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Weeping Willow (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)
Encyclopedia
"Weeping Willow" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
. It originally aired on NBC
in the United States
on November 8, 2006. In the episode, a teenage vlogger nicknamed WeepingWillow17, played by guest star Michelle Trachtenberg
, is apparently kidnapped during the filming of one of her Internet
videos. Detectives Mike Logan
and Megan Wheeler
investigate the so-called "cyber-kidnapping", which they and the public speculate may be an elaborate Internet hoax
.
The episode and character was written by René Balcer
, Stephanie Sengupta
and Warren Leight
, and directed by Tom DiCillo
. The story and the WeepingWillow17 character were inspired by the Lonelygirl15
video blogs on YouTube
, which were originally believed the works of a real-life 15-year-old blogger, but were eventually discovered to be a professionally filmed hoax. The episode received generally positive reviews and, according to Nielsen ratings
, was seen by 9.8 million households the week it aired, the most viewership for a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode in six weeks.
) and her boyfriend Holden (Michael Goduti) is interrupted when two men in masks storm into the room and apparently kidnap them on-camera. Detectives Logan
and Wheeler
begin investigating the so-called "cyber-kidnapping", which they and the public suspect could be an Internet hoax. Eventually, the supposed kidnappers release an online video with Willow and Holden tied up, claiming they will kill them both if 100,000 people do not purchase their online videos for $1.99 each within 48 hours. The news media
covers the story, and speculates on the possibility that it is a hoax. Eventually, a video is released in which Willow provides her real name, Lisa Willow Tyler, as proof that she is real. Logan and Wheeler visit her parents, who are elderly farmers that believe Willow is doing charity work in Africa
; the police learn Willow has lied to her family and tried to achieve Internet fame to escape her dull life.
Wheeler suggests responding to the kidnappers "on their own turf" via a video blog. In response to Wheeler's video, the kidnappers make another vlog and cut off Holden's ear on-camera to prove they are serious. Although the ear is mailed to forensics and proven to be real, police quickly discover that Willow and Holden placed an online advertisement seeking actors to play kidnapper roles; they soon identify actor Reggie Luckman (Pedro Pascal) as one of the kidnappers in the WeepingWillow17 videos. Yet another vlog is released, this time with Holden escaping his bonds and shooting one of the kidnappers, before being shot himself by Reggie. Police come to the scene and find Holden alive, along with the dead body of one of the supposed kidnappers named Todd (Trevor Oswalt). Holden insisted the on-camera shooting was fake, and that Reggie shot Todd over a dispute over money after the video was filmed. Holden says the kidnapping videos started as a hoax, but that Reggie has now actually kidnapped Willow.
Additional live WeepingWillow17 videos are shown online, which police trace to a van in Union Square
, where they find Willow and arrest Reggie. During interrogation, Reggie says he did not know Todd was really dead; he insists he fired a prop gun with blanks
to scare Holden into splitting the money from the videos with them. Police soon learn the wadding from a blank was accidentally fired into Todd, and a horrified Reggie faces manslaughter
charges. Willow, claiming to have simply been seeking fame as an actress, is released without criminal charges. The episode ends with Logan and Wheeler watching a video of Larry King
interviewing Willow on a giant screen in Times Square
.
"Weeping Willow" was written by René Balcer
, Stephanie Sengupta
and Warren Leight
, who served as the show's executive producer and head writer. The episode was directed by Tom DiCillo
, marking his first time as director with the series; he would go on to direct the episodes Players
, Offense
and Last Rites
. The story and the character WeepingWillow17 are modeled after Bree, the protagonist from the Lonelygirl15
video blogs on YouTube
. Originally believed to be a real-life 15-year-old blogger, Bree was eventually discovered to be a hoax. She was in fact a fictional character played by actress Jessica Lee Rose
and created by filmmakers Mesh Flinders
and Miles Beckett.
