Everleigh

I agree. Alex's role this episode was small but necessary in order to show that Claire's obsessive worrying over Haley was not only unwarranted, because Haley actually was thinking about her future, but also came at the expense of her other children. Using Luke to show Claire's negligence wouldn't have worked as well because Claire isn't as likely to brush off Luke as being fine and capable of handling himself since he has a history of getting into trouble, whereas with Alex, Claire has a history of letting her take care of herself because she's always sort of behaved like an adult. Plus, Phil's pure joy over Claire being wrong about everything, including Alex not needing their attention, was pretty funny so her appearance paid off for me.

I noticed Olivia looked a bit skeptical when Amanda said she was late because of traffic, but I don't think it was Olivia being pissed just for the sake of being pissed, I think it was more of a throw back to last season when Amanda was struggling with her gambling addiction and flaking on work when the squad was short handed and lying to Olivia about it. It looks like Olivia still doesn't trust Amanda completely and maybe was questioning if she's back to her old antics. Still hoping they'll address the issue between Benson and Rollins because they keep suggesting that they're not on the best of terms and we can see the tension there, but I don't buy that Olivia and Amanda wouldn't have made an attempt to hash things out already.

I thought she was going to follow up her "I know you're hurt" line with something like, "but your behavior in there was completely unacceptable." But then she told him how proud she was of him, completely ignoring the fact that he bullied one student and harassed/terrified another, and I was reminded of what show I was watching. I wouldn't have minded the whole "I'm so proud of you" spiel if it had been acknowledged that while Max took a big step in expressing his feelings, he also crossed a lot of lines and needed to be disciplined for such. Instead Kristina assures him that he wouldn't get in trouble. And we're supposed to think she's a good mother and capable school administrator? How about no. I felt more sympathy for Dylan in that scene than I've felt for Max in a long time. In fact, I'd love to see some follow up on how she's dealing with being at a school with a boy who tried to harass and berate her into being his girlfriend and said boy's enabling headmaster mother who gave her dirty looks for not returning her son's affections, because that's gotta be uncomfortable. If I was Dylan, I wouldn't feel safe in school knowing that Max is allowed to accost her at any time because his mommy is the headmaster and has prioritized his need to express his feelings over her need to feel safe in school. Also, last episode when Hank shows up while Max is freaking out about not making it to Alcatraz, they have that exchange about liking people or whatever and Max says he only likes a handful of people… his dog, Hank, and occasionally his parents. He doesn't even mention Dylan, yet now he's devastated and heartbroken over her? Ok.

No hate. I simply don't mind that he wasn't featured in this episode. His absence was just not felt by me.

Oh Max, you suck so much. So does your mom. And Ruby, she sucks too. Poor Dylan. I felt so bad for her, she looked terrified when Max was lashing out at her. Kristina is a straight up idiot. She's a failure as a headmaster and a parent. Max exhibited some seriously alarming behavior and not once was he told he was acting inappropriately. Instead Kristina is proud of him? Proud that he's bullying a fellow student and sexually harassing a girl for daring not to return his affections? Not to mention the violent behavior he showed. I pity the next girl he sets his sights on as his mother has basically now given him permission to harass and intimidate her as long as he's expressing his feelings. Ruby continues to be the worst. Why do we have to endure Hank and Ruby drama when Sarah isn't even in the episode? Add me to the list of people willing to file for 30$ an hour. That might actually be the least realistic thing this show has done this whole season. 30 dollars! At first I thought Crosby was being a douche about Jasmine having to work because his ego was bruised by it. Lots of families require two incomes to get by and most people don't have the luxury of doing something they love for a living, so what's the big deal with Jasmine taking a high paying part time job to help out? But by the end of the episode I kind of understood where Crosby was coming from...it wasn't that he didn't want his wife to work, he felt guilty that she had to sacrafice her passion and work a boring office job so he could work his dream job. I think if they were both working "regular" jobs, or if she went back to teaching dance, which she loves, he wouldn't have felt so bad about it. Still, Jasmine was right...sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Amber and Drew continue to creep me out. Who refers to hanging out with a sibling as a "date night"?

The lack of attention must be taking a toll on the poor kid since he hasn't aged in years. In those little look back moments they've been showing during commercial breaks, we were reminded that Tara was two months pregnant when Abel was kidnapped. I don't remember if Abel's age was ever mentioned during the kidnapping plot, but he was clearly an infant at the time. He doesn't even look to be a year old in those scenes, which would make Thomas less than two years younger than him, yet Abel is now 5 and Thomas looks to still be 1. Thomas should be 3 years old and walking and talking like his big brother, but then Jax and Gemma might be forced to acknowledge him and we can't have that.

