A few weeks ago, I wrote about Jeff Goldblum's disappointing start on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. My basic point was that he hadn't really found his character yet - that he hadn't gelled with the series - and he wasn't getting any help from poorly written episodes like the atrocious "rock star" opener.

After watching this week's episode, I have to say, everything was much improved, all around. Granted, the poetry was just as bad as the rock music from Goldblum's debut episode; they managed to force Goldblum playing piano into the plot yet again, and the ending confessional was overly dramatic.

But the bad poetry wasn't quite as distracting as the music in the first episode, the piano playing was at least tangentially related to the plot (although still a stretch), and fans of the series in all its forms must have learned to forgive the dramatic confessions years ago as part of the show's style.

With Goldblum, less is more. He's a strong presence on the screen, and he doesn't have to do much to make it seem like he's going over the top. This week, he seemed a bit more restrained, and it worked. He had a couple of flourishes, in an interview with a young poet, challenging his originality, and, of course, at the end, reading the poem that goads the killer into revealing themselves (apologies to grammar, trying not to identify the gender of the killer for those who DVRed the episode).

There is a cold and calculated method emerging with Goldblum's Detective Zack Nichols. It hasn't entirely distinguished itself from Vincent D'Onofrio's Detective Robert Goren, but it is starting to diverge. Both have a tendency to toy with their suspects, but where Goren seems to be madly trying to solve a puzzle, Nichols is more detached, curious and perhaps a bit more academic. He's not as personally involved in the cases as Goren. As this continues to develop, it could offer a great contrast between the two versions of the show, and make the inevitable team-up episode that much more interesting.

This week's episode wasn't perfect, but it was promising, finally a bright spot for Goldblum's version of the show. Looking forward to more.