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I think at this point we can pretty much assume that both the audience and the writers have forgotten farther back than last month. And even if we didn't they've pretty much done every plot twice other than a few crazy monkey in a basketball type stories that they no longer have the personnel or budget to do these days. My theory is that it was all a comedy of errors situation. McGrath was in Benson;s office while Rollins was escorting a Fordham admin. He was telling Benson that Rollins was a "complete psycho" when they arrived at the door. McGrath thought she was bringing in the union lawyer and quickly added "logical profiling expert" and it all snowballed from there. My other theory is that it's all a plot by Nicole Wallace to torture Goren by having her paraded in the local media as a NYPD detective who is a leading expert in criminal psychology, Nope. Unless Mariska takes a massive pay cut they can't make the numbers work. And even if they could make the budget they would still have the creative issue of too few characters and no new dynamics to work with.

The Good: TWO cases? You can actually have an A and B plot without one of them being soapy nonsense? With witnesses and CSU techs and ME visits and NYC color and everything? Be still my heart. They seem to be really running with the new direction of having the squad acting like professional investigators instead of middle school kids. I'm not sure if it's the writers and producers coming to a long overdue realization or Mariska being worrited they are stealing her thunder, but it's welcome regardless. Carisi. They actually did a nice job of having him in the field without making it feel like he was a detective again. Fin and Velasco - they both got solid material with some nice dialogue and seem to be back to the old Fin and Carisi dynamic of calm professionalism and crisp dialogue. A nice ensemble feel. Everyone got something to do. You can actually have a clear lead without having everyone else as glorified extras! Heck the elite detectives of the Special Victims Unit can actually solve cases without being supervised every step of the way! Maybe this can be a regular thing? The Bad: More Benson hypocrisy. How do they expect us to buy Benson as the voice of reason without even a passing mention of learning from her mistakes? Mariska's acting was particularly wooden this week.I feel sorry for Scanavino having to play off someone alternating between broad and nothing.She even seemed kind of flat with Chris Meloni, who usually brings out the best in her even when they are doing shippy soapy crap I hate. The staging and editing of the final scene. The viewers that are excited are already excited and the rest already know it's a big deal. Stop trying so hard show - we get it without the muscial cues and everything. Maybe don't try so hard to cater to the shippers and try to convince us that you didn't make a toral hash out of the last time we had them together and focus on actually giving us a cliffhanger for the case? Overall this was a solid episode with an old school SVU feel, albeit from the later Neal Baer years before it went gloriously over the top - a bit overly gothic and overstuffed at times, but still enjoyable and an actual procedural instead of a soap. And lots of the classic formula that has gone missing in the past half decade plus of constantly shrinking budgets and expanding diva ego. Possibly the best episode of the season - let's hope the crossover doesn't ruin it in retrospect. It actually felt like it was doing something other than filling an episode order and was worth watching. I was actually pleasantly surprised.

You're so right. That's completely OTT and unrealistic! I mean could anyone be so successful and not at least have people to stop him from acting like that in public? The writers should be ashamed for expecting us to believe that! Never mind...

The Good: Fin is back! And actually played a big role, even if he should have gotten more to do in the beginning. At least they let him have the end and show us and Benson how these conversations can be handled without losing sight of what your actual job is or thinking you are some sort of guru. It was old school SVU in a good way. It is nice to see that they seem to be committed to having all the squad acting like actual professional investigators. Or at least everyone except the CO. An interesting idea. Nothing really new of course, but that's a function of being on air since the Nixon administration. Still a strong concept to build an episode around if you can execute it competently. Carisi. The courtroom scenes are a real strength and the legal side has been very strong - in part because they can't have Carisi falling in love with Benson or go too far in making him the enemy for wanting actual evidence that can get a guilty verdict as both the viewers and the squad know whose side he is on. The Bad: The opener. It was excruciatingly long and did not hold my interest at all. It just felt like we could have lost most of it and then left the exposition to the investigation. We really don't need you to beat us over the head with who we're supposed to sympathize with us show. It would have been much more interesting if we opened on the squadroom and the cut to the bus being set on fire as it would have been an actual dramatic moment to catch and hold our interest. Holy cow was the Benson Stuff piling up deep this week. "Let's take back your power"? Seriously??? Did the SVU writers go on strike early? Or is Dick Wolf leading the charge on ChatGPT scripting? Overall this was another meh episode in a string of meh episodes. Strong moments and some great acting, but mostly another strong idea with weak execution and Mariska's dollar store therapy sessions with the victim. Resolved: NBC should announce that the next season will be the last and give the fans what they want and deserve.

