EPISODE OF THE WEEK: GEMINI

[Patcat]

Will air March 19 at 7pm (EST) on the USA Network

First aired October 5, 2003. Second episode of the third season. Episode number 47.

Written by Jim Sterling and Rene Balcer
Directed by Frank Prinzi

Guest Actors: Barry Del Sherman as Brent Anderson
Micheal Gill as Spencer Anderson

Synopsis: The murders of several contact lens salespeople and a plastic surgeon are the work of a man obsessed with the preservation of racial purity. When similar killings occur after a mentally ill man is arrested for the crimes, Goren and Eames discover his brother may be involved as well.

Quotes:

Goren (to Carver): "You know I think schizophrenics make excellent witnesses."

Spencer Anderson: "My record was expunged."
Eames: "Expunged doesn't mean vaporized."

Goren: "Brothers. I know about brothers."

Goren (to Spencer): "Yeah, he may be crazy, but you're evil."

Questions:

He's an evil man. But does Spencer have a right to be angry?

And Brent is clearly mentally ill. But is he getting off too easy?

And what about Brent's parents?

What should Spencer have done for his brother?

Are the victims (of both Spencer and Brent) lost in this episode?

Carver appears to easily agree to Goren's assessment of the Anderson brothers and to the detective's plan. Is this atypical for the ADA?

Is it just me, or does Deakins seem to be a Marilyn Monroe fan?

Any comments on the episode's title, GEMINI?

We learn about the presence of Goren's brother in this episode. Goren is clearly angry about Spencer's treatment of Brent. But now that Goren has walked away from Frank, has he become like Spencer?

Comments: A lot to like about this episode: a tidbit about Goren's family; some great interaction between Goren and Eames (I especially like Eames' work undercover as a bank worker and the way she walks away as Goren and other cops descend on Brent). But I've always been confused by this episode. Part of this is due to Brent Anderson's character. I realize he's terribly ill, and that schizophrenia causes wild differences in character, but I have a very difficult time reconciling the gentle, almost sweet man we see with the terrible crimes he commits. I also fell the performances of the actors portraying the Anderson brothers aren't quite convincing. For whatever reason, the episode feels incomplete to me.

Again, discuss and debate!

Patcat

[meggyd]

I too thought this episode felt incomplete. I'm not sure why either, but the killer's triggers really weren't explained to my satisfaction, and indeed, he came across as the nicer and more balanced brother in some of the discussions. Were we supposed to believe that Spencer's actions, or lack of them, were all about the frustrations of dealing with a mentally ill and difficult brother? Or did he have some inherent short circuit that interfered with his morality also?

I remember being horrified the first time Goren mentioned his brother and assumed at the time that he was simply saying it as a way to establish common ground with the person he was talking to. I always felt that Goren's mannerisms and behaviours were more suited to the idea of an only child, which prior to this episode I was convinced he was. Even though now I've become used to the Frank storylines, at the time it changed the way I saw the Goren character.

I don't think Goren is like Spenser for walking away from Frank. Frank made his own choices, he wasn't mentally impaired. Goren stuck by his mother, who was mentally ill, right to the end, no matter how difficult that was.

[Techguy]

When Goren talks about brothers I thought at the time that he was making general small talk to get the perp to open up. Little did I know then...

[DonnaJo]

techguy said:

When Goren talks about brothers I thought at the time that he was making general small talk to get the perp to open up. Little did I know then...

LOL Techguy. I also wonder if back in Season 3, this whole "my brother is an addict/gambler who disses responsibility" was a completed backstory concept, or did it evolve later? Based on Goren's comments in "Gemini" I would say yes. I think at that time, Frank was around, messing up, & Goren was dealing with him. His empathic , "He's your brother, man." implied that to me. Goren hadn't been driven to the point of giving up on Frank.

I haven't seen this episode in awhile, but I do remember liking it. Like others, I'm bothered by the sweet & innocent Brent gunning down a couple of optometrists. He was childlike, paying a prostitute to hold his hand & give him hugs. It doesn't ring true at all. Being mentally challenged doesn't make someone have murderous tendencies. The writer's made him too lovable to be convincing.

[Patcat]

Just a point--Brent is mentally ill, not mentally challenged. But I agree that I find it difficult to reconcile his actions with what we see of him. And I don't blame the writers as much as I blame the actor playing Brent.

