Xeliou66

I’ll post my thoughts on the entire 2 hours here Overall very strong - it had Benson’s usual over dramatic antics and saving the day, but it was a very compelling story with good twists from start to finish, good detective and legal work and was strong from start to finish, one of the best episodes of the Mothership and SVU this season. It was more SVU heavy than L&O heavy, Shaw was MIA which wasn’t explained and Maroun had only 1 scene at the start, and Riley vanished at the halfway point which was weird, but all of SVU was involved and got solid roles - Bruno undercover was nice, and Fin had a good scene at the hospital although I would’ve liked a bit more of him. Silva was good and I liked her teaming up with Riley in hour 1. There was a lot of Benson/Brady in the field but they did it in a natural way that made sense for both to take the lead instead of it being forced like it sometimes is. The courtroom stuff was really good - Price and Carisi worked really well together and I liked seeing them take turns questioning witnesses and working as equals to prosecute the case. Baxter was great as well - I loved the scene at the start where Benson was overdramatic as usual and wanted him to threaten WhatsApp and Baxter calmly suggested the undercover sting instead - of course Benson should’ve thought of that but I liked Baxter being the one to suggest it, and then I liked that Baxter told them to convince Cassie to testify, and I was glad things ended well for Cassie instead of a “shocking twist ending” with a tragedy like they sometimes do - the ending scene of Benson/Brady at the memorial was a good ending though it would’ve been nice if other main characters attended. Noah got shoehorned in unnecessarily for the first time this season, but it did give them a reason for Stabler’s cameo. I did laugh when Benson said her emotions never interfered with her police work, I thought Calhoun was going to bring up past instances of that exact thing happening but I guess people aren’t allowed to show St O as flawed now. I did like that Brady wasn’t steamrolled by Benson, and neither were the DAs, I liked the scene where Price told her he wanted justice as well. Overall this was a big success, I wasn’t sure how good it would be but it was a compelling story that flowed naturally from start to finish and had good twists (I did predict the perp when the witness vanished from the 2-7) and while I would’ve liked a bit more of the Mothership characters, I liked what each character got and how they didn’t throw anyone under the bus, each character did really good with what they had. One of the best written episodes for both shows this season and a strong crossover!

Agreed this defendant was guilty - there was way too much evidence against him and no other viable suspects. The jury got the right verdict. In the other case you are talking about, episode 10 from this season, the one where the guy shot the mogul based on Diddy who was trafficking his daughter, and the undercover cop lied on behalf of the defendant because she didn’t think the guy should go to jail for killing the dirtbag even though it wasn’t self defense. In that episode I thought Riley had a great line about how if they occasionally didn’t do things by the book in the name of some “greater good” it could be used to justify anything eventually and they don’t get to pick and choose when to follow the law - the idealistic undercover cop didn’t seem to get that by breaking the rules she became just like all of the cops who cause problems in the system by bending/breaking the rules and putting themselves above the law believing they are helping society by doing so. I’ve also wondered if someone is leaving at season’s end, if someone does I hope it’s Maroun, she’s the weakest link in the cast, but I could see them possibly setting up Shaw’s exit, maybe he decides he would rather practice law than be a detective, although it seems like they’ve forgotten that Shaw has a law degree. I like Shaw but I hope they don’t do a “Robinette” with him and reduce him to a cliched bitter character - I hated how they did Robinette.

2 hour crossover with the Mothership tonight Episode description Part 1 A mysterious phone call to Captain Benson of the SVU leads detectives to the scene of a brutal murder. Part 2 When the SVU and the 2-7 uncover a pattern of rape and murder targeting marginalized women, Carisi and ADA Price team up to charge the suspect with multiple crimes.

2 Hour crossover with SVU tonight Episode description Part 1 A mysterious phone call to Captain Benson of the SVU leads detectives to the scene of a brutal murder. Part 2 When the SVU and the 2-7 uncover a pattern of rape and murder targeting marginalized women, Carisi and ADA Price team up to charge the suspect with multiple crimes.

Bad Faith is a really strong episode - Father Joe was such a despicable piece of garbage, abusing children for decades and then having the nerve to whine that he “had a family” even though he molested his own kid as well. I liked Jack telling him nothing he said could make him feel sorry for him, and Logan angrily confronting him at the end in the cell was good - it was interesting to get a bit of insight into Logan, and how it was kind of an open secret in his neighborhood that Father Joe was a predator but no one would openly talk about it. I liked when Logan told Cragen about it all, it was nice to see Cragen again running the anti corruption task force at this point, he was great. It was a glaring continuity error how Cragen said he had a kid in this one though when earlier episodes made no mention of a kid and later episodes confirmed he never had children. I liked how the DAs made the case against Father Joe and were able to put him away. Purple Heart is great as well, probably my favorite episode of season 5 actually. Great investigation and legal stuff, I really liked how Lennie and Mike pieced together everything and connected the hitman who was murdered to the wife of the dead cabbie and realizing the wife hired the hitman then killed him, discovering the wife stole the gun she used to kill the hitman from her old restaurant and that was where she met the hitman, good detective work. It was a great bluff by Jack to get the defense lawyer to put Denise on the stand - he would’ve been better to just rest and let Jack argue whatever he wanted because Jack was able to lure her right into his trap, it was great legal maneuvering on Jack’s part. Excellent episode all around.

