Xeliou66

Hope this new agent fits in much better than the current partner for Scola who makes no impact whatsoever and doesn’t gel at all with everyone else

Yeah Jack went unusually easy on her at the start, and I was glad Arthur called him on it. One of the few times Jack’s judgment was off. While Serena was right on about the case, her ending line about it being nice to stay 16 or whatever was odd, who thinks that way - the teenage years were a nightmare for me and very few people would want to remain that age. What a weird line.

Yeah it was absurd how Serena felt sorry that the son that was sick would be without them, Jack was right that he would be better off, those parents were depraved sickos. I don’t understand how any parent could betray their kid in such an egregious way, I don’t care what circumstances they were under, what they did was pure evil. The son’s reaction to finding out they knew all along was a very memorable and chilling moment. The parents deserved to rot, and I wish Arthur had canned Serena in this episode. Arthur made a good point when he said he wouldn’t let his kids have a sleepover with a 35 year old stranger, and also when he told the story about the mom and two sons and when she had to choose which one would go to war she said to take her husband instead and that that was natural, you don’t sacrifice one kid to save the other. Yeah I was surprised Jack bought the story of the perp originally in Shangri-La, he had blinders on. Serena was right about this case from the start.

Yes Captive is a very disturbing episode, Tory was so screwed up by his bad home life then being kidnapped and molested by Roger, because of these circumstances he lacked compassion for the kid he killed. I think the jury got the right verdict in finding him guilty, he killed on his own without Roger telling him to, but he was sympathetic due to his awful life, it made sense that Jack would ask for the minimum at sentencing, Roger was the real villain, a completely evil psycho, I don’t think Tory would ever be okay, hopefully he got psychological treatment while in jail. It’s one of L&O’s most disturbing episodes. I think the final 4 episodes of season 17 are pretty good, it’s L&O’s most uneven season but it finished strong.

Nick Baxter is much more similar to Adam and Arthur than to Jack as DA, Jack didn’t care at all about the political stuff, whereas Adam and Arthur were more adept at navigating the political minefield and were concerned with the image of their office and with considerations other than winning or losing. But I think Nick has integrity and cares strongly about justice, as shown by his actions in this episode and a few other times, he just goes about his duties differently than Jack did and sees the world a bit differently. His backstory is more similar to Adam and Arthur also - Nick was a federal prosecutor and a defense attorney over the course of his career, while Jack spent his whole career as an ADA until becoming DA. It’s impossible to replace a legend like Jack, but I think Baxter is doing a pretty good job as DA, I think he gets quite a bit of heat at times from the viewers because he’s replacing a beloved legend - I am glad he’s very different from Jack but still a compelling character. I like what he brings to the show, and the fact that Jack had a reduced role in many episodes due to his age helped the transition to a new DA. As for this episode I thought it was pretty great overall, I just would’ve had the final scene written a bit differently where instead of Nick just defending his views, him and Nolan agree to disagree on the specifics of the laws but agree that they got the right verdict on the case. It was the only scene that I felt the writing was a bit off on, other than that it was one of the revival’s best episodes actually. And that’s pretty much all I have to say for this discussion.

Fallout is an interesting episode, with the Russian human trafficking case. The victim and his brother were real scumbags, very unsympathetic, and the killer was kind of sympathetic in that he was placed in an impossible situation in dealing with the traffickers, but he did deserve to go to prison for taking the law into his own hands and poisoning the victim, and I liked how Jack said he wouldn’t tolerate vigilante justice, he never did. I liked the scenes of Jack and Arthur dealing with the bureaucrats and Jack making a deal to send the brother to Russia to face trafficking charges in exchange for getting the murderer handed over - it was the right move, the murderer needed to be tried in America for the murder. It was a good catch by Connie to see that the perp lied about following the victim to the club and that he was there ahead of time. Solid case all around, one of season 17s strongest episodes. Captive is a pretty good episode as well, the murderer was sympathetic here as well, his mind was so warped by his kidnapper/abuser that he was jealous of the new kidnapping victim taking his place, plus he came from an abusive home and didn’t want to go back. Dirtbag pedophile/kidnapper Roger was the real villain here, he was scum, hope he had a miserable existence in prison. I thought Olivet’s analysis of Tory was accurate. It was a disturbing and sad case, and as Jack said at the end nobody won, Tory deserved to go to prison as the kid he killed deserved justice but he was a victim of an awful life. Jack’s closing was strong, Roger didn’t make Tory kill the victim, Tory killed out of jealousy and anger, Roger didn’t want the victim dead, Tory did. This was the last closing we saw Jack give until his final episode in season 23 - his closings were always great. Season 17 is the weakest season of the Mothership’s original run IMO, but it finished strong - the last 4 episodes are all good.

Yeah I liked how they caught her, and exposed her as a fraud. It was interesting how Serena was spot on about her, while Jack thought the teacher was the main culprit. And I liked that Arthur called out Jack for being too lenient with her, saying he wouldn’t give his own granddaughter that deal. It was one of the few times Jack’s judgment was off. I liked how Lennie realized something was off with the tape, and the detective work was really good. It’s a great episode.

I have to disagree, I don’t think Nolan dislikes Nick or believes he’s not a good person, he doesn’t trust him 100% the way he trusted Jack but I don’t feel like their relationship is one of disdain. And we’ve seen the DA called as a witness before - Jack was called by Cutter as a witness in the season 18 episode Illegal when the DAs office was being called biased by the defense, so this wasn’t the first time the DA has been called as a rebuttal witness.

