Xeliou66

Here’s the thread for tonight’s episode

Season 7 has so many classic episodes, it’s L&O’s strongest season from a case standpoint IMO. We Like Mike is an excellent episode, great case and I really like the Mike Bodack character - the trial was really good where Mike had to decide whether or not to testify and it was satisfying seeing him do the right thing and testify against the killer, he was in a very tough situation, I was glad they said the Bronx DA dropped the charges against him at the end. It was a frustrating situation with how they had a confession and a ton of evidence against the perp but most of it got tossed because of the screw up where the witness was taken to the courthouse instead of the station. The investigation was great and I liked how they tracked down the perp from the neighborhood watch report. The perp was pure evil and very stupid as well. The donut shop owner was a memorable minor character. Awesome episode all around. Passion is pretty good - the killer was somewhat sympathetic, his mother was awful, she threw him away like garbage all for that asshole Evans and even after her son went to jail for the murder she still wanted Evans, what a sorry excuse for a mother. Her and Evans deserved each other, both were rotten people. Pretty interesting case, even if it did take them a while to come to the right conclusion. Past Imperfect is a strong episode as well, good case about the model’s death and I liked how the investigation turned up the long lost daughter. Good investigation and trial, it was interesting how the victim just didn’t want it to be known that she was a hooker and that’s why she wouldn’t help the daughter with the paternity claim. Terminal is an excellent season finale, really good case and investigation, and Adam had some great scenes where he took the governor to court for removing him from the case. I loved the scenes between Jack and Adam in this episode, it showed the mutual respect they had for each other. The state prosecutor who took over the case was a jackass and a dummy, he blew their chance at getting the death penalty with his cross, he should’ve let Jamie continue to try the case. The final scene of Adam taking his wife off of life support was very sad.

Interesting, I had a feeling that Mariska didn’t want Kelli Giddish to leave, Mariska seemed to push for more Benson/Rollins scenes - I always figured it was a cost cutting move by Dick Wolf and network executives. It will be interesting to see if she comes back to SVU, I doubt she will given how cheap the show is, I mean they won’t even bump Bruno up to opening credits even though he’s in almost every episode.

I agree 100% - why do every man and woman that work closely together on tv have to sleep together? I get so sick of that. Too many shows shove romance plot lines down our throats even when the shows should have nothing to do with romance, such as SVU. But SVU has gone so far from what it was originally about I’m certain that it will end with Benson/Stabler together, the show has become a melodramatic soap opera and given how the shippers are the loudest on social media I am certain they will pander to them.

Yeah I’ve noticed that, unfortunately the obnoxious shippers seem to be the loudest on social media - not all people who are “shippers” are obnoxious of course, but the die hards who attack anyone who don’t support their ship seem to be the loudest voices on various social media sites. Unfortunately I feel the writers pander to these shippers, the “will they/won’t they” E/O relationship has been going on for years and years. The fans who don’t care about the characters romances and just want interesting stories seem to get ignored, likely because they don’t throw fits on social media.

I have the unpopular opinion that seasons 13-14 were actually better than most of the last 2-3 Stabler years - the last 2-3 Stabler years were all about ridiculous over the top plots and having a ton of twists in the episode, and Stabler/Benson were basically the only characters - Munch barely appeared and Fin, Cragen and everyone else had reduced roles. In season 13, the show had much improved plots for the most part, less over the top ridiculous crap and more balanced screen time for everyone - I thought season 13 was kind of a bounce back season, 14 was mostly good as well, and then the show went downhill when Cragen/Munch left in season 15 and it became all about Benson. The second half of season 15 was pretty dismal, and if it wasn’t for Carisi adding a spark when he joined in 16 I might’ve quit watching. Season 17 was actually pretty good - there were a lot of interesting cases and while Benson was front and center she was more tolerable and the rest of the cast was good - wish they hadn’t killed off Dodds Jr, he was interesting and should’ve been kept alive so they could possibly bring him back. Season 18 was the beginning of the complete downfall of SVU - a season of mostly St O worship and weak cases. Seasons 19-20 were somewhat better but not that good, then again season 18 was dismal so it’s hard not to be, and bringing Peter Stone in was a good move as it was refreshing to see another “good guy” call out some of Benson’s crap without being made into a monster for it, too bad they castrated him at the end of season 20 just like they castrated Barba before him. Season 21 was a disaster, the squad was empty, Carisi became ADA but acted more like a cop still, the DAs office was crapped on constantly, and it was all Benson with a side dose of Rollins drama. Season 22’s first half was actually pretty good, and then the second half was mostly lousy with a lot of Benson worship and melodrama. The starts of season 23 and 24 were both dreadful with the seasons improving in the second half some, and this season has just taken the St O worship to such an all time high that it’s almost unwatchable. Right now is the closest I’ve come to quitting - I’m not sure if I’ll even watch next season, it’s basically just a hate watch now and I think Mariska’s ego has turned the show into shit. It’s a shame that the writing is so bad and so St O focused now because the supporting characters are actually good but they have no idea how to use them - I mean they use everyone in nothing more than glorified cameos in the last episode but have one or more people missing during more intense cases that would require everyone. Carisi is basically being wasted now as they have no use for legal writing unless it’s to give St O more focus, it’s absurd that an IAB captain and an FBI agent would accept demotions to work for Benson, Velasco gets almost nothing, Fin and Bruno are great but I’m not sure if they’re enough to keep me watching. This was a long winded post but yeah the show has gone down the crapper now and the St Olivia worship is so cringe inducing that I don’t know if I can continue. The show only appeals to the die hard Mariska fans now, everyone else can see it’s crapola. The Mothership revival gets a lot of criticism, some of it warranted and it isn’t at the same level of the Mothership’s original run, but even with its flaws it’s a billion times better than SVU, I enjoy most of the Mothership episodes, whereas SVU has become so poorly written this season I almost can’t watch it. I don’t have any interest in OC really, it doesn’t even feel like an L&O show and its storylines are very limited and frequently ridiculous and with it going to Peacock next season I won’t even watch it. I’m contemplating quitting SVU and just watching the Mothership, the past 2 SVU’s have been so horrible and cringe inducing I almost couldn’t finish them, and if the rest of the season stays that way I’m probably out.

