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Check out the media thread for the article links and discussion! Don't know off hand, but she might be familiar because she looked a lot like Benson. Especially in the dark with those oversized glasses - at first I thought that was Liv going for her gun.

The Good: Velasco gets a promotion. He still gets crapped on unnecessarily on his way out the door, but it was nice to see him getting some love and bringing everyone together. If he is going to get pushed out for Mariska's power play at least he got a nice send off. Fin. It's nice to see him getting some solid material, both as comic relief and as the voice of cynical wisdom. The show is so much better when that element that he and Munch used to bring to every episode is there. The whole squad out in the field, interviewing people and running down leads. Even working with MEs and CSU! It is nice to see they actually remember how to do this - with the ADA appropriately consulted too! Bruno reminding us of just how much Kevin Kane's raw charisma elevates an episode. A solid script. Good story, used everyone and didn't bog down too much in any of the usual pitfalls. The Bad: A missed opportunity with Silva still around to take advantage of having someone newer around to show the audience that this is a truly twisted and unusual case. And speaking of Silva looks like she is getting unceremoniously dumped like every other young female detective the past decade. I guess she is guilty of not playing a slightly younger version of Benson who is not too threatening to MH's ego. Overall this was a solid ending that would leave me optimistic for next season if it wasn't for seeing the articles about where TPTB want to go with the show. At least this season ended on a high note.

Rollins Returns: Kelli Giddish Rejoins ‘Law & Order: SVU’ As Series Regular For Season 27 ‘Law & Order: SVU’ to Bring Back Kelli Giddish as Series Regular for Season 27 And there goes my hopes for them to build on the momentum of a good season. Not seeing how this works creatively unless you replace Curry with 2 young theater actors trying to break into TV. And even then it probably means Fin and Bruno are there even less...

Come on. What kind of brainless moron would try to stop the distribution of vaccines against a life threatening epidemic? That would be terrible writing. Completely unbelievable...

‘Law & Order: SVU’: Two Executive Producers Depart Ahead Of Season 27 It seems like the turnover continues. I like this change a lot better than the cast cuts - if there is going to be an EP departing on the technical side I'd prefer a new editor as the directing has been mostly good, given the limitations of budget and a lead that doesn't seem to always take direction, but it says he'll still be around on a per episode basis and it's not necessarily a great loss - the folks behind the cameras are still solid pros and I'm sure they will keep doing fine as long as Mariska stays too busy with OC to decide she wants to direct more than once a year or so. However cutting a high salaried writer who is obviously out of fresh ideas and has spent most of the last 10 years as part of the problem and not the solution is a good move and increases the odds that a new showrunner can build on the momentum they have developed this season.

The Good: The opener. If you are going to show the crime, this was a good way of doing it. We didn't see the whole thing from the beginning so we didn't know more than the squad and it added to the whodunnit aspect instead of hurting it. The COTW. It was actually well done as far as a twisted and elaborate crime without getting campy or needing the cops to be psychic to solve the case. Carisi had a lot of good material for an episode with no courtroom scenes. The guest cast. They had a lot of material that was challenging to do without going OTT or underplaying too much and coming off wooden and they mostly pulled it off. The Bad: No Bruno again. Everyone but Benson, Carisi, and Fin was interchangeable and had no real reason to be there other than to fill space. While it's better than having the captain do all of the fieldwork, it's still lazy writing. And even Fin was underused to some extent - this case cried out for some snark about rich white people and their entitled kids. Overall this was a a pretty good episode. Classic SVU formula done competently without too much OTT Benson worship. The acting and technical aspects were mostly well done. The major flaw that kept this from being a very good to excellent episode was a script that never really rose above adequate - with a little polish to add some dark humor in the right places, and add some nuance and personality to the secondary characters it would have been excellent. Instead it was just pretty good. Hopefully they raise their game a bit for the finale.

I have a hard time believing that you could ever find 12 people to unanimously convict anyone for stabbing Stephen A. Smith regardless of alleged motive or relationship...

Pisano will probably get work from Wolf elsewhere as long as he doesn't complain publicly. He was good when they actually bothered to write something for him even when the material wasn't good. Speaking of which isn't it time for a new generically good looking vaguely ethnic younger male detective on OC? I think so since I just changed my oil...