Really good episode tonight - I liked the twists and turns the case took and how they got to the bottom of it. The husband and his mistress were real dirtbags, very satisfying to see them go down, and the guy who was duped into committing the murder of the wife was dumb as a rock. I really like the dark twisted cases like this, and I’ll miss this show when it ends. I guess they are setting up Barnes to depart the team at the end of the season.

Pretty good episode tonight, kept my interest from start to finish and I liked how it played out, each character had a nice role. This show has been really good this season.

Kind of a boring episode, rare for FBI but it just didn’t really grab me despite the horrific crimes - it was an unoriginal plot, we’ve seen “revenge of the incels” type plots on this show and on other crime shows several times before, so it felt like a filler episode. Only real gripping moment was when the guy who it appeared would help them instead went on his hateful tirade expressing joy over the murders, that was shocking. Other than that I just never really got into the episode - a rarity for this show. The plot flowed fine and each character was pretty good but the villains were very cliched and there was nothing real compelling about the plot. Just kind of a meh average episode.

Just read an article that confirms that this crossover is like a 2 hour movie, with characters from both L&O and SVU appearing in both parts. The two detective squads will be working together and Price/Carisi will prosecute the case together. I’m looking forward to seeing the character interactions, I just hope Benson doesn’t hijack the episode and make it all about her.

I’ve seen some promo pics from the upcoming crossover episode - Riley and SVU’s Silva are working together it seems, and Price/Carisi are sitting at the prosecution table in court - I’m looking forward to seeing that if nothing else, it will be interesting to see them team up. And Benson/Brady seem to be working closely together.

Part of what makes L&O so good is the formula, and by having the episodes go over an hour/into another show, it tampers with the formula and frequently makes for a less good storyline. I remember the LA 3 parter in season 7 well, I’ve seen it a couple of times recently, I actually like the storyline overall minus the Rey Curtis personal stuff. The Homicide crossovers were a mixed bag storyline wise but Lennie and Munch together was a treat. But yeah given how unbearable modern day Benson is, I’m afraid this crossover will suck especially given that the previews basically show a Benson crusade. I’m afraid it will be 2 hours of mostly Benson and her usual crap with everyone else on the sideline, I just hope they don’t make Mothership characters look bad to make St Olivia look even holier.

I think it will be more like a 2 hour movie with characters from both shows in both hours, I know Price will be working with Carisi in the legal portion so I’m sure they’ll both be in hour 2 and Baxter as well. I know Benson and Brady will work together and I’m not sure how the detectives from SVU will pair up with Riley/Shaw.

The alibi was iron clad, the defense didn’t even argue otherwise, they just said the guy might’ve hired a hitman to do it which was pretty absurd. And no one is saying Shaw intentionally lied, just that inherent bias works both ways, Shaw implied that Riley saw the gun because he expected to see it because he believed the guy to be guilty, and Price’s cross of Shaw implied that he believed he saw something other than a gun because he wanted the guy to be innocent. I don’t agree that the guy was innocent, his breakdown meant nothing, plenty of defendants react emotionally after being convicted because they are going to prison. There was too much strong evidence against the defendant and no proof that the business partner or anyone else could’ve been behind the murder other than the defense lawyer’s speculations. But I’m starting to agree about Shaw, while I really liked him at first and I think Mehcad is a great actor, Shaw is starting to come off as overly biased and concerned about stuff other than arresting the right person and that annoys me - he’s nowhere near Olivia Benson levels of annoying but I’m not really liking where they are going with Shaw lately and I hope he doesn’t become another Paul Robinette, that’s what I’m worried about - I hated how they basically turned Robinette into a more radical “angry black guy” stereotype who came to despise the DAs office without explanation, and I really don’t want that to happen with Shaw.

The manager had an alibi. There were no real alternate suspects besides the defendant. And Riley didn’t accuse Shaw of lying, he was just saying that Shaw might’ve had an unconscious bias and saw what he wanted to see given that he wanted the guy to be innocent. Again, Shaw shouldn’t have been concerned with that, his job is to find the guilty party not worry about society’s reaction to them doing so. And Shaw was the one who first tried to discredit Riley.

I didn’t for one second buy his story of the stolen hard drive and not knowing why the police were after him. He wanted to ditch the murder weapon. He was clearly guilty IMO. I am surprised so many here seem to think this dude was innocent.