"Weeping Willow" analyzes the concept of 15 minutes of fame
during the Information Age
from the perspective of the Internet celebrity, one who gains fame through the creation of or participation in a popular website. Leight said of the episode, "Forget about 15 minutes of fame: there are hundreds of people who get their 15 inches of bandwidth, people making names for themselves on YouTube and others. ... This blogging phenomenon has created a certain kind of 'cyberfame,' people who don't have to do anything more than put themselves on the Web and catch a cyberwave. We now have a spate of very strange celebrities." Leight said the episode also focuses on the extent to which one will go to achieve such fame. While the Law & Order shows routinely draw on inspiration from real-life events in an approach the creators call "ripped from the headlines", Criminal Intent producers referred to this episode as "'pre-ripping' from the headlines", because the script usually took a real-life event (as the lonelygirl15 phenomenon) and added to it a fictional dramatic conflict (the kidnapping).
The so-called "cyber-kidnapping" portrayed in "Weeping Willow" is believed to be the first such crime ever portrayed on television. While the writers and producers prepared the episode, several district attorneys they consulted said the law was dangerously vague regarding what charges could be filed in the event of such a real-life cyber-kidnapping; Wright said, "They told me that this is a real problem, that there's a lag between what's on the books now and what's happening out there." The script also includes a difficulty on the part of the detectives in coping and dealing this new form of cyber-crime and differentiating the truth from the hoax; Leight said, "Their biggest frustration is trying to understand what's real and what isn't. Does this woman, Willow, really exist, and has something happened to her? Is she playing a character and a game that's gotten out of hand? And how do you locate someone in cyberspace?"
Julianne Nicholson, who plays Det. Megan Wheeler, said "Weeping Willow" was her favorite Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode. She described it as "really different from a lot of the ones we've done before and very exciting and current." Nicholson also said she enjoyed working with Michelle Trachtenberg and the other supporting actors, as well as director DiCillo, who also directed Living in Oblivion
, one of Nicholson's favorite movies.
During one of the kidnappers' videos featured in the episode, a banner is visible advertising the website FreeWillow17.com. The producers of the show set up a real-life website with that domain, containing eight video blogs starring Trachtenberg and the other cast members. The videos were comprised from video content filmed for the "Weeping Willow" episode, most of which was ultimately not used in the episode. The producers originally also established a mirror site, WeepingWillow17.com, but it is no longer active.
.jpg)
The WeepingWillow17 videos in the episode are featured on a website called "YouLenz", a reference to the popular video sharing
website YouTube
, where the original Lonelygirl15 videos were posted. Willow's friend tells police she found her apartment on Craigslist
, a popular online classified advertising website. During the first WeepingWillow17 video shown in the episode's first scene, the song "Fearless
" by The Bravery
is played.
Ira Whipple (Gary Patent) says, "In cyberspace, everyone hears you scream", a reference to the tagline of the 1979 film Alien
: "In space, no one can hear you scream." A New York Film Academy
professor refers to Holden as a "James Cameron
-wannabe", referring to the American director of such films as The Terminator
and Aliens
. The vlog in which Holden's ear is cut off is described by one characters as a rip-off of director Quentin Tarantino
, a reference to his 1992 feature film debut, Reservoir Dogs
. During an interrogation, Mike Logan sarcastically refers to Reggie as James Dean
, the famous actor and American cultural icon. Captain Danny Ross refers to the episode's shooting as "cyber-Rashomon. Reggie says Holden shot Todd, Holden says Reggie did it and Willow doesn't even believe anyone's dead." This references the 1950 Japan
ese film Rashomon
, in which multiple characters describe vastly different interpretations of the same murder. A poster for Grand Illusion
, the 1932 Jean Renoir
war film, hangs in Holden's apartment. In the episode's final scene, Willow is interviewed by CNN
journalist Larry King
, host of Larry King Live
, which is shown on a giant scene in Times Square
.
of 3.1 and an 8 share in adults aged 18–49, translating to 9.8 million households overall. The rating was the highest overall viewership for a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode since "Bedfellows
" aired on October 17, 2006. The episode received generally positive reviews. Farah Farouque of The Age
said although she feels Law & Order: Criminal Intent had largely dropped in overall quality, she described "Weeping Willow" as "very postmodern and very watchable". Likewise, Todd Thatcher of TV Guide
said although the sixth season of Criminal Intent had several episodes he deemed failures, he called "Weeping Willow" one of the "true gems". Canada's National Post
said "Weeping Willow" had an interesting plot and listed it as a "must see". David Bianculli, of the New York Daily News, wrote, "The twist is easy to see coming, but Trachtenberg is easy to watch, regardless."