I would imagine so. Yes it is a a production covered by the WGA. Yes John is supportive. But it's not just his personal beliefs. There are other issues involved as some of us who were watching John during the last strike may remember - https://www.cc.com/video/ixq99m/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-olivers-on-the-strike

If there is one thing we have learned over the years it's that the 2-7, much like Walt Whitman contains multitudes...

I'm not sure the plots are any more preposterous than they have been for over a decade now. The issue is that they don't have the writing and acting chops to pull it off when they want to try to shake things up with something more out there. And it's probably better than the more realistic acquaintance rape and exploitation of power dynamics by sexual abuser stories that will inevitably result in Benson's whispering healing the victims. I pinged on it, but did not mention it because I thought there was a very good chance that they were going for something else and it was just yet another example of Hargitay and the writers not knowing how to do what they used to do so well. There have been many moments throughout the series where the detectives have mused on what someone could have done to motivate a crime - and given the circumstances and relationship it's natural to speculate. If the line had been delivered with less earnestness and they had Bruno push back a bit it could have been a much needed moment of (admitedly very dark) humor. This is something the show used to do so well and that line was one of about 5000 missed opportunities. You could have had Muncy and Benson bonding a bit teasing Bruno about how he was just being overly sensitive as a rich white guy identifying with the victim, or simply had her saying that something must have motivated the wife to do something so drastic and some quip about the life insurance payout being better than the pre-nup or if she was really cruel she would have used a knife. It also helped in the past that the characters engaging in this sort of speculation weren't in the habit of forgiving some perps while relentlessly pursuing others based solely upon gender...

The Good: They managed to do a halfway decent job of depicting the crime in the opener. Pacing was decent and it lacked most of the usual sound mixing issues or overbearing music cues. It actually left a feeling that there could be something more to it without coming out of left field. Carisi. It was nice to see him appropriately front and center and not taking orders from Benson. Bruno. It's nice to see a cop who actually acts like a cop with the personal stories in the background. Speaking of professionalism it was nice to see them writing Muncy as something other than a clueless newbie who has never watched a decent police procedural much less been a cop. The Bad: No Fin. Bruno is a competent professional with an air of slightly bemused detachment, but this case really could have used some of Fin's snark about rich people and the political aspects of the system. The whole Velasco tracking down his old friend plot. And Benson treating it as something he had to do to prove himself and earn some sort of redemption. There should be a mothership crossover where they teach SVU how to run an effective investigation and SVU shows them how to recognize an actual female cult leader who is not a front for some man behind the curtain. It took time away from what could have actually been a nuanced story focused on the complexities and moral ambiguities. They did give us the anvil drop musical cues and cheesy editing during the whole Oprah moment between Liv and Maxwell. Given her age and position to suggest she needs Benson to reassure her about her personal choices and how to navigate life as a powerful woman is beyond ridiculous. The barroom scene. All of the actors did a pretty good job, but you can only polish a turd so much. Even in this dumpster fire of a plot this was a particularly leaden piece of scripting and shot with all the grace and subtlety of an elephant on ice skates. The ending. What a hypocritical bitch Benson is. And it's not like there was even any sort of self-awareness demonstrated about what Benson demands of others versus how she is perfectly fine letting others get away with murder because of their situation in life. i mean at least Carisi seemed to actually be aware of everything and appropriately upset but knowing he can't say what everyone was thinking out loud. Overall this was yet another meh episode. Not nearly the trainwreck it could have been, but also yet another waste of a good premise. And ending with Benson as judge, jury, lord and savior. The only glimmer of hope is that it appears they have realized that they need to start building up the new cast members. I mean I'm sorry Mariska doesn't like having younger attractive women she doesn't like around and that they keep jerking them around on the budget, but don't punish the viewers.

