| "Anti-Thesis" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | CI, Episode 2.03 | → |
| Production number: E3203 First aired: 13 October 2002 | ||
 | ||
| Teleplay By Eric Overmyer Story By Dick Wolf, Rene Balcer, & Eric Overmyer Directed By Adam Bernstein | ||
Plot[]
The murders of a university president and his assistant leads the detectives to a visiting professor who turns out to be an international criminal.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Vincent D'Onofrio as Detective Robert Goren
- Kathryn Erbe as Detective Alexandra Eames
- Jamey Sheridan as Captain James Deakins
- Courtney B. Vance as A.D.A. Ron Carver
Recurring cast[]
- Olivia d'Abo as Elizabeth Hitchens / Nicole Wallace
Guest cast[]
- Linda Emond as Professor Christine Fellowes
- Peter Gerety as George Hawkins
- Daniel London as Mark Bayley
- Reg E. Cathey as Professor Roland Sanders
- Philip Bosco as Professor Franklin Winthrop
- Geoffrey Cantor as Ronald Hardin
- Doug Barron as Hamilton Frisch
- Pascale Armand as Valerie Goodman
- Jason Furlani as Detective Ponds
- Lianna Pai as Janey Lin
- Shauna Hurley as Kate Robbins
- Craig Chester as Derek
- Tess Lina as Vana
- Jane Elizabeth Mendez as Female Student
- Khaz B as Male Student
- Stefanie Bari as Maria (uncredited)
References[]
- "A dingo ate my baby!"
- Hudson University
- Australia
- Bernard Fremont
- Thailand
- Hegemony
- Hemony
- Ezra Pound
- T. S. Eliot
- Bob Dylan
- Frances Goren
- Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
- George Hurstwood
Quotes[]
- Nicole Wallace: In American literature, the descent into madness is usually preceded by obsession. A consuming obsession. Example, anyone? Alright, I'll get you started. Moby Dick. What characterises Ahab's obsession? Yeah, in the back.
- Robert Goren: The dogged unrelenting pursuit of evil.
- Nicole Wallace: Interesting. Evil. I always fancied it was man's unrelenting pursuit of his own potency. Alright everyone, I expect you to make a dent in Moby Dick by the end of the week.
- Robert Goren: Sometimes a whale is just a whale.
- Nicole Wallace: Nothing is ever just something. Not even detectives.
- Robert Goren: Or professors. Or graduate students for that matter.
- Nicole Wallace: That sounds a bit ominous.
"I can't have you here. You're relieved of your duties, as of immediately."
"In that case, you're under arrest."
"For what?"
"You just got fired. You're in violation of your work visa."
- - Christine Fellowes, Robert Goren, Nicole Wallace, and Alexandra Eames
- Nicole Wallace: Very good, detective, did you memorize the Oxford tour guide on your way here?
- Robert Goren: No. (chuckles) No, I spent a couple of weeks there once... chasing co-eds.
- Nicole Wallace: It took you that long to catch one? I'm shocked.
- Robert Goren: Well, that's very funny, professor.
- Mark Bayley: I didn't tell them about the shoes. It's that big detective; he noticed them.
- Nicole Wallace: That 'big detective' is smart. He traced the shoes to the store.
- Christine Fellowes: You know why the battles in academia are so vicious? It's because the stakes are so low.
- Nicole Wallace: Everyone knows academics are all talk and no action.
- Robert Goren: Professor Sanders wasn't in that night grading papers, was he?
- Alexandra Eames: True or false, Miss Goodman, and we don't give 'incompletes'.
- Robert Goren: When I met you, you wanted me to know who you truly were – how smart, how funny, how charming you were. You wanted me to know you, Nicole Wallace, the sparkling little girl who survived horrible abuse with her wits intact.
- Nicole Wallace: I did meet Nicole before I left for England. She told me things.
- Robert Goren: Where is she now?
- Robert Goren: I don't know. Carried away by dingoes? It happens a lot in Australia.
- Nicole Wallace: It wouldn't butter your parsnips.
