Xeliou66

Mariska seems to have die hard followers who basically worship her/Benson, it’s very weird I agree, not trying to bash anyone but I just don’t get that level of devotion to an actor/tv character. It is weird to me. And it feels like these are the people SVU panders to, probably because MH enjoys making herself the center of the show and playing the hero.

I like how MW focuses mostly on the cases and has the least amount of personal stuff in the FBI franchise I feel like, and they have the most compelling cases of the 3 shows as well IMO. And I like how the minor personal subplots on MW are spread out pretty evenly amongst the team and one character doesn’t hog the spotlight or bring a constant amount of soapy drama to the show - while I thought Jess was a likable character usually, I got very sick of his kid when he was the lead and it seemed like his personal life got a lot of screen time especially at the start of the show. With Remy it feels like the characters split screen time more evenly - I know some people dislike Remy, probably due to the actor and his previous role as the super villain on another Dick Wolf show, but I like what he brings to the team and I like how the current team gels together, and how no one hogs the spotlight - we’ve seen glimpses into each character’s life, but the cases are the main focus. I’m not sure whether will see the guy Hana met again or not, because I was certain there would be some plot with her new roommate but she vanished, so who knows.

That was a good episode, I liked how we got some focus on Eames and the backstory was interesting. The murderer was very creepy, and it’s hard to believe it’s the same actor who played the awesome ADA Barba on SVU. It’s one of season 8’s stronger episodes. I think Major Case is my favorite season 8 episode and my favorite of the Nichols episodes, it was on last night as well - Henry the forensics expert was a memorable perp and it was a compelling story with Nichols trying to nail him. It’s funny though how if Henry hadn’t tried to frame the innocent guy who had a perfect alibi, he probably would’ve gotten away with it, Nichols wouldn’t have had reason to be suspicious of Henry if he hadn’t tampered with evidence.

Another strong episode - this show has great cases. This was one of their most intense episodes ever with the race against the clock to save the innocent man, and while there were some flaws, particularly with how fast the DNA tests were coming back IMO, it was a strong episode and I liked how Hana found the evidence at the killer’s house that sealed it - I agree that any governor would grant a stay of execution given that there was a killer on the loose and evidence tying him to the double murder in Missouri, but it was a very satisfying episode to watch play out. I liked Remy’s passionate plea to the governor, and I definitely think the situation with how an innocent man went to jail for Remy’s brother’s murder was weighing on him throughout the episode, even though it was never mentioned explicitly. It was a gripping episode. I’m also surprised about Hana’s roommate being gone already and being a non story, I was certain she would come back in the picture. I wonder if Remy will start a relationship with the lawyer now, they did have nice rapport, but with the lawyer being in Missouri who knows if a long distance relationship would work out. This show has the strongest cases of the 3 FBIs IMO, and I like each of the characters as well.

Good episode last night - I did call the shot that one of the victim’s friends would be involved in the murder, that much was obvious, but it was a good investigation and interesting case. About Forrester leaving, I’m not really surprised given that he missed a couple of episodes last year and was barely in a couple of episodes at the start of this year - he grew on me since the start of the show and had become a good lead, I hope the new lead of the show is good - this is my least favorite of the FBIs although it’s been good this year, so I hope the new character is compelling.

Pretty good episode, good twists and investigation, I couldn’t tell where it was going until they identified the perp and he spewed crazy cult talk. Nice work from the whole team and each character got a good role. I did think that they could’ve sent more agents in when they infiltrated the cult, couldn’t there have been room for a couple more people in the back of the van Scola was driving? It made for an exciting finish though and I liked the communication between all of the agents. I also wondered - did the cult leader tell his people to stand down or did OA impersonate his voice? I couldn’t tell. Are they setting up Maggie to miss episodes in the future or something with OA telling Isobel she needed time off? That will be interesting to see. And does Ella really have no family that could take her in?

Here’s the thread for tonight’s episode.

That was a creepy scene, I think she said “this won’t hurt at all. Do you remember the first time you told me that?” I guess referring to when Tommy first molested her. Very creepy. And yeah Beatrice was so screwed up from all that Tommy had done I don’t know if she would ever be okay. Tommy was just pure evil. I wonder if Tommy had more victims he assaulted besides Beatrice and Duke’s wife, it wouldn’t shock me.

I agree I couldn’t get a good read on Duke or his wife - how did Duke not see what a sociopathic piece of crap Tommy was? And why did his wife not report Tommy for rape? It seemed like they should’ve done more to protect Beatrice from Tommy, I think the wife at least had to have an idea of what was going on, she knew Tommy was a predator, I guess the wife just didn’t want to deal with Tommy or Beatrice and so she moved out of the city, but she should’ve reported Tommy and maybe she could’ve prevented him from continue to molest his daughter. I loved the final confrontation between Goren/Eames and Tommy, Tommy became instantly smug and Beatrice became fearful when they pretended they couldn’t prove the metal had been in Josh’s leg, it was the only way to expose what had happened and then they produced the actual serial number and nailed Tommy. Tommy was truly one of CI’s worst villains. I doubt Beatrice would ever be okay after all she had been put through.

