"One" | |
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Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
Directed by | Jean de Segonzac |
Story by | Dick Wolf |
Teleplay by | Rene Balcer |
Production code | E0901 |
Original air date | September 30, 2001 |
Running time | 44 minutes |
Guest appearance(s) | |
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"One" is the pilot episode of the NBC legal drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the second created spinoff of the original Law & Order series, created by Dick Wolf and developed and co-created veteran Law & Order writer René Balcer. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on Sunday, September 30, 2001; the series premiere date was pushed back due to the September 11th attacks. The episode follows Detectives Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe) solving the murder of two young college students and a Canadian ex-con, which has a $300 million motive.
In January 1998, Karl Atwood (Jake Weber) enlists his girlfriend Gia (Michele Hicks) and three others to help plan and execute a major jewelry heist: Carson (Jayce Bartok), fresh out of a Canadian prison; Nathan (Lenny Venito), an expert in phony identification; and a muscular Serbian named Zivkovic. The team of three trick a couple out of their home by sending them on a phony prize trip to Atlantic City, then drill through the empty house into the jewelry store next door. Unfortunately, during the heist, the daughter of the house comes home with her boyfriend to get some private time alone.
Karl kills Carson during the heist, shooting him four times. After leaving the jewelry store, he also shoots the two young lovers and escapes with $300 million in diamonds. Detectives Goren (D'Onofrio) and Eames (Erbe) are called to the case and begin following clues from the dead bodies left behind, specifically the dead body of Carson, which was wearing expensive new clothes. Following the trail of stolen credit cards used to purchase the clothes and equipment, they collect different witness sketches of a single man and a single woman, Karl and Gia. A review of the security tapes from preceding days in the jewelry store produces a clear image of Gia, casing the joint.