In a past episode, Gloria says Manny forgot most of his Spanish since they moved to America. So it's not that Manny never knew Spanish, he just hasn't retained any of it since he hasn't used it in a long time. I'm not sure how old Manny was when they moved from Colombia, but he'd have to have been really young and Gloria would have had to almost never speak Spanish in front of him after the move for it to be believable that he'd forget the language completely. Poor Luke. No one even seemed to care that he was gone. Including me.

So I guess they really are rotating Carisi and Fin in and out of episodes. Wonder if we'll ever see them in an episode together. I'm a sucker for solid TV friendships and I have to admit, I kind of love these little glimpses into Nick and Olivia's friendship outside of work and it's nice to see that Nick is there for Olivia since she has no family. They haven't beaten us over the head with how close they are like they did with Elliot and Olivia, but we've seen Nick calling himself Uncle Nick to Noah, we know Olivia must have spent time with his family since she asked his mother to look after Noah at the hospital, and now we're seeing them just hanging out together at the park with the baby, which I think is sweet. That was basically the relationship I wanted to see between Elliot and Olivia way back when. I liked the idea of them as best friends who were like family to one another, but instead their relationship was all angst and tension and we never saw them simply being friends outside of work. And then Warren Leight really destroyed Elliot and Olivia's relationship for me when he had Olivia confess to being in love with Elliot to that female cop who was letting her gross partner rape women. As for Nick's own kids, Zara is in California with his ex-wife (are they even divorced yet?) and we know he just got back from visiting her. And the boy whose name I can't remember right now, I'm actually glad we're not seeing him because I hated the drama with his mother. I'm just going to assume Nick sees him on weekends or something. And maybe that's why Nick has become so involved with Olivia and Noah...because his own kids aren't as available to him so he found himself a nice little replacement family. I liked their relationship, too. I don't usually "ship" people on this show but they had good chemistry, and if God forbid there's another crossover down the line, I wouldn't mind seeing Benson and Voight interact more.

I thought the episode was pretty funny, especially the Dunphey storyline. This was the most I've enjoyed Haley in a while, she was actually funny and not annoying. Her breakdown in the car and the line about her wide eyes were pretty amusing. I still do wish the families would go back to interacting more instead of everyone staying in their own little immediate family bubble.

Thanks! I don't watch Chicago Fire and I didn't want to bother if it wasn't necessary.

Did anyone watch last night's episode of Chicago Fire? Did they actually tie SVU into the episode or was it just the fire department handing over the discovery of child pornography to the Chicago PD to set up the Chicago PD/SVU crossover?

Good episode overall but I really don't buy that Jax is capable of outsmarting August Marks. Were all those sex scenes in the beginning necessary? I had a hard time telling who half the people were and I don't really care about any of these relationships. And the way the shot switched from Jax and his Tara replacement hooker to Gemma and Nero was creepy as fuck. Has anyone who writes for this show ever been around a child? Because the way they're writing 5 year old Abel is ridiculous. First of all, a kid his age who isn't developmentally delayed would be speaking much clearer and much more. My 2 and a half year old niece speaks much better than Abel. I know it's hard to get child actors to "act" so they mostly just recite lines, but if we're meant to believe Abel is capable of processing Gemma's confession and setting off the chain of events that is likely to end the series, then the show needs to do a better job of showing him to be of at least average intelligence for a kid his age. Also, kids don't formulate master plans to take down their enemies. They don't have the attention spans or reasoning to do so. A 5 year old cutting himself in the school bathroom to frame his evil grandmother? That's some sick shit... that would never actually happen. The more realistic approach would have been to have Abel overhear Gemma's confession and then simply repeat her words to Jax, because repeating things they overhear from adults is actually something small children are capable of... but sitting on explosive information for weeks and then making cold calculated moves that include self-harm to entrap a murderous grandparent, is not. Jax picked a helluva time to drop the real mommy bomb on the little psychopath. But I was happy for Wendy in that scene. I think she deserves to be acknowledge as more than friend who helps out with the kids. Not only is she the only one on the show who has worked to improve herself and get healthy, but she seems to be the only one who places Abel's well-being over her own desires. Gemma and Jax constantly put themselves before the kids. However, I hated seeing Wendy mooning over Jax afterward like he did something wonderful for her. She shouldn't be groveling for his acceptance as her own son's mother. She's a much better person and parent than he is and I don't buy this lovey friendship between them, there's too much ugly history there... including the time Jax forcibly shot her up and undid years of hard work she did on herself. While disappointing, I wouldn't fault Jax for thinking that at first because kids often do repeat things out of context or mix things up, and sometimes they just flat out make up stories. I have a feeling Jax is going to be a little skeptical at first, like a lot of parents are when their kid tells them some crazy story, but once he starts looking into things, he'll see it adds up--which is basically what we saw in the preview for next week.