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
. It originally aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on November 8, 2006. In the episode, a teenage vlogger nicknamed WeepingWillow17, played by guest star Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Christine Trachtenberg is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Dawn Summers in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl...
, is apparently kidnapped during the filming of one of her Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
videos. Detectives Mike Logan
Mike Logan (Law & Order)
Michael "Mike" Logan is a fictional character in the police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order franchise, played by Chris Noth.-History in the franchise:...
and Megan Wheeler
Megan Wheeler
Det. Megan Ann Wheeler is a fictional character portrayed by Julianne Nicholson on the NBC-USA Network series Law & Order: Criminal Intent...
investigate the so-called "cyber-kidnapping", which they and the public speculate may be an elaborate Internet hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
.
The episode and character was written by René Balcer
René Balcer
René Balcer is a Canadian television writer, director and producer.-Early life:He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and attended Lower Canada College in Montreal. He earned his B.A. Magna Cum Laude in Communication Studies from Concordia University in 1978. He began his career as a journalist,...
, Stephanie Sengupta
Stephanie Sengupta
Stephanie SenGupta is an American producer and writer better known for her collaborations in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Paris enquêtes criminelles TV-series....
and Warren Leight
Warren Leight
Warren Leight is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and television producer. He is best known for his work on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Lights Out and the showrunner for In Treatment and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit....
, and directed by Tom DiCillo
Tom DiCillo
Thomas A. "Tom" DiCillo is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer.-Early life:He was born in Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina. His father was Italian and his mother was from New England...
. The story and the WeepingWillow17 character were inspired by the Lonelygirl15
Lonelygirl15
lonelygirl15 was an interactive web-based video series which began in June 2006 and ran through to August 1, 2008. Developed under the working title The Children of Anchor Cove, the show gained worldwide media attention when it was outed as fictional in September 2006.-Overview:lonelygirl15...
video blogs on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, which were originally believed the works of a real-life 15-year-old blogger, but were eventually discovered to be a professionally filmed hoax. The episode received generally positive reviews and, according to Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, was seen by 9.8 million households the week it aired, the most viewership for a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode in six weeks.
Plot summary
In what appears to be an Internet vlog, a teenage girl nicknamed "WeepingWillow17" (Michelle TrachtenbergMichelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Christine Trachtenberg is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Dawn Summers in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl...
) and her boyfriend Holden (Michael Goduti) is interrupted when two men in masks storm into the room and apparently kidnap them on-camera. Detectives Logan
Mike Logan (Law & Order)
Michael "Mike" Logan is a fictional character in the police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order franchise, played by Chris Noth.-History in the franchise:...
and Wheeler
Megan Wheeler
Det. Megan Ann Wheeler is a fictional character portrayed by Julianne Nicholson on the NBC-USA Network series Law & Order: Criminal Intent...
begin investigating the so-called "cyber-kidnapping", which they and the public suspect could be an Internet hoax. Eventually, the supposed kidnappers release an online video with Willow and Holden tied up, claiming they will kill them both if 100,000 people do not purchase their online videos for $1.99 each within 48 hours. The news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
covers the story, and speculates on the possibility that it is a hoax. Eventually, a video is released in which Willow provides her real name, Lisa Willow Tyler, as proof that she is real. Logan and Wheeler visit her parents, who are elderly farmers that believe Willow is doing charity work in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
; the police learn Willow has lied to her family and tried to achieve Internet fame to escape her dull life.
