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| {{primary sources|date=April 2015}} | |||
| {{in universe}} | |||
| {{Primarysources|date=June 2007}} | |||
| {{Infobox character | |||
| {{Plot|date=July 2007}} | |||
| | name = Robert Goren | |||
| {{LawandOrderCharacter| | |||
| | series = ] | |||
| | name = Det. Robert Goren | |||
| | image |
| image = ] | ||
| | first = September 30, 2001<br>(episode 1.01: "]") | |||
| | time on show = 2001-present | |||
| | last = June 26, 2011<br>(episode 10.08: "]") | |||
| | succeeded = None | |||
| | portrayer = ] | |||
| | proceeded = N/A | |||
| | occupation = ] | |||
| | start = One | |||
| | family = Frances Goren (mother),<br />William Goren (step-father),<br />Mark Ford Brady (father),<br />Frank Goren (brother, potentially half-brother),<br />Donny Carlson (nephew),<br /> Molly (niece) | |||
| | finish = N/A | |||
| | title = ] ] | |||
| | portrayed = ] | |||
| | lbl21 = Partner | |||
| | data21 = ] <br /> ] (temporary) | |||
| | lbl22 = Seasons | |||
| | data22 = ]–] | |||
| }} | }} | ||
| ''' |
'''Robert "Bobby" Goren''' is a fictional character featured in the ]-] ] and ] television series ''],'' portrayed by ]. | ||
| Goren |
Goren is a detective investigator first grade for the Major Case Squad in the ] (NYPD). His shield number is 4376. He is partnered with Det. ] (]). As created by executive producer ], Goren is an intense, extremely intelligent, and imposing man, but is also unpredictable and sometimes volatile. He appeared in 141 episodes. | ||
| == |
==Character overview== | ||
| A highly intelligent, emotionally intuitive man, Goren has a talent for forming complex ] and understanding the "why" of even the most unusual crimes. While intellectually gifted, he has many personal demons, and his eccentricity and unconventional investigative methods sometimes rub his colleagues the wrong way. Goren himself has admitted his investigative style is unusual, stating that "I ''am'' an acquired taste".<ref name=WeeSmall>{{Cite episode|title=In the Wee Small Hours|episode-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 5#ep7|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate=November 6, 2005|season=5|number=7}}</ref> His partner, Alexandra Eames, was at first so puzzled by his methods that she asked for a new partner. She eventually came to respect his abilities, however, and the two became very close.<ref name=WeeSmall/> On occasion, she makes 'apologies' to the people they question, as part of their investigations, for his 'style' and manner. In one episode, she notes 'the job' is pretty much all he does. Goren questions his own sanity while in a therapy | |||
| ''Criminal Intent'' highlights Goren's abilities as a profiler and an interrogator. He is able to elicit confessions from calculating killers with his insight into their minds and his imposing physical presence.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} However, Goren shows a sensitive side as well, particularly directed at his mother, his partner ] (]) (who is the senior partner of the two), and female victims of the crimes he is solving.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} | |||
| session . In the episode ''Gone'' (2005), about a child prodigy who later became a famous chess grand-master before going awry and committing murder, he tells the suspect's mother, regarding her explanation of her son's behavior, "That's not eccentricity; it's mental illness", and later tells Eames, upon the suspect's arrest, "See, that's what happens when you keep people from doing what they do best ... It makes them insane." | |||
| ==Fictional character biography== | |||
| === Early life === | |||
| As with the parent '']'' series, and unlike the spinoff '']'', Criminal Intent seldom delves into the current romantic life of its main characters. Until the sixth season, it rarely delved into their non-professional lives at all. Instead, Goren's personal life was revealed in tidbits he revealed to form a personal connection with victims, suspects, or witnesses. | |||
| ===Personal and family life=== | |||
| Goren was born on ], ] and grew up in the ] neighborhood of the ] borough of ] near the ]. A phenomenally bright young man, he took the ] his senior year of high school and was sent to speak with the school counselor and school psychiatrist as a result. He played basketball as a youth and was the ] on his junior varsity basketball team, but quit when he "lost love for the game." | |||
