* AssPull:
** Although it ended up being well-received, Goren and Eames' more-than-friends relationship was initially viewed as being this.
** Goren apparently being a [[spoiler: rat for doubting a fellow cop's work to get a confession out of a suspect, who ended up being the wrong guy]] was considered very out of character for him, but thankfully it wasn't seen before that season or since.
** The whole concept of Eames being a widow was perceived by some as this, although old interviews with Kathryn Erbe confirm that this was actually [[AllThereInTheManual part of the character's backstory all along]], even though it wasn't mentioned onscreen until more than halfway through the series.
* AudienceAlienatingEra: Even though one could argue any time after season four could be this, season six is when it hit full stride. Rene Balcer left as the series' showrunner, [[ReplacementScrappy Warren Leight]] stepped into the position and with him, new writers who weren't too familiar with the ''Law & Order'' franchise came along and ruined the dynamic of the show. The show took a more emotional standpoint to it and stop focusing some much on the criminals (which was one of the main hooks of the show), the writing was more in line with rival show '''Series/{{CSI}}''' (even having episodes start off with a pop song in a hope of the storyline becoming more appealing) and they got rid of the time and location cards, which are a staple of the franchise. Even with these changes eventually being done away with and Leight leaving the position, the damage was done.
* AwardSnub: Creator/KathrynErbe and Creator/VincentDOnofrio received nary an Emmy nomination in their eight years on the show's run, a [[{{Pun}} criminal]] snub.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJMlejvNXuY Both]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGw2tPecgv8 theme songs]]; the former (used in Seasons 1-6) is a remix of [[Series/LawAndOrder the Mothership's]] theme, while the latter (used from Seasons 7-10) was previously used in the short-lived ''Series/LawAndOrderTrialByJury''.
* BrokenBase: Many fans did ''not'' respond well to Goren and Eames being written out of the show early in season 9. [[http://criminalintentmusings.blogspot.com/2009/09/losing-goren-and-eames.html Letter-writing campaigns and boycotts were suggested]], as was a clever idea to send [[http://movieline.com/2009/10/09/law-order-criminal-intent-loyalists-launch-usa-fluffalanche/ cases of marshmallow fluff]] to the offices of the producers in protest of the casting change and tone change for the show. That season 10 ever even happened suggests this campaign had some effect.
* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/LawAndOrder here]].
* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Goren seems to have trouble connecting with others, has a hard time accepting changes in routine (most notably displayed any time Eames is absent), gets obsessive about things easily, latches on to small details, fidgets quite a bit... a lot of signs of someone being autistic. The episode "Probability" implies this could be why he gets along so well with Wally Stevens, an autistic man. Eames points out their similarities multiple times, and Goren is the one who realizes both that Wally is neurodivergent, and that he subconsiously creates groupings of five in a specific configuration.[[note]]This may be {{Actor Shared Background}}/{{Disabled Character Disabled Actor}}, as Vincent D'Onofrio himself is dyslexic and [[https://youtu.be/WvI6pMyAMHk?t=155 possibly autistic.]][[/note]]
-->'''Eames''': You two looked like you were having so much fun.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Many fans have responded well to Nicole Wallace, who in spite of being a SerialKiller and the BigBad, still has a [[MagnificentBitch strong appeal]] to her, even years after the series ended.
* EvilIsCool: Frequently subverted. Many of the killers initially seem like {{Magnificent Bastard}}s, but by the time the detectives are done, they're exposed as delusional, desperate, insecure, broken people.
* FirstInstallmentWins: Although the series has had at least fifteen regular or recurring characters in its ten-year run, the original line up of Goren, Eames, Deakins and Carver (and Nicole Wallace) remains the most well-known among viewers.
* GeniusBonus: Many of the episode titles, especially of the older episodes. Case in point, the episode, "Graansha" was a word meaning "stranger" in Shelta, an ancient language by Irish travellers and the suspect in the episode was a tradition-obsessed person [[spoiler: who killed his sister to keep people she brought into the fray of their sect out]]. Also, "Death Roe" has the latter word spelled like that because roe is the eggs of shellfish and the secondary victim of the episode was [[spoiler:served poisoned abalone as an intentional ploy by a competitor to sabotage the restaurant that served her]].
