Law & Order: Criminal Intent "Betrayed" (2008)

We didn't get much of an interesting case last night however we did get to see some serious advancement in the relationships of the characters of the Major Case Squad. Eames and Goren are still at odds after Goren's undercover operation which almost ended with Eames taking down her suspended partner. There is a distinct frostiness between them but they do not let it interfere with their investigation of the case of a missing husband, whose wife is a close friend (and former flame) of Captain Ross's. I'm glad we don't get petty sniping and immature behavior from these two as they try to work out their issues. These are two hardened NY cops and although the rift between them is a deep one, they are both still professionals who put the job first. This could easily have been melodramatically overdone but I'm glad the distance between them was shown in this manner. Despite Eames's anger at Goren, she still backs him up with the Captain in his assertion that he is growing too personally involved in the case and towards Janet (Brenda Strong) who is looking more and more like a suspect.

That brings us to Captain Ross who assigns the case to his unit because of his previous relationship with Janet. It turns out she is actually using their history to elicit information regarding the investigation in order to better cover her tracks as she is the one who killed her husband and his lover. Eric Bogosian looks positively crushed when he discovers he's been duped and feels the shame all the more as his detectives have been eying her as the suspect for awhile. It was distressing to see the captain who has to be the eye of the storm of Major Case with both Goren and Logan under his command be ignorant of the fact that he is being played and actually gets defensive with his detectives when they try to point that out. Goren of course goes about it with his own direct and tactless method by challenging the captain's objectivity and we see the effects of the Eames/Goren conflict as she lets it slide and says they should move on. They need to address their differences soon as it affecting their team dynamic. She should have backed up Goren sooner with regards to the Captain's bias. Luckily she comes to her senses soon enough and the second time the issue is brought up, again instigated by Goren ("What about your blinders?") Eames is able to convince the captain that there is something amiss with regards to her actions and statements to the police.

Poor Goren spends the episode alienating the captain and trying to bridge the divide between him and Eames. When he asks Eames if they should bring new evidence to the Captain's attention and Eames replies they should wait to confirm, his reply of "You're right" sounds patronizing and completely insincere. Unfortunately he in no way meant it in this manner. It obviously hurts him for Eames to be so angry at him but it looks like he is going to take a few wrong turns before he is able to make it right.

Favorite moment: The Captain telling Janet to "go to hell" when she tries to badger him into aiding her again. At that moment, even though the Captain was certain of her guilt already, he received the ultimate closure in that she was still trying to manipulate him while being handcuffed and hauled away. His moving away and staring out over the river illustrates his shame in how he let his loneliness and affection for her almost seriously compromise the case. Goren calls out to him (maybe another attempt at consolation) only to be shot down with the Captain's curt "Not one word, detective". Things are looking grim for Team A (Eames/Goren) indeed with so much tension between the regulars. Let's see how Team B (Logan/Wheeler) does next week.