Did you know he did Sudoku? Uh yeah. Yeah, I guess he did them. I, I think I - I think I did...

it depends on if there is a strike and how long it lasts. Since SVU will be done filming(or almost done) by the May 1st deadline it depends on if the strike lasts long enough to delay next season's premiere. Beyond shooting schedules, the issues are mostly about cable and streaming so it shouldn't greatly affect the budgets. And unfortunately I doubt that the WGA will be able to negotiate for minimum quality standards in scripting!

I'm would not be particularly interested either. But yes the original character or the potential evolution at the end does have potential. I'm just looking at it from the perspective of what you can do that is connected, but not too connected. The easiest sale would be something with Raj - perhaps take a cue from Frasier and go with what they had set up in turning him into a Neil deGrasse Tyson popular science media figure, but I would bet if that was what they were developing they would announce KN was signed. And I think Kevin Sussman is talented and they could rework the character into something interesting by picking up some of the ideas they never developed. I will check it out no matter what they do if i still have Max by the time it comes out. They've surprised me in what they have done with spinoffs I had no interest in before...

It's more likely Carisi goes off to join her in academia then she returns. While the numbers are still better than the alternatives the overall viewership is stagnant or slowly declining and they've pretty much maxed out the revenue NBC/Peacock can get from first run. And as long as Dick Wolf insists on not putting any of his money up front and Mariska keeps her share they simply can't keep too many veterans after their initial contracts are up - and given the size of the current cast and Ice T being almost emeritus status they can't even do too much of the "X is in court/on a case out of town" musical chairs thing these days. Or to paraphrase one of the great American poets - "'Dick Wolf says 'These jobs are going, boys. And they ain't coming back.' To your old show.'"

A big @$$ deal. (More like @$$$$$$$$ actually) With Nine Shows on the Air, Dick Wolf Extends Overall Deal at Universal Television Through 2027 I would speculate that both the Peacock situation and the renewals (or at least the timing of the decision/announcement) were connected to this overall deal renewal. Of course given that it's Peacock it could also be connected to the Adderall shortage and some details getting past the Peacock VP of Streaming and Microwave Programming after they finish pulling a double shift as assistant manager of the 30 Rock snack bar, but the timing seems too coincidental.

Based upon the descriptions I am thinking it will most likely be about the university or about Stuart. It would be familiar enough to be the same world and allow for guest appearances without wondering every week where the OG crew are. I could also see a Paige spinoff or perhaps Medford outside of the Cooper family, but that is a "smaller" world with more continuity issues for any guest spots, We'll have to see if and when it gets on the air - after Young Sheldon I am not going to dismiss anything out of hand as I was one of the people who expected it to disappear after 13 not so good episodes.

I did too. I was totally expecting that the stunt was going to be he was going to send them and pay fines and legal fees. To me that was scarier than any of the actually stated assertions or evidence. I mean the law has to be totally rigged if even LWT's legal team is saying "nah we can't screw with them John"!

Yeah it's almost like Dick Wolf and NBC making casting decisions based on money and then allowing the writers and producers to make creative decisions driven by Mariska not liking anyone younger and their perceptions of Millennials and dislilke of the mandated changes was a bad idea. Who knew? I mean it's not like the franchise has much experience in what works and what doesn't when it comes to casting changes.

Damn you Dick Wolf Productions and NBC! How am I supposed to make fun of you when you keep taking our sarcastic suggestions as literal notes? Admit it - if I told you they were bringing Rollins back for a guest spot and making it an OC crossover with the shocking revelation being that she's pregnant you would assume it was satire about how they were out of ideas. I wonder if the big finale shocker is another "unforeseeable" hostage situation with the possibility of everyone but Ice T and Mariska leaving due to PTSD to provide leverage for contract renegotiations/cast cuts?

Actually I would bet in this forum she is probably best known as Brenda's mom on The Closer and as Estelle Muller who hired a hitman to kill her former son-in-law on the mothership...

