Robert Goren

Robert Goren
First appearance	Season 1: "One"
Last appearance	Season 9: "Loyalty, Part 2"
In-universe information
Nickname	Bobby
Gender	Male
Title	NYPD Detective
Occupation	Police Officer
Family	Frances Goren (mother, deceased), Mark Ford Brady (father, deceased), Frank Goren (brother, killed by Nicole Wallace), Donny (nephew)

Det. Robert "Bobby" Goren was a fictional character featured in the NBC-USA Network television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio.

Goren was a detective investigator first grade for the Major Case Squad in the New York City Police Department (NYPD). As created by executive producer René Balcer and interpreted by D'Onofrio, Goren was an intense, extremely intelligent and imposing man who used his intuition and insight into human nature to size up suspects and pick apart the details of crimes. Goren's diverse background frequently supplied him with information he used to solve cases. On April 6, 2010 the character has appeared in 133 episodes total.

Fictional character biography

Criminal Intent highlighted Goren's abilities as a profiler and an interrogator. He was able to elicit confessions from calculating killers with his insight into their minds and his imposing physical presence. However, Goren showed a sensitive side as well, particularly directed at his mother, his partner Det. Alexandra Eames and female victims of the crimes he is solving. His badge number is 4376

Early life

Goren was born on (1961-08-20) 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 played basketball as a youth and was the power forward on his junior varsity basketball team, but quit when he "lost [his] love for the game."

In his youth, Goren was an altar boy; today, he considers himself a lapsed Catholic.

His early life was troubled. His father gambled frequently on horse races and was a serial adulterer; René Balcer, CI's executive producer, describes Goren's father as "a rake". Goren's mother Frances first started showing symptoms of schizophrenia when Goren was seven years old. Goren’s father left his mother four years later, making little attempt to stay close to his son.

Military and early police life

After college, Goren served in the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division. He was stationed in Germany in 1987, and also did a six-month tour in South Korea.

While Goren was with CID, he met Dr. Declan Gage, one of the first criminal profilers, who was on loan from the FBI to offer advice on a South Korean serial killer. 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. Both Gage's daughter and Gage himself have considered Goren a surrogate son.

After leaving the military, Goren joined the NYPD and spent four years in the Narcotics Division. He was responsible for three sting operations that resulted in 27 arrests and 27 convictions.

Major Case Squad

In the backstory of Criminal Intent, Goren has been partnered with Det. Alexandra Eames since sometime before 2000, in the Major Case Division under Captain James Deakins and later Captain Danny Ross.

As an investigator and profiler, Goren was uncommonly skilled at sizing up suspects and picking apart the details of crimes. Thanks to his diverse background and commitment to research (he called his library card his most important investigative tool) he was 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.

During interrogations, Goren had the habit of cocking his head at odd angles while talking to people – a "side talking" method he used to distract and unnerve them. D'Onofrio invented this kind of habit from a scene where a suspect he was interrogating would not look him in the eye. It was such a strong identifier of his character that, in the episode “The Gift”, a woman who, while describing a psychic dream she had (in itself a trick thought up by Goren) labeled Goren as being "the man with the broken neck."

Additionally, when questioning people, Goren would attempt to agitate uncooperative suspects by exploiting a weakness of theirs which he had noticed. For example, if he believed a subject was a "neat freak" he would deliberately move the subject's possessions around to create clutter, appearing to do so out of clumsiness or lack of respect, to rattle them. These tactics, while occasionally useful and legitimate, more frequently crossed into the realm of being manipulative. Goren was frequently portrayed as using details from a witness' life that are irrelevant to the case at hand in order often reveal a suspect's true motivations for committing a crime (such as a man murdering to obtain classic cars, to make up for his father's lack of interest in him) to create enormous emotional distress in that individual. Goren then utilized that distress to elicit a confession. The strategy of using minute details to get under a suspect's skin is reminiscent of Lieutenant Columbo's approach to investigation and is only underlined by Goren's frequent habit of seemingly ending the conversation and walking away only to turn in the doorway and ask "just one more question". A further method is to find a weak link in the relationship between two or more suspects in a crime, and utilize the relationship to make one implicate the other.

