Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent Season 1 Episode 4 Review: Investigative Reporters & Shady Politicans Led to the Best Case Yet

Critic’s Rating: 4.3 / 5.0

4.3

While some episodes of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent seemed slower, we’re now getting into better-paced cases.

Many viewers may recognize the real-life political scandal that Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent Season 1 Episode 4 mirrored. An investigative reporter at the Toronto Star released a video of Bob Ford, the Mayor of Toronto, smoking crack.

The fictional version showed Tatiana Wynn, a Toronto Life reporter, being murdered after she received an anonymous video about Mayor Craig McCreigh smoking crack.

While he was the obvious suspect, the list was endless since it was election season, and he and his candidates disagreed about everything, especially the local housing project.

Who had the most to gain by eliminating Tatiana and tarnishing the Mayor’s image?

Trying to Score a Story Got an Investigative Journalist Murdered

“Crack Reporter” actually used many real Canadian facts, beginning with the fact that Tatiana worked at Toronto Life, an actual magazine.

She sought out the truth and investigated it, making her a target, since she generally covered stories that angered people.

She was digging into Liz Harding’s special project, the Kingsley Housing Project, when she received an anonymous package.

I hated that she had been sleeping with her boss. While some young reporters try to advance their careers, Tatiana seemed driven, and his promise to buy her drinks if she delivered on this story didn’t seem connected to the murder.

It only made him look sleezy and distracted from the case.

The cops later realized that she received a video about the mayor smoking crack, and she was trying to crack the case.

Meeting someone in Union Station sounded like a terrible plan, but that assailant was gutsy. Not many people would attack someone in broad daylight with millions of people around.

While he was disguised in a hoodie, that still seemed risky. Apparently, that had been the third attack at the station in the past month, only accentuating the violence in Toronto.

Politics often become messy, especially when the press interferes, but Mayor McCreigh seemed unconcerned that Tatiana had died. 

He was so nonchalant and insensitive, only caring that she wasn’t linked to him, but then that video of him smoking crack outside a bar went viral.

That video damaged his image, as he had consistently maintained he was on the wagon. Sometimes, a tarnished personal image can hurt more than several years in office.

Going after the Mayor was a dangerous game since he was in charge of all the departments. He could make or break their department, and they didn’t want to anger him.

Inspector Holness seemed more cautious than usual since she knew the importance of playing the game.

Soon, the team realized that there was a middleman, Aldo Carbone, who had recorded the video in return for having his construction permits expedited.

Everyone had a motive. Aldo despised the mayor for shutting down his projects and giving work only to his wealthy friends, a topic on which Liz Harding and John Graham both agreed.

When Graff and Bateman found Aldo Carbone dead at his new construction site, they realized he knew too much and someone shut him up.

John Graham seemed like a more likely suspect, as he worked on the planning committee and was often accused of accepting bribes. He was also outwardly hostile towards the Mayor and wanted to win the election.

Liz Harding wanted to better the community, but wasn’t cold-hearted, and generally wanted to stay out of the drama until the cops found a clue at her place.

Were both murders merely about an election, and they got in the way of destroying the Mayor?

Todd Harding Exhibited a Soldier’s Mindset

So far, many of the killers in Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent Season 1 have had an ulterior motive for murder.

Todd Harding was wired differently. He was a military veteran and treated the goal of his wife, Liz, winning the election like a battle plan.

His goal was to eliminate the enemies, Mayor Craig McCreigh and the other candidate, John Graham.

When his wife complained about the Mayor getting drunk on Tuesday nights, he used that information to concoct a plan.

While he may have done it out of love for her, dealing with politics got messy, and innocent people got hurt.

He only wanted to expose the Mayor’s weaknesses, but Tatiana Wynn and Aldo Carbonne became a liability to him.

Todd Harding behaved like a soldier and believed he had completed the mission as long as his wife won the election and didn’t go down for the crime as well.

She was too kind-hearted ever to play dirty and would have left politics to live out his last days at home.

That also played a part. He was sly enough to know he would barely spend any time in jail, with only a few months to live. So what did he have to lose?

He risked it all for the love of his life.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent Season 1 Episode 4 Featured More Humor To Balance the Episode

This episode was a lot more balanced, thanks to the snarky bickering between the political candidates and the bad jokes between the team.

I’ve watched enough political debates to watch things get nasty, and while all three candidates hurled insults at each other, John Graham knew how to sling them the best.

He hit two birds with one stone when he compared Liz Harding to “Cracky McCreigh.” The Mayor would never live that viral video down, and she wouldn’t want to be associated with him.

We witnessed the team’s interactions more, and I like Mark Yohannes more with every installment. I wish every Law & Order had a tech who knew how to hack into a file with security as high as Fort Knox.

That was a fun play since Todd Harding was a military veteran. It also seemed like Todd Harding wasn’t as versed in video editing as he’d have released the part of the video that would have traced back to Aldo Carbone.

I also love the Crown Attorney’s humor and wish we would see more of him. That sounded like a bad joke about the construction worker and Todd meeting at a bar, and he always wants the facts or the punchline.

Forrester has no patience for theories or nonsense.

Graff and Bateman Grew Closer Together

Bateman almost seemed envious of how dedicated Todd Harding was to his wife, Liz, minus the killing tendencies.

After all, he would have done anything to ensure her success. Many women would have loved that, and Bateman has been on her own for a while now.

I love how supportive Graff and Bateman have become of each other in only a few episodes. Sometimes, you could tell with their glances, smiles, or a quick acknowledgment.

Typically, they’ve kept things professional, so I loved it when Graff stated that Bateman deserved better than Todd.

Did that mean he was volunteering? Since the episode ended with a throwback to the opener, with Bateman reserving a table at the Four Seasons to celebrate cracking the story in honor of Tatiana.

Many of the other Law & Order series feature a romantic subplot, so I’m curious if this series will explore this route or if they’re merely becoming better friends.

Over to you, Fanatics. What did you think of “Crack Reporter?” Did you guess the killer and motive? What are your thoughts on a Graff and Bateman potential romance?

Let us know in the comments.

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