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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.

‘Saturday Night Live’ star Colin Jost selected as White House Correspondents Dinner headliner

It's not about not having room on the screen it's about not having room in the budget. They can do 4 and recurring characters to actually have a team or they can have 5 regular cast members who take episodes off with no one to fill in and we have Carisi randomly in the field or have even more Benson than usual with Velasco getting coffee and doing any running. Honestly if there is a Season 27 I would not be surprised to see Mariska, Ice-T and either Pisano, Scanavino, or Kane moved up with everyone else being recurring. He was the family of a special victim so he gets a free pass. Rules are rules after all...

That would have been how the episode ended during the original run. Maybe even after having McCoy negotiate some sort of deal with the US Attorney's Office and then revealing that they deliberately left a loophole in the deal and the testimony they elicited at trial opened him up to charges with longer time attached. I did like the legal side of the show better than most of the reboot, but it still was checkers vs. the chess of the OG run.

The Good: Fin. It's nice to see the writers remembering that he and Liv go way back and he is supposed to be her second in command and confidante. And having him as the voice of reason and pointing out that the plot is nonsense. Also the show is always better when he's actively involved in the investigation. The guest cast. They elevated a lot of overwrought overly familiar material to a watchable level. Bruno. It's a shame he can't be made a full fledged main cast member so Dick Wolf can buy a bigger yacht and Mariska can tell herself that the biggest paycheck means she is the best actress in television. Carisi. He should have had a bigger role early on, but he had some nice moments. And it's nice that they didn't crap on the DAs office with some nonsense about McGrath pulling strings with his bosses. McGrath seems to be being written out? Halle freaking lujah! The Bad: The opener. More wallowing in Benson's noble martyrdom and after all these years they still haven't learned to write a therapy session? Every time we think this interminable Maddie storyline can't go any lower Mariska is like "hold my tears"... Speaking of not knowing how to write what should be SVU 101, what terrible interviews. I mean any defense attorney worth their fee could point out the leading questions and how Benson was pushing a narrative from the jump. Why are we bringing in IAB other than some sort of misguided girl power storyline? Shouldn't Carisi have been her 1st call? Why wait for IAB to point out the obvious? If not Carisi then surely knowing what was going on 1PP should have been brought in? But I guess with the budget cuts they needed to find a reason to bring in another investigator since this was Velasco's week off? The ending. Everyone tells Benson again what a super special snowflake she is even when she is ruining their life. And then we are supposed to believe that SVU can bring in another captain or that a captain would voluntarily give up their rank to work for Benson? I like the actress and maybe she is old enough and different enough from Mariska for her not to feel threatened and sandbag her like all of the other new women brought in since KG? I guess this means Jasmine Batchelor has found other work and isn't going to hope that if she takes day rates for a couple more years she can be hired on FBI IT: Services Division? Overall this was another solid, if clliched COTW dragged down by the Maddie arc and Mariska's ego. It is probably the best of the season, and it's a shame that so much time was wasted on BS(Benson Stuff) as it could have easily been an actually good episode.

I'm not sure I'd fully agree. I think the best episodes of the revival are certainly of a comparable or better level of quality as Season 17... I think some of the problems with the writing are really issues with the budget and meddling network execs trying to "modernize" the show and keep the tone more consistent with the spinoffs. The interviews with stereotypical New Yorkers mean hiring many more actors in speaking roles and take time that is now used for commercials. Even some of the legal side is about trying to create cheap drama without any additional speaking roles to some extent. Although more of that is probably about the younger writers who were good at creating drama with tightly plotted dialogue are now being given their own shows on Netflix (until they are cancelled after 9 episodes) and about a feeling that sitting around the DA's office debating the issues is old fashioned and boring on the part of those aforementioned NBC executives and we need to have Drama with big moments that are created by having the lawyers being completely unprepared. Those commercials are so 90's/00's like the semi-comedic cold opens finding dead bodies instead of showing us the crimes and grabbing viewer interest with cleverly constructed investigations instead of low budget chase scenes and wannabe Perry Mason moments mid-trial...

The Good: The COTW. A solid investigation the proceeded step by step in old school SVU fashion (if a bit stripped down due to cast/budget cuts and the time needed for Benson's personal drama) with the squad acting as a team with the DA's office to investigate a sexually based offense. And it was nice to see the writers actually bothering to find an interesting angle that hadn't been done to death yet. Fin. It is always nice to see Ice_T getting some decent material and actually be motivated to do more than phone it in. The guest cast. In particular the victim and the call girl who did a nice job and avoided going OTT. The Bad: The opening. Clunky to the point of verging on self parody at times - especially Bruno the sensitive and understanding cop and nobody but Benson being able to exercise some judgement and discretion. Benson. Speaking of OTT bad acting... At least she was off to the side and we could ignore or FF most of her nonsense. The Maddie subplot continues. There is actually a good idea here for adding something new to a very tired formula without requiring any extra money or new cast. A case that doesn't go down right away or maybe even at all followed over the course of a season while other cases come and go would be interesting and add some realism and a new way of showing the emotional and psychological effect on the investigators. This is just yet another indulgence to Mariska's ego and telling us how incredibly special Benson is without ever actually showing us and is a drag on the show rather than a boost. Overall this was a solid episode. The non-Benson parts were a B+ and the Benson scenes were a D-. Probably a B-/C+, but at least it was an interesting disappointment and after the last two thudding mediocrities that's something.

I don't think anything's been announced one way or the other. They could still be setting up an arc, or they could be going more episodic and only doing Stabler's family as an arc given the shorter season and the fact that there are century old GM factories that haven't been retooled as much as this series. Speaking of Wheatley I am wondering if they are going with AI guy as a mole and if it was going to turn out he was somehow connected to Wheatley...

Nah - Law & Order SBU: Special Benson Unit. Market research indicates that 58% of viewers wouldn't even notice!

I guess in this anology "random mugging/robbery" is lupus?