I saw an episode last week I think where someone, Nicole Wallace I think, said something about what his mother or father did to him. I'm sorry I can't really remember more specifically but I was hopeing someone would know what I'm talking about and would be able to explain what she was talking about.

It was mentioned during an interrogation and I assume it is something that has been explained in past episodes but must have missed the episode(s) where it was explained.

Thanks.

I think it was mentioned very early on (perhaps in the Season 1 episode "The Faithful") that Goren's mother is schizophrenic. I don't recall the specific episode, but there has also been mention that Goren's father abandoned the family when the mother's illness became too difficult to deal with. The father was a boozing womanizer, as Goren has said he remembered smelling alcohol and women on his father's clothes. These are the family skeletons Nicole threw in Goren's face during the interrogation in "A Person of Interest."

Thank God for Wikipedia.org:

"Detective Robert "Bobby" Goren is a fictional character featured in NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent, played by Vincent D'Onofrio.

Goren works as a detective for the Major Case Squad in the New York Police Department (NYPD). As portrayed by D'Onofrio, he is an intense, intelligent man who uses his intuition and insight into human nature to size up suspects and pick apart the details of their crimes.

After college, Goren served in the military police of the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany and South Korea, before joining the NYPD. Goren spent four years in the Narcotics Division, running three sting operations that resulted in 27 arrests and 27 convictions.

He is partnered with Detective Alexandra Eames (played by Kathryn Erbe), although he was temporarily partnered with Detective G. Lynn Bishop (played by Samantha Buck) in 2003 - 2004, while Eames was on maternity leave. Eames is practical while Goren is often portrayed as intellectual, yet there is little evidence of conflict between them. (Goren recently learned that Eames had petitioned the department for a new partner soon after they were paired together, however she soon withdrew the petition after she learned how to work with him.)

The show highlights his abilities as a profiler, and also demonstrates his skills as an interrogator, able to elicit confessions from calculating killers. However, Goren has also shown some tender moments; his mother, who suffers from schizophrenia, is hospitalized, and Goren visits her every week. Goren has been known to openly flinch whenever his mother or his father, who abandoned their family, is mentioned (a weakness often exploited by Goren's long-time nemesis, Nicole Wallace).


Detective Robert Goren and his partner, Detective Alexandra EamesGoren can be compared to detective Sherlock Holmes, and there are many characteristics that are similar, such as the abilities of both to latch onto certain clues that seem minor but end up breaking the case. They both also possess the ability to come up with a complete theory of a crime based on little evidence, and sustain that theory based on what they do find. The Wallace character is a direct attempt to play on the part of Sherlock Holmes' female nemesis Irene Adler, also known as "The Woman." In fact, one of Goren's old flames was named "Irene".

While Goren will never cross the line into open insubordination, he will occasionally push professional boundaries, either because he feels it will solve the case more effectively, or because empathy for a suspect leads him to believe that the most extreme punishments are not warranted. He once said that this willingness to test authority stems from his days as a "lapsed altar boy."

Criminal Intent starts from the perspective of the criminal, a witness, or even a victim. On the show's website, D'Onofrio states:

Bobby Goren takes you through a different story each week. Sometimes it's a "who-dunnit" or even a "why-dunnit." The fun and interesting thing is that the audience knows things my character doesn't and, as the story goes along, will realize that I know things that they don't. The whole story is a game and we all get to play.

Goren's famous head-cockAn interesting quirk of Goren's is his habit of cocking his head at odd angles "side talking", at certain times (such as when interrogating a suspect). D'Onofrio invented this habit, derived from a scene in the pilot episode where a suspect Goren was interrogating would not look him in the eye. It is such a strong identifier of his character that the third-season episode, "The Gift", featured a woman who, while describing a psychic dream she had, labels Goren as being "the man with the broken neck". Goren also occasionally gets sidetracked or fixated on things, which provides much of the show's comic relief.

In the episode ""In the Wee Small Hours", it was revealed that Goren is estranged from his brother, who has a gambling problem, and that his anger towards his father impacts how he handles his cases on the job.

[edit]
Trivia
Goren's birthday is August 20, 1961.
Goren wears a size 13 shoe.
Goren is left-handed.
Goren apparently can speak and understand German and some Cantonese.
Goren always carries both a cloth handkerchief and a switchblade with him."

I see Wallace as less Irene Adler and more Professor Moriarty. Also, we don't know if Goren was in the Army before or after college--indeed, we don't know if he went to college at all.

Patcat

Mmmmm... I don't know. In my mind, Wallace is like Irene Adler because she is the only woman who repetedly got away with what she did and was uber good in manipulating the men. She was the only woman to give Goren a real challenge. As with Irene, Nicole's past was obscure and scandalous. Moriarti was a great criminal mind, but he newer actually commited any crimes, he was only pulling the strings of his minions. I think that we can compare Wallace's French boyfriend to Moriarti. He never killed anyone, he manipulatet the women around him, including Nicole, do do his bidding.

Yes, but Irene Adler did have a talent and a career (opera singer), and her "crime" (if only protecting yourself against a wealthy, powerful and fortunately very stupid ex-lover is a crime) is no where on the level of Nicole's escapades.

Patcat

And besides, Irene Adler didn't come back. Nicole just keeps coming back, and back, and back, and back ...

True. But still the main struggle between brilliant minds, male and female, some respect between the aversaries, lots of stuff is the same. I think that Wolf decided not to copy the story, becouse that would strongly smell of plagerism.
Whatever Wolf is, he is not a plagerist. He usualy takes only some stuff from the real story. Like, for example, Prof.Manotti from the resent CI re-run was partially copied from Stephen Hawkin, also a geneous, confined to a wheelchair. Of course, Hawkin is not evil, but the general profile fits.

Yes, not "ripped from," but inspired by the headlines, etc.

Quote:

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And besides, Irene Adler didn't come back. Nicole just keeps coming back, and back, and back, and back ...

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I hadn't considered Nicole as some sort of freakish nightmare of the Energizer bunny, but now that you mention it...