the theme tune continues to stay in the head for a while.

The writing is still taut and smart, with lots of quirky and thought-probing moments. The writers, particularly in the early seasons, always clearly seemed to have a great time with the dialogue for Goren. The story is always intriguing and cleverly plotted with some nice suspense in parts as well as some creepiness. There is the bizarre factor, without getting too weird, and one feels the same amount of pleasure the detectives feel when the killer is caught.

Goren is still a fascinating and entertaining character, and will always love his and Eames' nicely contrasted chemistry. Love how she just goes along with his nosiness. The killer is one of the standout killers of the show in my view, being one of the creepiest and, up to a point, one of the cleverest. The acting is strong. Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe still have it in the lead roles, D'Onofrio clearly having fun with Goren's quirkiness and neuroses. J.O. Sanders is chilling in his role.

Not much to criticise here, but, like with some episodes from Season 1, it was not completely easy to buy how the killer got away with such despicable crimes for so long without anybody, even those close to him, ever suspecting him.

Maybe the specifics of the killer's handiwork transition was on the rushed side and the climactic ruse could have done with being more clever and distinctive.

On the whole, a wonderful start to Season 2. 9/10

"Law and Order (Criminal Intent)"..Series 2

[carmenjulianna · 8/10 · 22 January 2022]

If you were to have read my review of the 1st series, then you'd know how much I love this series..:) After I purchased series 1 and begun to watch a few episodes, I knew that I must purchase as soon as possible series 2 so that I'd have the next new episode ready to watch, when the last disc played in my bluray of series 1.

I certainly didn't want to watch all series 1 episodes before I had purchased as many series as possible..! The Complete boxset would be nice:) Vincent D'onofrio is an excellent character and method actor that brings uniqueness to his character, detective 'Robert Goren' not unlike "Columbo" He's humble, claver, and wise; his psychological intuitiveness can seem a little calculating, even frustrating to those around him, but doesn't he always get his man.! 'Goren' is a character that is just so exciting to watch. Unlike his partner Kathryn Erbe (det' Alex' Eames), her character is quite drab, cold and lacks a little empathy, she doesn't seem to have a thought or opinion of her own, without being prompted by 'Goren'.. Goren is quite a private person, he does however rely upon Eames for support and back-up. Their partnership seems to work because they're both so different. Talk about the Spider and the fly..!! He's a leader, she's the follower... Looking forward to this series going on and on.. Love It..!!!

I should go on ahead and review this here episode of LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT.....

[tarwaterthomas · 10/10 · 17 March 2024]

.,...because it has horror movie overtones and anyway earlier this evening I caught THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1963) on MeTv's SVENGOOLIE show. This episode deals with vicious professional assassin Harry Rowan (Jay O. Saunders) who just got through strangling a coroner's assistant. The twist is that Rowan is married and has a family, and he manages to keep his activities compartmented. The strangulation evidences the interest of police detectives Bobby Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe). Their investigation leads them to a funeral home doing business with a crematorium, which is supposed to be an active operation. But instead of smelling ashes, Goren and Eames smells nothing but fresh air and there are more than three little birds chirping nearby. It turns out that the corpses that were supposed to be incinerated according to their respective families' wishes have been buried on the grounds at the behest of the assistant manager Russell Matthews (future stand-up comic Jim Gaffigan). Side note: the episode was based on an actual case that happened in Georgia, back in 2002. Anyhoo, after Rowan shows up at One Police Plaza and bellows at Detective Goren to stay away from him and his family, Goren invites him to stick around. He plays with Rowan like a tomcat playing with a mouse before the inevitable end. Goren's like Lieutenant Colombo tormenting a murder suspect until the latter screams "All right! All right! I did it!" So now Harry Rowan is frantically looking for a porcelain dental cap that could tie him to the murder of Eddie Ferguson, and he's tearing the garage apart, even going so far as to remove the storm drain cover. He's losing his cool, even yelling at his wife Susan (Tina Benko). This was one of the best episodes of LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT. I'm not whistling Dixie. I was born in California.

One clever killer

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 4 October 2016]

A pair of nice guest star performances dominate this Criminal Intent episode. Jay O. Sanders and comedian Jim Gaffigan play a most brutal but extremely clever killer and a hapless cousin who happens to run a crematory that Sanders finds useful in his line of work.

The victim here is an embalmer and Sanders very nearly throws the police off the track here. Only a very eclectic mind like Adrian Monk or in this case Robert Goren would have spotted this particular frame.

Let's just say that the crematory isn't doing it's job and their are a lot of rotting corpses literally floating around which are useful to Sanders who is a contract killer. There were two incidents like this involving funeral homes that were not doing what they are supposed to do in real life in the previous decade, one of them in Brooklyn as I recall. This is from where this episode is taken.

Sanders leads a neat compartmentalized life, not even his wife has a clue what he does. In fact his own traits are what Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe trap him with.

You have to see how they do it, really clever themselves.