"Folie a Deux" Recap

What follows will be a few rambling, non-cohesive, possibly scattered and off the wall musings about this past Sunday night’s episode of Law & Order CI.

Okay, even though I now know the outcome of the story, I was still outraged that this couple not only supposedly left an 18-month old alone in a hotel room while they went off to enjoy a quiet dinner, but a sick child at that. Even though he didn’t say it, the look on Bobby’s face showed his disgust with the whole situation. Eames finally made a comment about how stupid it was to leave a child alone in a hotel room as they were leaving the room, which I found odd that she waited so long to say anything. In the old days, Eames would have been the one to make some snarky comment at the get-go to the couple about their questionable parenting techniques. That’s the thing about Eames… she’s blunt and to the point…she pulls no punches.

So, it turns out the wife was crazy and the husband was a jerk and used his wife’s mental illness to try and enhance his “fiscal” situation with his wealthy aunt. Nothing new there…greed, greed, greed. Everyone wants a piece of the pie…even when they had nothing to do with baking it. I have to admit the writers had me running in circles on this one. I never once thought it was the burglar who took the kid, but it took me a minute to realize there was no child at all.

Ah, and the leg bounce appears again...fleeting, but it was there. What's a man to do with so much nervous, pent-up energy? Bobby, baby, let me help ease your “tension,” big guy.

Here’s a question: You're planning a sting operation to nab the kidnapper…follow him back to his crib and find the kid. Everyone will be happy, right? You stash the ransom in a shopping bag in a garbage can about fifty feet from a subway entrance. DUH! How come “no one” – not even our curly-haired detective – even considered the guy might…you know…make his escape in the subway? Cops are "hovering" everywhere except around that area and once the bad guy scampers down the steps, the technician announces that the GPS they planted in the bag cannot be tracked in the subway. Hello! You know, to be an “elite” unit, Major Case surveillance stings have a tendency to go awry. “Suite Sorrow,” “Silver Lining,” and “Great Barrier” fairly leap to mind.

And just how intimidating can our Bobby be without uttering a single word? Of course, we’ve been privy to that on numerous occasions… most notably in “Crazy,” but when Bobby is questioning Georgie, or rather sitting in the room “staring” at him, the hapless George blurts, “Stop that, please.” Three words I don’t believe I’d ever say to him, by the way. Ah, the quiet, sublime power of that face.

Here’s a totally random observation…have you noticed that Bobby still wears the same ID badge from Season 1? I mean his looks have changed…just a wee bit...since then.

And I have to say that Ross played it pretty straight in this one. He just worked the case with them without making any condescending, derisive remarks to Bobby…which is good. I was getting pretty sick and tired of that.

On a totally frivolous note…the man does wear his jeans well. And that is all I have to say on that subject.

Many comments have been made on other sites about the fact that Bobby's hair and beard seemed to have a lives of their own in this episode. I believe that has happened before…the hair anyway. You know, back in the day of the “doink, doink,” and when they listed the dates and addresses they visited, it “might” have been more easily explained away. I, personally, miss that because I liked seeing how long it took them to solve a case, but that’s just me. I guess I’ve just grown accustomed to LOCI/USA cutting corners and not worrying about storyline and continuity or “loyal fans” who watch the show more closely than the hands of a clock, counting down the last few seconds of the work day. I guess what I’m saying is…I noticed it, but there are other things about the show that bother me more.

This episode had two fleeting characters named Lucy and Annie. Ah…once again, Bobby “almost” says my name.

Most memorable line: “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have everything taken away?” That is what Lynn Redgrave/Aunt Emily said to Goren and Eames in the interview room. I kept waiting for a reaction shot of Bobby…because he certainly knows how it feels, but none was forthcoming.

This one had me going for a long time. I mean, I figured out fairly early on there was no Emma…that something had happened to her. Apparently, the mother was a “mental mess” already before the child died. She obviously knew she could not trust her husband because she ran all over town looking for him in a jealous fit…leaving her child in the car unattended. How thoughtful of her to leave the air conditioning running. In the past couple of years here in Cincinnati, there have been at least two incidents of mothers “forgetting” their infants in car seats in the middle of summer…both times the child died. As hard as it is to believe that someone can actually forget their child in a hot car, there is no justification for deliberately leaving one’s child unattended in a car…or anywhere for that matter…while you run off willy-nilly in search of a fornicating, philandering husband.

Okay, I know Bobby is a fictional character and everything, and LOCI is just an inconsequential television show, but do you ever wonder what Bobby must be thinking when the villains in these stories finally admit to their wrongdoing and “why” they committed these monstrous crimes to begin with? No wonder Bobby wears such a haggard look these days.

In closing and, at the risk of being shunned or outright banished from blogdom, I have to say that I am getting more than a little tired of Bobby wearing the same clothes every week. And while I happen to be a woman who loves a “hairy” man, even I am growing tired of the beard. I mean, he keeps it neatly trimmed and all, but I miss his "handsome face." When all is said and done...I love the stubble, I love the beard, and I love his naked face…just don’t shave your head again…okay, baby?

And now to the slideshow, and it's a big one...100 photos to gaze upon.