* {{Glurge}}: The dark side of glurge is explored in "Faith" -- the murder victim figured out that a girl suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, who has faced hardship after hardship in her life but pulled through to write an inspiring book about her trials, [[spoiler: ''does not actually exist'']]. Worse yet: that episode was RippedFromTheHeadlines.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** In the April 2009 episode "Rock Star", a musician falls to his death in an elevator shaft in a building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In November of that same year, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Fuchs Jerry Fuchs]], the drummer for various indie rock bands such as !!! and The Juan Maclean, [[http://www.avclub.com/newyork/articles/drummer-jerry-fuchs-dead-after-fall-down-elevator,35122/ died pretty much the same way in a similar building in the same neighborhood]]. However, unlike in the episode, [[spoiler:where the musician was ''pushed'' down the shaft]], Fuchs actually fell while trying to jump from a stalled elevator to the next floor. Still pretty damn eerie.
** In the episode "Pas de Deux," the villain is a bank robber (played by Charles Rocket) who is suffering from a terminal illness and plans to kill himself along with his unwitting accomplice. The episode was Rocket's last film appearance; he committed suicide later that year.
** At the end of "Brother's Keeper", Goren goes through a brief scare when he thinks his brother was found dead, but it turned out to be another man. [[spoiler:The ending gets hard to watch since Goren would ''really'' find his brother dead in the future. And he didn't just die, he was ''murdered''. ''By his mentor''.]]
** "Wee Small Hours" is based on the story of Natalee Holloway. The suspect [[spoiler:didn't kill her, although he inadvertently brought her into contact with the person who did]], but he ''was'' involved in the death of another girl who disappeared several weeks before. In RealLife, five years to the day that Holloway disappeared and was presumably murdered, the prime suspect in her disappearance was charged with the murder of another girl.
** The episode "Folie a Deux" has the missing baby girl's great-Aunt telling the detectives how she herself is in failing health and knows that the little girl is dead, even explaining how [[DeathByDespair the baby is the only thing keeping her alive.]] The woman is played by Creator/LynnRedgrave, who would die of breast cancer less than a year after the episode's airing.
** The season two episode, "Monster", is partially inspired by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Chambers_(criminal) Robert Chambers, who was committed the infamous "Preppie Murder" in 1986]] and his 2003 release. At the end of the episode, the suspect was sent back to prison [[spoiler: for committing a rape fifteen years prior and letting others take the fall for it]]. In 2008, Chambers was imprisoned for another 19 years as well, but for selling drugs.
** The season six episode "Tru Love" stars Anton Yelchin as Keith Cooper, a teenager who inadvertently causes his father's death in a vehicle accident by tampering with his father's motorcycle; he rigged the motorcycle in a way that he thought would cause it to fail to start (which would have been annoying but harmless), but it turned out it was able to start, leading to the fatal accident. Ten years after the episode aired, Yelchin died in an accident because his own car did something other than what he intended for it to do (his parking brake was properly set but failed).
** The episode "Contract" features Creator/JeffGarlin as a Harvey Weinstein-esque producer who is covering up the fact that he raped a teenager. Almost ten years later, the real Harvey Weinstein would be accused of rape and sexual misconduct by a number of women, including former CI star Annabella Sciorra. And then, a few years after ''that'', Jeff Garlin himself would be accused of sexual misconduct on ''Series/TheGoldbergs'', resulting in him being fired from that show. And then, a few days after ''that'', Chris Noth, who starred in the episode, would be accused of sexual misconduct by Zoe Lister-Jones, who appeared all the way back on "Diamond Dogs", the first CI episode in which he starred.
* HesJustHiding: A common theory concerning [[spoiler:Nicole Wallace's death at the end of season 7]]. Given that the information came from a less than reliable source and since [[spoiler:Nicole]] has faked her own death before, this isn't entirely unfounded.
