wknt3

The Good: Garland, It was nice to see him back and that he's landed on his feet. And that whatever went down everyone seems to be OK and there is another good actor in the Dick Wolf Rep Company. Velasco. They seem to have completely dropped his connection to the Chief of D-Bags and made him the new Fin - when he's on screen it means there's actual investigation of sexually based offenses going on. The guest cast. Solid up and down. They delivered the good material and elevated the bad. The cold case plot. It was solid and interesting and only brought down by the fact that the perp was obvious just by the casting - you don't bring in Ron Canada for a bit part. I kinda wish they had expanded this and completely focused on the case. Minimal Rollins and no personal drama. The Queen B detective calling out Benson. Yes it was ridiculous and OTT, but it was still nice to see. The Bad: No Fin. The rape victim DNA plot. It was a great idea, but the execution was terrible. Benson was an advocate from the jump instead of an inestigator and CO properly concetrned about the being able to do her job. And the writing for Carisi was terrible at the beginning as well. They needed to go back and re-write this so that they weren't defending a perp who happened to be a victim before, but investigating a violation of the rape kit DNA database. It would not have been hard at all to fix the issues. Have Carisi looped in because one of his witnesses/victims now had credibility issues and investigating what seems to be an obvious violation of procedures and then bringing in Benson to assist with the investigation, drop them acting like defense attorneys and then basically proceed with everything else. Unfortunately it seems like Julie Martin has forgotten all of the basics of screenwriting and sees her job as taking dictation from Mariska. Speaking of writing problems and elevating their game, they really need to start deliberately subverting out expectations based on casting or cast against type occasionally. Given the way the show has been stripped down (we almost never get a comic diversion, or a dead end lead) when they bring in a big name or an actor who always plays a type you can always tell what is coming in the last act 10 minutes in. And if you aren't going to do that you need to fake us out another way like giving Ron Canada's character the showy grief and making the mother the stoic one so that the twist is a little less obvious. Mariska. All of her worst tendencies were on display in spades. The constipated faces, the overacting, all of it. Overall this was OK, mostly because of the great guest cast and the cold case plot being interesting. But it could have been good or great if they managed to tone down the St. Benson worship a tad and fixed the script problems while telling Mariska to dial things back to 11. In some ways squandered potential is worse than another rehash of he said she said with rich white people I have no interest in. Don't waste a good idea if you have an episode that's going to be devoted to massaging Mariska's ego. Just give us a stinker and save the good ideas for a week you're going to actually try your best.

Experienced some technical issues, but better late than never right? The Good: A nice old fashioned violent serial rapist is a refreshing change of pace. How often can you say that? Seriously though it was nice to have a clear bad guy (2 actually) with the issues raised being in the background. Fin. Ice-T was engaged this week. I could have used a little more cynical snark, but he got some solid material. Carisi. He was solidly in charge of the legal side and no Rollisi soapy nonsense. The script. Very little excess or sloppiness and everything flowed well. Most of the flaws seemed to be either in the DNA of the show or a result of Dick Wolf's penny pinching short sightedness. This felt like a season 7 episode with the budget cut by 1/3 for both good and ill. The ending. It was nice to see Benson sharing some credit. The Bad: So I guess they aren't really doing an arc with the chief, but more of a "he's whatever we need for the lot this week" thing? No Velasco. It would have been nice to have gotten a least an explanation for him not being there for an all hands on deck situation. And I would have liked to have seen him doing some of the investigating instead of Carisi and Benson who should have been doing their own jobs instead of his. Benson's outfit in the casino. Seemed to be going for some sort of symbolism. Mariska is a star? Benson encompasses the universe? Liv is America? In any case it just didn't work for me in a distracting way. Could have used some moments of comic relief. This was where the episode really pales in comparison with classic SVU. Overall this was really good. An A- that is probably a solid A if we are grading on a curve. As I've already said it was a solid effort all the way around and most of the flaws or moments that fell a little flat are a matter of either budget cuts or the show simply being on the air too long (and at this point I'd rather see them retreading old ground rather than trying to shock us with twists that don't make sense. More of this please.

Is this because she's a thespian?

I'd imagine that it was some sort of morbid curiosity plus wanting to find out if it was a joke, Russian PsyOps, or if Ted Cruz had set it up himself. NOBODY actually wants to read that, Even the conservatives. To quote former Senator Al Franken - "I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz." Actually given their demographic targeting I'd imagine that at least a few of those clicks had taken some medicine 4 hours ago and didn't want to consult their doctor and saw an easy solution. To me the biggest disappointment was that they didn't have solid evidence that Ted Cruz himself didn't click on the link. Because you know they would have shared that if they did. Especially if it was during the confirmation hearings after Googling himself.

Federal election law also has numerous loopholes. And a lot of loudmouth contributors "overestimate" their contributions. As this isn't The West Wing I don't think we need a need to get into how he donated the money to a nonprofit organization which then wrote a check to another technically independent advocacy effort which just so happens to have a message that coordinates perfectly with the campaign. Or how it was "only" $450,000 in cash which purchased ads worth almost a million according to creative accounting. I am all for nitpicking, but in this case I have seen enough examples of people saying similar things when they are not under oath or on camera that I don't see it as a major flub. Or even a flub at all without knowing the writers' intent.