| Robert O. Goren was born on August 20, 1961,<ref name="Anti-Thesis">{{Cite episode|title=Anti-Thesis|episode-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 2#ep25|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= October 13, 2002|season=2|number=3}}</ref> and grew up in the ] neighborhood of ], near ]. A phenomenally bright young man, he took the ] in his senior year of high school and was sent to speak with the school counselor and school psychiatrist as a result. He was an altar boy in the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=The Faithful|episode-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 1#ep4|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= October 17, 2001|season=1|number=4}}</ref> | |||
| Goren's mother Frances (]) first started showing symptoms of ] when Goren was seven years old.<ref name="Anti-Thesis"/> In later years, she is hospitalized at the fictional Carmel Ridge mental health facility. She is then diagnosed with ] which eventually results in her death.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=The War At Home|episode-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 6#ep119|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= November 14, 2006|season=6|number=8}}</ref> | |||
| In his youth, Goren was an ]; today, he considers himself a lapsed Catholic.<ref>01:04 "The Faithful"</ref> | |||
| Goren is estranged from his older brother, Frank (]), a drug addict who also has a gambling problem and is depicted as being sometimes homeless. Frank has a son, Donny, who asks for help when he is incarcerated. To that end, Goren goes undercover in the prison's psychiatric ward and uncovers a culture of ]. While he saves his nephew, he is suspended for his unorthodox investigation. When Frank refuses to help him help Donny, Goren disowns him.<ref name="Untethered">{{Cite episode|title=Untethered|episode-link=Untethered (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate=December 6, 2007|season=7|number=9}}</ref> While high on drugs, Frank is murdered by Goren's nemesis ] (]).<ref name="Frame">{{Cite episode|title=Frame|episode-link=Frame (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= August 24, 2008|season=7|number=22}}</ref> | |||
| His early life was troubled due to a rough relationship with his parents. His father gambled frequently on horse races and was a serial adulterer (], ''Criminal Intent's'' Executive Producer and Writer, describes Goren's father as "a rake") and his mother Frances (Rita Moreno), a librarian, first started showing symptoms of ] when Goren was seven years old. Goren’s father left his mother four years later, making little attempt to stay close to his son – he later credited this disinterest as the reason for his loss of interest in basketball. | |||
| Frances' husband, whom Goren had believed to be his father (see "Mark Ford Brady" section below), gambled frequently on horse races and was a serial adulterer. He left Goren's mother when Goren was 11,<ref>{{Cite episode|title=A Person of Interest|episode-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 2#ep45|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= May 18, 2003|season=2|number=23}}</ref> making little effort to stay close to the family. In season 2, a personal friend of Goren's mentions a funeral, implying that the elder Goren had died before the series began.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Blink|episode-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 2#ep42|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= May 4, 2003|season=2|number=20}}</ref> | |||
| === Military and Early Police Life === | |||
| ==== Mark Ford Brady ==== | |||
| After college, Goren served in the ] of the ] He was stationed in ] and did a 6-week tour in South Korea. Although a specific timeline for his service has not been established, he was in Germany during 1987. Before joining the NYPD, Goren earned a ]. | |||
| In the episode ], serial killer Mark Ford Brady (]), anxious to delay his scheduled execution, arranges for Goren and Eames to interview him about victims not yet attributed to him. Goren, with help from his brother, pieces together a story which shows that Brady and Frances Goren had an affair, which continued until Robert was four and Frank was seven; the relationship ended after Brady raped and beat Frances within an inch of her life. Goren asks his mother on her deathbed about Brady; she replies that she doesn't know whether Brady is his father.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Endgame|episode-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 6#ep132|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= May 14, 2007|season=6|number=21}}</ref> | |||
| At a later date, Goren reveals that he has ] evidence that Brady was his biological father.<ref name="Frame"/> | |||
| While Sergeant Goren was with CID he met Dr. Declan Gage, one of the first ], who was on loan from the FBI to offer advice on a South Korean ]. The two became close and Gage became Goren’s mentor in the field of criminal profiling, a relationship which continued even after Gage was discredited following a particularly tense and unsuccessful hunt for a serial killer. | |||
