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Worse than that unfortunately. If he was to go full MAGA he would get a spot on Fox News while playing smaller and smaller venues and the mainstream industry would slowly forget about him. Instead he's another cranky old white male comedian who wants us to believe that the excesses of wokeness and performative activeness should be treated as seriously as authoritarianism and deliberate destruction and cruelty because he needs to write some new material or can't book some of the younger, hotter guests that bring better demos. A true believer is better than someone who knows what's up but is more upset about their minor personal inconveniences.

Ah yes. The old dramatic principle of Chekhov's Myrna...

The Good: Fin. We got a classic "that's messed up" as well as a recognition of his special place in the series and as Benson's ride or die confidante that has been ignored too often in recent years. Bruno. He didn't get enough to do like everyone else who isn't Liv, but he makes the most of limited time with questionable material like nobody else on this show since Donal Logue. The Bad: All Benson all the time. It's like they used AI to create a script with all of the worst tropes of later seasons SVU. Benson as superhero with sidekicks, not a CO. Benson everywhere all the time. Benson whispering and making constipated faces to show how she is Taking!It!Personally! Benson is supposed to be Super SVU Detective and master of empathy, so why is she questioning the mother with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop? Does making goofy faces and whispering make you an elite investigator of sexually based offenses no matter how you go about it? The script. It takes some doing to make an episode that both feels like there isn't enough story to fill the hour, but that also drags to the point it feels like 2 hours. Overall this was a real dud after a run of mostly well executed, and even good episodes. A real slog for anyone who doesn't worship at the altar of St. Liv. A mediocre story poorly executed, with the only redeeming value coming from some good performances by a few of the actors getting the least time on screen. Hopefully the next episode is better and gets back on track.

I don't think we have to worry too much. In all of the post-reboot crossovers there's usually been at least one moment where Benson is told to get over herself. I suspect that will continue as long as Rick Eid is showrunner so he can continue to subtly work out his trauma from his one season running SVU.

I actually thought the casting was very good. As originally mentioned, his features do mean he can play younger. And the way the shot and lit the scenes he looked early 20s in the opener and younger in some of the later scenes. I was unspoiled having the previews cut off last episode (unless they didn't air) and from the episode description was thinking the husband had drugged her and they would end up in some sort of rape by proxy case with Liv pushing Carisi to prosecute both men for rape because they are men and no matter what the law says and jurors think it is always Rape 1...

The Good: The central concept. Having 2 participants legally unable to consent, with neither being given a free pass by the squad or the writers and trying to apportion legal and moral culpability is a really good idea. Carisi and the legal side. It was a good presentation of everyone doing their jobs and following the law even if nobody was satisfied with the choices. Bruno. While the writing wasn't always as sharp as the last couple of weeks, and there were quite a few lines that could have been swapped between characters without anyone noticing they at least gave him a bit of focus as well as his usual awesomeness. Benson can't save the day by whispering until everyone agrees! The Bad: Benson taking the lead from the beginning. You have another captain, a sergeant, and a senior detective in the squadroom and you are taking random walk ins? It's not like there wasn't enough reason to get her actively involved soon enough. Let somebody else take the report and start off before Benson takes over. Overall this was another above average episode. If they could have had someone other than Benson as the lead investigator and tightened up some of the writing a bit it would have been an excellent episode on par with episode 13, but it is still better than the last episode and another episode that is actually good. I'm hoping that Mariska will be kept busy with OC crossovers and we can actually have a few more episodes where she is the CO and not the primary detective with the writing at the level it has been, because it is possible we could have the best stetch of episodes since early Season 17. It would be nice to have something in 2025 that actually is better than expected...

It's actually been suggested before here that they should have a counselor or victims' support specialist as a regular. It would be something that hasn't been done to death and give us some new variations on the old themes. It's not like it's impossible for police dramas - Hill Street Blues did it after all and that show is older than I am. They don't need to be main cast (and probably shouldn't be), but we really could use some recurring characters in those roles. We usually have had techs, MEs, TARU, etc. as recurring across the franchise. It really does add something and gives us an opportunity for comic relief, exposition that flows naturally, and just a general sense of a bigger world.

The Good: It's nice seeing a victim who actually looks like a normal person and not an ideal version of affluent urban women 18-35 who the execs are trying to target. The squad. Besides playing active roles in the investigation they were stil written distinctly and in character and not just delivering the lines needed to advance the plot as interchangeable parts. Carisi. It is always nice to see him acting like a prosecutor and serving as the voice of reality instead of a moral crusader. The actual courtroom scenes were pretty well done. The Bad: Benson in the opening. Not only are we backsliding into Benson worship, but it's clumsy and heavy handed and would be even if we had somebody else delivering the academic lecture. Isn't show, don't tell Screenwriting 101? Benson in the middle. This is Olivia at her worst, therapist and advocate instead of cop. Because she feels the victims' pain. But not he husband's - she feels free to dismiss him and order him around. Plus sighing and rolling her eyes at Carisi like a spoiled teenager when he had the gall to act like part of the legal system and not the victim's best friend. At least she let her elite squad do the actual field work? Benson at the end. Her magic victim whispering makes everything all better and converts another nonbeliever to the Church of Liv. They spent so much time on Benson and the victim that they never bothered to properly flesh out the perp. It would have been interested in seeing how he got from the earlier victim to today - might have also filled in the plot hole of why he was cold calling tourist traps in Times Square on a weekend pitching premium wine? It seems like it wouldn't be hard to show that it was part of him coming undone, but that would require caring about something other than making sure we have heard the Word of God(dess). Overall this was a standard issue SVU story, mostly competently executed and dragged down by needing to make up for last week by making sure we know Benson is still the center of the universe. It's especially disappointing because they just showed us they can do better. And how much better would Benson have looked if they dialed it back to 11 and spent some of that time telling a better story with her front and center? Hopefully this is just giving Mariska a "showcase" so they can do a few more better episodes before they have to go all in on massaging her ego again.