Wheeler suggests responding to the kidnappers "on their own turf" via a video blog. In response to Wheeler's video, the kidnappers make another vlog and cut off Holden's ear on-camera to prove they are serious. Although the ear is mailed to forensics and proven to be real, police quickly discover that Willow and Holden placed an online advertisement seeking actors to play kidnapper roles; they soon identify actor Reggie Luckman (Pedro Pascal) as one of the kidnappers in the WeepingWillow17 videos. Yet another vlog is released, this time with Holden escaping his bonds and shooting one of the kidnappers, before being shot himself by Reggie. Police come to the scene and find Holden alive, along with the dead body of one of the supposed kidnappers named Todd (Trevor Oswalt). Holden insisted the on-camera shooting was fake, and that Reggie shot Todd over a dispute over money after the video was filmed. Holden says the kidnapping videos started as a hoax, but that Reggie has now actually kidnapped Willow.
Additional live WeepingWillow17 videos are shown online, which police trace to a van in Union Square
Union Square (New York City)
Union Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...
, where they find Willow and arrest Reggie. During interrogation, Reggie says he did not know Todd was really dead; he insists he fired a prop gun with blanks
Blank (cartridge)
A blank is a type of cartridge for a firearm that contains gunpowder but no bullet or shot. When fired, the blank makes a flash and an explosive sound . Blanks are often used for simulation , training, and for signaling...
to scare Holden into splitting the money from the videos with them. Police soon learn the wadding from a blank was accidentally fired into Todd, and a horrified Reggie faces manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
charges. Willow, claiming to have simply been seeking fame as an actress, is released without criminal charges. The episode ends with Logan and Wheeler watching a video of Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
interviewing Willow on a giant screen in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
.
Regular cast
- Chris NothChris NothChristopher David "Chris" Noth is an American actor. He is known for long-running television roles as Det. Mike Logan on the police procedural and legal drama television series, Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and as Big on Sex and the City. For the latter role, he has been...
as Det. Mike LoganMike Logan (Law & Order)Michael "Mike" Logan is a fictional character in the police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order franchise, played by Chris Noth.-History in the franchise:... - Julianne NicholsonJulianne NicholsonJulianne Nicholson is an American actress. She is known for having played Det. Megan Wheeler on Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Early life:...
as Det. Megan WheelerMegan WheelerDet. Megan Ann Wheeler is a fictional character portrayed by Julianne Nicholson on the NBC-USA Network series Law & Order: Criminal Intent... - Eric BogosianEric BogosianEric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
as Capt. Danny Ross
Guest cast
- Michelle TrachtenbergMichelle TrachtenbergMichelle Christine Trachtenberg is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Dawn Summers in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl...
as Lisa Willow "WeepingWillow17" Tyler - Michael Goduti as D. Holden Foster
- Pedro Pascal as Reggie Luckman
- Neal Jones as Chief of Detectives Bradshaw
- Julie McNiven as Suzie Waller
- Trevor Oswalt as Todd
- Gary Patent as Ira Whipple
- Chet Carlin as Frank Tyler
- Kate Weiman as Jean Tyler
- Nance Williamson as Rosalie Palmer
- Pat Murphy as Dawn Candor
- Aya CashAya CashAya Cash is an American actress, the daughter of poet and novelist Kim Addonizio and Buddhist teacher Eugene Cash, and the granddaughter of Wimbledon champion Pauline Betz Addie and sportswriter Bob Addie...
as Lori - Clifford Endo Gulibert as Bob
- John Wu as Miles
- Brian Slaten as Mr. Lore
- Wallace ShawnWallace ShawnWallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
as Film professor - Larry KingLarry KingLawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
as Himself
Production
René Balcer
René Balcer is a Canadian television writer, director and producer.-Early life:He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and attended Lower Canada College in Montreal. He earned his B.A. Magna Cum Laude in Communication Studies from Concordia University in 1978. He began his career as a journalist,...
, Stephanie Sengupta
Stephanie Sengupta
Stephanie SenGupta is an American producer and writer better known for her collaborations in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Paris enquêtes criminelles TV-series....
and Warren Leight
Warren Leight
Warren Leight is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and television producer. He is best known for his work on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Lights Out and the showrunner for In Treatment and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit....
