January 04, 2004
F.P.S.: Corniest Episode Ever
Criminal Intent is almost always corny as hell, but Vincent makes it worth watching. Unfortunately, this episode (3.10) is SO over the top and drawn out, it's barely watchable. Vincent and Red Hair see through an elaborate misdirection and uncover an unhealthy relationship between two video game designers which ends in murder. There's lots of in-the-know tech talk about avatars, bots, IP addresses, and so on, but it all adds up to nothing. Supposedly, every game programmer has a readily identifiable signature, and Vincent uses this signature to solve the murder. Ree-dic-u-lous.
The episode's one interesting moment comes when Vincent realizes he's been tricked by whoever designed the elaborate ruse. He starts talking about Wally Stevens, the actuary with Asperger's Syndrome who nearly outsmarted him a few episodes back. I'm not exactly sure what he was saying about the connection between Wally and this case, but he says to Red Hair that Eames would've noticed and alerted him to the connection. He misses his partner who, we learn at the end of the ep, has just given birth to a baby. 7 lbs, 8 ozs.
The title of the episode, "FPS," stands for Frames Per Second, a common performance measurement in video games. I think it takes on a double-meaning here, though, also referring to the multiple "frames" of other people comitted by the true murderer. Probably the cleverest thing about the episode.
Posted by adm at January 4, 2004 11:19 PM