katisha

Another perp to feel sorry for was the rapist flasher from Wannabe, Season 11, whose dad screwed his head up so badly that he had him rape young girls whilst wearing a hat with a hidden camera so Dad could view the handiwork later.

I thought that too. I was just waiting for it to be her CO. Totally agree. Why does it always have to be St Olivia? Aside from Fin, Rollins could have done it too. She's experienced rape first-hand so I think she also might know a thing or two about it. This episode was to me one of the worst of the season. Not as stupid as Terrorised but just boring and blah and meh. Hanging in by my diehard SVU fan fingernails but hell, it's getting harder.

I don't know if it's true in the USA (I am thinking it must be because of the role Captain Cragen always had in the squad of, you know, actually staying in the office for the most part and running things from there) but in Australia, the higher you go in the Police, the more time you spend behind a desk doing paperwork and that sort of stuff, taking phone calls from more senior officers, etc. The stuff at the coalface gets left to the more junior officers who would obviously consult you, as their boss, but then go out there and get stuff done without you. Therefore, the suspension of disbelief we've always needed to watch this show for the last 10 years or so has increased so much since Mariska started producing the show because she is just omnipresent, as stated above. And I reckon it'll be the thing that finally kills the show.

Another good episode by today's SVU standards. Some good acting, especially by the young actor who played Kyle and the two who played the parents, and a storyline which wasn't entirely predictable. Re the Carisi bullying subplot, I suppose up until now he's come across as a fairly upbeat character who hasn't had to deal with a lot in his life and they really couldn't just let him be that guy. He'll never reach Olivia or Rollins levels of angst but at least now we know the character's had a small share.

She may have been born over where I live but it seems she's spent her entire acting career Stateside. I Googled her to see if there was any pre-US TV or movie history in Australia for her, but there's nothing.

This was episode 400? I had no idea because it wasn't at all special, more the sort of episode they've done before much better in previous seasons. TOO MUCH OLIVIA, not enough Fin, who's been on the show nearly as damn long as she has. Oh, and I agree with the poster upthread who mainly watches these days because this is the last spinoff from the Mothership still left and it appears to be in its death throes. It's a bit sad, really. I thought that too.

Yes, that's the other possibility.

I enjoyed this episode. For me, as a relatively new CM viewer (only started binge-watching from the start when I was ill last year), it felt a tiny bit more like the CM of old when the team all pulled together to help Reid. But that's not saying much given the standards of S12 so far. Sorry if this was already mentioned and I've just missed it, but did anyone else think that audio file Prentiss deleted of the cognitive interview will come back to bite the BAU's ass sooner or later?

I wasn't particularly gripped by the episode, except that I spent quite a lot of it racking my brains to work out where I'd seen Stevie Lynn Jones, and finally it came to me. She may get typecast as spoilt brat teen headcases because she was in a fairly recent SVU episode playing a character who was pretty much Lindsay Lohan.

I hope it's OK to post this in the Emily thread seeing as it's about Paget more so, but after spending most of the last six months watching all of Criminal Minds up to the present day episodes (I'm a late convert to the show), it was SO weird to come across her as Kathy in a Friends repeat I saw today. So young! Such extremely red, short hair! She rocked it, though, IMO.

Amen to this. Because not only is the squadroom looking too empty, but it is constantly jarring to me that Olivia's still doing exactly what she was doing when she was only a detective, even though she's now in charge. She should have a more Cragenesque role, but no, she is still out there running headlong into hostage situations. Speaking of which, I barely even noticed that was what was happening yet again, but I have a good reason: I have watched a lot of Criminal Minds lately, where the BAU constantly rush into bad situations alone or with only one person as backup. It's inured me to it, I think. Generally a fairly meh episode for me. Hope the next one's better.

Watched 'Scavenger' again the other day and this time around I surprised myself by feeling a little more sympathetic towards the perp Humphrey Becker. With a mother like he had, it was never going to be easy to grow up into a decent functioning human being. Doesn't excuse his awful acts but puts them into perspective. Edit: Oh, wow, I just Googled the woman who played Humphrey's obnoxious mother and I had clue until now that she was Jerry Stiller's wife until she passed in 2015 and therefore Ben Stiller's mum!

I'm trying to make my experience of the GG reboot last so I have only watched Winter and Spring so far, but I had to mention this given the discussions about Rory's so-called lucky red dress. I could swear at one point when she was wearing it she mumbled something to herself like, "This is a totally different outfit," which made me wonder if she'd just worn the dress that was in Lorelai's closet, that Lorelai thought was the right dress, but it actually wasn't. Did anyone else catch this or did I zone out at that point and just get the wrong end of the stick?

Finally watched this episode the other day and I've got to say, though we know the bar has been set quite ridiculously low, that was the best episode this season by a country mile. It was the most like an old school SVU episode and word to all those who said Olivia was more like the Olivia of old than preachy St Olivia of about the past six seasons. More like this, please! On a side note, when are we going to hear what they're doing with Tucker?