** [[spoiler:Another series produced by Rene Balcer, 2013's "Jo", has the actress who played her show up in one episode as a character who most likely is her, but it's never said one way or another.]]
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct:
** The season 3 episode "The Saint" guest-starred a nearly unrecognizable (and incredibly gifted) Creator/StephenColbert as [[spoiler:the main villain]]. Given what he's accomplished in the world of comedy and political satire, nobody's ''too'' sad he didn't pursue his original intention of a dramatic acting career, but that episode proved he has the chops for it and then some.
** Also, while no one could dare question that Creator/WhoopiGoldberg is a phenomenal actress, be it to make one [[Film/SisterAct laugh]] or [[Film/TheColorPurple1985 cry]], ''no one'' expected her to pull off such a performance in "To The Bone", where she wasn't just a believable character, but [[spoiler: evil as sin]].
** Plenty of people are familiar with Bronson Pinchot's [[Series/PerfectStrangers comedy]], but many were surprised by his skill at playing such a methodical and [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] character in "Beast".
* HilariousInHindsight:
** In the episode "Collective", Alex reads off this rather [[{{Pun}} interesting pun]] from a brochure:
-->''"[[FanFic/MyImmortal Fangs]] for the memories."''
** Annabella Sciorra appeared as Carolyn Barek in season 5. Thirteen years after her season of ''Criminal Intent'', she and Creator/VincentDonofrio would be reunited in ''Series/Daredevil2015'' with her playing Rosalie Carbone, one of the crime bosses being taxed by D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk.
** Speaking of ''Daredevil'', the season 2 ''Criminal Intent'' episode "Malignant" guest-starred Creator/JonBernthal, which makes the Punisher's interactions with Fisk in "Seven Minutes in Heaven" take on a whole new level of subtext.
** Creator/MalcolmMcDowell playing a Rupert Murdoch {{Expy}} in the episode "Proud Flesh", then actually playing Murdoch himself in the film ''Film/Bombshell2019''.
** The NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of Michael Vick who is central to Season 9's "Inhumane Society" is a boxer rather than a football player, played by Creator/MichaelBJordan in one of his first roles. Not only does this presage his playing [[Film/Creed2015 Adonis Creed]], but since this is a Detective Nichols episode he plays scenes alongside Creator/JeffGoldblum -- who knew that [[Film/BlackPanther2018 Erik Killmonger]] [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse and]] [[Film/ThorRagnarok the Grandmaster]] knew each other casually?
** Anthony Mackie, who plays ComicBook/TheFalcon in the MCU appeared in the episode "Pravda". Mike Colter, who played [[Series/LukeCage2016 Luke Cage]], appeared in "Albatross". This brings the number of MCU actors in this show up to seven.
*** Eight, actually: in Season 5's "The Healer," one of the suspects, Robbie Paulson, is played by a young [[Series/MoonKnight2022 Oscar Isaac]].
** Creator/JessicaWalter played a grumpy, emasculating and manipulative matriarch in "Please Note We Are No Longer Accepting Letters of Recommendation from Henry Kissinger" only a year before landing her similarly-acting role of Malory Archer in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}''.
* JustHereForGodzilla: As seen in the later seasons. Although Detectives Logan and Nichols as well as most of their partners were just as competent and efficient as any other member of the law, many fans preferred the team of Goren and Eames. Even when Oxygen Network had syndication rights to the series, they initially would air nothing ''but'' the Goren and Eames episodes.
* LoveToHate: Nicole Wallace. Aside from being a BreakoutVillain and one of the only people to outwit Goren, her episodes were always popular [[spoiler: and many viewers were upset to learn she was apparently murdered, even to the point of refusing to accept this as canon]].
