Law & Order CI "The Glory That Was" Recap & Review

All photos from the USA Network

Law & Order Criminal Intent “The Glory That Was” was an average episode, involving a woman and a bodyguard being murdered with connections to the 2012 Olympics. I rate the episode average as there was little drama in the episode, the pace was plodding, and there were too many people and names intertwined that viewers had to follow. Die-hard Law & Order fans likely recognized James Waterston, the son of Law & Order’s Sam Waterston, in the role as the husband of one of the murder victims. Another, possibly more recognizable, star in this episode was Ritchie Coster, who has appeared in almost every show in the L&O franchise (the only exception I can find is “Conviction” which is a show I think Dick Wolf would like us to forget), and he has appeared on some of the shows in the franchise more than once. In fact, this took a little of the surprise away from the ending, as Ritchie is frequently cast as a seedy character who usually turns out to be the “bad guy.”

We also got a brief look into Wheeler’s problems that may arise from her relationship with her ex-fiancé, Colin, who was arrested at the end of the last season. It was sad to see her toss her wedding invitations into the trash. Clearly, though, this episode was originally meant to be viewed much more early on in the show’s cycle, as it seems quite some time had already passed. One would think there would have been plenty of time to have the invitations canceled, or they should have arrived much sooner. (Printed invitations don't take too long these days.)

One segment that I question was at the end, when Nichols mentioned the digital signature on the photograph found with on the body of the man sent to kill Kip and Laura. Frankly, I thought a digital signature only appears on the data file for the photo, not on the hard copy of the print. If all they had was the printed photo, how did they get a digital signature from that? If they found the digital photo file in the search of Taylor's apartment, wouldn't that be enough to make he connection to the hitman, regardless of a "signaute" on the printed picture? I guess I am not quite clear on how they used the printed picture to get a digital signature to match it to any other digital signature.

If this episode was to be shown much earlier in the season, I’m glad they moved it to further in to the cycle, as this was not a very strong episode and did not seem to give Jeff Goldblum much to work with.

Here is the recap:

Someone sets up a video camera, and records two women becoming very intimate. Elsewhere, a man grabs a gun and leaves his apartment. Later, Caroline Walters (Stephanie Szostak) is leaving her husband Paul (James Waterston) and children home to go to a party, saying the party will be over by 10. In a car, a Kip (Pedro Pascal) and Laura (Jess Weixler) discuss their options, Kip telling Laura she is the one who screwed it up, she will have to finish it, and that she always wanted the Olympics, he just wanted to give it to her. Outside, the man with the gun watches as Caroline Walters stands nearby. In another location, Detective Megan Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson) is being questioned about her relationship with her ex-fiancé, and she gets annoyed at their questions that seemed to imply she was involved in covering up his crime.

A cab arrives with Kip and Laura, and they exit and Caroline Walters says “no Laura, no” and asks how much they want. But Kip says this isn’t about money and moves to talk to her elsewhere.

Detective Wheeler arrives home to a box that contains the invitations for the wedding of Megan Ann Wheeler and Colin John Ledger; she smiles, and then looks away sadly. She throws them in the trash.

Caroline tells Kip and Laura that they are out of their minds. They argue, Laura saying she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her. Caroline says she is going to the police, and Laura follows after her, saying, “don’t.” The man with the gun tailing Caroline runs down the steps nearby, and as we see Kip move in to Laura and Caroline, we hear gunfire. Later, we see the man with the gun walk out with a head injury; he stumbles into an oncoming car and is hit.

Later, Detective Wheeler and Captain Ross (Eric Bogosian) are on the scene of what looks like a hit and run, and as it’s a man with an expensive suit and an empty holster, Major Case was called in. Wheeler notices the head wound on one side, which looks like it did not occur from the hit by the car. Detective Zach Nichols (Jeff Goldblum) arrives, notices there is no gun, and asks where is the other body. Elsewhere but nearby, they find the body of who we know is Caroline Walters, - but there is no ID on her body. Her expensive purse is still with her, but someone made it appear like a robbery. She has a wound on her hand, Nichols surmises she put her hand up to ward him off, and there are powder burns on her palm, so the killer may have hesitated before deciding to shoot. Nearby, Ross notices a pool of blood, which is where they think that this is where the man who was later hit by the car, was first injured. Nichols wonders out loud that someone wanted them to think this was a robbery but still left the expensive purse. Wheeler asks him how he knew there was another body, and he says that the man hit by the car had not gun as someone took it. He says that suggests one of two things, Wheeler jumping in saying he shot someone and got hit in the head, and Nichols adds that someone hit him in the head, took the gun, and shot somebody else.