I know we've talked a lot about which elements of classic Law & Order are back and which are underused, but I have to mention that I loved the winter hats on the detectives in the opening. With Bernards current beard he could totally pull of Ceretta's Cossack hat. I wonder if they still have it in storage? And speaking of classic tropes I also loved the ridiculously public arrest/questioning of a public figure. Between the 27 and SVU Deputy Commissioner of Public Information in the L&Overse must be like being the drummer in Spinal Tap.

The Good: No Rollins. Addition by subtraction. Lots of Fin and Velasco. Whenever they are on screen the show is a lot more like classic SVU than the slog that is all too typical of the last decade. They actually gave us a Velasco episode that wasn't just a Benson episode in disguise. The guest cast. As usual the show does a great job finding actors to fill these guest spots and proves that the issues with main cast acting is not a matter of directing, but the stars themselves. The ADA pinch hitting for Carisi. While I would have loved to have seen Carisi he was really good and could be written as bit more "separate yet equally important" than the regular SVU ADAs. It was nice that the writers remembered how to do that without making him some sort of villain or political hack. The Bad: Is Benson really talking smack about someone getting promoted to Captain despite not having the best track record? Really? Really?? What's next Rollins talking about someone being still on duty despite obviously being mentally and emotionally unstable? It could have worked if they had Fin say something privately, either defending him to Liv and pointing out that the entire squad had done it including her many times, or explaining to Velasco how it was a hazzard of the job that had gotten a lot of SVU detectives in trouble, but as written it was just glaring hypocrisy. It was all a bit predictable. I really wish they would start to occasionally cast against type. Just like with Jim True-Frost it's hard for your shocking twist to be shocking when you cast someone who always turns out to be the perp. Overall this was a solid episode, above average and engaging, It lacked the nuance and polish to be truly great but it was certainly very good. Even Mariska managed to keep the overacting dialed down to about an 8 instead of her usual 11.

I really liked this week. It was a great example of what he does best which is to point out the utter absurdity that makes something deeply depressing completely hilarious. Also it's always nice when some of the old Daily Show is there. Besides Rob Corddry nailing it as the trucker I am 99% sure I heard Rob Riggle as one of the VO guys.

IIRC they DID do a spin off mini series set in LA. A couple actually, albeit only one planned as mini series...

Yes this is an SVU crossover I'm actually looking forward to! Maybe the episode after this will feature Fin stopping by for an hour of calling Elliot a jerk and teaming up with Bell to snark about white privilege?

Something I ran across on the internet today - 42nd Street | 1981 Tony Awards Of course Jerry Orbach is great, but on another L&O note, I couldn't help thinking that JK Simmons would be incredible in the role assuming he could handle the musical aspects. (Yes I know he can sing and has done musical roles, but I'm not sure if some of it isn't a bit above his range.)

Isn't that kind of the point?

He wasn't saying it was a federal crime for the FBI to be searching, he was saying it was a federal crime scene so the FBI was there searching. It wasn't particularly clear, but that was actaually decent writing since Jon Glaser was supposed to be a bit unhinged and just trying to muddy the waters.

The Good: Velasco. It was nice to see him getting some solid material, even if it was the 5000th time we've seen one of the squad just coincidentally stumble upon a sex crime that the squad then investigates like conflict of interest isn't a thing. The actor and character are interesting and most importantly new and it helps make these old stories tolerable and at least mildly interesting. The COTW execution. The concept is beyond tired, but the story flowed well without any crazy twists or being too straightforward. It used a lot of old SVU tropes, but I liked that they just went and tried to do them as good as they could and didn't try to shock us with an illogical out of nowhere swerve or going OTT and trying to do what they've done, but just moreso. Fin. He got some solid material this week. Also some solid wardrobe this week instead of just that checked shirt. I wish they gave him a little more, especially mentoring Velasco, but what he got was good. Carisi. Another good week for him with a lot of actual courtroom material. The Bad: Benson. For all of the usual reasons. If the show isn't going to write anything new for her neither am I. No Rollins! Although they still spent too much time talking about her and giving us Rollins family drama by proxy. The opening, Have I mentioned how much I hate these poorly executed montage openings with overbearing musical cues? I have? 200 times? Well if the show is going to repeat itself so am I. Even though the execution was solid and competent it was still yet another rehash of rich white CEO abuses power, he said, she said case. Overall this was OK. A competent telling of the same old story, tolerable mostly because the new guy was at the center and they actually gave us the whole trial so there was at least something a little bit different. Could have been better, could have been a lot worse.

In the words of Avenue Q EVERYONE's a little bit racist. I personally saw them as going for unconscious beliefs rather than explicit racism per se. And it was also about Bernard having fun by going against people's assumptions about him as a Black man from South Central, which is a nice bit of continuity and characterization keeping up with what was established previously.

Talk about an open and shut case. I mean he only started a few months ago and he's only there like half the time! Unless it's not a trial, but an IA hearing to investigate what he and Fin are doing while Benson has blown the OT budget for the entire Detective Bureau?