* MagnificentBastard:
** Seasons 2-7: [[FemmeFatale Nicole Wallace]] is a charming Australian murderer whose brilliance established her as the "[[ArchEnemy white whale]]" of Detective Robert Goren's career. First appearing under a false identity, Nicole manipulated Mark Bayley into committing murder so she could become a citizen, she then murders Bayley and subtly reveals her deception to Goren before escaping. Nicole then married Gavin Haynes and committed another murder, framing Daniel Croyan, knowing that Goren would doggedly pursue Coryan and ignore other possibilities, before murdering Croyan and framing it as a suicide to ruin Goren’s reputation. After using Haynes' loyalty to escape justice, Nicole divorces him and starts molding Ella Myazaki into a killer like herself, nearly killing Haynes then murdering Ella and faking her own death. Nicole then becomes engaged to Evan Chapel and desires to live a normal life with him and his daughter Gwen. When she learns that Evan is trying to murder Gwen, Nicole exposes him to the police and kidnaps Gwen, only to realize that her very nature makes her a threat to Gwen and releases her. Staying just out of Goren's grasp the whole time, Nicole is only stopped when [[spoiler: Declan Gage murders her, her last words being, "[[FaceDeathWithDignity You tell Bobby, he's the only man I ever loved]]."]]
** "[[Recap/LawAndOrderCriminalIntentS6E1BlindSpot Blind Spot]]" & "[[Recap/LawAndOrderCriminalIntentS7E22Frame Frame]]": [[PsychoPsychologist Dr. Declan Gage]] is a [[TheProfiler profiler of serial killers]] who analyzes them and gets into their minds as a means of figuring out their next moves. He ended up passing on his methods to his protégée Goren, [[ParentalSubstitute thinking of him as a son]]. When a killer Gage tried to flush out by means of informing the press of evidence seems to resurface, Gage pushes to be involved in the case even when accused of the killings himself and gives Goren info and advice that helps him in investigating. After his now-estranged daughter Jo [[spoiler: AKA the true killer]] ends up in a self-inflicted coma, Gage, [[ItsAllMyFault blaming himself]], seeks to free Goren of his personal demons to do right by him. While making himself appear to be a target as well, Gage [[spoiler: ends up convincing Nicole Wallace to kill Goren's addict brother Frank and then kills her while leaving evidence that suggests Goren's the culprit, but then has it lead to himself so Goren will catch him]]. In doing this, Gage seeks to free Goren of the [[spoiler: three]] people in his life still bringing him down [[WellIntentionedExtremist so he can finally start anew]].
* {{Narm}}:
** The Good Child" has a murderer and his murderous mistress are betrayed by the mistress's kleptomania, as she stole an eggcup from the murder scene. The episode ends with the murderer being dragged away by the police, screaming "Eggcup!" over and over again.
** Similarly, there is the episode "In The Wee Small Hours" two-parter which was based off of the [[MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome Natalee Holloway case]]. At one point, the JerkAss suspect's even bigger asshole of a father, who's a prominent judge, was angry at his son for betraying him and talking to detectives. What's his insult for him? Saying "You...Iago! Iago! ''IAGO!"'' [[DullSurprise in the most flat]] [[BadBadActing and uninspiring way possible.]] To add to the cheesy factor of the performance, while he is likely referring to the villain from Theatre/{{Othello}}, thanks to PopCultureOsmosis, fans were left wondering, "Why is he talking about [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} that loud parrot voiced by]] Creator/GilbertGottfried?"
** "The Saint" [[SpecialGuest guest-stars]] Creator/StephenColbert and the plot centered around an organization's attempt to push their namesake to sainthood. One plot point involved the main characters repeating the phrase "Goat Letter" every few seconds. "Goat letter" was TruthInTelevision, since the episode was a [[RippedFromTheHeadlines thinly disguised retelling]] of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hofmann Mark Hofmann case]], which centered around the "White Salamander Letter." It just happens that goats don't have the same [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent sinister vibe]] salamanders do...
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQm30mZZHwU Colbert's performance]] is Narmful as well.
----> "BECAUSE I'M BRILLIANT AT WHAT I DO!"
