| "Revolution" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | CI, Episode 8.16 | → |
| Production number: First aired: 9 August 2009 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Michael S. Chernuchin Directed By John David Coles | ||
Plot[]
With the banks failing and public discontent high, aging revolutionary Axel Kaspers believes the time is ripe to galvanize public reaction and spark a populist uprising. With his disciples Birgit and Mel, Kaspers orchestrates the kidnapping of Continental Bankcorp president, Peter Evans. However, the carefully planned carjacking goes wrong and turns into a murder, leaving Detectives Nichols and Eames to pursue Kaspers' gang. As the police intensify their manhunt, discovering and defusing a car bomb along the way, Kaspers and Birgit kill the other members of the group and set off a second bomb on Wall Street as a diversion. Nichols and Eames soon discover that Birgit is Kaspers' daughter.
The detectives eventually arrest Kaspers, but not before Birgit purchases large quantities of the raw materials needed to make Triacetone triperoxide bomb. A call soon comes in that she has taken hostages in the Continental Bankcorp building and is threatening to blow it up unless Kaspers is put on a plane to Cuba. Nichols takes Kaspers into the lobby and gets him to admit to Birgit that his love for his daughter is more important to him than the radical ideology he has been trying to put into place. As Birgit begins to realize this, though, an FBI sniper outside the building gets a clear shot and kills her, knocking her backwards into Nichols' arms so that the tilt switch around her neck does not set off the bomb. As the hostages are freed and Kaspers and the body are taken away, Nichols muses to Eames that relationships such as the one between Kaspers and Birgit - or between himself and his own father - are the reason he never had any children.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Jeff Goldblum as Detective Zach Nichols
- Kathryn Erbe as Detective Alexandra Eames
- Eric Bogosian as Captain Danny Ross
Recurring cast[]
- Leslie Hendrix as Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers
Guest cast[]
- Stephen Lang as Axel Kaspers / John Kaldner
- Tania Raymonde as Shelley Smith / Birgit Kaspers
- John Rothman as Peter Evans
- Deirdre Lovejoy as FBI Agent Carmen Martino
- Jas Anderson as Mel Simeon
- Kathleen McElfresh as Rosalyn Griggs
- Ezra Knight as Jerry Delarossa
- Rob Devaney as Basil Bloom
- __ as Special Agent Reynolds
- Kevin Cutts as Officer Corrigan
- Nancy Lemenager as Jane Morgan
- Stefano Da Fre as Gavin
- Flaco Navaja as Forty
- Evans Forlidas as FBI Agent
- Melissa D. Madison as Undercover Cop
- Mike Brouwer as Bank Hostage
- Alex Webb as Suit #1
- Michael Pemberton as Dock Boss
- __ as Receptionist
- __ as Cashier
- __ as Maitre d'
- Marina Squerciati as Betsy Naylor
- Jason Abrams as Demonstrator #3 (uncredited)
References[]
- Boston
- FBI
- Brazil
- Cuba
- Germany
- Karl Marx
- Groucho Marx
- Houston
- Indiana
- Karl Fichte (victim)
- Rosalie Fichte (victim)
- Red Army Faction
- Marta Fichte
- The Wretched of the Earth
- Seattle
- Vietnam
Quotes[]
- Protesters: ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, CONTINENTAL IS A WHORE!
- Axel Kaspers: Do you hear that? This is the sound history.
- Mel Simeon: Hmm. Sounds like they're ready to bust some ass.
- Axel Kaspers: A revolution is not a dinner party.
- Danny Ross: Was--was this someone you were already monitoring?
- Carmen Martino: No. Data mining bots crawl through credit card transactions.
- Alexandra Eames: Whose credit card transactions?
- Zach Nichols: Everybody's credit card transactions.
- Carmen Martino: You didn't hear that from me.
- Danny Ross: Thank you, Dick Cheney...
- Zach Nichols (last line): That's why I never had kids. Empty vessels that Daddy fills with love, compassion, empathy... 'cause you get someone like - me... or Kaspers. Oops.
Background information and notes[]
- This is the season finale of the Nichols/Wheeler episodes; and the last episode of the eighth season.
- Though Goren has not been seen in the conclusion, he has been mentioned by Eames in her statement to Nichols, "You're starting to remind me of someone."
- This is the only time an alternate opening credits has been used starring Det. Nichols, Det. Eames, and Captain Ross.
- The episode was probably inspired by the 2008 bank bailouts and the Bernie Madoff scheme.
- Actors Jeff Goldblum and Tania Raymonde began seeing each other after working together on this episode.
| Previous episode: "Alpha Dog" |
"Revolution" Law & Order: Criminal Intent Season 8 |
Next episode: "Loyalty (CI; Part I)" |