It makes tons of sense. First Hudson is supposed to be a prestigious institution of higher learning (basically some combination of NYU and Columbia along with whatever Ivy League school has criminal headlines to rip from) which is more "concerned about preserving it's reputation above all else" rather than ideologically racist and sexist. Like all higher end colleges and universities the admin and much of the student body is probably "woke" even though there are plenty of alumni, individuals, and students who are ultra racist and sexist, many of which have considerable money and clout. And there are plenty of middle management types who are ruthlessly pragmatic and amoral. The Board of Trustees represents all of those POVs and the only move after all the scandals they've experienced is to hire a female president, preferably a POC. Some will see it as real change, some will see it as PR, but it is absolutely what the school would do in real life, I sort of agree with you, but OTOH the Hate Crimes episodes have generally been the best of the season so maybe they should keep using their crossover outlines? It's probably not just saltiness, but evidence that the reports that the series order was cancelled after they had started hiring actors were true. Dick Wolf is going to make sure that if they are paying actors for options they are damn well going to put them on screen. As far as more cops is concerned they have Olivia Benson. That's all they need. I thought the hate crime aspect was really interesting and liked it too. Which is why it was disappointing that they never really got into it. I mean there would be a line about how it was a bit of a distraction and could make it harder to get a conviction for only 3 years added to the sentence, but then they just moved on right away. They could have gone from good to excellent if they actually had some real discussion and debate.

Not the only one who liked it. I think it was a solid outing that feels like what I was hoping for - something that feels like what would happen if the series had never been cancelled and was still airing today. It was a good episode and not just in comparison to the average SVU episode. I think a lot of the complaints I've seen here are things that were always there, but have faded in the mists of time and faded memory, like an episode based on a recent case or revisiting something they have done before. Or the show's look evolving - personally I think the stylistic difference between S1 and S20 is a lot more than the difference between S20 and S21.

McCoy's boss is easy - he is the District Attorney Of New York County (Manhattan) so he IS the boss. He answers to the voters as an independently elected official. Carisi's boss is both tougher and simpler. As @Xeliou66 said above it is most likely the Bureau Chief is his direct supervisor, although the series has always been unclear on how the org chart works with SVU ADAs. In reality though his boss is Olivia Benson like everyone else in the series from Patrolman to POTUS.

The Good: Fin! Lots of great snark and interactions with the spoiled rich white kids. We needed some Velasco too, but I'll take what I can get. Carisi. Good to see him getting lots to do without making him subordinate to Benson or a detective in all but name. And we got some good courtroom action! It was nice to see them trying to do some comedic bits like with Carisi's mom and McGrath talking about his affect. I wish it was executed better, but it was nice to see them trying to lighten things up a bit. The COTW. They managed to find a new spin on sexually based offenses, even if it was just because they have the option on Jason Biggs and are trying to use their story ideas for Hate Crimes (either to show it can work or because they have given up on it and have the outline for their SVU crossover in a drawer.) The guest cast. Great as always, especially the employees who hated the club d-bags. Rollins was largely in the background after the opening. The Bad: Velasco was MIA. Why are they wasting a good character and actor? Are they really at the point where even their young and cheap talent can only be half-time? The legal side of the hate crime element was really underdeveloped. We really needed more discussion of the problems and risks of the strategy. It was sort of mentioned and then never developed. The sledgehammer of an ending. Between Benson's speechifying and the music swelling I nearly shut it off before the promo. I mean it's not like they were particularly subtle, or have been for the past 15 years or so, did they think we would miss the point? Not liking that they are still pulling the 8th floor nonsense. And speaking of missed opportunities this would have been where a Jack McCoy crossover cameo would have been really great if they could have been bothered to actually explore the interesting and new legal issue they came up with. Overall this was solid to pretty good. If I was the showrunner this is the episode I would have used to pair with the Mothership return, with a few tweaks (add Velasco and McCoy, cut some of the material with the Chief of D-Bags) to try to bring back some lapsed viewers. Not as good as the run before the break, or even the Mothership episode before it, but still above replacement level television and it wasn't a waste of time so it was better than the last couple episodes.

Yeah but social media "influencers" getting credit for trends despite all evidence to the contrary has been "a thing" for even longer than that so I don't mind it at all. I mean it's not like she was presented as someone with a lot of depth and knowledge. I'll allow it but they need to watch themselves!

It's a joke based on the saying "even a stopped clock is right twice day." Jock is slang for disc jockey as in the phrase "shock jock" which Faux Rogan certainly qualifies as. And he was dropped by Jim True-Fost's CEO character whose name I can't remember in the "surprise" ending.

I guess it's true what they say. Even a dropped jock is right twice a day.

Yeah but we never saw Stabler in the news onscreen and it's actually plausibe that he's been keeping a fairly low profile working for OCCB and that NYPD would ask for and receive media cooperation in not releasing his picture to try to protect his family from further danger. SVU is far more unbelievable with Olivia freaking Benson who is regularly on TV including with the freaking current POTUS going undercover repeatedly, including at a pharmaceutical industry (one of the biggest sponsors of those news programs we've seen her on) conference...