Xeliou66

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.

Interesting episode - very interesting premise but the execution was flawed - I suspected the wife of being the killer from the minute she was shown, she just played too big of a role in her first scene and was shown for too long in court so I had a feeling she was involved. But the resolution of it seemed rushed - I would’ve liked more exploration of the wife’s whereabouts and why Price came to suspect her. But I was surprised the judge didn’t dismiss the case outright, it was a very flimsy case the DAs had and I had a hard time believing they would go ahead with it, especially given the circumstances. It was a nice change of pace that the judge didn’t toss out key evidence, but the eyewitness was horribly mistaken - how on earth did he mistake the killer for a man? I know eyewitnesses can be wrong but this guy had to be one of the worst witnesses ever. I didn’t think they had enough to convict all along given how shaky the ID was, so like I said I had a tough time swallowing that they would prosecute. I liked Baxter again, he’s settled into the role nicely now, I liked that we finally got some backstory on where he worked before, and I liked his scenes. Shaw/Riley were good as usual, I greatly enjoy that partnership, and the detective stuff remains good. It just felt like a stretch that they would take the case to trial on such circumstantial evidence, and especially how awful the witness was and the resolution seemed rushed.

Pride was just on on Sundance, and I have mixed feelings about Logan’s exit - I really wish the final scene had been with Logan and Briscoe and Van Buren, instead of Jack and Claire talking about what would happen to Logan. It felt rushed, I didn’t mind that they had Logan exit by punching the councilman, Logan had always been fiery and rather hot headed, but Logan should’ve gotten a final scene. Anyway I’m glad they brought Logan back on CI years later and had him regain his detective badge, and I liked how on CI they mentioned Van Buren tried to get him back to her squad and that he still thought about Lennie a lot (I’ll just ignore the awful Exiled movie in between Logan’s Mothership run and his CI run, that movie was a fucking disgrace). The plot itself was decent but I thought the case against the councilman was shaky, not really surprising the jury deadlocked, but the DAs did the right thing by bringing the case, it was pretty certain Crossley did it but the evidence was circumstantial. It was satisfying seeing Logan punch out Crossley, even if it cost Logan his job. It’s a decent episode I just wish Logan had gotten a final scene.

Here’s the discussion thread for tonight’s episode

Yep, Melnick saying it’s the “right principle” was incredibly stupid, it was just an excuse for religious fundamentalists to commit murder - even if he did genuinely believe in divine retribution, it doesn’t justify murder, and while Jack got in some good questions during his cross at the hearing I thought he should’ve pushed harder against the defendant, especially when the defendant said believing this made him a Christian, because no Christian that I know would agree with committing murder because of disagreeing with someone’s beliefs, only extremist zealots would. Fuck Melnick for acting like she had some kind of moral high ground, her defense was laughable, this was hardly the first time Melnick did something infuriating and stupid - remember her closing in the City Hall shooting episode where she said that they shouldn’t bother convicting the murderer because nothing could bring the deceased back? Melnick’s ass should’ve been disbarred and jailed in season 13, and it was glorious seeing Jack finally lose it on her in the season 16 episode when she once again put her own interests above her clients. I really can’t stand Melnick, my least favorite defense attorney in the history of L&O - most defense attorneys on this show are ethical decent people even though they represent plenty of guilty people they do their jobs with ethical standards. Not Melnick, she always put herself and her own interests above everything and acted morally superior to everyone while doing it. I loathe her. And yeah Arthur was right that the judge should be thrown off the bench for allowing the defense. I really like Connie as well in the episode, Connie was always awesome and adding her in in season 17 gave the legal side a big boost. This was one of season 17’s better investigations as there was no annoying stuff with Cassady.

Strong episode tonight - interesting case what initially appeared to be an ordinary art robbery turning out to be masterminded by the warlord to sell for weapons - good storyline and I liked how the team put all the pieces together and tracked them down. Good case and good role for each team member. The personal subplot with Ray was fine and I like Ray Sr, father and son have nice rapport. I did wonder why no one was following the art dealer guy who wound up dead with his thumb cut off, they suspected he might be involved so it seemed like they would have someone on him? I suspected Alicia from the museum of being involved but I didn’t know how it would play out. This show has consistently good cases and I like each team member.

Good episode tonight - I liked seeing Raines and Amanda work together, and I liked seeing Amanda get out in the field for the first time. Nice to see them both have the spotlight on them since they’ve been more in the background this season while the others have been in the field more. Interesting case about the scumbag phony rescuer and his loony follower.

Very good episode tonight - gripping from start to finish. I liked seeing Nina work with the team again and how they carried out the operation to nail the perps. My only complaint was that NYPD should’ve known there was an FBI operation going down and to not engage - seemed like poor interagency cooperation. Otherwise a very good plot with some nice scenes for each character and the story flowed well from start to finish. I like all of the characters on this show and they work really well together. I also think Scola/Nina are good together, they have a lot more romantic chemistry now than when they first got together. Nice crossover with Nina where they actually used her in the plot unlike Scola’s cameo on MW last week. Good episode.