| === Military and early police life === | |||
| After leaving the military, Goren joined the ] and spent four years in the ] Division. He was responsible for three sting operations that resulted in 27 arrests and 27 convictions. | |||
| Goren served in the ] and was stationed in Germany and Korea. He joined the NYPD as a detective, serving in the Narcotics Division, and later as a detective in the Major Case Squad.<ref name="USAbio">{{cite web|url=http://www.usanetwork.com/criminalintent/cast/det-robert-goren|title=USA Network character bio|publisher=USA Network|access-date=15 April 2015}}</ref> His mentor, FBI criminal profiler Declan Gage (]), taught him how to use his intelligence, empathy and imagination to construct complex psychological profiles of suspects.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Blind Spot|episode-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 6#ep112|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= September 19, 2006|season=6|number=1}}</ref> Goren also learned how to use his physicality to intimidate and unsettle people while interrogating them, the most famous example being his habit – introduced in the pilot episode, "]"<ref>{{Cite episode|title=One|episode-link=One (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= September 30, 2001|season=1|number=1}}</ref> – of cocking his head at odd angles in order to maintain eye contact with someone who is trying to avoid his gaze. | |||
| == Major Case Squad == | == Major Case Squad == | ||
| In the backstory of ''Criminal Intent'', Goren has been partnered with Det. Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe) since sometime before 2000, posted to the Major Case Squad under Captain ] (]) and later Captains ] (]) and ] (]). Goren is temporarily partnered with ] (]) in the third (2003–2004) season while Eames is on ]. | |||
| One of his most significant relationships throughout the show is with Nicole Wallace (]), a brilliant con artist and ] who is first introduced in the episode "Anti-Thesis". Wallace is one of the few criminals Goren encounters who is able to outwit him and even get to him emotionally, particularly by confronting him about his unhappy childhood. Goren comes to think of her as his "]".<ref name="Frame"/> When Wallace murders his brother Frank, Goren is convinced that she is trying to destroy him at last; it turns out, however, that she was manipulated and murdered by the true mastermind of the plot – his old mentor, Declan Gage.<ref name="Frame"/> | |||
| Since sometime before 2000, Goren has been partnered with Det. ] (]) working within the Major Case Division under Captain ] and later Captain ]. | |||
| In the episode "]", Goren, on his own, goes undercover at an abusive prison where his nephew Donny (]) is incarcerated; he is then suspended and sent for a psychological fitness evaluation.<ref name="Untethered"/> While waiting for his reinstatement, Goren decides to go undercover to take down a high-level drug dealer, but does not inform Eames of this decision, causing tension between them.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Purgatory|episode-link=Purgatory (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= June 8, 2008|season=7|number=11}}</ref> | |||
| As an investigator and profiler, Goren is uncommonly skilled at sizing up suspects and picking apart the details of crimes. Thanks to his diverse background and commitment to research (in the episode “Dead” he called his library card his most important investigative tool) he is frequently able to recall pieces of information that may seem obscure but prove to be incredibly relevant to the case. Additionally, he has an acute sense of smell that discloses details even a forensics investigator might miss. | |||
| In the two-part season 9 premiere "]," he and Eames are pulled off a pair of homicides by Capt. Ross, who they do not realize has been working undercover for the FBI on a case involving one of the victims. When Ross is subsequently murdered, Goren and Eames team up with Detectives ] (]) and ] (]) to find his killer. Goren soon gets into a physical altercation with the prime suspect, leading to his suspension, though Eames and Nichols covertly help him with his side investigation. By the end of "Loyalty", Eames is promoted to Lieutenant and assigned as Captain (''pro tem'', pending her Captain's exams) of the Major Case Squad. Her first assignment is to fire Goren. When she tells him what is happening, he tells her not to worry, kisses her on the cheek, and embraces her before he leaves. Eames then places her own gun and badge on her new desk and calls the Chief to resign from the force. Neither Eames nor Goren appear for the remainder of the season.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Loyalty|episode-link=Loyalty (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= April 6, 2010|season=9|number=2}}</ref> | |||
