User Reviews

"Weeping Willow" is a divisive episode of 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent'. Some people loved it, others were mixed on it and others hated it. There was always going to be the likelihood of that divisive reaction, as the subject is one that is tougher than most covered on 'Criminal Intent', even more relevant today (still some real horrors online) and is not a subject that will appeal to everyone. It's an important issue to tackle, but it has traps.

Traps that "Weeping Willow" falls into sadly. It is far from a terrible episode in my view, it was an admirable effort and really applaud it for trying to tackle the issue. But the execution was patchy and doesn't quite come together. "Weeping Willow" is a case of starting promisingly but became too ridiculous and too easily foreseeable later on. As far as Season 6 goes, this is down there as being one of the weaker episodes and there are better Logan and Wheeler outings.

Beginning with the positives, the production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The direction is sympathetic but also alert.

It starts off very intriguingly and with a neat, tense set up. Logan is great as always, while Wheeler is a nice subtle contrast (she was not a hit with all fans but she was never an issue with me). The two interact very nicely together, their interplay entertains and intrigues. Despite having problems with the episode, the acting is not one of them. Chris Noth (amusing and gritty), Julianne Nicholson (understated but not too much so) and Michelle Tratchtenberg are all fine.

Less fine on the other hand was the story. It really does run out of ideas later on and to me it was severely lacking in suspense. Much of it being down to the predictability, which is excessive. The script could have been a lot tighter and too much of it is on the bland and awkward side.

Most infuriating is the ending. Not only is it very rushed, it is also one that can be seen miles away (figured it out very soon after the event happened) and very illogical in the outcome. Which is a bit of a slap in the face.

Concluding, am in the "others were mixed on it" category. Liked it at first but it left me frustrated after watching. 6/10

Lisa Willow (Michelle Trachtenberg) is the daughter of old fashioned farmers (old enough to be her grandparents) grown up in countryside; being home schooled, she's got very few contacts to the outside world, but in the internet era there are other ways to make acquaintance and become famous. Shortly after dropping out college (art school, where she quickly learned to act and stole scripts), she started a vlog with her fiancée and her popularity rose up very quickly. That was the right time to set up a hoax, raising easy money from it. But committing a felony could be dangerous and people could get hurt. There's a twist ending, mostly for the detectives.

Wheeler tried to deal with the kidnappers using their own game; instead of a press conference as suggested by her boss, a live online video; cool!

By popular demand literally the NYPD is forced to assign to detectives from Major Case to a murder committed on the internet. Michelle Trachtenberg is doing her blog with boyfriend Michael Godere when a couple of masked intruders break in and a kidnapping occurs. Other broadcasts for ransom follow.

Before it's all over there is a real death that occurs in all these events for Chris Noth and Julianne Nicholson to solve. Trachtenberg turns a great performance and there's a real interesting ending for this episode involving her.

My favorite however is when Logan and Wheeler go up to Elmira, New York to interview her parents when they figure out her real identity. Kate Weiman and Chet Carlin in their scene with the Major Case detectives prove how absolutely clueless they are about their daughter. Of course they're not part of the computer age either.