Carisi was great this episode, and I like Nick but he is a jealous possessive jerk at times, and I got a kick out of both Amanda and Olivia picking Carisi over him because it clearly pissed him off since he sees everyone in his life, including the both of them, as belonging to him.

Abel is 5? Maybe Jax should listen to Wendy and not keep him out of school just because he wants Abel near him while he's out ruining everyone's life. The kid's verbal skills are not up to par for a 5 year old. He should have been in school last year. Oh, and Gemma telling Wendy she's gotta raise Jax's son his way... please, like that's working out so well. I'm not sure why the sheriff wanted Chibs to fuck her in front of Quinn. That scene was just awkward and uncomfortable to watch. Sucks Bobby had to die because he seemed to be the one least blind (no pun intended) when it came to seeing the destruction Jax was causing, but he needed to do more than just look conflicted. At this point, every member of that club is just as responsible for the club's unraveling as Jax is because they just keep dumbly following him and letting him do whatever the hell he wants despite the fact that bodies are piling up and club members are getting killed. He clearly has no vision for leading the club and if someone doesn't step up and call him on it soon, more members are going to die. Chibs looked angry after Bobby was killed, maybe he's finally seeing the light.

Aside from her aunts who have had babies more recently, she also has a mother she could go to for guidance. I know Sarah wasn't thrilled with the idea of Amber having a baby at her stage in life, but she came around as much as one could expect and it's clear their relationship is still in good standing as Amber attended game night and they were so in sync with each other. Sarah would never turn her down or not help if she was asked. So instead of taking your 19 year old brother to shop for baby stuff, how about bringing someone who might actually be of use? Drew's a smart, sweet kid, but seriously, what does that boy know about babies? All the Bravermans who have had babies and Amber can't think of anyone more appropriate to accompany her than Drew? She would have been better off taking one of the actual babies with her. I'm sure Nora was free.

Rollins is responsible for the tension between her and Olivia, in my opinion, but I think it's time Olivia put an end to it. She is the boss and the more experienced of the two so she should be the bigger person here. Amanda royally screwed up last season...she was irresponsible, unreliable, untrustworthy and in one instance, outrightly rude towards Olivia. She put Olivia in a bad position last year when she was spiraling out of control with her gambling addiction and wasn't showing up to work and lying about it. Then of course there was all the shit she caused when she got involved in the illegal gambling ring. She lied to Olivia who was her acting commanding officer at the time and her actions forced Olivia to lie to Fin and Amaro, which she was pissed about. After that Olivia said she didn't trust Amanda and I think that's what's still carrying over, but I think Rollins has been proving herself to be reliable again and it's time Olivia gives in a little bit. I'm hoping this thing between them reaches a boiling point soon so they're forced to address and hopefully resolve it, because the underlying hostility between them is getting old and seeing that most people cant even recall the cause, it might be time to put an end to it.

I didn't think Dylan upped her level of affection for Max because she felt bad for him, I thought she did it because she found his honesty about hoping to raise her number refreshing/charming, and genuinely decided she liked him a tad bit more in that moment. I actually thought that scene was kind of sweet. I noticed that too and thought it was crazy. That's supposed to keep her and her belongings safe? And how does she lock it from inside? Does she have a second bike lock on the other side of the door? Since she's having a baby and all it might be time to graduate to an apartment with real doors now. I think Crosby's actually the third born and Julia's the youngest. But Crosby acts much more like the baby of the family than Julia does and we've seen Crosby exhibit some classic baby of the family behavior in the past, so maybe their roles have been sort of inverted because Julia's much more uptight and I'd bet she was the kind of kid who was never really a kid to begin with.