** Hannah from "Tomorrow". Her screaming for her sister is supposed to be dramatic and signify her mental instabilities, but how over-the-top it is comes off as this:
-->'''Hannah:''' I WANT MY SHISTER! I WANT TO BE WITH SARE-RAH!!
* NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize:
** "The Good Doctor": [[spoiler: Creator/RobertKnepper.]]
** "Badge": [[spoiler: Creator/ViolaDavis.]]
** "Malignant": [[spoiler: Creator/StephenTobolowsky.]]
** "The Saint": [[spoiler: Creator/StephenColbert.]]
** "The Unblinking Eye": [[spoiler: Creator/PabloSchreiber. Though he's not the mastermind.]]
** "Beast": [[spoiler: [[Series/PerfectStrangers Bronson Pinchot.]]]]
** "Slither": [[spoiler: Creator/MichaelYork.]]
** "The Good Child": [[spoiler: John Shea and Melissa Leo.]]
** "To The Bone": [[spoiler: Creator/WhoopiGoldberg.]]
** "Bombshell": [[spoiler: Creator/DavidCross.]]
** "Frame": [[spoiler: Creator/JohnGlover. Though the fact that he's appeared before can mislead some viewers away from this.]]
** “My Brother’s Keeper”: [[spoiler: [[Series/TrueBlood Sam Trammell.]]]]
** "Want": [[spoiler: Creator/NeilPatrickHarris.]]
** Retroactive example in "Phantom". [[spoiler: Creator/MichaelEmerson was basically unknown when he appeared in the episode. Since then he's become famous, and specifically for creepy characters.]]
** Retroactively ''subverted'' in "Pravda": [[spoiler: A pre-[[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] Creator/AnthonyMackie is the initial suspect, but the perp turns out to actually be his father, Creator/GlynnTruman.]]
** "My Good Name": [[spoiler:Creator/MichaelRispoli.]]
** "The Healer": [[spoiler:Creator/OscarIsaac, although he's actually unaware he's an accomplice to the murders until the end of the episode.]]
** Twofer in "Albatross": [[spoiler: Creator/MikeColter ordered the episode's murder, and Creator/DonnaMurphy did nothing to stop it after finding out about the hit.]]
** "Self-Made": [[spoiler: Once again, Creator/PabloSchreiber, and once again he's not actually the mastermind.]]
* NightmareFuel: [[NightmareFuel/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent Now with its own page.]]
* OneSceneWonder: Johnny Santos from "The Unblinking Eye", who is portrayed by Arthur Acuna. In addition to pretending he's Creator/JamesDean, he's virtually unmoved by being interrogated by the detectives and even acts like ''he was on an audition''... until Goren accurately implies that he is [[StraightGay gay]], at which point his bravado finally wears down and he becomes defensive.
* ParanoiaFuel:
** Here's a ColdOpen. Woman at a restaurant with others. Woman goes to bathroom. Woman is stabbed by a complete stranger in the inner thigh which causes her to bleed out in minutes, too fast to even cry for help. Assailant walks out. Cut to the detectives arriving...
** Another In-Universe example is done effectively by Nichols when coldly confronting [[spoiler: Captain Ross' killer]], who, given his DiplomaticImpunity and a lack of evidence, [[KarmaHoudini gets away with both his murder]] and [[SelfMadeOrphan the murder of his own father]]. Obviously it works, given the OhCrap look on the man's face once Nichols is finished:
--->'''Nichols''': "So how will you meet your end? Shot by a trusted chauffeur? Poison from your favorite wife? Hanged in a basement like UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein? You know it's coming; you just don't know when."
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** [[Series/{{Medium}} Jake Weber]], Creator/RobertKnepper, Creator/MichaelEmerson, and Creator/ViolaDavis were all villains in Season 1, before hitting it big with other shows or movies.
** [[Series/{{Glee}} Will Schuester]] is Chance in "Proud Flesh".
** Series/{{Supergirl|2015}} is a ballet dancer and murder suspect in "Delicate".
** Creator/GillianJacobs appears as a witness in "Rock Star", about six months shy of her StarMakingRole on ''Series/{{Community}}''.