I don’t think Nick is shady, and he explicitly said it was illegal to threaten violence against family - the guidelines he wrote were blatantly violated by the rogue FBI agent as he testified to. I thought the final scene could’ve been written a bit better to express both Nick’s and Nolan’s viewpoints, instead of just Nick defending his views, I could see both sides of the argument, and I think the final scene should’ve been written to express Nick and Nolan agreeing to disagree on the specifics of the law. But it was clear that Nick didn’t condone or like the actions of this agent as shown by his testimony and his charging the agent with manslaughter in the first place. I don’t think Nolan is a hostile subordinate, just because him and Nick don’t always see things the same doesn’t mean it’s hostile - never in the history of the show have all of the prosecution characters seen the world through the same lens, but the only relationship I think was somewhat hostile was Arthur and Serena. But all of the DA characters in the history of the show have had differences of opinions on various cases, and that’s natural.

Agreed completely about how Mariska and her ego drags down the show, I’ve been saying it for years, her demand to be front and center all of the time and to portray Benson as an all knowing, always correct saintly figure is the main reason why SVU has been so bad at times in recent years. Mariska’s influence has caused the show to lose a lot of its edge and become a watered down, Hallmark version of SVU. I will say this season has been a huge improvement over the awfulness of last season, and they finally have a really good squad of characters around Benson. But Benson, and the comical way she’s portrayed as some superhero crusader without flaws, is cheesy and weakens the show.

Decent episode, I liked that there was a mystery to solve and things weren’t obvious from the start, and the courtroom scenes were mostly well done - one thing SVU has done well this season is giving us way more courtroom scenes with Carisi. I disliked Carisi needing a pep talk from St O to get his focus back but I did like seeing him get a larger role and seeing the courtroom. I liked the reference to Nick Baxter as well, I know he’ll be in an upcoming episode which will be interesting. While I love Fin and Bruno and I like seeing the whole squad together, it wasn’t a good episode to have everyone in it as some of them barely got any screen time and it wasn't an urgent case that required all hands on deck. So having everyone there plus a Rollins cameo was kind of unusual, knowing that everyone other than St O will be absent for a couple of episodes. But overall this was decent, the Benson worship wasn’t as bad as many other episodes, the case was decent and all of the characters were solid and nice court scenes. SVU has definitely improved this season after an awful season 25, hope it continues to be an improved season.

Great episode - lots of really good twists in it, and good stuff for each character. Investigation was really strong as usual, Shaw/Riley are a great pairing, I liked how they went through their suspects, and the action scene was much more natural and not forced like in some episodes. The FBI twist caught me off guard, that was a good one. The FBI agent clearly crossed the line here and deserved to be held accountable, glad the jury agreed. We saw Detective Yee again, that was interesting, sometimes I thought they relied too much on her in the past but her role here was good and necessary. I thought Brady got a bit too much screen time, maybe it’s because I love watching Riley and Shaw and so it kind of frustrates me how often Brady takes the lead in interrogations, but Brady has become a better character and gels better with everyone else now. Great legal stuff as well, Price and Baxter were both really strong, Price did a great job prosecuting, and I liked seeing Baxter stand up and risk taking a hit to his reputation and possibly getting blowback from the feds in order to see justice served. I liked how Price and Baxter didn’t really get heated, Price just laid things out and Baxter followed his conscience and took the stand. Baxter and Price and Maroun may not always see things the same way, but they all want to see justice served and that’s what makes the show work. I liked Price forcefully making a point in court after Baxter’s testimony and the judge rebuking him, I think Price has shown more fire lately and I like that, my biggest complaint about him is that he’s been too low key at times. And I’m really liking Baxter as the DA, I like how they went with someone very different from McCoy but who still has a passion to see justice served. No soapy personal nonsense was a big plus. I didn’t really get the point of the men’s rights macho boxer red herring (clearly based on Andrew Tate) it was obvious he was a red herring, and I would’ve preferred Shaw/Riley interrogating him than Brady. Overall this was really good, nice twisted case that flowed well, good stuff for each character, compelling story from start to finish. Well done episode.

I love Adam - he was hilarious, he could be just as funny as Lennie with his snarky one liners, and yeah he could be a grouch but he was also a very upstanding DA who did a great job and had a lot of wisdom to offer. He might be my 3rd favorite character behind Jack and Lennie. Cutter drives me up the wall, he was an egomaniac and borderline unethical, and he seemed to only care about “winning” and his ego. I just want to knock the smirk off of Cutter’s face much of the time he’s on screen. Him and Rey Curtis are probably the two most annoying characters in L&O history. Cutter benefitted from having a very strong cast around him and being paired with the awesome Connie. No one can match Jack or Ben as lead prosecutor, but Cutter was just so damn egotistic and didn’t seem all that concerned about justice. I like Nolan Price on the revival better than I like Cutter.

Here’s the description for tonight’s episode “An abhorrent web of lies and betrayal is uncovered when a woman is confronted with video of a night she can’t remember. Carisi struggles to move on from his ordeal when the suspect changes his plea”.

Here’s the description for tonight’s episode “Shaw and Riley discover a shocking motive after a young man is pushed in front of a train. When the trial hinges on a piece of legislation that Baxter wrote, Price must convince him to testify to its uses and abuses”.