SPOILER CENTRALTHE WHOLE STORY.

EPISODE

3. Identity Crisis

Two young brothers endure the insanity of their mother until she dies under questionable circumstances in a bathtub. Twenty years later, when the elder brother is confronted with the reality of a life he has sought to leave behind, he kills his brother. Detectives Goren and Eames follow the clues that lead them through a multitude of assumed identities.

Description: Description source · Content or data license. Source formatting adapted for this entry.

THIS ENTRY’S STORY

Plot summary and ending

Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.

Complete story — includes the ending

A flashback shows two young brothers, Tommy Burris ( Sam Trammell ) and his younger brother Anthony ( Patrick Arnheim ) living with their physically and emotionally abusive schizophrenic mother ( Breeda Wool ), who dies in the bathtub by electrocution. Tommy is charged with her murder and the boys are subsequently separated and put into foster care. Twenty years later, when Anthony reappears, Tommy feels his successful life as Gray Vanderhoven, the latest of several false identities and pretending to be a graduate of Princeton University, is threatened by Anthony's appearance and shoots him. Goren and Eames are brought in to investigate, meanwhile Tommy abandons his wife, Lucretia ( Jenny Powers ), and rents a house in Nantucket under the name Tyler Chisholm and charms the owner's daughter ( Mireille Enos ). Goren and Eames track him down and during questioning, Goren shocks Tommy with the information that Anthony was dying from lymphoma and he was probably trying to make amends with his brother because of his imminent death.

Sources and content license

Source and revision history · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Law & Order: Criminal Intent season 8. HTML formatting and reference markers removed. · Content license