** Creator/RavivUllman makes a very brief appearance at the bar mitzvah of the son of the victim in "Crazy", as another Jewish boy.
** Creator/JohnKrasinski appears as a high school basketball player in "Mad Hops" for all of two scenes.
* TheScrappy:
** Fans didn't warm up to Frank Goren, as he had many unsympathetic moments and being an overall manipulator of Bobby (which is quite a shame, as it wasted the talent of a fine actor of Creator/TonyGoldwyn's caliber).
** Detective Nola Falacci didn't exactly win over fans, either, as they believed that she had no charisma or any chemistry with Logan. Plus, viewers found it hard to believe that a young, PluckyGirl as herself was married with a family.
* SeasonalRot: After Rene Balcer left as showrunner, the series fell into this, along with the GenreShift of it going from the complex perspectives of the criminals and Goren using his skills to outwit them (or, so often, BreakThemByTalking) to more of a spotlight on the detectives' personal lives. Storylines such as Eames' dead husband, [[StrangledByTheRedString the relationship between Captain Ross and M.E. Rodgers]], more of the criminal suspects [[KarmaHoudini getting away with their crimes]] and Goren's apparent SanitySlippage weren't generally well-received. Even with the ChannelHop to USA Network, where it was given more advertising (but unintentionally expected to compete with its [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit more popular sister show]]), didn't help matters and the show died a few years later.
* {{Shipping}}: Goren/Eames has a rather large fanbase. There are also fans of Logan/Barek and Logan/Wheeler (or, really, Logan/his latest partner) as well, however, Logan/Wheeler actually had some resolution in-universe. Also, although it's not ''nearly'' as popular as Goren/Eames, there's also Goren and Paula Gyson, the psychiatrist he's ordered to see in season 10.
* ShockingMoments:
** "Siren Call" has Goren talking a fellow officer who killed his daughter out of killing himself due to shame citing not wanting him to leave behind his dying wife or their younger daughter. [[spoiler: Sadly, by the end of the episode as he's being lead away, he does that very thing.]]
** [[spoiler: Eames' abduction]] in "Blind Spot".
** [[spoiler: Captain Ross' unexpected murder]] in "Loyalty".
* SpecialEffectFailure:
** During the band's tribute to the VictimOfTheWeek in "Rock Star", it's pretty obvious that the actors are not playing their instruments themselves, in spite of one looking like he's shredding on the guitar.
** In "D.A.W." the opening victim is a young woman who was drugged because she was poking around for her recently deceased mother's missing ring [[spoiler: that was stolen by a DeadlyDoctor]]. As she wanders NYC in a drugged haze, she is hit by two cars before being run over by an SUV. The stand in dummy is ''not'' convincing and even worse, it is shown in several shots. It has to be seen to believed; it's stunning those shots made a major network television show.
* SpiritualSequel: Some of the episodes are like a darker take of ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' in the sense of a ReverseWhodunnit. Even after the SeasonalRot, a good number of episodes openly showcase who will be or was the killer, and the majority of the episode after that is leading up the clues and information the detectives can find to lead back to the killer. Robert Goren was even something of a modern, more abnormal take on Lieutenant Columbo, both of them being highly eccentric, considered abnormal by all but their closest associates, and yet so extraordinary at catching out the smallest details of suspect profiling that they tend to cotton onto the perp well before anyone else.
* SuccessThroughInsanity: {{Deconstructed}}. Detective Robert Goren was encouraged by mentor Declan Gage to indulge his darker impulses to help him understand the criminal mind, and for a long time this approach served him well. However, after a particularly grueling season, he learned that Gage was manipulating events in order to [[spoiler: kill Goren's brother and his nemesis]], convinced that Goren would be a better detective with fewer people in his life to distract him. Instead, it drove Goren into a psychotic break.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** ADA Ronald Carver, who could have been as memorable and effective of a ADA as [[Series/LawAndOrder Kincaid]] or [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Novak]]; episodes like "The Good Doctor" showed that he really ''was'' good at his job. Unfortunately, he became [[DemotedToExtra more and more relegated to the background]] or written as being an ObstructiveBureaucrat, until he was written out of the series with no explanation whatsoever.