I got very tired of the trope of Cutter having to use underhanded trickery to win cases - you make good points about the Lucky Stiff trick and like I said he was very fortunate in Pledge. Cutter just rubbed me the wrong way sometimes, he was arrogant and would do anything to win. And Cutter never got in trouble for his tricks.

Season 19 on today - By Perjury is a fascinating episode, with the psychopath lawyer killing people who were getting in the way of his cases and then he tried to shoot Cutter in the bathroom, that was a wild ending, where did he get that gun from I wonder and how did he smuggle it into the courthouse? It was an interesting case and I liked how Cutter smoked a cigarette in the office of the lawyer to prove the guy perjured himself. It was a creative way for Cutter to proceed and I liked how Jack said if they couldn’t find ways to prosecute murderers what the hell were they doing in the job - I also liked how Jack told the defense attorney he decided who does what with the DAs office. It’s a wild case and a compelling episode. Pledge is next, this is another rather bizarre case, the killer was nuts, killing 2 innocent people just to get back at a woman who threw him out of a college party. The way the killer talked about his daughter and resented her for not being “beautiful enough” or whatever was disgusting, I felt horrible for the daughter, what a shitty dad and her mom was blind to who he was. It’s a compelling case but it’s another one where Cutter had to use trickery to win, that got kind of tiresome in season 19, and Cutter was fortunate he found a woman with the same name who attended the same school and who married someone from a blue collar background - if he hadn’t found her I’m not sure how Cutter would’ve gotten the defendant to explode and confess. So it felt kind of like a cop out how it ended, even though the killer’s breakdown was memorable. Lucky Stiff I mostly think of as being the episode without Jack, as he was out of town, made the episode less interesting, and it’s another one where Cutter had to use a trick at the end, I liked Rodgers calling him out for it. Cutter is just not my favorite - he seemed underhanded at times and had a large ego and was a “do anything to win” type. Obviously no one could match Jack as lead prosecutor but Mike wasn’t that likable much of the time, being paired with the awesome Connie helped him. I do like Lupo/Bernard a lot, they made for a good pairing.

Remy is definitely a player, I wonder if he’ll have an ongoing relationship with the lawyer or if she’ll be mentioned again. His propositioning his therapist was just a joke though because he was annoyed with his therapist telling him all his relationships were transactional. And I wondered why they hinted at Kristin/Remy possibly having a fling, that seemed kind of odd since nothing was hinted about it when Kristin was actually on the show. But Remy being a player kind of makes him interesting IMO since it’s unusual for a lead character to have no issues mixing business with pleasure. I know he’s polarizing but I like Remy and the charisma he brings to the show, and I like the way the current team gels - I think this show has really hit its stride right now.

Almost all of season 9 is weird, Palimpsest takes the cake but there are several others that are strange and off. True Legacy is good, and Love on Ice has a very compelling backstory and premise but didn’t really execute it well. Other than those episodes season 9 is either weird or a snoozefest. Glad season 10 is coming up in a couple of hours and then tomorrow night they start season 1 again on Charge.

Season 9 is on to start the marathon on Charge today - season 9 has a lot of strange cases and just felt off as well as very low energy, while I think Nichols is okay, Stevens and Callas were beyond dull and the cases just seemed kind of “off” and didn’t flow smoothly. Palimpsest is obviously the episode that stands out as the strangest and most batfuck crazy, but Lost Children of the Blood and The Mobster Will See You Now are also very bonkers episodes. True Legacy is actually a very good episode though, it had the classic CI dysfunctional powerful family storyline and it was a compelling case that flowed smoothly and had good twists and made sense from start to finish. It’s the best episode of season 9.

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.