| During interrogations, Goren has the habit of cocking his head at odd angles while talking to people – a "side talking" method he uses to distract and unnerve them. D'Onofrio invented this kind of habit from a scene in the pilot episode where a suspect he was interrogating would not look him in the eye. It is such a strong identifier of his character that in the episode “The Gift” a woman who, while describing a psychic dream she had, labeled Goren as being "the man with the broken neck." | |||
| After a year's absence, Goren and Eames again became the series' lead characters in its tenth and final season, with Eames taking up her original rank of Detective.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-09-21-donofrio-returns-to-criminal-intent_N.htm |title=Vincent D'Onofrio back on 'Criminal Intent' for Season 10 |work=] |publisher=]|location=McLean, Virginia|agency=]|date=September 21, 2010 |access-date=November 4, 2017}}</ref> While it was not explained how or why they were reinstated to the police force, it is clear that one of the conditions is Goren's regular sessions with a psychiatrist, ] (]). Their new captain, ] (]), also briefly refers to his and Goren's "friendship", perhaps implying that his character used personal influence in bringing Goren back to the force.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=The Consoler|episode-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 10#ep189|series=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|series-link=Law & Order: Criminal Intent|network=NBC|airdate= May 8, 2011|season=10|number=2}}</ref> | |||
| Additionally, when questioning people, Goren will attempt to agitate uncooperative suspects by exploiting a weakness of theirs which he has noticed. For example, if he believes a subject is a "neat freak" he will deliberately move the subject's possessions around to create clutter, appearing to do so out of clumsiness or lack of respect, in order to rattle them. | |||
| The character of Eames appears in the '']'' episode "]." She has again been promoted to Lieutenant and is now serving in the City/Federal Homeland Security Task Force, while Goren has left the Major Case Squad. Eames has picked up some of his old habits, such as cocking her head at an odd angle while interrogating suspects.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Acceptable Loss|episode-link=Acceptable Loss (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)|series=Law & Order: Special Victims Unit|series-link=Law & Order: Special Victims Unit|network=NBC|airdate= October 17, 2012|season=14|number=4}}</ref> | |||
| While Goren has never crossed the line into open insubordination, he does occasionally push professional boundaries, either because he feels it will solve the case more effectively, or because empathy leads him to believe that the most extreme punishments are not warranted. Eames once said that his willingness to test authority stems from his days as a "lapsed ]." This attitude has pushed him into conflict with superiors before, particularly with ADA ] and Captain Ross as they are concerned with due process and regulations. | |||
| ==Awards and decorations== | |||
| At the end of "Untethered" (Season 7, Episode 9; air date December 6, 2007), Detective Goren is suspended and sent for a psychological fitness evaluation. Pending the current Hollywood Writer's strike, the resolution of Goren's status with the NYPD is unknown until the next installment of Goren/Eames original Season 7 episodes airs on the USA Network sometime in January 2008. | |||
| The following are the medals and service awards worn by Detective Goren, as seen in "]". His shield number is 4376. | |||
| {| | |||
| === Partnership with Alex Eames === | |||
| |] | |||
| Goren and Eames both tend to discuss the other, and call each other, by their last names alone. However, Eames does address him by the more intimate "Bobby" (the name by which he is known to his family) when it is clear he is under unusual stress; in the premiere episode of season 7, Goren was heard for the first time by viewers to address his partner as "Alex." Goren often takes the lead, although he is actually the junior partner in their working relationship. | |||
| |] | |||
| |- | |||
| |] | |||
| |] | |||
| |- | |||
| |] | |||
| |] | |||
| |} | |||
| ==References== | |||
| Early in their partnership, Eames petitioned the department for a new partner. She later withdrew the petition. Letting her know that he is not offended that she once thought him erratic and unstable, Goren admits he is "an acquired taste." | |||
| {{Reflist}} | |||