Good episode Bruno in particular was awesome as usual, I really liked his scenes with the teenager who was groomed, it was nice to see someone other than St O help out a victim and be a compassionate investigator. Bruno is the best thing to happen to SVU in a long time. The case was predictable but still good, while it would’ve been interesting to see an older male victim who wasn’t a bad guy, it was obvious by the date and the vicious nature of the attack that this guy would be a perp. But I liked how everyone handled it professionally and didn’t get too emotional or biased, even Benson was tolerable, and it was a good investigation. The crossover will be interesting but unfortunately it looks like it’s just going to be Benson taking it personally and going on a crusade, ugh, I hope they don’t trash the Mothership characters just to make St O look holier than she already does.

Pretty good episode tonight - it was an interesting case with good investigative and trial scenes and no glaring flaws. But Shaw was a bit irritating at the end, Riley was right to tell Price about his comment and if Shaw doesn’t trust the jury’s decisions he’s probably not in the right line of work. I was certain the guy was guilty, he had the victim’s blood on his pants which even he couldn’t explain away, he had motive, he lied about not being at the arena, and yeah he likely threw the gun into the river, Riley was way closer than Shaw to him and the guy would be epically dumb to throw a hard drive into the water. The jury got the right verdict. And Shaw shouldn’t have had beef with Riley, Riley was right that inherent bias works both ways. And if anyone had a bias it was Shaw not Riley, Shaw said he didn’t want the guy to be guilty, Riley didn’t care, and Shaw’s concern should be on finding the culprit not on society’s reaction. And Maroun should be a defense lawyer, no way should they dismiss the case just because Shaw had doubts about what he saw. I liked Price in this one and I liked Baxter’s scenes as well, and I like how their relationship has evolved. So while the case was interesting and the plot flowed well, I don’t really like the direction they are going with Shaw, I hope he doesn’t become another Paul Robinette who does a 180, that’s what he was starting to remind me of. I hope this doesn’t sour the Shaw/Riley partnership as I like them together a lot.

Episode description When a man is ruthlessly assaulted and burned, the SVUs investigation uncovers a decades-old secret. Bruno helps a young witness find the courage to come forward

Episode description A rising basketball star is shot dead, leaving the squad in a desperate scramble for leads. When the capture of a suspect doesn’t go as planned, Shaw and Riley each take a firm stand on what they believe they witnessed.

She’s definitely bad, she played everyone so she could take over the criminal empire from her dad. I saw it coming that she would be rotten. I think there’s a lot of potential to keep her story going at some point but who knows if they’ll ever return to it.

Another good episode, good case and investigation, I like the twists it took and how they got to the bottom of it. I figured the husband was innocent but wasn’t sure who the killer would be. I thought the preacher should’ve put up a fight or at least tried to get out of the car before the perp shot him, he didn’t react until it was too late. Nice tackle of the killer by Ray at the end. I wonder if Barnes is going to leave the team at the end of the show? I’ll really miss this show when it’s gone, love the cases and like the characters, so stupid it and International were cancelled, love them both.

Another strong episode, good case that went in a variety of directions - I did call the shot as to who the killer would be when the guy was found dead, but it was a good case and I liked how it played out. Such a bummer this show got canceled right as it has hit its stride this season.

Really good episode - strong case. I did call the shot that the daughter was playing them all along, I wonder if they’ll come back to this story, I doubt it but it definitely has potential. I liked the investigation and how it played out - interesting that 2 of the 3 actual killers names were never revealed, the ones who were shot by the agents at the club, they were just hired hitman, but I liked how they tied it to the crime family and were able to take down the boss. Nice role for each character, Maggie was MIA but this show has such a deep cast I don’t mind - I enjoyed seeing Isobel get a feature role, Jubal and his room of analysts were good as usual and I’m liking Scola’s new partner, Rhodes. I liked Isobel’s husband as well, nice that they seem to have a solid marriage, I hope it stays that way. And it was nice to see the actor who played the drug dealing manager, he played a couple of memorable roles on the L&O franchise. Strong episode.

Riley was nowhere near as unprofessional as Stabler used to be and he didn’t make any errors the way Stabler used to, he didn’t prematurely arrest anyone or ignore evidence because of feelings, but yeah he was unusually heated with the coach because of his being a parent, it felt forced honestly, Riley is usually pretty laid back. I did like how Riley and his daughter had pretty normal interactions without much drama and I hope they keep his personal life drama free. I didn’t care for how pissed Riley was with the coach but he wasn’t nearly as bad as Stabler and other SVU cops used to be. Agreed completely about how Price came off as so weak here, he showed he didn’t have enough ice in his veins to effectively prosecute this case. Price and Maroun frequently come off as softies, Maroun moreso but Price has his moments as well. It’s probably why the legal side is definitely weaker than the investigative side - Price/Maroun just don’t have enough cold blood in them frequently to be strong DAs.

Kind of a bland episode, while I really have liked how they’ve utilized the courtroom this year and have given Carisi stellar material, this didn’t have any twists or much meat to the story and so it kind of bored me. Fin was barely used, and Bruno is always missed when he’s MIA. It did a solid job of wrapping up this storyline but it was just an average episode in that there wasn’t a lot to keep my interest up.