Just caught up with a binge-watch of Season 5 in the last few days and oh, Lordy, I usually rely on CTM to cheer me up and warm my heart, and instead they go and kill off a character I really like and put my tear ducts in danger of overload. Poor Sr Evangeline :( I did not spoil myself re this season so I didn't know it was coming - just had a suspicion when she started napping in the chair - so it was quite a shock. In fact, the whole season was rather downbeat and sorely missing some input from Chummy, who I really wish had made some kind of appearance in the season finale because unless she's just not coming back to the show ever, there is no way the character (as many have said) would have missed Sr Evangeline's funeral. I loved the character of Sr Evangeline because as someone educated by a lot of different nuns, especially in my early school days, I knew a couple a lot like her - outwardly brusque and impatient and no-nonsense, but with an absolute heart of gold. She will be a hard act to follow. If Sr Monica Jean goes any time soon, I don't think I can take it! Oh, and please give Trixie something or someone to cheer her up. I've felt I wanted to give her a big hug all season because she's been so brave and fighting so hard to conquer her alcohol demons. It never ceases to amaze me how this show draws me in even though I'm not a mum, I'm not especially into babies and usually shows like this would make me change the channel, but I just can't get enough of CTM. Can't wait for next season.

Watched an episode from S5 tonight, Brotherhood, and I'd forgotten how satisfying the conclusion was. If nobody has watched this one lately, it was about a fraternity where pledge masters were having wayyyyy too much sadistic fun with their pledges, resulting in one of them being murdered by a pledge who was traumatised after being raped with a pledge paddle. The satisfying part was when a ledger which contained chapter and verse about the rape, which had initially been disallowed because the defence lawyer and father of the murdered pledge master, played by Gary Cole, had found out it had been stolen by the girlfriend of one of the abused pledges, was admitted back into evidence after Gary Cole's character accidentally-on-purpose made reference to it when he realised the other pledge master that he was defending was throwing his son under the bus and blaming him for everything. The best scene is where Novak makes the pledge master read out loud to the court directly from the ledger the part that describes exactly how he raped the pledge. (Side note: As an Australian, I have no direct knowledge of fraternities or sororities but I have to say their depiction in movies and TV makes them look BRUTAL, and like you'd have to be insane to even want to be in one! Are they really that bad?)

Yes, I felt a lot of pity for him, and it was mainly to do with Treat Williams' portrayal. I think in a different actor's hands the character wouldn't have been nearly as sympathetic.

That's the one!

I know Season 10 isn't one of the better past seasons but I saw the episode "Smut" again the other day, with the perp who drugged his victims with a nearly undetectable substance which made them forget everything while he brutally raped them. Of course, being TV, he oh-so-conveniently had taped these sex sessions but it was still very satisfying when at the last moment, when it looked as though he was going to get away with it, the detectives discover that the first woman in his videos was actually his fiance at the time and that seals his fate. The perp was especially creepy and sleazy so that made his capture much more satisfying.

Couldn't agree more. Find some money for a new cast member, show, because it's looking ludicrous how much Benson is out and about doing grunt work when in reality she'd be a lot more desk-bound like Cragen was. Overall, except for the Rollins' sister part, this episode was probably the best this season (it's a low bar, I know) and held my interest a lot more than last week's farce, and it had a lot to do with the actress playing the pole vaulter. I'm not familiar with her but she did an excellent job in making the character a lot more likeable and sympathetic than she might have otherwise been. I also don't think they're busting up Tuckson, but it's cruel of the show to even suggest it. I might be heartily sick of Olivia at the moment but after all these years of dedicated service to SVU and all that tragedy, for God's sake, let the woman have a happy relationship for once.

Must be a US-centric reference because I have no clue what they are but I'd eat them if Carisi was there for sure. ;) I like Rollins as well. I know she is not a popular character around these parts but funnily enough, the reason I relate to her is that I too had a gambling issue quite a few years back (I gave up cold turkey 9 years ago next month - woot!) and so often nothing is ever shown in TV shows about women having gambling problems, only male characters. But I also don't want her seen as the "town bike", so to speak. They haven't let her loose on Fin yet (and they'd better not or I really AM done with this show) or Barba but the list of her work colleague conquests is getting rather long for such a small work team!

Hear, hear. To me it was a clear case of "caveat emptor" and the other "rape" victim said it so much better - she got hustled, pure and simple.

If this season continues along in the vein of this episode, the show needs to be taken out and shot and put out of its misery. Oy, what a waste of time. I'm pretty sure I heard Fonzie's speedboat revving up somewhere in the background, although some may say that actually happened YEARS ago. I barely made it to the end of the episode and I had a feeling something bad would happen last-minute, only I predicted it'd be the mother, not the son. Things I liked? Rollins' hair, some of Carisi, some of Fin. Things I disliked? Everything else.

I was going to post something about this exact perp. I saw this very old episode the other day and it was a really good one. Despite his own horrific acts, you couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor guy who was systematically abused and raped by his piano teacher for so many years and ended up treating his own young students exactly the same.

I totally agree with this. Kelli did great work and so did Henry, although it's hard to believe sometimes looking at him now that he's cute little Elliott from E.T.! So far I'm finding this season underwhelming but I enjoyed this week's episode more than last week's because at least it was actually about a sex crime. I mean, all procedural cop shops require a massive helping of grains of salt in terms of suspending disbelief at how things are done and how quickly cases are solved, brought to court, etc, but I can't see any circumstance in which a small team of sex crime detectives end up investigating and running after terrorists. Puh-lease!!