, who served as the show's executive producer and head writer. The episode was directed by Tom DiCillo
Tom DiCillo
Thomas A. "Tom" DiCillo is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer.-Early life:He was born in Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina. His father was Italian and his mother was from New England...
, marking his first time as director with the series; he would go on to direct the episodes Players
Players (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)
"Players" is a sixth season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Plot summary:In this episode, Detectives Logan and Wheeler investigate the murder of a judge's son, found shot to death, shortly after a notorious rap artist is sentenced in court...
, Offense
Offense (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)
"Offense" is a seventh season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Plot summary:In this episode, Detectives Logan and Falacci investigate the death of a woman who turned out to have testified as a key witness in a rape case....
and Last Rites
Last Rites (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)
"Last Rites" is a seventh season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It also marks Det. Mike Logan's final appearance in the series.-Plot:...
. The story and the character WeepingWillow17 are modeled after Bree, the protagonist from the Lonelygirl15
Lonelygirl15
lonelygirl15 was an interactive web-based video series which began in June 2006 and ran through to August 1, 2008. Developed under the working title The Children of Anchor Cove, the show gained worldwide media attention when it was outed as fictional in September 2006.-Overview:lonelygirl15...
video blogs on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. Originally believed to be a real-life 15-year-old blogger, Bree was eventually discovered to be a hoax. She was in fact a fictional character played by actress Jessica Lee Rose
Jessica Lee Rose
Jessica Lee Rose is an American-New Zealand actress who first gained popularity after playing the role of lonelygirl15....
and created by filmmakers Mesh Flinders
Mesh Flinders
Ramesh "Mesh" Flinders is a screenwriter who, along with Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, is best known for creating the groundbreaking lonelygirl15 video series which received international attention during the summer months of 2006....
and Miles Beckett.
"Weeping Willow" analyzes the concept of 15 minutes of fame
15 minutes of fame
15 minutes of fame is short-lived, often ephemeral, media publicity or celebrity of an individual or phenomenon. The expression was coined by Andy Warhol, who said in 1968 that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." The phenomenon is often used in reference to...
during the Information Age
Information Age
The Information Age, also commonly known as the Computer Age or Digital Age, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously...
from the perspective of the Internet celebrity, one who gains fame through the creation of or participation in a popular website. Leight said of the episode, "Forget about 15 minutes of fame: there are hundreds of people who get their 15 inches of bandwidth, people making names for themselves on YouTube and others. ... This blogging phenomenon has created a certain kind of 'cyberfame,' people who don't have to do anything more than put themselves on the Web and catch a cyberwave. We now have a spate of very strange celebrities." Leight said the episode also focuses on the extent to which one will go to achieve such fame. While the Law & Order shows routinely draw on inspiration from real-life events in an approach the creators call "ripped from the headlines", Criminal Intent producers referred to this episode as "'pre-ripping' from the headlines", because the script usually took a real-life event (as the lonelygirl15 phenomenon) and added to it a fictional dramatic conflict (the kidnapping).
The so-called "cyber-kidnapping" portrayed in "Weeping Willow" is believed to be the first such crime ever portrayed on television. While the writers and producers prepared the episode, several district attorneys they consulted said the law was dangerously vague regarding what charges could be filed in the event of such a real-life cyber-kidnapping; Wright said, "They told me that this is a real problem, that there's a lag between what's on the books now and what's happening out there." The script also includes a difficulty on the part of the detectives in coping and dealing this new form of cyber-crime and differentiating the truth from the hoax; Leight said, "Their biggest frustration is trying to understand what's real and what isn't. Does this woman, Willow, really exist, and has something happened to her? Is she playing a character and a game that's gotten out of hand? And how do you locate someone in cyberspace?"