While Goren was typically able to outwit a suspect, he occasionally met his match; the foremost example is Nicole Wallace, a sociopathic con artist and murderer with a keen eye for detecting and exploiting weakness. From her introduction in the episode "Anti-Thesis", Wallace was able to pierce Goren's emotional armor by confronting him with details of his unhappy childhood.

While Goren never crossed the line into open insubordination, he did occasionally push professional boundaries, either because he felt it will solve the case more effectively, or because empathy led him to believe that the most extreme punishments were not warranted. Eames once said that his willingness to test authority stems from his days as a "lapsed altar boy." This attitude pushed him into conflict with superiors, particularly with Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver and Captain Ross as they were concerned with due process and regulations.

In the episode "Untethered", Goren was suspended and sent for a psychological fitness evaluation. While waiting for his reinstatement, Goren decided to go undercover to take down a high-level drug dealer. He never told Eames of his plans, thus leading to a sizable rift between the two detectives which never fully healed before the two characters' departure from the show.

In the two-part Season 9 premiere "Loyalty," Goren and Eames were pulled off a pair of homicides by Ross, who informed them that the FBI had taken an interest in the case. Ross was later murdered as well, leading Goren, Eames, and Zach Nichols to team up in an effort to find his killer. Their prime suspect was taken into custody by the FBI, provoking Goren into a physical altercation that led to his suspension. He continued to investigate on his own and eventually learned of a plan by the FBI to allow GPS-tagged weapons to be distributed to terrorist camps in Somalia, so that the camps could be easily targeted and wiped out. He was then fired by Eames, who had recently been offered a promotion to captain of the Major Case Squad; she subsequently quit instead.

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; while Goren refers to Eames as Alex infrequently (ex "Amends"). Goren often takes the lead, although initially he is the junior partner in their working relationship. It is, however, Eames who supplies the tough side to the relationship, plays the role of the 'bad cop' and drives.

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."

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 influence.

Goren is temporarily partnered with Det. G. Lynn Bishop (Samantha Buck) in the 2003–2004 season while Eames is on maternity leave. They function reasonably well as a team, and Bishop seems more intellectually curious than Eames, but their personalities are not as compatible; Goren often compares Bishop to Eames, to Bishop's detriment. Although she respects his ability to close cases, Bishop does not appreciate Goren's extremely aggressive — though never abusive — style of questioning uncooperative witnesses. It is implied that she is aware of being compared to the partner that Goren very obviously misses.

In the episode "Blind Spot", Eames is abducted by Jo Gage, the daughter of Declan Gage (John Glover), Goren's old mentor. Jo sets up the crime in such a way that her father is a suspect for most of the episode, placing Goren in the difficult position of choosing between his partner and his teacher. Goren's somewhat violent treatment of his old friend, coupled with the clear angst he suffers over Eames' possible murder, leaves the viewer with little doubt as to whom he ultimately chooses.

In the two-part season 9 premiere "Loyalty", Eames is promoted to the position of Captain for Major Case but has to fire Goren. The interview is filled with tears from Eames and many emotions. It ends with Goren kissing Eames sweetly on the cheek and a long, touching hug between the former partners. Eames resigns, showing there is no point for her in Major Case without Robert Goren.

Family

Goren's childhood contributed to his ability to understand criminal psychology 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 harbors an intense hatred of men who abandon their wives and/or neglect their children. When blindsided by Wallace, Goren comments, "She picked a man I already didn't trust. I already didn't respect. ... She, uh, picked a man like my father."

Goren’s mother suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, and is institutionalized at the Carmel Ridge mental facility. He calls her every day and visits her once a week, saying that she has been slipping away from him his whole life but he can’t let go. She is diagnosed with lymphoma and undergoes major surgery. Goren is known to flinch openly whenever his mother is mentioned, another vulnerability Wallace frequently exploits, but he has been able to turn that reaction to his advantage at times. One such instance occurs when a judge suspected of rape and murder hires a private investigator to impersonate an NYPD officer and question her until she has a psychotic break. Goren subsequently rages at the judge, needling the latter into admitting his role in the crime.

