EPISODE OF THE WEEK: THE EXTRA MAN

[Patcat]

Will air March 2 at 2pm (EST) and March 3 at 1am (EST) on the USA Network. First aired October 28, 2001. Sixth Episode of Season One.

Written by Marlane Gomard Meyer
Directed by Jean de Segonzac

Guest Actors: Eric Thal as Didier Foucault (Denis DuPont)
Terry Serpico as Leslie Roche (Mr. Serpico would also appear in BUT NOT FORGOTTEN)

Synopsis: Enforcers, conned rich people, and mistaken identities lead Goren and Eames to an accomplished con man.

Quotes:

Eames: "You'd think Trump's secretary would use spell check."

Goren: "You have one chance to take your chestnuts out of the fire."

Carver: "Charge them for a murder they didn't commit? Of a person who isn't dead? I can't begin to count the number of violations that would entail."

Goren: "Ten to one he'll call back. He has something to prove to me now."
Carver: "Ten to one?"
Eames: "I've taken him on before, Mr. Carver. I'm down eighteen bucks."

Goren: "Someone to teach you to ride a bike. Two people to think you're special. It makes a difference."
Carver: "Some people get by on a lot less."
Goren: "They shouldn't have to."

Queries:

Can we hope that all these rich people are really suffering right now?

Does the victim got lost in this one? Come to that, who is the victim?

Who is Felix Perez? Is he on his way to becoming another Didier?

Why didn't the ME or others discover the body was Perez and not Didier? Would this have been discovered eventually?

With his picture appearing everywhere, wouldn't someone have recognized Didier?

Is the reporter Tom Santini a friend of Bobby's? Why don't we see him again?

Is Bobby's use of the press unethical?

Does Bobby know how to play Didier because of Bobby's own experiences? Does Bobby feel sympathy for Didier?

Didier is supposed to be charming, but do we see any of that?

The Case of the Disappearing Eames--This episode begins with Eames and Goren working closely and well together. Kathryn Erbe has a particularly wonderful moment when she looks back at Goren after Mrs. Blackstone calmly reveals Didier was her lover. But Eames disappears from the story in the last third of the episode, and it seems that Goren works a lot of this case by himself. He also has several extended conversations with Carver. Did anyone else notice this?

Comments: An episode with an intriguing antagonist and some fine moments. Goren and Eames work especially well together. Eames, Deakins and even Carver get some nice snarky lines. There's several scenes that give the audience a nice view of the physical layout of the Major Case Squad. Goren gets to play telephone and newspaper chess with his opponent. But (and you knew there was a "but" coming, didn't you?) something seems lacking in this episode. I think the problem may be in the writing or the acting of Didier Foucalt. Didier is supposed to be this extremely charming character--we're told this over and over again, and he certainly had to have something in order to pull off his cons. But we never get to see this charm, and Eric Thal's performance seems flat to me. Mr. Thal is, even in that license photo, handsome enough, but there's no spark to his performance. But perhaps he didn't have enough to work with? Opinions?

Submitted for you consideration and comments.

Patcat

[tjara]

Stopping by to answer some of Patcat's intriguing questions about one of my favorite episodes.

Can we hope that all these rich people are really suffering right now?

I don't think so. They can afford good lawyers, are most likely witnesses in Didier's case and there can get some kind of plea bargain. Besides they never meant to kill. I know it's kinda being "nitpicky", but I guess it changes the charges they're up for.

Does the victim got lost in this one? Come to that, who is the victim?

Yes, because we never really get to know Felix Perez. This story is about Didier, not about Felix. I wonder who picked Felix name and whether they put some thought into it, because it means "Happy, Lucky, Fortunate". That makes me choke...

Who is Felix Perez? Is he on his way to becoming another Didier?

As stated above - we never really learn anything about him, besides the fact that he doesn't like to play by the rules, maybe.

Why didn't the ME or others discover the body was Perez and not Didier? Would this have been discovered eventually?

Well, I think they didn't have a chance to ID Didier, did they? Other than if they had fingerprints to compare or dentist records or tissue samples, there really wasn't any way how they could ID him. The only question that now remains is whether Didier had to leave his fingerprints when he entered the US...

With his picture appearing everywhere, wouldn't someone have recognized Didier?

I wondered about that too, but then he did look quite different with his hair combed differently. Besides I think he kept to himself and probably dressed up when going outside, he knew about the risk, so he was probably careful about that.

Is the reporter Tom Santini a friend of Bobby's? Why don't we see him again?

I didn't think he really was a friend of Bobby's. More like an acquaintance. There wasn't the "vibe" between them like Bobby and Lewis or Bobby and what's her name - the broker lady from "Enemy Within".

Is Bobby's use of the press unethical?

Good question. I would think the reporter knows what he's doing, so I don't know...

Does Bobby know how to play Didier because of Bobby's own experiences? Does Bobby feel sympathy for Didier?

I think Bobby can relate to the feeling of being neglected and feeling lost. It's that "person to teach you how to ride a bike" that Bobby never had, or let's say, he had it differently. I do think that Frances Goren did way better than we know, but then his dad was absent a lot and I think Frances couldn't manage well enough so that her sons always felt loved and secure. And that's the feeling that Bobby can relate to.
Other than that, I think it's just his genereal ability to creep into the criminal's mind that allows him to push the right buttons on Didier.