At the ME’s office, Rodgers (Leslie Hendrix) shows them that the woman was killed with a 9mm slug in the head. She adds that the man was hit with a blunt object and was injured before he ran into traffic. There was no gunshot residue on his hand, so he is not the shooter. Wheeler wonders if the woman went with him, or if he came to killer her?

Later, Ross walks into his office with Wheeler, talking about her being questioned by the US attorneys. She thinks they are trying to decide whether to call her as a witness, saying she doesn’t know anything. She wonders if she is being paranoid, and Ross says she is, no one thinks she screwed up, her ex-fiancé just happened to be a crook. Nichols enters, saying they got a hit on the dead woman’s prints – Caroline Walters. He says it wasn’t a robbery as it’s been 14 hours and no one has used her credit cards. Wheeler looks at her file and sees Caroline worked at the Belgian Consulate, Nichols saying she was a trade attaché. No hit yet on the dead man’s prints. Nichols says that Caroline’s husband called the consulate 4 times last night, looking for his wife – a rich wife.

Paul Walters says his wife is very involved in the Olympics and rode for Belgium in 1992 and 1996. Wheeler says Mrs. Walters told him last night that she was going to the consulate, and Nichols asks if his wife was often less than truthful. Paul seems to get offended at the remark, and Nichols clarifies that they are trying to understand her state of mind when she left last night. But Paul says he didn’t know what his wife was thinking. Wheeler shows him a photo of the dead man and asks if he recognizes the man in the photo. Paul says no. Wheeler tells him he was murdered at the same time as Mrs. Walters. Wheeler apologizes in advance for asking if it is possible his wife was having an affair. Paul says absolutely not, and adds emphatically that it is out of the question. His kids arrive home and he excuses himself and leaves the room. Afterwards, Nichols comments to Wheeler that the couple had serious marital problems and they are both seeing divorce lawyers. Wheeler asks him how he knows this, and he adds that Paul called her “my wife” three times and never used her name.

Nichols and Wheeler are at the consulate and are told there were no events last night. As they state they want to see her office, Jack Taylor (Ritchie Coster) from Cardinal International, a private security firm, arrives. He says he wants to see Caroline’s killer caught and punished. He takes them to her office, and they see some of her Olympic information. Taylor enters with Caroline’s computer password. He tells them he knew Caroline casually, they competed in the Olympics in 1996 where he shot skeet and he won. Nichols says they had gold medals in common and that didn’t sound casual. They also find a private appointment calendar and phone book. Nichols finds a piece of a DVD in her shredder and asks about the trash. Outside, while they have CSU looking through the trash, Nichols shows Taylor the picture of man who was shot killed with Caroline, and Taylor says he does not know him. Wheeler is with Caroline’s assistant, who goes not know who Gotzman and Laura G. in her personal calendar. Later, the CSU team finds DVD pieces in the trash. Wheeler approaches and tells Nichols that Taylor also appeared on Caroline’s calendar and wonders if they were having an affair. Nichols responds, “Yes, no, both.” Wheeler laughs at the comment, and adds they have an interesting email and a few names that Caroline’s assistant does not recognize.

At the home of Paul Walters, he is talking to an attorney (Robert LuPone) who says they are prepared to settle the estate without litigation, $150 million US dollars. He told the lawyer that he told them if they want to see their grandchildren they should not make things unpleasant.

Back at Major Case, Wheeler tells Nichols that Gotzman is Caroline’s divorce lawyer, and not only did her husband not mention the divorce, but that Caroline family was very wealthy. Nichols watches as Wheeler puts two packs of sugar in her coffee. Nichols wonders if Caroline dies, her money would go in to a trust and be tied up for a long time, and Wheeler adds, ‘or not.” Ross enters, and Nichols tells him they are thinking that there is trouble in paradise and the husband ate the apple. A CSU tech person enters, and tells them they will want to see what they got off the sliced up DVD they found in the garbage. It is a video of Caroline and another woman being intimate. They take a screen shot of the other woman’s face. Ross quips that it looks like Eve tasted the apple too. The suspect she is being blackmailed, maybe by her husband.

Elsewhere, Laura and Kip talk about what just happened, and Laura is upset that she will not be a champion and they will come after them. She asks him what he is going to do then.