‘Law & Order: SVU’: Juliana Martinez & Octavio Pisano Leaving After Season 26 Well doesn't this just suck. Another young female case member unceremoniously booted without being given a chance. While I've often thought we had one too many detectives this year (after so long having too few) this is not necessarily whom we need to cut. No news yet on if they are bringing in someone new, but this would mean we are left with a team of grizzled veterans. I do like them all, but that is bad for storytelling. Both in having mostly leads too old to chase down perps and being heavy on characters who have already been through most of the variations of depravity already. They would be better off keeping Silva and going back to the original idea of Curry pulling strings to come to SVU as a second captain with no command responsibilities to change the system and work outside of the usual procedures. One episode a month when Ice is in South Beach or one of the others is furloughed. If they are so hard up on budget, maybe we don't need so many Rollins special guest star episodes? They could then use OP's salary to pay for some recurring specialists like MEs, CSU, a counselor, etc. It seems like a step backwards, just when things are looking up with a new showrunner and a decent season. ☹️

The Good: We actually saw canvassing! And interviews with witnesses who weren't secretly perps or accessories! It's a May Day Miracle! The direction was pretty good. There was a fair amount of action and location shoots and they did a good job of shooting it without needing a lot of quick cuts or heavy handed musical cues. This was a pretty pedestrian script, but it was very well executed despite the current shoestring budgets. The Bad: No Fin and no Bruno? I guess they didn't want anyone with the charisma to accidentally uspstage the Super Mommies. I miss the old days when even when they pulled this budget bullcrap on us they at least had the professionalism to give us a line of dialogue to explain why people weren't there for a big case. Mariska's acting at the farm. When did she decide that they way to convey emotional depth and empathy was to make faces like she is experiencing gastrointestinal distress? Carisi's role here seemed kind of pointless and rushed. The legal case took up less than 4 minutes of screen time and he added nothing that couldn't have been done by someone else during the investigation. Not even any Rollisi action of note. I'd rather have had her and Fin get some scenes together. Overall this a perfectly cromulent episode. Nothing overly objectionable, but it also didn't do more than fill out the episode order. Hopefully next week will be something more than a blandly competent mix of SVU tropes.

They couldn't have the current mayor on. TV shows need to have believable characters...

And it's actually a good metric for most parts of the healthcare system. It forces healthcare professionals to pay attention to "bedside manner" and to think about the processes and seriously think about what is necessary for efficiency and better outcomes, and what is merely convenient for them, so that there is an incentive to think about patients as people when policies and procedures are created. But there is a big difference between outpatient orthopedic surgery and emergency medicine in terms of what is possible, and how in much of the outcome and patient experience is in the control of those being scored. The patient doesn't know that the long wait time was caused by another department not wanting to take them, or that the pain they experienced during a procedure would happen anywhere. Which is fairly common with any large organization or system - there is almost always one department or organization where one size fits all metrics break down - with my current employer I have watched this fight play out with the collections department not scoring as well on customer surveys as say, business lending. Fortunately the decision makers where a little bit more understanding and decided that they needed to find a different way to measure interactions.

It was mentioned early in the first season, but it hasn't come up much (at all?) since then. A little Googling comes up with Episode 1.3 "Just Tuesday" as the one where it was revealed.

I'm guessing we won't be seeing Larry David on the show any time soon... Larry David: My Dinner With Adolf

I don't think Benson understands the concept of "dial it back" at all. Her dials look like this at all times... In any case I don't think there is any question about how Benson and Maroun would interact. Benson would take charge from moment one and Maroun would follow with maybe the occasional polite suggestion that what Liv wanted wasn't actually, you know, legal. Then the case would go down in flames until Benson took the stand and/or convinced the victim to testify and cross examined the perp herself, brushing aside the judge's objections about not being an actual attorney...

To be fair this is the L&Overse. Doppelgangers are an every day occurrence...

I think the friction was understandable as this case was personal to them for different reasons. Plus Brady is on a show where they still care theoretically about legal standards. What we really could have used was Fin mediating and getting them to cooperate - it would have also been good for those viewers who maybe don't know as much about SVU history as most of the folks here. Something like Fin asking Brady about how many cases she's worked with kids and how many have had a happy ending, with both of them agreeing that there are too few and him pointing out this was one of those few that make the job bearable and having it end up with a body 2 decades later would make anyone a little intense. And then pointing out to Benson that this is an unsolved case that has been going on for a long time, and maybe she should be a little more gracious since she just spent a year freaking out to the point of wearing a victim's jewelry when she couldn't close a big case. Once again they are using the series' past for plot lines and somehow not taking advantage of having a big part of that history still here, one with a lot of good will among both Benson stans and the viewers who are tired of her antics alike, for reasons that completely elude me.

The Good: Silva got as much to do as she has all season. If there is any cast turnover for any reason on the mothership I wouldn't mind her moving over. The continuing crossover tradition of making sure to have someone call out Benson when she pulls her usual bullcrap. Carisi. He really fit in well and had good chemistry with Price. The COTW. The investigation flowed well and there was good reason for both squads to be involved without any need for plot gymnastics to justify having the casts working together. The Stabler cameo. It was a nice surprise and it felt natural. The Bad: I'm all for going back to basics and the old formulas, but I'm not liking the return of Benson charging into a situation without backup and/or tactical awareness and ending up with shots fired. Not nearly enough Ice-T. Why do an event and not feature one of the icons of the franchise? The transitions from one suspect, or lead to another in the second half were a bit lacking. We would be more impressed with Benson's investigative process if you showed, instead of told, and we could follow along with the squad/ Did they honestly have Benson saying under oath that her emotions have NEVER interfered with her police work? Seriously? The rest of the trial should have just been rebuttal witnesses. If it wasn't written by Mariska's biggest suck ups I would have assumed it was intentional comedy to follow that up with a scene where her emotions were interfering with the case and she needed to be slapped down by Baxter. Overall this was solid. A little too much of the Lts. in the field, but overall this was a worthy effort, especially in creating a story that felt bigger than usual without going overboard or relying on coincidence to bring everyone together. Not sure it brought in any additional viewers or will get anyone who watches one of the series and not the other to stick around, but they could do a lot worse for an event. And have, many times.

