ForeverAlone
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Posts posted by ForeverAlone
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I wish the clown episode was their Halloween episode, but Matthew never directs that early in the season.
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Fun little tidbit for season 13.
http://www.tvguide.com/news/criminal-minds-simmons-daniel-henney-season-13/
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This is an interesting interview Paget did at Comic Con, with a fair amount of talk of season 13.
http://tvline.com/2017/07/25/criminal-minds-paget-brewster-season-13-cast-changes/
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Considering what we have heard about cast changes, it isn't TOO hard to guess who is going to die. :) :)
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Yes, Casey was in a couple episodes in season 13, but she had actually come back earlier than that. I want to say season 12, because I think Elliott was still part of the team.
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We never got any solid explanation for what happened to Alex and Casey. We saw them occasionally in season 13, and we had no indication they were caught up in the Delia Wilson hooker scandal. So you could imagine they still work at the ADA office, but if so, no reason why they wouldn't have been in season 14. So maybe they left for other job opportunities in the legal field. It's just like Warren chose to push them aside for Barba in season 14, after bringing them back on a recurring basis. It's all sorts of weird and I wonder if there was any behind the scenes reason for it, or if Warren just used the opportunity to bring Raul into the show when it presented itself. I mean, I wonder what Warren would have done for the ADA position if Raul's musical hadn't flopped hard and made him available to come work on the show. Would he have continued to use Alex and Casey, or would he have brought in someone new?
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I hope to God the show doesn't go there and have Reid raise Cat's baby. Why would he, since it isn't his baby and he has zero obligations to Cat?
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From the way some of the actors are negotiating their contracts, it seems like more than one of them (at least two in Aisha and Matthew) have specifically negotiated not to appear in every episode. That brings to mind what SVU did with its actors the last several years, presumably to save money. So having another character keeps the team number at around the same level at all times.
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If they have to bring in another character, I'm good with it being Daniel Henney's character. I liked his character much more than Damon Gupton's Stephen Walker. Daniel and Adam's characters will make an interesting combo for the show.
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We don't actually see David Hayden on the show after Bayard Ellis outed their relationship in season 13. We hear that he resigned in the season 14 premiere episodes, but their relationship ended in season 13 after Bayard mentioned it. By season 14 premiere, she just starts up with Cassidy again.
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Rafael and Alex are my two favorite ADAs, though Rafael is my number one favorite. I wish there was some serious enough case to warrant them being co prosecutors, just because I would love to see them work together.
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I agree that this could have been a deeper and more interesting episode if the perpetrators/victims were from a group that is more known for the idea of corrective rape (e.g. South Africa where it is a real problem). I think it would have been better to explore more why it happens in the real world rather than argue that this is some sort of First Amendment issue of religious freedom. The underlying reason for corrective rape seems to be hatred of homosexuality, and in my opinion, this episode glossed over it a bit by all the high minded statements about the will of God and the like
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Total waste of Barba in my opinion, with a somewhat embarrassing legal strategy. I can deal with an interesting gray case, but then the writing has to reflect that. It was a weak ass case as it was written, and I can't see any jury finding him guilty, because the FACTS of the actual case (and not some long ago arrest) don't support a conviction. I agree with those that stated that Barba never actually proved Declan hypnotized anyone, so he couldn't prove Abby DIDN'T consent to sex. Declan may have been a shithead in his youth, but that doesn't make him a rapist (even though I think he was) and I disagree with Barba that the case was about Declan's integrity. No, it was about whether or not the state could prove that Declan raped Abby, and Barba didn't prove that. And yes, for that I blame the writers, because if they wanted a cleaner conviction, they could have written better legal strategy. Or they could have gone for the plea deal that Barba was right to consider before Olivia talked him out of it (and the fact that she has so much sway over his legal strategy over the years has continued to piss me off). I am okay with a "not guilty" verdict in these gray cases, because it doesn't mean that the defendant didn't commit the crime in question, only that the prosecution failed to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. And that result is something rather realistic. I don't watch this show for the fantasy idea that all rapists will be convicted, because the real world is much grayer than that. I watch for (hopefully, but this season really tested this for me) relatively intelligent, interesting stories with interesting characters.
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Has anyone actually watched Chicago Justice to know if this could be a good thing? Here’s hoping he tightens up the “Law” side of the show, because even when they featured Barba this season, the writing for him was rather weak too many times, with some occasionally embarrassing and amateurish legal arguments, and too many cases had to be saved by St. Olivia.
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Yeah, but those deportations just involved border states. It would take a bit more time to get someone on an international flight to Istanbul, or wherever they were going to send him. But the story required Yusuf be deported, so it was going to happen regardless.
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I've always had a problem with SVU political episodes. Not only do I prefer my favorite sex crime procedural to veer more to the thriller side of storytelling, I often cringe, because the SVU writers are pretty much incapable of nuance when it comes to politics. They usually come across as preachy, ham handed and filled with people acting like tropes and spouting PSAs rather than behaving like actual humans. That was basically my reaction to much of this episode.
When I am not feeling the storytelling, I tend to critique the details and start to hone in on ways that just feel forced or when the characters are doing things just for the random reason of advancing the story points. That is what kept going through my head when it came to Yusuf and his part of the story. The story hinged on him being deported, so of course he had to be, but it just came across as so freaking fake for a couple reasons. First off, there was the entire ICE bust. There was never any explanation for why a bunch of ICE agents were there in the first place looking for him. I kept hoping (just for something different) that Hector's baller bitch lawyer called ICE to screw up NYPD's case against Hector, but that didn't seem to be the case. So who called ICE? They just magically appeared on the street when Yusuf decided to go out and buy cigarettes? Then the ICE agents just hauled his ass away in front of a NYPD detective? And if they were able to keep Yusuf in the country through some sort of special warrant (whatever it was Rafael was trying to procur to keep Yusuf from being deported), why didn't Rafael do that in the first place? Did they think they were going to be able to hide Yusuf's immigration status after he testified at the grand jury and on the stand? And frankly, I always felt like there was something off about the whole story behind Yusuf's undocumented status, but that is something else.