The Benson worship has been extreme in many episodes since MH became an executive producer, but this season it seems to have gone to all time high, matched only possibly by season 18, which we all know was a mess. Almost every episode now has Benson worship and portrays Benson as some majestic beacon of light and hope, it’s been this way in almost every episode this season. But this was just more nauseating than most both because of Benson coercing confessions and going rogue and because of the Noah scenes, which were worse than usual Noah scenes and that’s saying something, plus the plot didn’t make much sense and took a backdoor to Benson crap, usually there’s at least a case that’s somewhat interesting being dealt with, this was just stupid, cringeworthy Benson worship from start to finish. This one definitely goes in the SVU Hall of Shame IMO, and I don’t agree that most season 18 episodes were worse - season 18 was pretty dismal for the most part but I only recall a few episodes over the years being as cringeworthy and as hard to sit through as this one. I honestly don’t know why I still watch - the show is mostly shit now thanks to Mariska’s enormous ego. And yet I saw many Benson lovers on social media gushing over this crap episode like it was some great work of art - apparently those are the people SVU panders to now, and to hell with fans who want better cases and some focus on characters other than Benson.

Here’s the thread for tonight’s episode

Renewal is on now, this is one of the oddest episodes in the L&O franchise - I have no idea why they did the subplot about Logan and his neighbor - really strange. The main case about the girl who was a fugitive and assumed an identity and killed her boyfriend when he figured it out was interesting, but it was bogged down by the soapy Logan melodrama that really didn’t go anywhere and was never mentioned again. I did love how Logan mentioned Lennie Briscoe and that he still saw Lennie alive in his dreams. And it was nice seeing Eames assist with the arrest at the end. But it just felt really odd to have the Logan stuff going on in the background with the other case.

Noah was said to be 12 last season, so yeah I’m not sure why St O is so shocked he knows about some of her cases. And yeah I’m pretty sure he knew about his bio dad before now as he discovered he had a half brother last season. But then again I don’t pay much attention to the Benson/Noah plots, they are crap designed for Mariska to play super mommy and show how awesome Benson is.

Good Faith was just on, and Melnick is even more infuriating than normal as I’ve said before, her argument was so stupid and she acted like she had some moral high ground the whole time. It was absurd, as Jack said, if being a religious fanatic meant you should get off with murder, give a free pass to Osama Bin Laden. Even if the guy genuinely believed his daughter was going to hell for believing in evolution, it’s no excuse to murder someone who teaches evolution, any religious fundamentalist would get a free pass for murder if that was the case, they all believe they have some divine reason for committing murder. So no it was not the “right principle”, Melnick, it was an absurd strategy designed to get headlines. Fuck Melnick, her self righteous ass should’ve been disbarred and probably thrown in jail back in season 13, I really can’t stand her. Arthur was right that the judge should be thrown off the bench for allowing the defense - that’s how absurd it was. I liked when Jack said “I’m a lapsed Catholic, care to explain why I haven’t burst into flames”?, and I honestly thought Jack should’ve gone harder after him when he questioned him at the hearing, and the guy saying that believing this made him a Christian was such bullshit, I was raised Christian and I know plenty of Christians and none of them that I know would agree with killing someone for teaching evolution - Arthur was right when he said most people of faith wouldn’t like the defendant trying to get away with murder. Obviously it all turned out to be moot because the guy actually killed the teacher because he believed he was having sex with the daughter, but the point still stands that Melnick’s defense was crap. It’s a pretty good episode, but Melnick was extremely infuriating, even more so than usual. I liked the investigation pretty good, it was better than most of the Cassady episodes, I liked Van Buren interrogating the arsonist, Van Buren could be intimidating when she wanted to be and I liked when she would do an interrogation.

Yeah the mom from Pride and Joy was in serious denial, and she threw away her relationship with her daughter by lying to try to get her sociopath son off the hook, I have a feeling the daughter went to live with her uncle for good after that. The son was a monster and the mom was enabling him. Apocrypha is a really good episode, strong investigation and trial. It was interesting how the cult leader actually believed what he was saying, perhaps he belonged in a mental institution like his lawyer said, but he gave them no choice but to send him to prison. The ending was chilling and very memorable. Swann is one of my favorite villains in the show, so very smug, very satisfying to see Ben nail him and tell Swann “you don’t know me, you never did” at the end.

I hope this is a joke because I don’t think I could stomach part 2 of this shitshow. Next week will probably feel like part 2 given that it looks like another hour of St O taking it personally.

Exactly what I was thinking - Maroun is starting to remind me of Serena some - she’s kind of disagreeable and a bit too empathetic with defendants sometimes. She hasn’t annoyed me as much as Serena did, but she doesn’t add a lot to the show either.

