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But now they have - twice! The squad has an FBI agent plus they have Rollins as a brilliant criminal profiler. That's just as good. Right? Right? Why are you all giving me that look?

The Good: Bruno! It's a shame that budget fuckery is keeping us from getting Kevin Kane full time. Both the character and the actor make every episode better than those without him. The COTW. A solid story with a good old school team investigation. Nothing flashy, but nothing too overdone or repetitive. Carisi. It is nice to see an ADA who is not the bad guy for wanting to be able to prosecute the offenders and to have him as an ally, but independent. Separate yet equally important if you will. No therapy scene! Are we finally done with Maddie? The Bad: Speaking as we were about budget fuckery - it's an all hands on deck situation with "forced OT" but Velasco is MIA? Especially on a case where a Latino presence would be useful? And they can't even bother to give us a "Munch is in court" line of dialogue to explain? Or give the new girls something more substantial to do? It would seem from a creative and budget standpoint we'd be better off with Velasco this week and maybe bring in the replacements for another episode. Mariska. Boy was there a lot of whispered platitudes and constipated faces this week. All in the service of Benson as savior once again who can turn cure mental illness with just the power of her empathy. Speaking of BS (Benson Stuff) that ending was vomit inducing and did a lot to squander the good will that built up. If it wasn't bad enough that we had to be sure everyone knew that Benson healed everyone we had to suffer through her blathering about angels and how art is turning your suffering into beauty? Overall this was another meh episode. A lot of solid bits, but also a lot of wasted potential as they were too busy servicing the star's ego to actually tell the interesting story that was there. It served mostly as a reminder that nobody is bothering to even try to reign in Mariska and that Hate Crimes would be much better than what they are putting on the air and deciding to pick a fight over casting and issues based story telling with Dick Wolf is a monumentally stupid idea.

Chase Bank to SNL: Thanks But No Thanks

But then you would need more therapy. It's all about building customer loyalty...

Unfortunately as much as I would love the idea of a grand sendoff next year I think it is more likely simply a matter of incompetence and ego. This is still the top scripted drama on NBC and Peacock (yes it's damning with faint praise, but still..) and there doesn't seem to be a successor in place with Organized Crime still in turmoil and the mothership being forced to become more like the zombified corpse of SVU. If they seem to be setting up Meloni coming back or actually put Hate Crimes into production I'd be thinking endgame, but this feels to me more like there nobody left able or willing to standup to Mariska when she comes up with ideas like "we should really explore Benson's psyche this season." and say "We have explored it already. Mapped and charted. Established settlements. Committed ethnic cleansing against the natives. Had our claims recognized by treaty and international conference. Dealt with the independence movement and decolonization years ago." and moved on to something actually new. If next year is the final season it will mean that NBC can't come to an agreement on a new contract with Mariska and I doubt Dick Wolf would allow them to start laying the groundwork already.

While I agree with you it is unfortunately not going to change as it is one of those elements that is almost certainly being imposed from above to "modernize" the show (like showing the crime more often than not and all those foot chases) and make it more like present day SVU which also does the same thing with the background music in the sound mix as do a number of other current procedurals. I would also bet that they do it because beating the viewer over the head with the musical cues lets you cut corners in a lot of other areas. Why use time and money you don't have any more for transitions and another edit when you can just turn up the volume on the music?

Maybe you just love rock 'n' roll?

The Good: The COTW. It was old school SVU even down to the classic trope of finding a reason to have them working a case that there is absolutely no way they should be handling. The guest cast. Some solid performances that helped sell some material that was otherwise in the danger zone of being too overwrought for serious drama, but not enough to work as camp. Carisi. I wish we had gotten more of him, but what we had was pretty good. Fin. Especially for being actually allowed to call out Benson a bit! The Bad: We're still doing the whole therapy thing? Because we don't have enough of Benson feeling sorry for herself. And the flashback just serves to remind us of how far we have fallen. While I like the actress they still haven't quite figured out what the heck to do with another Captain in the squad and seem to want to have it all ways at once. She is a veteran cop and investigator who can barely handle bodies and blood. But Fin is wrong to not immediately warm up to her because girl power and all which Benson understands. But Benson also treats her like a rookie because we don't know how to write exposition without Benson giving orders and being the only one who knows what they are doing. Mariska's ego. Speaking of Benson being a know it all jerk - if we are going to look to old episodes why not watch the rest and learn how you can have your leading characters front and center without doing everything themselves? Or at least some semblance of working together? The tech in the garage shouldn't have let that car "accidentally" slip a bit when Benson charged in. Overall this was a by the numbers plot, solid yet unspectacular, but it could have still been a good episode, if some of the time that was devoted to the further beatification of Olivia Benson was spent actually examining the moral complexities hinted at and then left for a couple lines of dialogue in the bar scene, or maybe going somewhere with a victim/perp who falls outside of the usual for the series? What is the point of bringing us therapy sessions with a protagonist who can never be truly wrong or grow? It is apparent that everything Chernuchin and Leight did to try to find ways to channel and contain Mariska's ego has been flushed and we are rapidly heading back to season 18 levels of All Benson All The Time. At least TPTB do seem to have learned some lessons about still doing different types of cases to show us why Benson is always right and will always save the special victims...