I live in New York and the first half of the episode was cut off on my DVR because of a breaking news press conference on the city's first ebola case, so I actually took the time to track down the episode online to watch it, and I probably should have just waited for it to come on demand because while not awful, it was just kind of boring and not worth the trouble. I'm tired of listening to the Braverman men complain about having too many people who love and worry about them. First it was Zeek last episode and now Crosby's upset because his wife doesn't want him to die and his son wants to spend time with him? Oh, the horror! I just wish someone would come in and tell them both to shut up and appreciate the fact that they have families who love them. Amber was ridiculous this episode. I understand with her wanting to date and being a little upset when the realization strikes that her life is going to change drastically, but if you're that broken up over having to give up alcohol and drugs, maybe you shouldn't be having a baby. And Drew's little pep talk about being able to pick all her bad habits back up once she pops the kid out was ridiculous too. Now I seriously wonder what they saw growing up to make them think that's acceptable behavior for a parent. Also, her giving her little brother condoms was just plain creepy. Sometimes Amber and Drew's relationship seems a little too close to me. Max was actually pretty tolerable this episode and I found myself rooting for him and Dylan. I understand Joel's upset about Julia moving on and bringing the new guy around his kids, even though she never wanted them to meet and tried to stop it from happening, but him basically calling her a whore for moving on by saying she's sleeping with a different guy every week was out of line and out of character. I hope we get a resolution to this storyline soon because it seems to be dragging on forever. I no longer care if it ends in reconciliation or divorce, I just want it to end at this point. The "warmhearted" (I actually heard "big-hearted") comment from Kristina gave me pause too. Most of the other qualities she listed were fine and at least somewhat true... he is smart, he is honest, etc., but what was the point of just flat out lying with the heart comment? Max isn't a caring or bighearted person. He has never been shown as being concerned with anyone's well being but his own, so Kristina was just flat out wrong to list that as one of his good qualities. Maybe they didn't intend for anyone to pick up on what was being said under the music but it jumped out at me because it's so far from the truth. As for the funny thing, I agree that Max is not funny at all, but Kristina and Adam do seem to find him funny. Whenever he says something rude or obnoxious, they laugh it off like it's cute or something so I actually understood why she'd think he's funny.

It's not the first time actually. She referred to him as her son in the first episode of the season. When the playground gets shot up and she comes rushing to the scene, she says something along the lines of, "my son is in there" when she's making her way through the crowd. She also referred to herself as "mommy" in the episode where he was sick, I believe. So I don't think her using the term son was for Dodd's benefit, I think it's simply because she sees him as her son and has the intention of adopting him. Obviously things may not work out and it'd certainly be understandable if she was wary of getting attached because of what happened with Calvin, but that situation was entirely different, Calvin had family and adoption was never on the table with him. Noah had no one before Olivia, and when the judge suggested Olivia take custody of Noah she explicitly said that at the end of the year, she'd be given the option to adopt him. So Olivia has every right to think of him as her son, and her referring to him as such only goes to show that she already made up her mind as to what she wants to do at the end of the year long trial period.

I thought the episode was pretty solid. I was surprised Nick wasn't in the episode but I didn't really miss him. I wonder if the "supporting" players (i.e. everyone who's not Olivia) are going to be rotated in and out of episodes now that there's one more member of the squad. Or maybe Danny Pino was just busy. Glad the new guy is going to be sticking around though. His little smile when Olivia finally paid him a compliment was nice. I also liked when Deputy Jackass told her to bring her number 2 into her office and she picked Fin. He's the obvious choice seeing as he's the most senior detective on the squad behind Olivia, but he never seems to get the credit for it. That scene would have been more interesting if Nick was there though, because I could see him thinking he'd be Olivia's pick since he was her partner. I don't have a problem with the obvious tension between Olivia and Amanda, but I am curious as to where they're going with it. I hope their issues get addressed in a later episode and it's not just forgotten about. Barba's reaction to the judge overturning the conviction was a little over the top but I don't blame him. I was pissed just watching it and I saw it coming from the moment he told Evie not to worry about the defense asking the judge to set aside the verdict. The ending was surprisingly sad. Seeing Evie lose everything but her porn career and be forced to retreat further into it was a bummer. And Amanda wanting so desperately to save her from herself but being unable to was heartbreaking.

I like him, too. His introduction was way over the top--the mustache, the zeppole, the whole stereotypical Italian thing. It was just awkward. And no one brings zeppole, unless they're coming from an Italian street festival. But now that they got rid of the mustache and toned him down a bit, he's a breath of fresh air and rather easy on the eyes. It's nice to have a detective whose personal life we're not overly familiar with, and I kind of like that he gets under the other detectives' skin a bit without being a jerk.