One of the worst SVU episodes ever. Period. Just an hour of St Olivia worship with Benson being more unbearable than ever complete with Mariska’s horrible overacting. The plot was just a sidebar to the Benson worship - just pure cringeworthy awfulness from start to finish. Benson saving the day, Benson taking it personally, Benson in another hostage situation, Benson threatening a suspect and coercing a confession and it gets glossed over and we’re still supposed to think Benson is some kind of hero instead of a loon who is unfit for duty, and worst of all the Benson/Noah discussions to give Benson more drama and allowing her to play super mommy. The worship and complete focus on St Olivia has reached its all time high this season and is dragging down the show terribly. And as if this week wasn’t bad enough, next week we are in for round 2 of Benson taking it personally. I had a lot of questions about the plot - who exactly were the perps? How did they get away with prior assaults, they were pretty stupid and were tracked down easily. What exactly were they planning to do with the girl they abducted? But god forbid they actually give us more details about the case, that would mean less focus on St O. Why waste one of Carisi’s appearances on this crap? He was basically acting as Benson’s shrink, and the part where Carisi searched with them at the marina was giving me bad flashbacks to season 21 where Carisi was an ADA but they had him act more like a detective than a lawyer. I wish they would get Carisi back into court, but that would mean less Benson focus again and the Queen Bee won’t allow that. And again we have a high priority abduction and yet Fin and Sykes are nowhere to be found. Not even the awesome Bruno could make this piece of shit episode worth watching. Just pure awfulness from start to finish, and it looks like we are in for more of it next week. Just a horrible, cringeworthy episode that was 100% a Benson circle jerk.

They found the hammer in a garbage can at the residence. I agree that the judge’s ruling was really bad. And yeah since the defendant admitted to the crime the prosecution could use her actions afterwards, including disposing the weapon, to impeach her credibility. And yeah a line about the guy scamming the couples looking to adopt going to jail would’ve been nice, I’m glad Baxter said the office would open a case against him.

Interesting episode - pretty good - I have several thoughts I was annoyed with Maroun as well, and I didn’t feel much sympathy for the defendant - she committed a vicious murder, almost a double murder, and any sympathy I had went out the window when she used the baby as a bargaining chip to try to get off with a slap on the wrist, that was just callous and showed that she wasn’t a good person who snapped because of mental trauma but a cold blooded killer who would do anything for her own self interest. I was very glad Baxter said he wouldn’t let the killer use a child as a bargaining chip - in fact I liked Baxter throughout this one and things seemed more settled in with him tonight and I liked that. I also agreed with Baxter that the scumbag scamming couples didn’t deserve immunity and they could make their murder case without him - I hope he got the book thrown at him, a reference to that would’ve been nice. But yeah Maroun seemed ready to tank the case until Price called her out, and I don’t know how Maroun had any sympathy for this woman after what she did. The jury got the right verdict. Once again we have a judge making questionable rulings and letting the defense get away with anything - the tossing out the murder weapon was absurd, and then he just let the defense change course in the middle of trial even though you have to give notice - he was so biased. Having a judge harm the DAs case with ridiculous decisions is unfortunately a common theme on the revival. And we really need a psych expert - I sorely miss Skoda/Olivet - there have been several revival episodes where an expert could’ve been used to consult with the police/DAs and I miss that. The investigation was strong as usual - I love Shaw and Riley and I liked how they followed the various leads until they found the culprit. The detective part of the show is really excellent now. No foot chases this week which was a plus!! Overall a good episode, but I was annoyed with Maroun. I liked Baxter and I’m hopeful he’s settled in now. Pretty good case.

Here’s the thread for tonight’s episode

Season 4 is on today, so many strong episodes this season Pride and Joy is a pretty good case, the perp was a sociopath, he hated his dad because he saw him as beneath him, and Ben was right at the end that that much rage wouldn’t go away with a degree from Princeton - he would’ve been in trouble at some point. I didn’t get why the mom chose her sociopath son over her daughter, she was willing to call her daughter a liar in court to try to get her son off the hook, I guess she just couldn’t accept that her son was a monster, pretty much what Olivet said. Apocrypha is a strong episode, with the creepy cult leader, the ending with the followers committing suicide is chilling. The trial scenes were good and I liked Ben’s closing, and it was interesting how the cult leader did actually believe most of what he said, maybe he belonged in a mental institution but he wouldn’t plead insanity, but the jury got the right verdict, he did manipulate the woman into planting the bomb. American Dream is a classic episode, one of the best for Ben, with a very memorable perp, it cracked me up how Swann kept on referring to Stone and others by their first name, even in court, he was such a smug prick and it was satisfying seeing Stone nail him at the end. And I loved the exchange when Swann asked if Stone lacked a sense of humor and Ben replied “about murder, sir, I have none” - that was vintage Ben. There are so many strong episodes in season 4 it’s hard to pick favorites.

Pretty good episode last night - I liked the manhunt and how they took down the drug suppliers. It was pretty shocking when they found the kids passed out in the room. Remy was appropriately disgusted with those scumbags. I wondered when we would see Nina/Scola at home, Nina was the only one who we hadn’t seen at home yet this year, I was glad we saw them briefly and I sense a lot more romantic chemistry between Nina/Scola now than I did at the start of their relationship.