| Eames is practical, while Goren is often portrayed as intellectual, yet there is little evidence of conflict between them. Indeed, they display mutual respect and friendship. Goren himself said they have "complementary skills": Goren is portrayed as having extensive "book knowledge," while Eames is portrayed as more computer and politically savvy. Contrasting with the instability of his family, Eames is a steadying, and perhaps calming, influence. | |||
| Goren was temporarily partnered with Det. G. Lynn Bishop (]) in 2003–2004 while Eames was on ]. They did function reasonably well as a team, and Bishop seemed more intellectually curious than Eames, but their personalities were not as compatible and Goren often compared Bishop to Eames, to Bishop's detriment. Although she respected his ability to close cases, Bishop did not appreciate Goren's somewhat aggressive style of questioning uncooperative witnesses. It was implied that she was aware of being compared to the partner that Goren very obviously missed. | |||
| == Family == | |||
| Goren's childhood contributed to his ability to understand ] and to empathize with the victims of crimes. In the episode “Suite Sorrow,” he states that he knows what it is like “to have your judgment, your sense of security undermined by your parents; because they were hiding a truth or denying it to themselves.” | |||
| As a result of his father’s infidelity, Goren now harbors a hatred of men who abandon their wives, especially if the wives are sick, and/or neglect their children. When blindsided by his enemy ], Goren comments, "She picked a man I already didn't trust. I already didn't respect. ... She, uh, picked a man like my father." However, at the time Mr. Goren left the family, Goren blamed his mother for driving his father away. Some of Goren's dislike may stem from guilt over having felt this way in the past. | |||
| Goren’s mother suffered from schizophrenia since she was 32, and was an in-patient at the Carmel Ridge mental facility. He was in the habit of calling her every day and visiting her once a week, saying in the episode “Semi-Detached” that she has been slipping away from him his whole life but he can’t let go. In Season 6 she was diagnosed with ] and underwent major surgery, appearing for the first time on screen in the episode "The War At Home." Goren is known to flinch openly whenever his mother is mentioned, another vulnerability Wallace frequently exploits. | |||
| Goren's older brother, Frank Goren (Tony Goldwyn), is presented as a man who has a gambling problem. Frances is very proud of Frank and described him as a "scientist,” and seemed to believe that Frank could take better care of her than Bobby did. In reality, Frank was homeless and destitute on Manhattan’s streets, refering to a homeless woman as "his old lady" and saying “church people” helped him clean up. At one meeting, Bobby gave Frank $50, his overcoat, and his business card. Bobby told Frank to call him if he ever needed any help. They agreed to meet the following Sunday - Frances' birthday – but Frank failed to appear at the appointed time. In vain, Frances waited for Frank to appear, sure that he would never forget her birthday. Bobby did not give her any details about Frank's condition. | |||
| Frank Goren has a son named Donny, incarcerated in a mental institution.<ref>07:09 "Untethered"</ref> | |||
| === Mark Ford Brady === | |||
| In "Endgame," the serial rapist and murderer Mark Ford Brady (Roy Scheider), anxious to delay his scheduled execution, arranged for Goren and Eames to interview him about victims not yet attributed to him. Goren, with aid from his brother (now clean after a lucky streak in ]) pieced together a story which showed that Brady and Frances Goren had a long-term, on-and-off relationship. Their relationship continued until Goren was four and his brother Frank was seven. Frank remembered Brady as "Uncle Mark," who brought little presents for Bobby when he came to visit. Uncle Mark, who only visited when Mr. Goren was away, no longer visited after Uncle Mark and Frances got into a "car crash." Goren did not remember Uncle Mark but recalled that after the car crash, Frances was never the same. | |||
| In a Death Row interview room, Goren learned that Brady was on leave around the time ] was elected — the month that he would have been conceived – leaving Goren with the horrible possibility that this serial killer might be his father. Goren confronted his mother, who revealed she did not know for sure who his father was. Both Brady and Frances died that night, leaving Goren alone in his mother’s empty room. It is unknown whether or not Goren has sought to confirm who his biological father is. | |||
| In the episode "Untethered", he uses the name William Brady when he goes under cover in prison to find out if prisoners were being tortured. | |||
| == Character Comparisons == | |||
| === Fictional Persons === | |||