Julianne Nicholson, who plays Det. Megan Wheeler, said "Weeping Willow" was her favorite Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode. She described it as "really different from a lot of the ones we've done before and very exciting and current." Nicholson also said she enjoyed working with Michelle Trachtenberg and the other supporting actors, as well as director DiCillo, who also directed Living in Oblivion
Living in Oblivion
Living in Oblivion is a darkly comic, low-budget independent film depicting the making of a low-budget independent film, written and directed by Tom DiCillo and starring Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Danielle von Zerneck and James LeGros. The film won Tom DiCillo the Waldo Salt...
, one of Nicholson's favorite movies.
During one of the kidnappers' videos featured in the episode, a banner is visible advertising the website FreeWillow17.com. The producers of the show set up a real-life website with that domain, containing eight video blogs starring Trachtenberg and the other cast members. The videos were comprised from video content filmed for the "Weeping Willow" episode, most of which was ultimately not used in the episode. The producers originally also established a mirror site, WeepingWillow17.com, but it is no longer active.
Cultural references
Video hosting service
A video hosting service allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. The video host will then store the video on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view this video...
website YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, where the original Lonelygirl15 videos were posted. Willow's friend tells police she found her apartment on Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
, a popular online classified advertising website. During the first WeepingWillow17 video shown in the episode's first scene, the song "Fearless
Fearless (The Bravery song)
"Fearless" is the second single from American indie rock band The Bravery's eponymous debut album. It was released in the UK on 23 May 2005 and charted at #43. The b-side is a cover of the U2 song "An Cat Dubh"...
" by The Bravery
The Bravery
The Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich...
is played.
Ira Whipple (Gary Patent) says, "In cyberspace, everyone hears you scream", a reference to the tagline of the 1979 film Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
: "In space, no one can hear you scream." A New York Film Academy
New York Film Academy
New York Film Academy - School of Film and Acting is a film school andacting school based in New York City, Universal City, California, USA and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. NYFA offers short-term film-making and acting courses, as well as one- and two-year conservatory and Master of Fine Arts...
professor refers to Holden as a "James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
-wannabe", referring to the American director of such films as The Terminator
The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
and Aliens
Aliens (film)
Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton...
. The vlog in which Holden's ear is cut off is described by one characters as a rip-off of director Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, a reference to his 1992 feature film debut, Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
. During an interrogation, Mike Logan sarcastically refers to Reggie as James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
, the famous actor and American cultural icon. Captain Danny Ross refers to the episode's shooting as "cyber-Rashomon. Reggie says Holden shot Todd, Holden says Reggie did it and Willow doesn't even believe anyone's dead." This references the 1950 Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese film Rashomon
Rashomon (film)
The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
, in which multiple characters describe vastly different interpretations of the same murder. A poster for Grand Illusion
Grand Illusion (film)
Grand Illusion is a 1937 French war film directed by Jean Renoir, who co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Spaak. The story concerns class relationships among a small group of French officers who are prisoners of war during World War I and are plotting an escape.The title of the film comes from a...
, the 1932 Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
war film, hangs in Holden's apartment. In the episode's final scene, Willow is interviewed by CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
journalist Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
, host of Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
, which is shown on a giant scene in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Weeping Willow" received a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 3.1 and an 8 share in adults aged 18–49, translating to 9.8 million households overall. The rating was the highest overall viewership for a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode since "Bedfellows
Bedfellows (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)
"Bedfellows" is a sixth season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Plot summary:Detectives Goren and Eames investigate a 911 call made by the son of a wealthy and prominent historian stating to operator that his parents will not wake up. The detectives arrive and find the...
" aired on October 17, 2006. The episode received generally positive reviews. Farah Farouque of The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
said although she feels Law & Order: Criminal Intent had largely dropped in overall quality, she described "Weeping Willow" as "very postmodern and very watchable". Likewise, Todd Thatcher of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
said although the sixth season of Criminal Intent had several episodes he deemed failures, he called "Weeping Willow" one of the "true gems". Canada's National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
said "Weeping Willow" had an interesting plot and listed it as a "must see". David Bianculli, of the New York Daily News, wrote, "The twist is easy to see coming, but Trachtenberg is easy to watch, regardless."
External links
- "Weeping Willow" at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
- FreeWillow17.com
- Official Website