To be honest they pretty much ran through all of the variations of sexually based offenses over a decade ago. Now it's all variations on old themes. I doubt there will be any COTW that are truly novel ever again. Which is honestly a good thing as trying to come up with a new case only leads to getting away from the concept and into unrelated crimes that are loosely tied to a sex crime. And that is a road we don't want to travel again - remember this? Now imagine that with half the budget and having to end on a Benson speech... $$$. Recurring is usually around half the cost of main cast per episode. It can be more for big names or if the producers are generous and have a character recurring for creative reasons, but Dick Wolf is neither generous or creative. I actually like when a procedural hires someone known and doesn't make them the perp or a hero. It helps keep things interesting. I remember when The Closer had on Joe Spano and the ending was actually a surprise, because I kept waiting for the twist where he was actually the hero. And this series has done a lot worse with ER cast members over the years...

Actress Taylor Dearden talks about portraying neurodivergence on 'The Pitt'

The Good: The opening. If they insist on doing the whole showing the victim before the crime thing, this is a good way of doing it. It was mercifully concise, didn't spoil the suspense, and lead into having the squad actually show up on scene WITHOUT Benson personally supervising in the field from the beginning. Plus it was a good musical choice and didn't rely on quick cuts to hide the lack of budget (just Criminal Minds levels of darkness.) Fin and Bruno. Putting the two most likeable and charismatic characters together with lots of screen time is always a good thing. Bruno solo. A lot of good stuff for him this week. Kevin Kane has such great chemistry with just about everyone. He was reminding of us of how you do a detective showing empathy for the victims without becoming a savior or miracle worker therapist. Mariska would do well to take notes. The COTW. It flowed nicely with everyone involved, and showed how you can focus on one of the ensemble without relegating everyone else to bit players, and still keeping Mariska as the lead. It felt like old school SVU in a lot of ways, which is a good thing. The Bad: Even in a week where Liv is mostly acting like a CO and a cop we still have her acting like nobody else in NYC knows what they are doing. Plus the shock and disapproval that they had to use handcuffs. Benson is to the police what Maroun on the mothership is to prosecutors. Overall this was a good episode after a couple of blah ones and hopefully is an indication that what seemed to be a promising trend is not a mirage. It mostly stuck to the classic SVU formula, and didn't try to pretend this was something new or unique, but relied on having some new characters to give us something that didn't feel like a complete retread. Hopefully they do a good job with the crossover and don't kill the momentum again.

You don't need most people to keep going with it. You just need enough people to ignore the obvious to do very well. And both history and current events show that it is sustainable for a very long time...

I never knew Bryn Mawr had a law school...

I always thought the odd part was a billion dollar media company using an intern's first attempt at Photoshop as a promo on their flagship streaming service, but to each their own I guess...

The Good: The guest cast. They did a good job with the material, even when there wasn;t much to work with or where they were little more than scenery for the regulars. Velasco. He also made the most of limited screen time, Peter Scanavino. He did a really good job elevating some cliched material. The Bad: No B plot. It's good that they followed up on this story, but devoting a whole episode to it, with basically nothing for the squad to do was too much. If they had stuck more to the trial prep and tried to use it as a peg to show us the actual process for prosecuting a rape that was not open and shut that would be one thing, but this was just soapy melodrama. Too much time with Benson playing shrink, and showing off her magic healing whisper. Why wasn't this case being handled by a more senior ADA? It would seem that a hostage situation with an ADA would be handled by one of the senior staff. But I guess then it wouldn't have been believable to have Carisi trying to tell her how she should be prosecuting the case (Benson would have no problem explaining how the law should work to anyone, up to and including James Madison and Moses.) Once again why isn't Fin playing a big part in this story? If you are going to bring back Rollins and get the band back together again, he should be there. He has a relationship with both Rollins and Carisi and could be a supporting mentoring figure without being some sort of heroic savior figure. Instead he's off on the sidelines with a couple of lines supporting Velasco. Overall this was kind of a meh end to this arc. It did what it needed to do, but nothing more. Not a train wreck, but nothing special. It really felt like a space filler and not as special as the end of an arc with a special guest star should be. At least the previews for next week look potentially interesting.