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“ | It's OK, Robbie. You're allowed a mistake every now and then. | „ |
~ David emotionally abusing his son, Robbie |
David Bishop is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Bright Boy". He is the emotionally abusive father of an intellectually gifted boy who murdered two people to make sure his son gets into an early college program.
He was portrayed by Tim Guinee, who also portrayed Richard Morriston in Law & Order, George Zane in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Adrian Cross in Smallville.
Early life[]
David showed an aptitude for math and science as a child, but did not do well in school because of his undiagnosed dyslexia. As a young man, he tried to distinguish himself by racing cars and playing guitar in a rock band, but neither pursuit won him the attention and praise he felt he deserved.
He and his wife Renee had a son, Robbie, who showed great intellectual promise at a young age. After Renee died in an accident, David took charge of Robbie's education, hoping to channel his own frustrated ambition through his son to make Robbie the success he never was.
He put the boy through a punishing study schedule, testing him nonstop and forcing him to memorize whole textbooks, all while forbidding him to play baseball, his favorite sport, because it "added no value" to his education. He was particularly obsessed with Robbie solving the Reimann Hypothesis, a mathematical equation so complex that the person who solved it would win a million dollar cash prize.
Unable to stand the pressure, Robbie fell into a deep depression and started having suicidal thoughts, but was too afraid of disappointing David to tell anyone. David, meanwhile, was too fixated on achieving his dreams through his son to care how the boy was actually feeling, and punished any perceived weakness in Robbie by withholding his love.
When Robbie was nine, he tested so well in math that David was able to enroll him in an early college program. Robbie spoke with Kim Stevens, a social worker assigned to assess students' emotional readiness for college, and told her how miserable he was. When David found out, he feared that Stevens would disqualify Robbie from the program, and began planning to kill her.
In "Bright Boy"[]
David follows Stevens to her car, where she is talking with Deputy Mayor Bill Webster, and shoots both of them dead.
Detectives Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames of the NYPD's Major Case Squad investigate the murders, and talk with David and Robbie. Goren bonds with Robbie over their mutual love of baseball, and sees that the boy is profoundly unhappy and that David is too wrapped up in living vicariously through his son to actually pay attention to him.
Goren and Eames take Robbie to a baseball game when he is supposed to be in class, and David receives a call from Robbie's school about his truancy. David is furious, and, while he tells Robbie that he is allowed to make the occasional mistake, he says it in a cold, seething voice that betrays how he really feels.
Meanwhile, Goren and Eames examine Stevens' file on Robbie, which details the boy's depression and isolation, but nevertheless recommends him for early admission to college. Goren theorizes that Robbie had told his father that Stevens was going to disqualify him in hopes that David would let him go a regular school with classmates his own age, and that David had killed Stevens to prevent such a thing from happening.
Webster, meanwhile, had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Goren also talks with Robbie while the latter is working on the Reimann Hypothesis, and sees that he has made several mistakes. This confirms what Goren has suspected all along - that Robbie, while highly intelligent, is not a genius, and had merely been pretending to be one in order to please his father.
The detectives contact Children's Services, who declare David an unfit parent and take Robbie into their custody. Enraged, David confronts Goren and Eames, who briefly placate him by telling him that Robbie has solved the Reimann's Hypothesis. David is initially overjoyed, but becomes confused when Goren shows him Robbie's poor work.
Goren confronts David with the reality that he had basically done his son's homework for him, both to ensure that the boy got into the program and to live out his own frustrated dreams, if only through his son.
Goren then shows him the evidence proving he killed Stevens and Webster, and tells him that, if he confesses, Robbie will never have to know that David committed murder for him. After a moment of indecision, David finally does the right thing for his son and confesses to the murders. for which he is sentenced 40 years to life.
External links[]
- David Bishop on the Law & Order Wiki
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