I'm not seeing anything in any of the trades about multiple seasons. I suspect that @Xeliou66 has this confused with the forthcoming Law & Order SVU: Sexiled TV movie featuring Cassidy returning to the NYPD and proving Bruno is a crooked cop...

Nope! Everybody was having just about the right amount of fun. Including the writers, Meloni, and the audience. And as much as we might complain about them going too much for the bad cop/spy drama cliche of putting your lead undercover to give them a chance to show off their range/change things up for the viewers it would be malpractice not to go all in in this situation. Forget the BS shipping this is fan service we can all get behind! And CM doing slightly flustered Stabler is comedy gold.

Good point. Also the unique structure of the series means that issues that might exist throughout the script are in a harsher light in the last acts which are much more about dialog and story logic than the beginning. There are also no shortcuts than can hide a lack of subtlety in the writing or make up for the story time that has been cut to add more commercial time during the courtroom scenes or the money that used to be spent on exposition and set up either - no equivalent of the surveillance camera footage to get you from A to C without B. There just isn't a way to cover the gaps without losing the dramatic beats they want to hit - or at least not a way that writers who aren't experienced in legal drama under the constraints of network television can pull off in the current era of quick and dirty lower budget production.

I suspect the issues with the legal side writing are a combination of a few factors. One is that there has been a loss of institutional knowledge at Dick Wolf Productions as for years they were almost entirely focused on the cop side with the courtroom an afterthought at best. Combine that with a cut in both budgets and running time and you end up with some real boners that a more legally focused writers' room with more time could easily fix while hitting the same story beats. For instance the big reveal here could have been done with a few pieces of exposition here and there about wire transfers to an offshore account and assuming it was hiding cash from the IRS after they can't get anything from subpoenas and it turns out to be going to the man behind the curtain. Combine it with showing some witness prep and asking the question earlier and getting a different answer and you end up with the dramatic moment without the WTF reaction from viewers who are paying attention. You don't need a legal consultant for that - they mostly focus on case law and terminology - you need the extra 2 minutes of time earlier episodes had as well as having the budget for a few extra polishes and drafts and the experienced courtroom writers who can actually use those resources to do the job right.

The Good: Fin and Carisi are back. Which means the writers are allowed to actually to show us detectives acting like cops instead of teenagers. Speaking of which it looks like they are finally dropping the Mean Girls plot. An interesting concept. Nothing new, but it's nice that seem to be striving for a variety of crimes and variations on classic SVU stories this season. A reluctant victim who wasn't saved or converted by Benson. The Bad: The opener. Not only was it melodrama that basically showed us the whole crime there was just too much soapy nonsense and it was poorly paced. It felt about as long as the entire mothership episode before it. Another episode that felt like the Baer years before it went completely OTT off the rails, but without the budget or comedic talent to pull it off. I'm not sure if it was the direction or a rare misfire by the casting department, but the acting felt off throughout the episode. Eveyone was chewing scenery and overplaying without any sort of wink to the viewers to let us know it was deliberate. Speaking of a lack of self awareness, did they really have Benson lecturing someone about narcissism and putting themself first while thinking they were taking care of others? The cast carousel continues. It's nice that we have more than 3 detectives, but it feels like they are refusing to actually settle on who is main and who is recurring despite the opening credits. They need to either fish or cut bait and decide on a direction. And while I love the idea of bringing back recurring characters, I want something beyond cops. Psych experts, MEs, CSU, other POVs and dynamics would really be breath of fresh air. Overall this was another dud. A decent idea, but poorly executed. And both the idea and execution where not as good as the last couple episodes. On the bright side they do seem to be dropping the intra-squad drama and moving on. It still feels like they are floundering with no real direction or reason to keep going.

Not to get too pedantic, but it's not an "excuse". It's a defense. Or a doctrine. And I'm sure that the lawyers went over and approved everything just like other times shows have satarized the mouse to be sure it was clearly parody/commentary. And like South Park and others the lawyers will probably hold off unless and until they can come at them sideways like claiming their musical number is derivative and not fair use.

Yes. Part of the info dump at the end was that Interpol notified them they had been arrested in Canada. It was easy to miss since they wasted so much time showing us that nobody under 40 can act like a professional...