Suspicious Faces

So there's a new season of L&O: Criminal Intent that premiered on Sunday. I actually think they made a smart decision by moving the show to USA; if it hadn't moved, it for-sure would be dead by now. And I love me some Vincent D'Onofrio, so it would be a shame if there was nowhere to get my fix.

Now this week's episode wasn't particularly noteworthy (other than the casting of the reprehensible Jay Mohr in what I quickly realized to be the "ripped from the headlines" Charlie Sheen role, which, if you're trying to find someone to play a guy who all of America wants to punch in the face, Mohr is definitely your guy), but what immediately stood out to me was the new captain. I had forgotten that they killed off Eric Bogosian last season, but this new guy...is not new at all!

Regular (AKA nerdy) L&O viewers like myself will know that the series often recycles actors. SVU's Casey Novak first had a role as an auto-erotic asphyxiation aficionado a season or two before magically becoming an ADA. Alana De La Garza transitioned pretty seamlessly from OG Law & Order to L&O: LA. And any number of actors have returned as victims or killers or witnesses in different episodes. So it shouldn't come as any surprise that this guy, whose name I can't remember and don't really care about, is all of a sudden a police captain. Except it does! This guy has been a villain on the show two, maybe even three times before. His face is recognizable - as the face of EVIL. I can still picture him on the ground, digging for the tooth he thought he lost from the body he had stored in his garage. But now he's the captain, jollily handing out assignments. And I just don't buy it.

I'm glad you like to give your friends work, Dick Wolf. But this is one decision I can't get behind. Look at his face! Creeptastic.

On a related note, does anyone else think it's weird that the lady who played Ana Lucia's police chief mom in Lost is also a Los Angeles police chief in L&O: LA? It just seems a little racist to me. Not to mention that it would have been nice to have a female detective for once, instead of having to watch Alfred Molina's face making bad career decisions. Seriously, that show is awful. If you're thinking of watching it, don't. Go watch reruns of Numb3rs instead. Hot, smart Jew boys always brighten MY day.

Image via TVLine