Then there was the whole weirdness of Hector being friends with two seeming racist dudes who like to get high and rape and murder people. I honestly couldn't see why they would be friends with Hector in the first place if they had those feelings about Latinos in the first place. And why was Hector so bound and determined to protect them?
And then of course we get to the part where the writers decided to have Rafael "disenchant" me (such an accurate self assessment from Rafael to Olivia after the fact, because that is how I felt). Sure we have seen in the past that Rafael was willing to push the limits to get a conviction, but dude, didn't he stop and think that he just got off 30 day suspension for witness tampering, and now he is encouraging Olivia to get on the stand and commit perjury to make a case? Perjury that any competent defense attorney would be able to suss out immediately and put Olivia at risk? Sure he abetted her perjury in the William Lewis trial, but he was doing it to protect her. The same reason he encouraged her to hide the identity of Noah's father. This time he was basically asking/expecting her to commit a felony and that just didn't sit right with me. Almost invariably, when Olivia and Rafael square off, I side with Rafael, because Olivia often gets on a sanctimonious high horse. But not this time. I was so relieved when she didn't lie on the stand. Sorry, Rafael, you may have had a horrific case to stomach, but that doesn't excuse lying to make a weak case. Was he trying to become the new Casey Novak?
And of course the season had to end on the high handed note that a mosque was fire bombed and five people were killed. Because the political point wasn't driven home hard enough in the previous two hours. *sighs* I can only hope the new showrunner can get a better handle on stories next season.
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Here is what Raul has to say about the finale.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/law-order-svu-star-finale-season-19-1007128
I can only hope for a minimal amount of preaching and political grandstanding, because those are the SVU episodes I like least. I like my SVU to be more of an interesting sex crime thriller.
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Only the stern faced older lady with the crucifix bought the "legitimate rape" argument. The other jurors didn't buy it, but couldn't convince her otherwise. So it was either acquit on that charge and convict on the stalking (which she could agree on), or cause a mistrial with a deadlock.
Considering how some states are with their laws and rapists' parental rights, I can't say I was surprised the judge allowed minimal supervised visitation. It was about his right (however minimal) to see his kid, and Avery would not be present for said visits. It would be no different if Johnny D hadn't committed suicide by cop and enforced his parental rights to force Olivia to bring Noah to him for occasional visits while he was in prison.
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Penelope could be written out by her choosing to leave, because she can't take the job anymore.
I do think AJ and Kirsten should be making Matthew money, because I don't see anybody else in the cast making the same amount of money as Joe. It is ridiculous if CBS isn't willing to pay them equal money as Matthew after all this time.
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It was probably easier to write out Christopher the way they did, with Elliott voluntarily retiring. They could not have written anything complicated to happen offscreen, and it sounded like there was some definite acrimony after Christopher's contract negotiations fell apart.
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I' ve heard gossip rumors Raul was considering leaving after this season, so I won't be shocked if he chooses to leave. And if the writing and Barba characterization continues to be subpar, part of me will be relieved to see that he escaped.
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Holy crap! I can barely watch this show anymore without cringing from second hand embarrassment. Maybe I need to start drinking wine to get through these episodes. Everything is so ridiculous and over the top these days.
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2 hours ago, QueenMab said:
Maybe this episode happens during Barbas suspension....not on here yet. I check dates they give onscreen. For instance: "Genes" and "Know It All" run concurrent according to the onscreen date banners and it makes them both senseless. In "Genes" Barba and Benson spend basically all day Feb.11 together, at Rikers, etc. but in "Know it All", Benson as usual tracks Barba down on Saturday night Feb.11 at his fave bar to demand answers because she's busted his secret and he spills it. Why? They spent all day together on the other case, in fact when did Benson find time to investigate the hacking and Barbas secret when she was in court (with him) and pulling witnesses off of rooftops? Anyway they cross dates/cases so much I thought maybe that's why no Barba..... suspension time.
It wouldn't really make sense for this to have been during Rafael's suspension, if only because the dates for this episode was set in present day, and comes after he was returned to work. I believe this episode was always supposed to be in this position (unlike "Genes" which probably was supposed to be Rafael's return episode and why the chocolate gift was cut from that scene in his office). Probably this was always just an episode Raul was scheduled to miss.
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Overall I liked this episode (at least as much as I can enjoy an episode that deprives me of the magnificence that is Rafael Barba). In some ways it reminded me of an earlier season episode of SVU, both for how the story veered from the original story that opened the episode into something else, to Olivia trying to channel Elliott by threatening website asshole (though I agree that it would have been gratifying to me to see Rafael issue that threat), to the ending with the Congressman's murder. I probably should have seen that ending coming, but I did not.
Olivia seemed more in line with earlier Olivia to me, with thankfully a minimum of sanctimony. I liked the investigative skills of Amanda and Carisi. And I got my fill of Fin sarcasm as well. So even though I rolled my eyes a bit over asshole writing stories about Olivia and Amanda (and it's not like Olivia doesn't know Noah's parentage) and the diversion that was them sending their kids off to New Jersey (horrors!)
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Season 13 Spoilers, Speculation and Anticipation
in Criminal Minds
The IT movie comes out in early September 2017, and CM 13.17 won't likely air until some time in March/April 2018.