RAINES 1.6 – "Inner Child"

Writer: Josh Singer
Director: Felix Enriquez Alcalá

Cast: Jeff Goldblum (Detective Michael Raines), Dov Davidoff (Remi Boyer), Madeleine Stowe (Dr. Kohl), Linda Park (Sally Lance), Nicole Sullivan (Carolyn Crumley), Matt Craven (Captain Daniel Lewis), David Eigenberg (Charles Newman), Bob Pescovitz (Mr. Tobin), Ashlyn Sanchez (Grace Tobin), Andrew Borba (Henry Strong), Zoe Stone-Molloy (Emily Strong), Troy Cephers (Bruce Rasmussen), Colette O'Connell (Betty), Mya Michaels (Jane Tobman), K. T. Thangavelu (M. E. Stein), Tony Vera (Tony Vera) & Julia Prud'homme (Judy Strong)

"You don't want to tell her that 65% of sexual solicitations occur through
IM and chat. What exactly is a sexual solicitation anyway?"

-- Emily (Zoe Stone-Molloy)

It's the penultimate episode of this short-lived drama series, and Raines (Jeff Goldblum) is investigating child sexual abuse and murder. Inner Child manages to be quite sensitive at times, with Goldblum giving a heartfelt performance, but a few of Raines imaginings devalued the serious issue of paedopholia...

The victim this week is 10-year-old Emily (Zoe Stone-Molloy), who once again appears as a vision for the "mentally haunted" Raines; a young presence that makes him very uincomfortable throughout his investigation. It's an interesting twist on the established formula for the series, with Raines trying to keep the grizzly details of Emily's death away from "herself".

For awhile, Inner Child deftly tackles a crime that's in the public consciousness these days, but it eventually becomes the first episode where Raines "unique perspective" seemed to cheapen the reality of such cases. I could cope with Raines seeing "Emily", as those scenes were played well, but a warning sign arrived when Raines imagined a group of clichéd paedophiles sat hunched at their computers, after he realized Emily had an internet connection.

It's a pity the vision element became increasingly distasteful, as the storyline is otherwise quite engaging, Andrew Borba gives a good performances as Emily's grieving father Henry (who exacts vigilante justice on his daughter's killer half-way through the episode) and Goldblum rises to the acting challenge – looking appropriately disgusted and determined by the awful case.

But, honestly – when Raines started imagining Emily's killer Charlie (David Eigenberg) resuming his attack on the hapless girl at his own murder scene, culminating in Raines "imagining" Emily shooting Charlie dead with a make-believe handgun – it signalled a twist into fantasy that diminished the reality of these cases. Then the script awkwardly tried its hand at "black comedy" -- with Emily sharing a car journey, with Charlie in the backseat, as Raines drives and tries to keep the peace.

For me, such moments seemed designed to provoke blunt reactions, but I thought it was disappointing writer Josh Singer chose to have Raines imagine such simple-minded stuff. Mind you, it was interesting to see Raines get a little frayed around the edges this week -- struggling to keep his imagination under control in the presence of colleagues. If only the script had been a bit more sensitive in how it deal with his visions.

Elsewhere, I'm really enjoying the sessions Raines has with Dr Kohl (Madeleine Stowe), particularly now he seems to actually be enjoying them. But it was odd to see him dodge the fact he "sees" victims in his mind, as he quite clearly told Dr Kohl that's what happens a few episodes ago. A small goof there, methinks.

Overall, this was a half-decent story with welcome development for Raines' mental health issues, a few tidbits of information to relish (Raines didn't have toys as a kid; perhaps a factor in his over-active imagination?), and strong acting from all involved. It's just a shame the handling of Raines' mental frailty was treated insensitively on occasion – leaving a bitter taste in the mouth.


3 March 2008
ITV3, 9.00 pm