User Reviews

Criminal Intent made several episodes with Chris Noth where hints are given that he's ready to call it quits with the NYPD. Given his time on Law And Order prime and a made for TV film showing his Staten Island exile years and now his time with Major Case, he's coming closer and closer to packing it in.

A young police academy trainee is killed and the hunt is on for a girl he's been dating. Brooke Tansley is shown to be one of those amoral persons not unlike Bobby Goren's nemesis Nicole Wallace. The whole part of her story is just locating her. She's experienced and the mere fact that Telly Leung suspects something is not quite right got him killed. Tansley is really evil, note the scene where she's finally caught.

While this is going on Noth gets involved with a woman who lived in the apartment next door. The next date she stands him up and he finds when comes home she's jumped from their apartment roof.

One thing about Detective Mike Logan, he has one strong sense of justice. But circumstances being what they are there is no justice for Kelli Williams. It disturbs Logan no end and Chris Noth has to be taken off the assigned case. Kathryn Erbe is around to finish things up there.

Chris Noth got a lot out of the Mike Logan character over the years and this episode is a great example.

One does understandably expect a lot from season finales. There have been some real crackers over-time, but also a fair share of fizzlers (a few of them notoriously so). After being so blown away by "Endgame", expectations were high for "Renewal" which had a lot to live up to to be as good as the previous episode and considering that it is also a season finale. Season 6 had some outstanding episodes (such as "Endgame"), one misfire ("Bombshell") and most of the episodes ranging between average and very good.

"Renewal" is one of the very good ones and is a worthy season finale, that is most interesting for Logan's character development. Compared to other Season 6 episodes, "Renewal" fares very favourably and is infinitely better than the previous Logan and Wheeler episode "Bombshell". It is though not near as good as "Endgame", which actually felt more like a season finale than this and in retrospect should have been. Very good but not a cracker.

Was "Renewal" a perfect episode? No. Logan getting that emotionally invested over a deceased person he barely knew takes some swallowing and is not usually in Logan's tough nature. Before anybody scoffs at this, this is to say that he has more than once gotten very affected by deaths, think Greevey's sudden murder in the Season 2 opener for the original 'Law and Order', but that was more realistic in this regard.

Did feel too that the ending was on the slightly anti-climactic side.

However, everything else works extremely well. On the most part, seeing a different side to Logan, with him as a more tortured individual behind the tough exterior of the detective, was very interesting and executed extremely well. Chris Noth's performance has a lot to thank for that, after seeing his more intense persona and his dry humour seeing a softer and more emotional side was poignant. He was always a strength throughout his time on the show and he moved me here. Julianne Nicholson is a subtle, sympathetic partner without being too low key, and having Eames here with her sass and subtly no-nonsense approach was a masterstroke and contrasted beautifully.

The case is tautly paced and has some clever, plausible and not too predictable turns. Brooke Tansley is absolutely chilling as one of the most amoral characters of the latter seasons of 'Criminal Intent'. The production values are slick and professional, not ever resorting to cheap or untested gimmicks or anything, and liked that the photography was intimate without it being claustrophobic. The music is haunting in the right places and isn't constant or too loud. The direction is strong.

Concluding, very good if not quite going out on a bang. 8/10

The Mike Logan story in particular really got to me. I have seen it a number of times. When it aired recently, I started to tell my husband about it during a commercial break. I found I couldn't due to crying!

I was totally opposed to how the Mike Logan character left L &O at the end of season 5. However, producers took the opportunity to explore his "story arc" in CI ten years later. Chris Noth's portrayal of the impact his attractive yet doomed neighbor made on him lifted the episode to a high level and an unexpected direction.

I will leave Bobby Goren/Vincent D'Onofrio to fellow posters but his part of this season ender was also superlative.

A police recruit of Chinese descent (Telly Leung) managed to arrest a perp during a robbery, saving customers' life. He was ready to get a recognition by police but his body was found in the trunk of a car shortly afterwards. Wheeler soon after questioned the robber, but he was just a rookie looking up for some respect, so he couldn't arrange a murder from the joint. The policeman hooked up with a charming girlfriend named Duffy. Anyway Duffy wasn't her real name: she's a piece of work who stole identities from time to time in order to drain other people's bank account. Wheeler figured out how to lure the criminal out, before leaving Major Case Squad for good.

On the side, Det. Logan was soon out of the case: a neighbor he's dating jump out of the roof and he can't believe she's a suicidal; he looked for proofs on his own, trying to lock up her former husband. I think this case freak him out forever.