** Frances Goren as well, which also crosses into "They Wasted a Perfectly Good ''Actress''" in veteran actress Creator/RitaMoreno. Even as a schizophrenic [[spoiler: dying of cancer]], instead of being given more of a thorough backstory, she's portrayed as unlikable and unsympathetic as possible and is emotionally abusive to her younger son. She even casually told him [[spoiler: that a SerialKiller/[[SerialRapist Rapist]] is his real father, being the product of a long-term affair between the two]], further screwing with the detective's diminishing sanity.
** [[spoiler: Jo Gage]] in "Blind Spot" is one of the most terrifying characters Goren and Eames have ever come up against, she kidnapped and tortured Eames, and is an effective EvilCounterpart to Goren. Except she's only in one episode and never returns, which some viewers found a waste of her talent.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** Fans of ''SVU'', ''Criminal Intent'' or both were rather disappointed that the two series never had a proper crossover with one another while the latter series was still on the air. Eames eventually made it onto the former show some years later, but without either Goren or Stabler there, it felt incredibly hollow and a bit unnecessary.
** Also, it would have been an interesting storyline for Nicole Wallace to make an appearance during Goren's SanitySlippage throughout seasons six and seven and been able to use that to her advantage and [[BadassDecay mock him for no longer being at his best.]] Instead, she was treated to a throwaway episode that she was barely featured in [[spoiler: just to be unceremoniously killed off]].
* UnintentionallySympathetic: Dr. Kelmer from “The Good Doctor” is a depicted as an [[DomesticAbuse abusive]], {{Jerkass}}, ControlFreak and while that is true throughout the episode he generally comes across as just a guy whose wife has repeatedly disappeared before and he’s just tired of dealing with her and her enabling friends and family. [[GoodAdulteryBadAdultery His wife is shown to be cheating on him, repeatedly disappears on binges and has a history of drugs abuse, multiple affairs and suicide attempts]]. Her enabling family who don’t deny any of this while [[OffstageVillainy claiming he was abusive yet nothing is ever shown onscreen]] instantly suspect him when he calls looking for her don't even seem to care about finding her body making him the only one actively looking for her. They had no body, no forensic evidence; they couldn’t even prove that she was dead. Goren even flat out stated that he wanted to prosecute the guy because of how smug he is. Even the circumstantial evidence they did have didn’t hold up to AudienceAwarenessAdvantage. His flight was shown but he didn’t have a body as the attendant was there with him when he took off. Her cousin said her therapist told her that he was going to harm her yet the therapist stood behind doctor patient confidentiality. In the end it is outright said that he was convicted for being a SmugSnake. While he wasn’t a nice guy, nothing shown proved that he was a killer, and given the MoralMyopia he had to deal with, his actions come across as far more understandable.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** Rose, the killer's girlfriend in "In The Dark". It is rather sad that she [[spoiler:had a [[{{Squick}} coffin baby]] [[NightmareFuel that calcified in her stomach over 30 years ago]]]] and she ''would'' have been sympathetic in that alone... if only she hadn't [[spoiler: lied about her daughter being alive and "in trouble" (with drugs, ostensibly) and [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom led her boyfriend to kill homeless men for the money]] "[[TheGhost Jenny]]" needed for rehab]].
** Frances Goren. As unfortunate it is to be suffering from a double dose of both schizophrenia and terminal cancer, it still does not excuse her dismissive and distant relationship with Bobby, in spite of him being with her in her final days and caring for her although his inattentiveness towards an important case jeopardized his career. Plus her clear preference for her wayward older son Frank who wasn't even at her funeral and [[spoiler: her manipulating him about his parentage and not understanding/caring what it does to him]] doesn't help matters.
* TheWoobie: See [[Woobie/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent here]].
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