| Goren is often compared to ] because both latch onto clues that seem minor but end up solving a case.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} Both possess the ability to come up with a complete theory of a crime based on little evidence, and then sustain that theory based on evidence. ] is probably a direct attempt to play on Holmes' antagonist ], or perhaps ].{{Fact|date=December 2007}} However, Goren displays more compassion and empathy than Holmes.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} Goren even displays sorrow regarding how Wallace's past damaged her, and destroyed "that sparkling little girl" she once was.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} | |||
| Goren's character owes a lot to another popular television detective, ].{{Fact|date=December 2007}} He often mirrors Columbo's habit of stopping to ask a suspect "one last" question before leaving. He also catches people off guard by pretending to be incompetent. While Goren is not as disheveled as Columbo, he certainly is not as formal as his fellow detectives.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} Both tend to appear unshaven and to wear an oversize trench coat.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} | |||
| René Balcer further cites ]'s French ] influenced Goren's development. He also says the character owes a lot to ]'s ] for some attributes.<ref>USA's Character Insights: ''Detective Goren'' (aka ''Creating Goren'') available at http://video.usanetwork.com/player/?id=81054</ref> | |||
| Like ], Goren believes in the power of libraries to aid detective work. Goren has called his library card his most important investigative tool. René Balcer repeats this sentiment when describing the creation of Goren. | |||
| === Factual Persons === | |||
| René Balcer cites the forensic psychiatrist ] as a model for Goren's interview style and ability to get others to talk about themselves. | |||
| == Details == | |||
| * He is ]. | |||
| * He is 6 feet, 4 inches tall and wears size 13 shoes<ref>01:05 "Jones"</ref> - a size advantage he frequently uses against suspects. | |||
| * He always carries both a cloth handkerchief and a switchblade with him. He usually carries a well worn leather binder — roughly 9 x 12 inches in size. | |||
| * He appears to speak ], ], ], and some ] thanks to his army experience. He can read some ] and also knows some ], but not enough to conduct a full interview. | |||
| * He likes veal Parmesan enough to order it five nights in a row at Sal's Restaurant. When the waitress commented on the repetition, he charmed her by replying that he really just liked the way that she wrote it down. She responded by grabbing the order from a passing server and serving him immediately. | |||
| * Goren stated that, while in the armed forces, he read the Qur'an in order to impress a Muslim woman to whom he was attracted. | |||
| * He spent some time in Oxford "chasing co-eds." | |||
| * He was vaccinated for ] after 9/11. | |||
| * His NYPD badge number is shown to be '4376' in numerous episodes. | |||
| * A relapsed smoker, he has been seen smoking following a few recent cases, after giving up the habit seven years ago. | |||
| == References == | |||
| The citation style for specific episodes is ''Season #'' : ''Episode #'', " ''Episode Name'' ". | |||
| {{reflist|2}} | |||
| == External links == | == External links == | ||
| * | |||
| * site, including 18 "Character Insight" videos | |||
| {{Law & Order: Criminal Intent}} | {{Law & Order: Criminal Intent}} | ||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Goren, Robert}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Goren, Robert}} | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | |||
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| Robert Goren | |
|---|---|
| Law & Order character | |
 | |
| First appearance | September 30, 2001 (episode 1.01: "One") |
| Last appearance | June 26, 2011 (episode 10.08: "To the Boy In the Blue Knit Cap") |
| Portrayed by | Vincent D'Onofrio |
| In-universe information | |
| Title | NYPD Junior Detective |
| Occupation | Police Officer |
| Family | Frances Goren (mother), William Goren (step-father), Mark Ford Brady (father), Frank Goren (brother, potentially half-brother), Donny Carlson (nephew), Molly (niece) |
| Partner | Alexandra Eames G. Lynn Bishop (temporary) |
| Seasons | 1–10 |
Robert "Bobby" Goren is a fictional character featured in the NBC-USA Network police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio.
Goren is a detective investigator first grade for the Major Case Squad in the New York City Police Department (NYPD). His shield number is 4376. He is partnered with Det. Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe). As created by executive producer René Balcer, Goren is an intense, extremely intelligent, and imposing man, but is also unpredictable and sometimes volatile. He appeared in 141 episodes.