Paul Walters arrives home to find Nichols and Wheeler waiting. They take him in for questioning, with him saying he had nothing to do with the murder of his wife.

In interrogation at Major Case, Paul says it was an amicable divorce. He doesn’t know why Caroline had what was an armed guard. Nichols asks if he was every diagnosed as a dissociative personality type because Paul described the divorce as amicable yet Caroline had an armed guard. Nichols adds, “one of us is disassociatin’, and I don’t think it’s me.” Paul says the divorce papers were already signed, Carline told him she was “discovering” herself and wanted to move to Brussels and take the kids. They made a deal, she could move, and he would get the kids for the summers. Nichols said this way he could continue to live his rich lifestyle, and tells Paul this does not show him in the best light. He doesn’t know what his wife could have that was valuable other than money.

On the other side of the interrogation room mirror, Nichols suspects Caroline was being blackmailed but no by the husband, and Wheeler thinks the man was there to protect her. They decide to hone in on Laura G. , who no one from the consulate seems to know, and her appointments seem to coincide with Caroline’s riding practice at Twin Lakes.

At Twin Lakes, they find that Caroline helped anyone who asked. They find Laura G. is Laura Green, who is an Olympic hopeful, wanting to make the trials the next trial. But one needs the right horse; Laura had Mi Dorado, Spanish for “My Gold” .

They question Laura Green – who is clearly the other woman in the video - at her apartment, and she says the horse is spectacular. Wheeler asks how much a horse like that costs, and Laura says over $200,000. She tells them Caroline helped her train it. They confront her with the photo from the video, and Laura says that her husband can’t find out about this, and says she was being blackmailed too. She though it was Caroline’ s husband trying to blackmail her. She says she did not come on to Caroline so she could blackmail her and never asked her for money.

Back at Major Case, they find out that Kip and Laura Green have their own PR company, but that Laura has a prostitution record. She was busted before she was married. Ross wonders what Laura got from Caroline and who bought her the horse? Ross got a call, Treasury got a hit on the dead bodyguard’s prints but no name. Ross has a friend working on it and he waits on the phone. Nichols says he always admired Ross for this – he works the town like crazy. Ross says, “That almost sounds like a compliment.” He tells them that Caroline Walter’s bodyguard was Jamey Riggs, ex Secret Service. He tells them to “toss” the apartment and talk to the neighbors.

At Riggs’ apartment, they find Caroline’s address and phone number, and he has an expired ID from the Austrian consulate, one of the areas that Taylor’s company Cardinal International has covered.

At Taylor’s office, Nichols sees a picture of Taylor in Rio de Janeiro. Wheeler calls him on the fact that he said he didn’t know Riggs, but Taylor falls back on the fact that he has a large company. He admits Caroline called and said she wanted someone to go along with her on an errand. He recommended Riggs for free. Nichols tells Taylor it is bad luck both of his friends are dead, and Taylor says they can agree on that.

Later, at a small convenience store, Kip and Laura arrive, and while they shop, someone barges in an announces a robbery. But the gunman makes a move right for Kip and shoot him. Laura, in another isle, tries to stay hidden but the gunman finds her and aims to shoot, but is stopped by another gunshot from the store owner, who gets shot by the gunman as he goes down. Laura checks Kip and runs out of the store.

The detectives check out the store, and when they see that the gunman has a black hand mark – Mexican mob – on his face. Wheeler says the gunman does not live here, they only wear the black and in Mexico. Someone working the scene hands them a picture found on the gunman’s body, it’s a picture of Kip and Laura, and likely so he could recognize his targets.

Back at Major Case, there are no print records for the gunman, likely he did the hit under another passport and will get another to go home. Nichols also find a picture of Taylor and Caroline from the Olympics, looking cozy. They wonder if they were having an affair during the Olympics. They also see a picture of Kevin “Kip” Green an one of Taylor’s skeet team photos., who was in publicity. Nichols makes a call to Ross to search the Green’s apartment.

At the Green’s apartment, they police storm in but Laura is not there. She is off emptying her bank safety deposit box. It looks like she packed and left, They also find a micro camera, and some blood on some shoes. Nichols gets a call and tell them to hold the plane – Laura is at JFK, she bought a ticket - Iberia to Tangier – and Wheeler comments about Morocco having no extradition. Nichols and Wheeler get to the airport in time to arrest Laura while she sits in first class.