Season 4 was on BBC America yesterday - Death Roe is a pretty grim episode, Tommy is one of the most evil villains on CI IMO, committed two brutal murders just to get his son in law out of the way so he could keep on raping his daughter - what an absolute piece of human scum. As Goren said, he was an ogre. It’s a great episode and I loved Goren/Eames getting the upper hand on Tommy at the end and Goren getting under Tommy’s skin in the kitchen at the end was vintage Goren. Very compelling case and investigation, I liked seeing Goren/Eames go to the fish market and the restaurants. I did think Tommy did a lot in one night - committing the two murders, putting Josh’s body through the meat grinder, and ditching the motorcycle - they did address that plot point with Carver but it was still a lot, surprised no one saw Tommy somewhere. And did Tommy kill Beatrice’s mother also? They never said under what circumstances she died, but it wouldn’t shock me if he did. It’s a great episode with a memorable villain. Ex Stasis was next, another strong episode with a compelling villain with the organ donor killing someone he deemed “unworthy” of having his organ and arranging it so someone he thought was more deserving got it. He was a fucked up perp as well, I liked how they were able to nail him.

It was well acted I agree - I’m usually very critical of Mariska but she acted well in those scenes - she used to be a lot better IMO, it seems like her acting went downhill when they started portraying Benson as a holy figure, now she just makes the same over dramatic facial expressions and speaks in the same intense whisper. She used to be a lot better IMO, I don’t know if she just got complacent or her ego got too big or what. I could’ve done without Lewis escaping the final time - it would’ve been a better arc if they had just put him in prison, his final escape sort of made him a super villain and those characters annoy me. Lewis was compelling up until then and the actor played him well. I don’t dislike the storyline as much as others do, but I feel like season 15 is when the show went downhill - MH became a producer around then, and Cragen and Munch left, and we started getting the all Benson all the time soap opera, with a side dose of Amaro and Rollins drama. I thought about quitting the show the end of season 15 was so bad, Carisi’s introduction at the start of season 16 gave the show some life and an interesting new character and him along with Barba and Fin are why I kept watching, and seasons 16 and particularly 17 were actually improvements over season 15 although they had plenty of flaws. Season 18 is when the show really went down the crapper into nonstop Benson worship, and while there have been good moments and episodes in the seasons since then, the St O worship has kept the show down. This season the worship of Benson seems to be at an all time high - it’s making the show damn near unbearable now, which is a shame as they have a strong supporting cast beyond Benson - Fin is still the anchor of the show, Bruno is awesome, Velasco is good, Sykes and Curry have potential even if it’s ridiculous they made lateral moves to work for St O, and Carisi is just as good of a prosecutor as he was a detective. However the characters not named Benson get very little focus - Mariska’s ego and her hogging the spotlight is sinking the show.

I’m sure those characters will get personal subplots before too long - one thing I like about this current team is that the personal subplots are split pretty evenly amongst the 5, and they all work well together as a team. While I liked Jess, it seemed like when he was on he got the vast majority of personal subplots and all of the drama with his kid got tiresome. Now the show seems to split screen time more evenly and one character doesn’t hog the spotlight, I kind of felt like Jess did at the start of the show.

Yes that’s exactly what happened, and last we heard they were still together. I assume Carisi was referring to Fin’s ex wife Teresa Randall, the mother of Ken.

I don’t know if it was his ex or not - it kind of looked like her but I don’t know for sure.

Good lord this show is horrible now, it’s nothing but a melodramatic soap opera - once again we have St Olivia being shoved down our throats as an all knowing beacon of light and morality and the case taking a backseat to Benson drama. At least Carisi got a good moment with his closing, and seeing him in court made this episode more tolerable than the last one, but that’s not saying much at all. I didn’t care one iota about Maddie or her unlikable parents, and I didn’t give a fuck what happened to them or about the case. I just hope we never have to hear from them again. Why waste Bruno and Fin appearances on basically glorified cameos? Hell the whole squad aside from St O and Sykes were just cameos. At least Bruno/Fin added life to their scenes, but it was yet another case of the plot taking a backseat to Benson worship. I was completely bored by this, and I’ve hated this storyline since it’s beginning. I don’t really have much else to say about this - I’m so sick of melodramatic St Olivia garbage that I don’t know why I still watch. The worship of Benson has reached an all time high now and there’s nothing to the show beyond making Benson look holy. I hope this awful storyline is done with for good and I hope the season finishes strong after these terrible last 2 episodes, the promo for next episode looks interesting but it seems like the writers have just given up trying to write interesting cases now.