Character overview
A highly intelligent, emotionally intuitive man, Goren has a talent for forming complex psychological profiles and understanding the "why" of even the most unusual crimes. While intellectually gifted, he has many personal demons, and his eccentricity and unconventional investigative methods sometimes rub his colleagues the wrong way. Goren himself has admitted his investigative style is unusual, stating that "I am an acquired taste". His partner, Alexandra Eames, was at first so puzzled by his methods that she asked for a new partner. She eventually came to respect his abilities, however, and the two became very close. On occasion, she makes 'apologies' to the people they question, as part of their investigations, for his 'style' and manner. In one episode, she notes 'the job' is pretty much all he does. Goren questions his own sanity while in a therapy session . In the episode Gone (2005), about a child prodigy who later became a famous chess grand-master before going awry and committing murder, he tells the suspect's mother, regarding her explanation of her son's behavior, "That's not eccentricity; it's mental illness", and later tells Eames, upon the suspect's arrest, "See, that's what happens when you keep people from doing what they do best ... It makes them insane."
Fictional character biography
Personal and family life
Robert O. Goren was born on August 20, 1961, and grew up in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn, near The Rockaways. A phenomenally bright young man, he took the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory in his senior year of high school and was sent to speak with the school counselor and school psychiatrist as a result. He was an altar boy in the Roman Catholic Church.
Goren's mother Frances (Rita Moreno) first started showing symptoms of schizophrenia when Goren was seven years old. In later years, she is hospitalized at the fictional Carmel Ridge mental health facility. She is then diagnosed with lymphoma which eventually results in her death.
Goren is estranged from his older brother, Frank (Tony Goldwyn), a drug addict who also has a gambling problem and is depicted as being sometimes homeless. Frank has a son, Donny, who asks for help when he is incarcerated. To that end, Goren goes undercover in the prison's psychiatric ward and uncovers a culture of prisoner abuse. While he saves his nephew, he is suspended for his unorthodox investigation. When Frank refuses to help him help Donny, Goren disowns him. While high on drugs, Frank is murdered by Goren's nemesis Nicole Wallace (Olivia d'Abo).
Frances' husband, whom Goren had believed to be his father (see "Mark Ford Brady" section below), gambled frequently on horse races and was a serial adulterer. He left Goren's mother when Goren was 11, making little effort to stay close to the family. In season 2, a personal friend of Goren's mentions a funeral, implying that the elder Goren had died before the series began.
Mark Ford Brady
In the episode "Endgame", serial killer Mark Ford Brady (Roy Scheider), anxious to delay his scheduled execution, arranges for Goren and Eames to interview him about victims not yet attributed to him. Goren, with help from his brother, pieces together a story which shows that Brady and Frances Goren had an affair, which continued until Robert was four and Frank was seven; the relationship ended after Brady raped and beat Frances within an inch of her life. Goren asks his mother on her deathbed about Brady; she replies that she doesn't know whether Brady is his father.
At a later date, Goren reveals that he has DNA evidence that Brady was his biological father.
Military and early police life
Goren served in the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Division and was stationed in Germany and Korea. He joined the NYPD as a detective, serving in the Narcotics Division, and later as a detective in the Major Case Squad. His mentor, FBI criminal profiler Declan Gage (John Glover), taught him how to use his intelligence, empathy and imagination to construct complex psychological profiles of suspects. Goren also learned how to use his physicality to intimidate and unsettle people while interrogating them, the most famous example being his habit – introduced in the pilot episode, "One" – of cocking his head at odd angles in order to maintain eye contact with someone who is trying to avoid his gaze.
Major Case Squad
In the backstory of Criminal Intent, Goren has been partnered with Det. Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe) since sometime before 2000, posted to the Major Case Squad under Captain James Deakins (Jamey Sheridan) and later Captains Danny Ross (Eric Bogosian) and Joseph Hannah (Jay O. Sanders). Goren is temporarily partnered with Det. G. Lynn Bishop (Samantha Buck) in the third (2003–2004) season while Eames is on maternity leave.
