A Murderer Among Us

Season 3, Episode 7, Aired

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The detectives try to link the suicide of an Argentine immigrant to her husband who has a history of violence. While the subsequent investigation is not successful, they discover his hatred might be linked to a string of unsolved murders with the same MO.moreless
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  • Deep and full of emotion

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By AvatarBlue, Oct 24, 2011
    Dont get me wrong - really like this episode. Cultural hatred is a good source of conflict and this story doest the whole moral issue some justice.

    The dynamics between mother, father and daughter give the storyline the depth it requires to allow Goren and Bishop (Sam Buck) to take the viewer deeper into one family's protracted self-denial.

    The setup scene is top notch, one of the best for this show and possibly of any of the similiarly formated shows. Though there isnt that much action, as one might expect from CI the really buzz is from deciphering the motive behind the crime. In the finale the outpouring of emotion is simply superb and will keep you watching through every drop of perspiration sweat by the actors as the truth finally sets the killer free - at least on an emotional level! The level of irony and resonance hits tip-top.

    An excellent episode and definitely not one to miss.moreless

  • A woman appears to have been murdered by her husband, but after closer examination, the detectives realize she has committed suicide in such a way to point suspicion at her husband.moreless

    8.8
    "Great"
    By Firefligh, Jul 16, 2006
    What could drive anyone to such lengths is the mystery the detective must solve.

    This was one of the better episodes as it had the elements that make CI worth the time: an intricate enough storyline to engage throughout, but not too convoluted to defy belief; a Goren tour de force that includes a glimpse into the power of his emotions, and great guest acting, including a villain you love to hate.

    The killer is a vicious anti-semite who has knee-capped and beaten to death eight complete strangers over seven years for the sole 'reason' his late mother once had an affair with a Jewish man. The affair tore apart the killer's family, and the violent father beat his wife often because of it, while telling his children their mother had been raped by a Jew. The killer grew up nursing a rage over what he thought had been done to his mother (there's always some 'excuse'), and what he saw his father do to her. His attempts to defend his mother ended in more violence.

    He married a woman from Argentina, and they had a daughter. When his wife got a job at a Jewish nursing home, he used her employment to find the names and addresses of family members of the patients and kill them, getting more efficient at it as he went along. When the wife discovers what he has been up to, she is horrified enough to kill herself, stage it as a murder (defense wounds) and signal to the police (in case her husband wasn't charged) that she knew of his guilt by bashing in her own knee (the killer's MO). Another discovery that led to her act was that her own parents changed their names when emigrating to Argentina, and they were Jewish, The woman feared what her crazed husband might do to their own daughter should he find out he was married to, and had fathered a "Jewess".

    It's a Goren show right down the line from the initial recognition of suicide, to tracing the murder victims to the nutcase, to understanding the victims were linked by their faith, to phoning his "Steve, linguist friend at Princeton" to confirm the dead woman spoke and wrote Ladino, a Spanish-Hebrew creole (which surprisingly, she didn't seem to realize was indication she was Jewish), to physically confronting the killer at his factory.

    The CI braintrust made Goren a cerebral type, and except for a few hand-cuffings and an occasional pound of a table, viewers don't get to see even normal manifestations of anger. Detectives aren't supposed to be overtly or covertly violent, but in a profession that involves physical danger and the corresponding ability to defend oneself, you'd expect some demonstrations of that sort of, well, competence. The actor is such a physical specimen that no displays of virility are needed, but gee, I have been dying to see Goren 'get down'.

    The epi ends in a great scene that perfectly illustrates the Goren self-control, diversity of baiting-breaking techniques, AND the capacity for violence. BG clearly despises the killer for what he is - a race hating mutt - and wants to gt his confession by instilling a little of the terror the murdered visited on his victims. A memorable scene, and made more so by the fact we don't see ever Bobby raise his hand against a suspect. We know all along that lead pipe is being wielded to extract a confession, that the detective hasn't lost control, but we also understand that his own rage at such a criminal is as real as it is controlled.

    This episode also featured two neat scenes in which Eames assesses her temporary replacement's anxiety about keeping pace with Goren, best summed by her understanding Bishop is just trying "not to get left in the dust".

    And I really love that Bobby has linguists as friends. Maybe they can do something about those atrocious French, Chinese, and Bahston accents. :)moreless

  • Great plot, but a logical fault

    8.0
    "Great"
    By evaninokc, Jun 05, 2006
    This was a very good mystery, and Goren as usual solves it brilliantly. When a woman stages her suicide to make it look as if her husband killed her, the detectives find that she was trying to expose her husband\'s string of murders.
    There is a logical problem, though. Lena, the victim, didn\'t know her parents were Jewish. But she is portrayed as using a word from Ladino, a language of Sephardic Jews. Wouldn\'t her use of non-standard Spanish have made her question her identity? Also, Goren is verbally brutal to the killer in an unnecesarily graphic interrogation. But the plot was great, and the irony of the anti-Semitic murderer finding out his wife (and thus their daughter) were Jewish was well-done.moreless

  • A woman desperate when she finds out what her husband has done and so ashmed of him does the unthinkable to make sure he does not get away with it

    10
    "Perfect"
    By giametnyk, Oct 06, 2005
    THis was so clever and I am not just saying that about this episode becuase I am a Jew. The fact that the lady was Jewish and was married to an anti semtic. The way they found out is through the spanish languege of Ladino that Spehardic Jews use and the topper of when the murder finds out he has been married to as he says a jewess being that he is antisemtic is just truly marvolusmoreless

  • A great ep, with twisty turny plot and a cool “Goren” ending.

    8.5
    "Great"
    By RJ-viewer, Sep 12, 2005
    This is a great episode where a woman is found dead, and her husband is a psycho. But he didn't kill her, she killed herself. Huh? What? That's right; she kills herself to let the police know her husband is a serial killer who's been bumping off Jewish men for seven years.

    An excellent "Goren" ending has Bobby G. confronting the killer at his work place and tricking him into revealing himself. Classic.

    This episode has Det. Bishop who fills in as Goren's partner while Eames is pregnant. Her performance really makes you anxious for Eames return.
    moreless
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