Goren is also estranged from his older brother, Frank, a drug addict who also has a gambling problem. Goren's mother apparently favors Frank, and describes him as a "scientist,” and seems to believe that Frank could take better care of her than Bobby did. In reality, Frank is homeless on Manhattan’s streets, dependent on charity to survive. In the episode "Brother's Keeper", Goren gives Frank some money, his overcoat, and his business card. They agree to meet the following Sunday (Frances' birthday), but Frank doesn't show up. In vain, Frances waits for Frank to appear, sure that he would never forget her birthday. Bobby does not give her any details about Frank's condition.

Frank approaches Bobby to request that he find a way to help his son, Donny, who is incarcerated in a prison where inmates are being abused. Bobby decides to sneak into the prison to help him, but Donny escapes from the prison by faking an illness before Goren is able to get him out. Once Bobby is freed, he confronts his brother about Donny's whereabouts, and Frank claims ignorance; the brothers fight, physically and verbally, over the issue. Frank then further infuriates Bobby with the unexpected inquiry, "Why don't you take Eames to a motel and get it out of your system?" To cap it all, Goren then discovers drugs in Frank's apartment. He proceeds to disown his brother, telling him "If I get a call you're gonna jump off a bridge... I'm listening for the splash."

Several months later, Frank relapses into drug abuse. While high on drugs, he is murdered by Bobby's arch-nemesis Nicole Wallace (under the persuasion of Bobby's mentor, Dr. Declan Gage).

In the season 8 episode "Faithfully", the beginning scene features Goren eating dinner with family members; the description of this episode on the USA Network says that Goren has gone to the Midwest to visit his aunt. It is unclear exactly who they are, although it is possible that they are Mark Ford Brady's relatives (see below), as Goren has no other siblings but Frank (who had only one child, a son), but in this episode has a niece whom he brags about and shows a picture of to Eames. At the end of the episode, when Goren goes home, he opens a letter from his niece with photos and her saying how she had a great time with Bobby visiting.

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 aid from his brother (now clean after a lucky streak in Atlantic City), pieces together a story which shows that Brady and Frances Goren had a short relationship. Their relationship continued until Bobby Goren was four and Frank Goren was seven. Frank remembers Brady as "Uncle Mark," who brought little presents for Bobby when he came to visit. Brady, who only visited when Mr. Goren was away, no longer visited after getting into what the brothers were told was a "car accident" with Frances (it is implied that Brady raped and beat her). Goren does not remember Brady, but recalls that after the car crash, Frances was never the same mother that he knew.

In a death row interview room, Goren learns that Brady was on leave around the time John F. Kennedy was elected — the month that he would have been conceived – leaving Goren with the possibility that Brady might be his father. Goren confronts his mother, who reveals she does not know for sure who his father is. Both Brady and Frances die that night, leaving Goren alone in his mother’s empty room.

At a later date, Goren reveals that he has DNA evidence that Brady is his biological father.

Character comparisons

D'Onofrio has called Goren "a modern-day Sherlock Holmes," and creator René Balcer further cites Georges Simenon's Commissaire Maigret as influencing the development of the character. Balcer also says the character owes a lot to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Balcer cites the forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz as a real-life model for Goren's interview style and ability to get others to talk about themselves.

Other appearances

D'Onofrio made a cameo (2:40) on Saturday Night Live's March 1, 2008 episode, hosted by Ellen Page. Although he played himself, the cameo poked fun at Goren's mannerisms, as D'Onofrio attempted to interrogate Hillary Clinton (Amy Poehler) in her televised debate with Barack Obama (Fred Armisen).

Notes

The citation style for specific episodes is Season # : Episode #, " Episode Name ".

External links

• NBC biography of Robert Goren
• USA's Law & Order: Criminal Intent site, including 18 "Character Insight" videos
• Template:Imdb character