One of his most significant relationships throughout the show is with Nicole Wallace (Olivia d'Abo), a brilliant con artist and serial killer who is first introduced in the episode "Anti-Thesis". Wallace is one of the few criminals Goren encounters who is able to outwit him and even get to him emotionally, particularly by confronting him about his unhappy childhood. Goren comes to think of her as his "white whale". When Wallace murders his brother Frank, Goren is convinced that she is trying to destroy him at last; it turns out, however, that she was manipulated and murdered by the true mastermind of the plot – his old mentor, Declan Gage.
In the episode "Untethered", Goren, on his own, goes undercover at an abusive prison where his nephew Donny (Trevor Morgan) is incarcerated; he is then suspended and sent for a psychological fitness evaluation. While waiting for his reinstatement, Goren decides to go undercover to take down a high-level drug dealer, but does not inform Eames of this decision, causing tension between them.
In the two-part season 9 premiere "Loyalty," he and Eames are pulled off a pair of homicides by Capt. Ross, who they do not realize has been working undercover for the FBI on a case involving one of the victims. When Ross is subsequently murdered, Goren and Eames team up with Detectives Zack Nichols (Jeff Goldblum) and Serena Stevens (Saffron Burrows) to find his killer. Goren soon gets into a physical altercation with the prime suspect, leading to his suspension, though Eames and Nichols covertly help him with his side investigation. By the end of "Loyalty", Eames is promoted to Lieutenant and assigned as Captain (pro tem, pending her Captain's exams) of the Major Case Squad. Her first assignment is to fire Goren. When she tells him what is happening, he tells her not to worry, kisses her on the cheek, and embraces her before he leaves. Eames then places her own gun and badge on her new desk and calls the Chief to resign from the force. Neither Eames nor Goren appear for the remainder of the season.
After a year's absence, Goren and Eames again became the series' lead characters in its tenth and final season, with Eames taking up her original rank of Detective. While it was not explained how or why they were reinstated to the police force, it is clear that one of the conditions is Goren's regular sessions with a psychiatrist, Doctor Paula Gyson (Julia Ormond). Their new captain, Joseph Hannah (Jay O. Sanders), also briefly refers to his and Goren's "friendship", perhaps implying that his character used personal influence in bringing Goren back to the force.
The character of Eames appears in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Acceptable Loss." She has again been promoted to Lieutenant and is now serving in the City/Federal Homeland Security Task Force, while Goren has left the Major Case Squad. Eames has picked up some of his old habits, such as cocking her head at an odd angle while interrogating suspects.
Awards and decorations
The following are the medals and service awards worn by Detective Goren, as seen in "Amends". His shield number is 4376.
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World Trade Center Breast Bar |
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NYPD Award of Commendation |
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NYPD Excellent Police Duty |
References
- ^ "In the Wee Small Hours". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 5. Episode 7. November 6, 2005. NBC.
- ^ "Anti-Thesis". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 2. Episode 3. October 13, 2002. NBC.
- "The Faithful". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 1. Episode 4. October 17, 2001. NBC.
- "The War At Home". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 6. Episode 8. November 14, 2006. NBC.
- ^ "Untethered". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 7. Episode 9. December 6, 2007. NBC.
- ^ "Frame". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 7. Episode 22. August 24, 2008. NBC.
- "A Person of Interest". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 2. Episode 23. May 18, 2003. NBC.
- "Blink". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 2. Episode 20. May 4, 2003. NBC.
- "Endgame". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 6. Episode 21. May 14, 2007. NBC.
- "USA Network character bio". USA Network. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
- "Blind Spot". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 6. Episode 1. September 19, 2006. NBC.
- "One". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 1. Episode 1. September 30, 2001. NBC.
- "Purgatory". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 7. Episode 11. June 8, 2008. NBC.
- "Loyalty". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 9. Episode 2. April 6, 2010. NBC.
- "Vincent D'Onofrio back on 'Criminal Intent' for Season 10". USA Today. McLean, Virginia: Gannett. Associated Press. September 21, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
- "The Consoler". Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season 10. Episode 2. May 8, 2011. NBC.
- "Acceptable Loss". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Season 14. Episode 4. October 17, 2012. NBC.
External links
| Law & Order: Criminal Intent | |
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