I remember hearing that too. Of course Palpatine can always use one of the many MacGuffin grade GPS (Galactic Position Sith) system artifacts/doohickeys that the bad guys seem to have in abundance...

Yes but that was SVU where working with Benson is automatically a promotion no matter what your position is. Seriously though it was Warren Leight writing (who has pretty much gone on record saying he doesn't give a crap about the legal side of the franchise) and there was a lot of material there about the DA's office that has been handwaved away like the evil "new DA". She'd have lost the case.

The Executive ADA has always been the second in command in the L&Overse going back to at least early in Jack's run (I don't think it was ever clearly laid out during the Stone years although Greevey did remark he was a higher up back in one of the pilots IIRC). So if they wanted to give TG a little breathing room and pinch some pennies this was nice continuity. I was reminded too. Unfortunately the headlines they are ripping from haven't changed that much either...

The Good: The COTW. A solid investigation with the squad all working together and everything progressing naturally with no glaring short cuts or loose ends. It felt a lot like old school SVU with a mix of investigative methods and interrogation tactics and not just one investigator and a couple cops doing a bit of leg work. The new blood. I still can't forget how ridiculous it is that we have gone from not being able to a uni wtaching the door anymore to Major Crimes levels of staffing with 2 captains questioning a suspect and an FBI agent on call (was McGrath not just a d-bag, but embezzling as well? Maybe IAB should be looking at that instead of going off looking to back on the street?), but it is nice having an actual team feeling and allowing cast to have the week off without leaving nobody running the store. Bruno. The best addition to this series in ages. He fits nicely into the Fin/Munch mold without being a carbon copy and has had more development as an extra than any main cast member since Carisi. No Maddie. Addition by subtraction. The Bad: Even if the Benson worship has toned down, the writers still feel the need to have her as the expert and source of all authority, even for people who aren't actually working for her. They should go back and watch some old episodes to see how a CO can work with a consulting FBI agent. For instance asking if they can use their connections to expedite a VICAP search instead of it being their idea and order. The weird stylized lighting and set designs they have gone with over the last decade or so really looked off here. Every scene in the school came off like they were on a bad green screen. The ending. Between the whole Ladies Social Club vibe it's a bad idea to have the ending based on Mariska's ability to convey nuanced emotions via facial expression. Overall this was a solid episode, even a good one. I think a whole series devoted to the concept of an elite squad investigated sexually based offenses might actually work better than one devoted to the life and mind of one commanding officer. Who could have figured?

Let me guess - the Iced-Tea will be really good, and the Peter Scone-ivino will look great, but you only get tiny servings because they insist that what you really want is more of the Captain Liv Flat White...

There are victims who earn more than $150K per year. There are also victims with inherited money, and people who use non disposable money to invest - after all why not cash out your 401K and get in on the ground floor of this great investment which is up 23% for the year? Or take the money from your home equity line of credit since the returns are so much higher than the APR. I haven't necessarily seen this particular variation, but in my work I have seen plenty of scams and various bad investments including "legitimate" crypto and there are more people out there than you think who can find $250-500K. Social media is one place scammers find victims. They also buy or hack the same contact lists used by luxury marketers and financial advisors. And sometimes it's like telemarketing where you simply keep "dialing" until you get a live one. There are a lot of business models fraudsters use.

I completely agree that adding new blood is needed and that more recurring characters is a good thing. And that the way they are going about it is beyond ridiculous. I mean I can understand bad choices motivated by money (not making Kevin Kane a regular) but I can't forgive bad writing motivated only by laziness and the idea that Benson is the messiah of victims everywhere.

She still will be the only woman - this is mostly about the show hearing the criticism that only 5 cast members with 1 or 2 off for multiple episodes wasn't enough so there are now 4 regulars and recurring cast members rotating in and out. I will bet that there will not be another younger actress added to the regular cast even if one of the current cast departs however as it seems like Mariska will not allow that for any length of time.