- Robert Goren: That's my social security number and my birthdate.
- Nicole Wallace: Yes. Remarkable. The fountain of information that can spring from those little numbers. Home address. Next of kin. Mother's maiden name. Mother's address. Tell me, Robert, how often do you get up to the Carmel Ridge Center?
"No. You want to play, then it's going to have to be tit for tat."
"You have to tell me something true about you, about Nicole!"
- - Robert Goren
- Nicole Wallace: My turn. How old were you when you first realized your mommy wasn't like all the other mommies?
- Robert Goren: Seven.
- Nicole Wallace: Were you ashamed?
- Robert Goren: And frightened. My turn.
- Robert Goren: (Talking about Nicole Wallace) This woman's very, very good.
- Alexandra Eames: What'd you think, she'd have scones and a glass of sherry for us?
Background information and notes[]
Robert Goren's birthday & SSN.
- This is actress Olivia d'Abo's first appearance as Detective Robert Goren's nemesis, Nicole Wallace.
- In this episode, we learn that Goren was born on August 20, 1961, and his Social Security number is 845-67-3906. He also visits his mother once a week, and talks to her every day. In later episodes we learn that their relationship is somewhat troubled.
- Harvard University's undergraduate student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, suggested in October 2002 that the episode's premise was lifted from the nationally-publicized, real-life squabble between HU president Lawrence Summers and African-American Studies Professor Cornel West. In real life, West wears an afro haircut and goatee, teaches American Studies, and was criticized by HU president for releasing a rap music album. Like West, the fictional Professor Roland Sanders of the history wears an afro haircut and goatee, teaches American Studies, and is criticized by fictional Professor Winthrop for releasing a rap album. (source)
- Sanders is the name of the largest lecture hall on Harvard's campus, while Winthrop is a traditional Boston family name with long ties to the Harvard campus. In the episode, Winthrop quotes a line of dialogue almost identical to a sentence attributed to Summers. According to the professor, the sentence reflects the charges of racism against criticism of the spoken word.
- In this episode, Nicole Wallace makes a reference to dingoes in Australia. After the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance in the 1980s the story of dingoes carrying away infants became an urban legend. Azaria's parents, Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, reported that their daughter had been taken from their tent by a dingo. Lindy was tried and convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Michael was convicted as an accessory after the fact and given a suspended sentence. After all legal options had been exhausted, the chance discovery of a piece of Azaria's clothing in an area full of dingo lairs led to Lindy Chamberlain's release from prison, on "compassionate grounds." She was later exonerated of all charges. While the case is officially unsolved, the report of a dingo attack is generally accepted. Recent deadly dingo attacks in other areas of Australia have strengthened the case for the dingo theory. (Source: Azaria Chamberlain disappearance at Wikipedia)
- Coincidentally, Wallace would later be suspected of killing her own daughter, which starkly resembles Azaria's disappearance.
- Actor Philip Bosco (Professor Franklin Winthrop) is better known for his role as Judge Joseph P. Terhune in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
- The name "Mark Bayley" may be a play on words. Among con artists, a "mark" is the target of a con, while in British (and possibly Australian) slang, a "Bailey" is a bathing suit, or swimming costume. In this case, Bayley was a mark, but he was also a swimming costume, in the sense that he covered for Nicole's actions, allowing her to "swim" away (which ties into the idea of Nicole being Goren's "white whale.")
- Goren makes a comment about not knowing Wallace is from Australia based on her accent and thinking she's English. Her actress, Olivia d'Abo, is from England.
- Wallace/Hitchens makes a comment about Bayley's dissertation as a "pathetic attempt to syntheize high and low culture", which could be a joke about the premise of Criminal Intent.
- In this episode, Nicole's old partner-in-crime's name is stated to be Jean-Claude Gillis, and he is portrayed by an uncredited actor. Goren claims he was given life imprisonment for his crimes. In the Season 5 episode "Slither", the character was retconned as Bernard Fremont. He was stated to have been given eight years for his crimes, and he was portrayed by Michael York.
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