I also suppose I'm not being hard enough on Spencer, who was perfectly willing to kill and let his brother be the fall guy. He's definitely the villain here. But I don't know what he could've done to help his brother beyond seeing he got to a doctor. Would that have been enough to keep Brent from killing?

Patcat

[deathroe]

I think that there was a sort of missing link in this episode between sweet and gentle Brent and how he could have been the killer. But that ine of Goren's--he was your brother, man--you should have helped him--it still gives me chills every time I hear it. Very effective.

[deathroe]

ok--lastly--I've just been watching the end of this (for about the millionth time, let me tell you).

I've always been very impressed by the empathy that Goren shows. What really hit me strongly today was how much empathy there has to be in the characterization itself. I don't think that VDO could act that way toward the mentally ill brother without some degree of empathy. That doesn't seem to me to be in great supply on television, even on the L&O shows. A lot of the time, the detectives just yell at the witnesses and perps, and that may be entertaining and cathartic--but this is a different quality that I really appreciate about CI and about Goren's character as portrayed.

[DonnaJo]

I had it on too, Deathroe. Sort of as lovely background noise. But I did pause to watch the aria, and I agree with you about Goren's deep & touching empathy & compassion for Brent. I also wonder if D'Onofrio has a relative or close friend that is mentally ill or challenged, someone he cares about that he draws his emotional life from?

Also, have you ever checked out Goren's facial expression when he's talking about his older brother & how his Dad never gave him any slack? What I see is very deep contempt & sort of a quiet seething for his father. As if that memory of his Dad screaming & berating Frank hurt Bobby as much as it did his brother. I know I remember as a child the times my sister was really yelled at, and how upset it made me.

[Patcat]

I wonder if after his father finished beating up on Frank, Frank then turned on Bobby. I have this sense that Bobby got it from everywhere when he was a kid--his Mom (who I suspect probably abused him emotionally more than physically), his father (who I suspect divided his time between ignoring him and attacking him); and Frank (Frank's cowering before Bobby in UNTETHERED strikes me as an abuser afraid that his victim is turning on him).

Patcat

[Ladyheather]

Wow Patcat, last nite I was watching UNTETHERED. I was doing other stuff, like changing my grandson's diaper, came back into the room. It was the very scene you mentioned. I had never really thought about that before(Bobby getting back at Frank) until last nite. He was over him and the look on Franks face was one of horror. He thought that Bobby was going to finally give him back what he had done to him. Thanks for mentioning that.

I am going to watch GEMINI again later, but it was a mixed bag for me. Parts I like and parts that didn't quite make it. I agree that Bobby has always been a man who felt for those who deal with the mentally ill. I also agree that VDO must have someone in his life that he can draw from. Maybe we all do, but he does a good job of using it for this type of storyline.

[Summerfield]

This episode always confused me. I never understood why Brent killed those people. And when exactly did Spencer decide to cash in on them? I too thought Goren's "brother" remark was a ploy.

[Patcat]

As I watched it (and someone please clear this up for me if I have it wrong. These points have always confused me as well.): Brent believed people like plastic surgeons and people selling colored contact lenses were destroying or hiding the physical characteristics that are part of racial differences. Spencer decided to cash in after Brent sent his brother his "manifesto". Spencer realized he could make a pile of money by extorting from the contact lens manufacturers.

Patcat

[Summerfield]

But...but Brent changed his appearance as well. I give up! This is one episode I'll never understand, and to quote our fave detective, "that really pisses me off!"

[random]

This episode reminds me of the book "Pecking Order," by a sociologist at NYU, Dalton Conley. He looked at a very large sample of Americans and found that a lot of inequality is within families, i.e. people have very different outcomes in terms of income and education than their siblings. It seemed to be worst in the families with fewer resources, as they can't compensate for a child who might have had some problems in school, an accident etc.

He then did some in depth interviews with a smaller sample of families that had experienced this inequality to look for the sources of inequality. He found some low income families had actually invested in the child most able to succeed, or that one child sacrificed to provide for the others. (He wasn't really able to tell how widespread this latter phenomenon was, just that it occurred). He also found that when he interviewed siblings from families that experienced inequality, they often felt that there had been a favorite child, and they all agreed on who the favorite had been.

[Patcat]

H-m-m. I don't get a sense of that with the Anderson brothers. It appears the family was well off enough that the parents could supply Brent with a trust fund that allowed him to take out $200 a day. Perhaps the Anderson household was one where the family's attention became so focused on the child with an illness that the other child felt excluded.

But the Goren family--it sounds very much like the bets were on Frank.

Patcat