Uh oh...

The episode title was a reference to Benson telling Velasco he needed to "put out the fire" in his neighborhood. As far as the interview I too wondered at fist if it was setting up some sort of twist, but it was just about the family not trusting the system and/or not being sure about sharing what happened with strangers. Probably could have been done a little more gracefully, but it didn't end with Liv preaching to them until they saw the light or waiting until the parents were gone and then whispering to the victim and magically changing her mind. So it was pretty much more realistic and less heavy handed than 90% of the victim interviews the last half decade or so...

The Good: The opener. Relatively subtle establishing Velasco's neighborhood and stake in the case, plus we didn't see the whole crime or waste a lot of time with a montage of the victim. Plus it is nice to see Benson actually assigning a case instead of immediately taking the lead. We actually got to see some technical specialists instead of having the squad doing everything. Velasco. It is great to see him getting some actual material, instead of being just another warm body. Pisiano may not have Kevin Kane's charisma (very few actors do) but he is a solid performer and deserves more than he has gotten from the writers. They also did a nice job pairing him up Bruno and Fin at the right times to take advantage of their perspectives. Fin. Speaking of characters who have needed some more solid material and actually got it... Benson. A rare appearance in this section, but she was actually acting like a CO who is also series lead rather than single handedly solving all sexually based offenses in NYC. The COTW. It was a solid investigation with a team approach from start to finish, and more importantly than just using the squad, actually used them thoughtfully instead of just as random supporting players for Benson. It was a refreshing throwback to days gone by. The Bad: Benson and Velasco. Why is she always giving him shit and holding him to standards nobody else is expected to live up to? I mean NOW she has no advice and isn't going to use her magic psychic powers for community relations??!! Yes she apologized in the end and complimented him, but it's getting a bit ridiculous. Overall this was an actually very good episode. Best in a long time. The script actually cared about ALL of the characters and not just Benson and maybe whoever else they had as #2 this week. And it was a good story that actually gave us a fresh take on things. Graziano and Martin should be proud to put their names on this script. And now we know they can still do more than "better than we expect these days" and shouldn't accept less.

Nothing will stop some guys from whipping it out... Seriously though handcuffs or any restraints just keep you tethered to the bed and unless they are specifically configured otherwise give some freedom of movement in the arms - he would just need to hike up the hospital gown and let it rip, which is pretty easy if your hands are at the waist and you have a couple inches of slack in the restraints.

As always it all comes back to Mariska insisting on being the sun and the moon, and not just the star. If we drop the unnecessary scenes of Benson promising AND delivering making everything all better for the victim, we would have had time to give Carisi some motivation instead of a single line about providing the actual pedos an entrapment defense. Properly developed, it is the basis for an actual conflict between well meaning protagonists motivated by different perspectives who eventually find a creative solution and unite to convince the guest star who is viewing the situation from a big picture perspective that it is better 49 pervs get a lighter sentence than 1 innocent developmentally disabled man is incarcerated. Which is how it would have been done in the classic SVU era. But now Benson has to be the angel on Carisi's shoulder and the one who explains legal ethics to the Manhattan DA. Which is sadly believable in the current SVU universe...

The Good: The opening. While it certainly had it flaws (see below) it did not lay out the whole crime, rely on quick cut editing and heavy handed music. or drag on for too long, or try to rely on some overly cutesy thematic link between Benson's day to day and the crime so overall a good start. The COTW. Good team approach with solid police work and interaction between the police and DA's office. A nice straightforward story with just enough twist to keep things interesting. Carisi in the first 3/4s of the episode. It's nice to see somebody telling Benson she is not the moral arbiter of the universe without immediately being shown to be a bad guy. Also nice to actually see him call bullshit Livsplaining the law to an ADA. Silva. It took too long, but it's nice to see her getting some character development and they finally are not trashing a younger female detective. Bruno and Fin. It is nice to see that someone at SVU remembers how to write with a degree of nuance. Nice mix of pragmatism as well as humanity. It reminds me of what this show used to be across the board when even the leads were pragmatic investigators in an imperfect world, trying to do the right thing within the system instead of moral paragons who always had the right answers. The Bad: A Captain going on a routine call while Detectives sit at their desk? Why not send Fin with Silva? If this is a De Minimus case that is supposed to be done by lunch why do we have the whole team working on this from the jump? So Benson can show off her super special psychic abilities that she knows this one could be special? Or worse lecture Silva about how SVU is more subtle than homicide? Really? Really?? Really??? Olivia Benson is talking about subtlety???!!! Benson as super counselor and victim whisperer. It added nothing and was a waste of time except to show that she can solve everything and make everything right. Carisi after the arrest. It is not in character for him to be a stickler for the rules without seeing shades of gray and using his discretion. Even when they do a crossover with Baxter we still have do that "8th Floor" bullshit? Why are we still doing this? Overall this was a good episode. It could have been a great episode with a few tweaks, mostly the usual (if the time we spend building up Benson was devoted to a bit of comic relief or maybe some slightly better crafted storytelling (for example in the old days they would have had the other detectives jumping on a case that seemed to have more potential for OT and stats leaving the newbie to take the nude selfies at the school nothingburger) but this was still an actual good episode and I can certainly take that.

That's because Captain Cragen was busy doing all of the admin work that the CO is expected to do. As we found out this week she is making Fin do all of the paperwork so she can micromanage the cases. Which is probably where Fin is all of those weeks we don't see him - in an office typing up reports and sticking one of those "sign here" arrows for Liv to sign and trying to remember her password for the HR system...