In interrogation at Major Case, Nichols questions her about her love for horses and meeting Caroline who loves horses and is an Olympic champion. Laura says he is good enough, and Nichols says the horse is good enough, but Laura insists she is good enough. Nichols states that someone wanted her to blackmail Caroline so she seduced her. Laura says Caroline was so kind. Nichols comments that going to bed with her was easy, but states that Caroline is dead because of what Laura did, and adds angrily, “ I don’t even know exactly what that was, and that pisses me off!” Laura says all Caroline had to do was to say yes, but won’t tell Nichols yes to what. Laura is afraid that she will be killed also. Nichols says they will keep her safe, but she says she will never be safe.

Outside, Nichols tells Wheeler he knows who set this all up but he doesn’t know exactly why. He says he has to go and he will be back in a few hours. He heads over to the movie theatre to watch “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

Back at Major Case, Wheeler returns to her desk to see Nichols waiting at his, staring off into space. He tells her he went to see “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and Wheeler seems a little annoyed with him. But he is still deep in thought. As he looks a picture of Rio on his computer, he tells her the movie was about prostitutes with big dreams. He says Holly Golightly was supposed to get married in Rio…and he closes his computer and runs off.

Later, back at the consulate, they speak with Caroline’s assistant. She tells them that Caroline was on the site selection committee for the next Olympics, one of the locations was Rio de Janeiro. She also tells them Caroline was leaning towards Tokyo.

Back at Major Case, Nichols presses Ross for a warrant, and Ross shows his annoyance that Nichols wants a warrant based on a movie. He asks for more to go on other than Audrey Hepburn. Nichols says that Jack Taylor lied to them about not knowing Jamey Riggs, but they later found he hired Riggs for Caroline, and when confronted with this Taylor’s memory improved. He adds that someone who runs the fourth largest security company can get someone from Mexico with the blank hand, and he had a photo of Kip and Laura. All Nichols wants is Jack Taylor’s camera. Nichols adds that if Taylor gets the contract for security in Rio, his company goes way up in the ranks to first – Taylor was going for the gold. Ross tells Nichols to get Taylor and he will get the warrant.

At Taylor’s office, Nichols comments that Taylor made an preemptive offer first for the security Rio and then was making sure that Rio got picked. Nichols accused Taylor of going to Caroline for her vote on the committee, and when she wasn’t cooperative, he decided to blackmail Nichols says that Taylor knew of Kip and Laura from his past, and gave her money to buy the horse, Mi Dorado. But then Kip and Laura screwed up, so he had to get rid of the amateurs. Taylor asks if he is suggesting he murdered someone, and has to agree he would be a person of interest in a murder like this. He brings up the fact that Taylor is a photographer, and Nichols tells him that they searched his apartment and found some nice camera equipment. Nichols tells him the digital signature on the photograph found on the body of the man sent to kill Kip and Laura matches on of his camera. He says Taylor took the picture of Kip and Laura and sent it to Mexico. Taylor says that will never stick. But Nichols says that it will if Laura Green makes a deal. They arrest him and Wheeler reads him his rights.

Later, at Major Case, Laura is in interrogation, and Nichols is showing her a photo of her husband’s shoes with blood of the bodyguard on them. Laura says that kip was protecting her, Caroline showed up and they argued and Laura grabbed her. A man came down from the stairs and ran between them. Kip hit him and he fell. Caroline say Kip kill him so Kip had to kill her too. But Nichols asks if this is really why Kip killed Caroline, and Laura says Taylor said that they could have everything they wanted, he would give them the horse and make sure she would get to the trials, all she had to do was seduce someone. She says Caroline wasn’t even looking at Kip when he had the gun. Caroline was so hurt, and told Laura she never had to do any of it, she would have given her the horse and anything else she wanted, because Caroline loved her. Laura says Kip killed Caroline because he knew Laura loved her, and she never meant to fall in love.

Afterwards, Nichols put a cup of coffee on Wheeler’s desk as he says god morning. He tells her he already put two sugars in it. Nichols says he does not mean to pry but he says he is really sorry about her fiancé. She says she appreciates it. He says mom has an expression – and Wheeler laughs, saying, “This oughta be good – hit me.” Nichols says, “Um, rejection is God’s protection.” She nods at him and says, “Pithy” to which he adds, “ Or, prescient, maybe. What do I know?” As they both smile, we fade to black.



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