Exactly. English is the Lingua Franca (Lingua Anglo?) of science and would be spoken by high level international students from all countries. And having the classes in English instead of subtitles means we get Robert Picardo so why not? Speaking of about time don't you mean "like he will do"? As a TEXAS coach though? He should be trying to poach players from other districts and finding fake addresses for them to "move" to, leading prohibited off season team work outs, watching tape, etc. I guess this explains why they haven't had consistent success...

Only unexpected if you haven't seen one of his other 87 episodes in the franchise! 🙂 Much like Jim True-Frost he is so good and so likeable at these roles that the audience comes to know who it is, no matter how many twists and red herrings it takes to get there. It would have been nice if just once they turned out to be nice guys after all or framed by the real killer. That would have been a REAL twist!

Yikes could you feel the bad vibes coming through during the good nights with backs turned, cast deliberately keeping their distance, etc. I wonder how much of a jerk this guy must have been for so much of the cast to be so public about their distaste? Or maybe he has less pull or they feel he did less to "earn" the hosting slot than some of the previous controversial choices?

Hey now. Let's not give the writers any impression that the viewers think that ignoring Noah's existence is a BAD idea! I do wonder though if IAB has ever investigated how Benson can pay her child care bills. I mean Lucy is now retired at 27 after all those 80 hour weeks and not having to pay NYC rents since she was always either sleeping on Benson's couch or in protective custody... No - they are adding themselves and pulling strings to do so because Benson is just so special that everyone wants to go work for her.

The Good: This obnoxious arc is over. Although it really defeats the purpose of the story, both apparent and stated, to have a victory so soon (even if it feels like this began before Meloni left the first time) and I fully expect callbacks I am just happy to see the end of this nonsense that is so far up it's own butt I feel like billing Mariska's health insurance for a colonoscopy. Fin. Some old school Fin snark. I loooved that he ate the donuts "under protest" and was the only one willing to point out to Benson that she was acting more than a little unhinged. A little clumsy at times, but Ice-T at least can play the hits without going nuts unlike Mariska. Carisi. Even if we are slipping back into the "evil 8th floor" nonsense on this night of all nights for the franchise, it was still good to see an ADA looking for a successful prosecution without being painted as the bad guy. The Bad: So we really are going through with 2 captains on the same squad?! Seriously? I mean previously we were asked to believe budgets were so tight we only had 3 detectives and even the extras were trimmed to the bone and now they can afford a captain's salary in a non-leadership position? I do like solving the casting budget issues by rotating recurring cast, and I like the actress, but this is just too much work for us as an audience to suspend disbelief for too little. This is the worst Benson worshipping self-aggrandizing nonsense since Mariska literally staged herself as an angel (remember the brightly lit white outfit in that episode she directed?) with us expected to believe that she is an action hero and a psychiatrist all in one. And again we have someone who worked their butt off to get where she is and wants to go work for Benson just because she is so special? A special and separate entry for all of the Benson whispering while she makes a constipated face. Really makes me think that they have given up on all of the good work they have done over the last half decade or so reeling in Mariska a bit. Overall this was painful. Simply dreadful from start to finish with every scene reflective of the worst aspects of the past decade of the show. It was mostly competently executed as far as the plot mechanics are concerned, but that only makes it worse. If it was rushed and sloppy I would at least believe they were bailing out, but it feels like this was the plan all along. Because we couldn't actually see the squad doing a good job, but not having the case go down or only being solved after the victim was hurt or killed. What a flaming pile of turds.

In case anybody is wondering why the main story isn't on YouTube (officially) yet - HBO Delays Posting ‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’ Clips to YouTube in Hopes of Signing Up More Max Subscribers HBO Delays ‘Last Week Tonight’ Main Story Release On YouTube; John Oliver Hopes Network Reconsiders I think this is another piece of evidence that despite John's self deprecating remarks the show really isn't any danger of cancellation no matter how much he may annoy his "business daddy" and their PR staff at times. They would not be trying this unless there was a crapload of views and some strong numbers concerning audience engagement.

Having Amy Ryan in the cast is never a good reason NOT to watch something...

You forgot "gratuitous Maddie mention" and "Liv being told she is still the best investigator ever" but otherwise a pretty good summary.

But that would mean ditching one of the few things about the series that has worked from the beginning, And they aren't even to the 6th season and syndication where raises usually become an issue. So I don't see it happening unless it is part of the BTS turmoil that has lead to the constant retooling and characters shuffling in and out. If anything to save money they will let Stabler's family go back off screen and keep shuffling the blandly attractive and underwritten male detectives in and out.