Why doesn't anyone on this show discipline their children? I appreciate Joel and Julia taking Sydney to apologize to the girl she bullied, and their little talk with her at the house was fine and dandy, but we still haven't seen them reprimand her for being a bully. So far it's been all about her feelings, not the feelings of the kid she hurt. Why hasn't she been punished, or even told that her behavior was horrible? God, Ruby... that girl just plain sucks. Why do we even have to suffer through her teenage angst crap? She's not even a Braverman. What she said to Sarah was straight up disrespectful and her father just stands there like an awkward dunce. I know Hank has his issues and maybe he didn't pick up on her shitty attitude on his own, but Sarah made it clear that what Ruby said was insulting and he still did nothing. Hopefully he takes some initiative and does something about her behavior next episode and then promptly ships her off somewhere so I don't ever have to see her again. And of course there's Max, who has been getting away with being a little jerk for years. Do kids not get yelled out anymore? Are parents too worried that actually discipling their kids might damage their fragile little snowflakes' self-confidence? I would have never gotten away with treating people (other children and adults alike) the way these kids do. My parents would have kicked my ass.

The body count this season is utterly ridiculous. And of course no one ever sees or hears these shoot-outs the MC loves getting involved in. I can't keep up with which gangs are buddies and which are enemies and why anymore. All these clubs/gangs just seem to meet up at random times to either shoot at each other or to join together to shoot at a mutual enemy. Wendy loves Jax? Please. I could buy that she cares about him because he's the father of her kid, but love him in the way Bobby was implying? Nope. I'm not buying that Wendy loves the man who kept her from her son all that time and then shot her up with drugs after she had worked hard to get herself cleaned up. Also, didn't she say she's into women after she resurfaced? What happened to that? Her character was meant to serve as a reminder of Gemma's past-the young mother who lives for her son. You know Sutter loves his symbolism. Plus, Sutter wanted Lea Michele to guest star for a while now, so while I'm a fan of hers, I'm glad the part was relatively understated and that they didn't go too big with it just to give her something to do. So while the part didn't really call for a "special guest star", at least she was good in it and the part wasn't too distracting. And whoever picked up on the Gertie/Queen Gertrude thing, good catch. Because all I could think of when she revealed her name was how ridiculous a name Gertie is for a young woman and completely missed the Hamlet reference. Gemma's face when Nero told her that Juice was with the Sons was priceless. Katey Sagal was great in that scene, you could literally see the moment Gemma realizes her kingdom of lies is unraveling and that she's royally screwed.

Wasn't there a story a few seasons back where Jay worries Manny is being pranked when he's invited out by some popular kids or something? Maybe that's why they didn't go that route, because it would have been repetitive, but I thought it was pretty obvious from the beginning that this older pretty girl wasn't actually into Manny and had some hidden agenda. Nothing against Manny, but she was way out of his league. Nothing about the storyline was funny but I did like seeing Jay comfort Manny in a sincere way. The only part of the episode I found funny was the sex grenade scene.

Holden was super creepy. And the actor had that deranged Elliot Rodger slow deliberate talking thing down. Olivia being caught between her job and her kid is cliched and predictable, but that's probably because it is a pretty common problem for working mothers, especially mothers in a position as demanding as Olivia's. But Olivia didn't go out looking to adopt Noah, the judge asked her, knowing full well what she did for a living, to take custody of him, so her having a demanding job shouldn't come as a surprise to the social worker and accusing her of not caring was pretty shitty. I'm guessing there's gonna be more of these baby vs job issues coming up, because what's the point of giving Olivia a baby if it can't create even more drama and heartache for her? They'll probably have her lose the kid at some point because she spends too much time at work and Olivia needs to be in a constant state of distress. I like that Olivia's backup babysitter is Nick's mom though, there's something oddly sweet about them being close enough as partners for her to call on his mom for help. Ah, the old "kiss the perp" routine... guess Rollins is slowly becoming Olivia. Looking forward to seeing more of Deputy Chief Jackass Peter Gallagher. I hope so. I was over that relationship the moment it started. I have no desire to see any romantic pairing on the show, it makes it feel too soap opera-y for me. Just let them all have off-screen love lives. I got the sense that Olivia knows but just isn't saying anything. She made that "get a room comment" last season before anyone knew Rollins and Amaro were sleeping together, and last episode, she had a sort of knowing look on her face when she asked Nick how he knew about some detail of the case they were working before he got back on the squad (implying she knew Amanda told him). Carisi also seemed to catch on when he walked in on Nick and Amanda standing ridiculously close at the producer's pool party last episode. It looks like Fin might be the only one in the dark, everyone else seems to be willfully ignoring the issue, but I imagine it will come out sooner or later.