We’ve all had disputes with our neighbors. However, disputes between condo residents in Toronto are a common occurrence.
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent ran with this, and Dennis Embers refused to sell his unit to a real-estate development firm, and his neighbors were out to get him.
An unplanned negotiation escalated, and multiple people were shot.
This case bothered me because almost everyone treated Dennis differently, but as we learned later, some of those issues could have been prevented.
People With Mental Illness Are Targeted More Often
Within minutes, it appeared that Dennis Embers was portrayed as mentally ill and disagreeable because he did not want to sell the family condo he grew up in.
He was the holdout, and the rest of the residents wanted to sell and make money. As three members of the condo board negotiated with him, a lone shooter killed them all.
The cops realized Dennis was the main target since the rest were chaotically killed.
It appeared that Pravat Doshi, the Pinecorp manager, and his girlfriend did everything to pressure Dennis. It seemed like pure torture that they inserted a high-pitched ringing device in his air duct to make him go crazy.
Noises are more sensitive to people with cochlear implants, and that seemed insensitive. No wonder he didn’t function well!
Dennis seemed to be running away from something, too. We later found out why, but he changed his mind about selling his unit if he received a signing bonus and gave the money to his girlfriend so they could disappear.
This made her a prime suspect until they learned more about Dennis’s motivation for running away. While he may have had some mental health issues, I believe most were caused by the problem I will discuss later.
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent Featured a 20-Year-Old Cold Case
Old buildings were ideal for concealing cold cases. How many times on procedurals have they found bodies in the wall?
Finding a body buried in cement in the roof garden was a new one.
Bateman and Graff’s job was to link this cold case to their current shooting, and Graff recognized the victim, Maeve Waters, from Dennis’s camp photos.
The more they heard, the more it sounded like Maeve and Dennis were innocent childhood friends who shared a love of music.
But if he didn’t harm her, who did?
Graff recognized Meve’s father as a suspect who entered Dennis’s building the day he was killed. Her father swore he wouldn’t hurt him, but he’d received a tip that Maeve was buried there.
The cops grew more suspicious since Dennis wouldn’t out himself unless he was tired of keeping a secret he had been made to keep.
Sibling Abuse Is Not Often Addressed, and It Made Me Sick
Dr. Carl Embers had everyone fooled. He acted like a loving older brother who cared for his mentally ill brother, but that wasn’t the case at all.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Carl caused some of Dennis’s issues due to his abuse. That had to have been some beating to need a cast on his arm and affect his hearing to need an implant.
It could have jumbled his brain and made him a bit off, or it’s just as likely that Carl wanted everyone to think Dennis was way worse than he was, because then he would continue to be dependent on him.
That’s part of the cycle of abuse when it’s a family member. You instill in them enough fear that they still need you, but they fear displeasing you.
Carl must have been incensed when he realized his geeky little brother ended up with his old friend. That poor reminder of Maeve in that condo had to crush Dennis.
He must have grown tired of being Carl’s lackey and wanted to tell her parents the truth, and then disappear, but Carl discovered his plan.
That crushed me that he could be such a monster to his brother, since families are supposed to protect each other.
Sibling Abuse isn’t addressed often, partly because most people wouldn’t believe it, especially since the boys looked like friends in the photos.
It was only when you examined it closely that you saw how terrified Dennis looked.
While the Canadian Team Solves Cases Efficiently, They Need Better Development
I enjoyed the way Graff and Bateman work together when they solve cases.
They get each other, and Graff was at his best when he taunted Carl about everything he would lose now that Dennis came clean. It works to get a confession every time.
They’ve built a refreshing team with Inspector Holness, who brings stern wit. You have to admire her ability to bring in suspects without alibis when nothing else worked out. She’s gruff, but she’s an extraordinary leader.
The main problem was that we still spent most of the episode trying to solve the case. I want to see more of Crown Attorney Theo Forrester.
Things seem stricter in Canada, where you need more evidence even to take a case to trial. But I loved his one-liner on why he was hesitant to prosecute.”Dead men don’t speak.” Dennis couldn’t defend himself.
We’ve only scratched the surface with these characters and know very little about their personal lives. For us to truly invest, we need more.
Over to you, Fanatics. Were you horrified by this case? What would you like to know about the team?
Let us know in the comments.
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If you enjoyed our Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent coverage and want to see more Canadian procedurials, yours truly covers Murder in a Small Town. We also cover many other Dick Wolf shows, including the rest of the Law & Order franchise. Interested in more analytical and passionate pieces? Check out our editorials and op-eds.
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