Girls, let me tell you, as my life can attest, being fabulous is not always easy!!!! And while many of us, including moi, have had past issues with school--like with me being passed over for Advanced Algebra in 8th grade, the National Honor Society in 11th and 12th--these pale in comparison when you look at the "Law And Order Criminal Intent" episode, "Bright Boy," which will make you stop and think, with gratitude, that you weren't pushed much by adults while in school.
The story is deceptive, because it starts out being one thing, and leads to another!!! A social worker is having an affair with the City's Deputy Mayor. When this began, I thought it was going to be about City politics, because the Deputy Mayor is shown being Mr. Corporate Sleaze, cheating on his wife with the social worker, living the High Life, while telling the rest of the city on TV, "We are all going to have to work harder, for less money!" Yeah, right! We've heard that, and I say fuck you!!!!!!!!!!
The Deputy is so concerned with his reputation, he cannot be seen going to buy a newspaper. So, the social worker does, and when she brings it to him through the car window, an invisible attacker appears out of nowhere, grabs the social worker, and shoots the mayor. I thought, "OK, the scum deserved it, so it will be about the solving of this murder."
Was I wrong!!!!!!!! Because later, uptown, the body of the social worker is found!!!!!!! And as Goren and Eames investigate, they find that it was actually she, not the Deputy Mayor, who was the target. The sleazebag was just collateral damage!!!!!!!
Things don't get interesting, until it is discovered one of the social worker's clients was a young, alleged math prodigy named Robbie Bishop!!!!!! They are tipped on to Robbie, and this gifted program at an exclusive school, he is trying for, by a dropout from the program, now a teenage, Goth type musician, who, while gifted, did not want any part of the program, and opts for his art!!!!!!!! He does tell them about this one kid, Robbie Bishop (Liam Aiken), whose father, David (Tim Guinee) seemed to be pushing him obsessively.
Basically, dolls, it turns out to be "Gypsy" in Academia!!!!!!!!! David Bishop is the pushy school parent, home schooling his son, trying to get him into this prestigious school for the gifted, which will land him a spot in the Ivy League, all because Bishop, while bright enough, suffered from dyslexia, which kept him from realizing HIS potential (and in his day it wasn't a noted problem!!!), and causing him to bounce from career to career--rock star, business magnate, whatever!!!!!!!!!
So, he is DETERMINED to the point of OBSESSION, that HIS son is going to be accelerated, and get the breaks he should have had!!!!!!! Which I can relate to, darlings, and might have done myself, had I had a child. However--
As Goren and Eames investigate further, (brilliant work here by Vincent D'Onofrio, the consummate Actor's Actor) Goren, having been a bright and sensitive child himself, connects with Robbie, discovering they have a mutual interest in baseball, and that he had tried out for, and made, a Little League team that would meet on Saturdays, when he would be in school, if accepted into this program. It becomes clear that not only does Robbie NOT want the program, he does NOT want any part of his father's dreams; he is basically a bright kid, but NOT a genius, but his father is after him all the time with coaching for tests, reviewing SAT's of past years with him, to foster the notion, both in his son and himself, that Robbie is a truly gifted child, because nothing else will do. A journal Robbie keeps, which he shows to Goren, reveals, not only is Robbie uninterested in the program, he is terrified of disappointing his father, to the point of being depressed and suicidal over it. He recalls how his mother, now deceased, appreciated his gifts, but not to the point of overwhelming him, and that his father has gotten out of control.
What the father does not know, is that, just before she was killed, Robbie confided in the social worker, his dissatisfaction, suicidal thoughts, which was going to lead her in to not recommending him for this program. Somehow, David, Robbie's father, finds out about it, and it is he who goes out and murders the social worker and Deputy Mayor. But the social worker was always his target, especially if she was going to get Robbie dissed from the program!!!!!!!
This guy is one piece of work; it is all about HIM!!!!!! Thank God, Robbie is young enough, or maybe a diaphragm would have been found in his drawer, like Janice Gonnella. But Robbie is not old enough to know about either those, or dildos!!!!!! Neither am I, darlings, but that is for another time!!!!!!!!!!
A picture of Robbie with his aunt, uncle, and cousins, reveals a shot of him being truly happy!!!!!!! So when his father is arrested and hauled away, as he should be, we learn these loving relations are on the way and will assume custody of Robbie as his father serves a long prison term!!!!!!!! What is most sad about the episode is that neither father or son are going to miss each other. Now that Robbie is going to live a NORMAL life, the father is not interested, and Robbie, free from his father's prestige tyranny, is happy as can be!!!!!!!!!
You can bet this episode pressed all MY buttons, darlings, because of my past, but it also pointed out something disturbing to me. Had I had children, I might have become a David Bishop; however, I think my difference would have been, if I noticed the child was unhappy, let alone depressed and suicidal, I would have had sense and compassion to know they were not suited for this, and would stop. David Bishop never got that message, because he did not care enough about his son to heed the signals Robbie was sending him.
So, darlings, if you are bemoaning your past, or your tot does not get into that accelerated program you wished him to, take a look at this episode before you freak out!!!!!!! It is a real wake up call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And wasn't Vincent D'Onofrio just SO cute, darlings??????????????
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