Didier is supposed to be charming, but do we see any of that?

No, but we never see him doing his con act. It was his act, not necessarily his personality.

The Case of the Disappearing Eames

-

I never noticed that. I'll keep an eye on that the next time I watch.

[idget]

Hi all!
First let my say to Patcat that I really appreciate all your hard work with these episodes of the week. I have gained so much insight into the show from reading them and I am enjoying responding to them.
As for this episode, I watched it when I first bought the DVD but it didn't really impress me and in fact I couldn't remember that much about it. So I re watched it yesterday and I have to say it still isn't one of my favorites. For some of the same reasons as you point out Patcat. The conman didn't do all that much for me. I found it hard to believe he was able to con all those people out of so much money. I didn't find him charming or engaging. I also wondered about his girlfriend, she obviously knew and helped him at his profession, but what did she think about him sleeping with the two socialites? Did she know and approve, just chalking it up as a necessity of his profession? Also what was up with the two socialites? Even after he conned them out of money and killed Felix Perez they were sitting there in court like some Manson moonies wanting to bail him out. They are not some young naive waifs just come to town from the 'ville. They were supposed to be smart sophisticated women. One other observation, with Bobby being left handed he always wears his gun on the left side, but in this episode it appears he has it on his right side. At the bar when he is getting ready to confront the conman he reaches with his left hand around his abdomen to his right side to grab his gun and have it ready. That seemed a little awkward to me.

Queries:

Can we hope that all these rich people are really suffering right now?
Lord, I can only hope so.

Does the victim got lost in this one? Come to that, who is the victim?
Well I guess you could say there were supposed to be many victims. First the murder victim, Felix Perez, who I never came to care about. You never learned all that much about him and what you did learn did not cast him in a good light. Then there were the money victims who were conned. But instead of reporting it they chose to take the law into their own hands. So I never felt sorry for them. Then there was the enforcer , who beat up Felix Perez but did not kill him. He was suspected of killing him by both the police and the money victims but chose to blackmail the money victims instead. So I didn't feel sorry for him. Then what about the conman himself? With a prostitute for a mother and raised in an orphanage. Goren might have felt sorry for him but I didn't. So many supposed victims, but I didn't feel for any of them. I guess that may be another reason I didn't like this episode

Who is Felix Perez? Is he on his way to becoming another Didier?
I think he admired Didier and indeed wanted to emulate him. Could he have been successful? We will never know.

Why didn't the ME or others discover the body was Perez and not Didier? Would this have been discovered eventually?
Unless someone reported Perez missing and said "Oh by the way he worked for that Didier fellow" then I don't think so.

With his picture appearing everywhere, wouldn't someone have recognized Didier?
I did think the picture looked nothing like him, so I am not surprised anyone didn't recognize him.

Is the reporter Tom Santini a friend of Bobby's? Why don't we see him again?
I don't know if they're friends but there does seem to be some shared history. Santini obviously knew Bobby well enough to trust him as source. Maybe he was upset when he found out Didier was alive and Bobby was using him and decided not to take Bobby's calls anymore?

Is Bobby's use of the press unethical?
Wow, I don't know how to respond to this question, because I find a lot of the press unethical itself. So I certainly don't want to open that can of worms. What I found even more unethical was charging all those rich people with a murder that Carver and Goren knew they didn't commit. I found that part of the story unbelievable.

Does Bobby know how to play Didier because of Bobby's own experiences? Does Bobby feel sympathy for Didier?
I think Bobby knows how to play Didier because he is such a good profiler. Part of that is his own experience but I also think it is all the studying of human nature he does. When Carver and Deakins were somewhat hesitant, Bobby got a book he had been studying and read out loud about Didier's psychopathy to prove his point. And I think Bobby does feel sorry for Didier

Didier is supposed to be charming, but do we see any of that?
As I said above, I found him not to be the least bit charming, more like a petulant child.

The Case of the Disappearing Eames--This episode begins with Eames and Goren working closely and well together. Kathryn Erbe has a particularly wonderful moment when she looks back at Goren after Mrs. Blackstone calmly reveals Didier was her lover. But Eames disappears from the story in the last third of the episode, and it seems that Goren works a lot of this case by himself. He also has several extended conversations with Carver. Did anyone else notice this?
I loved the look Eames gives Bobby when Mrs. Blackstone is talking about her lover. I feel cheated that we didn't see the look Bobby must have given her back. I bet it was priceless. They did seem to be working well together, he even gave her the phone when they were trying to locate the enforcer, acknowledging she was the better one to do it. I never noticed the first time I watched it but she did indeed disappear to wards the end. I wonder if that was because they were making out Didier to be a worthy adversary for Bobby and wanted to focus on their interactions together. If so, I never found him to be Goren's equal. We never had a big aria at the end of the show, like we are use to. Just the the two or three conversations Bobby had with Didier over the phone. I wonder if they were suppose to be mini aria's? If so I feel like they lost something in that. I really like it when Bobby and Eames have it out with the murder at the end of the show. Those are some of my favorite scenes.