ForeverAlone

All right, question time. Maybe this was addressed and I just wasn't paying close attention, but just how did Papa Pope start B613 in the first place? He said that he was the one secretly running the country for the past 30 years and all consequential decisions ran through him and he is the reason the country is as successful as it has been (yawn, whatever). Basically the ultimate Deep State. But even if he ran this organization for 30 years, he obviously wasn't the one who started it, because it could only have started at the behest and resources of SOMEONE. Maybe that was mentioned at some point in the years, and I just blocked it out from the endless parade of torture, killings and overripe monologues that ultimately made no sense.

Oh I agree about the weird melding of real world and fantasy politics. In the Scandal universe, we are asked to believe that successive Republican administrations would govern practically to the left of many progressives. I could never figure out why the show made the central political figures Republican, when they didn't want to write them as Republicans, but rather progressive Democrats.

The implication of the portrait is that it is some time in the future and she was either POTUS or FLOTUS. Since I can't imagine who she would have married who became president, I have to assume she becomes POTUS at some point down the road. In my opinion, this was Shonda wanting to capitalize on the Michelle Obama portrait reaction, without really thinking through the plausibility of it all. But since apparently nearly everyone involved in their crazy schemes got to go on to happy endings, who knows what would happen in the Scandal universe?

Seriously show? You kill off one of the only two people I wanted to actually survive this mess? And everybody else gets to go live their lives (except for Jake in prison)? Whatever. And apparently this was Cyrus's fate in the original script. Probably only cut for time. Can't say I am surprised, because that is the way the show would end. http://www.ew.com/tv/2018/04/20/scandal-series-finale-deleted-scene-cyrus-fate/ And a little bit more explanation (though not a full one) about Olivia's picture in the National Portrait Gallery at the end. http://ew.com/tv/2018/04/19/scandal-series-finale/

Protip for season finales (I'm going to assume this was on CBS and not on the show itself): if you are going to air two episodes together, they better actually be one story and not two different stories. Otherwise, what is the point? I would have rather watched SVU in real time, rather than the first episode if I had known (though I didn't hate the episode). The case for the first episode was decent. Yeah, we saw too much unsub, but at least the case kept me guessing for a bit. Plus the team actually had to work for this one and pursue a lot of different theories and leads before getting the actual unsub. I always enjoy Tara, so it was good to see so much of her this episode. I tend to like Luke, so I was glad to see those two working together. It might have been more fun to have a prior agent we actually know (such as the beloved Agent Anderson) instead of some mysterious Quinn we had never heard from before. But the story kept my attention nonetheless, and the entire atmosphere of the episode was delightfully creepy and dark-at first. I emphasize at first, because my feelings took a dramatic turn by the middle. I liked Reid's participation, particularly when he was determining who Theo was and in his class. I liked the intensity he had when questioning Quinn. I will say that if Quinn's memories are accurate, plus what we saw of Theo and all the others, everyone's behavior involved was just too over the top and unbelievable. It stopped feeling menacing halfway through and started to feel a bit ridiculous, like the writers weren't writing real world psychopaths and serial killers, but rather some movie psychopaths. I want to feel scared and creeped out, not on the verge of laughter when the parents were trying to get Quinn to kill April. Then seriously? Paramilitary serial killing teams? Whaaaaaat? Okay, they started to lose me when there was some sort of serial killing cult out there. And a killer cult who has infiltrated the FBI? It was almost like some episode of the X Files by the end (where was the faux Mulder and Scully from earlier in the season when you need them), and I prefer my serial killers to be grounded in reality. *sigh* I thought this episode had such potential at the beginning. But it was utterly laughable at the end, and completely unhinged from any sort of reality. I honestly don't care how it ends up (as long as Reid isn't murdered). And now that the season was over and we can take stock of it all- just what were the producers/writers thinking when they came up with that asinine Barnes story? It really was the most pointless story this season, and no effect on anything since everybody ended up in the same place where they started. If they wanted to go there, that should have been the story for the last few episodes and ended the season with Barnes splitting up the team. I really don't think Erica has much of an overarching vision for this show (or at the barest minimum, I really, really, really dislike her vision and think it has been detrimental to the show).

I've read the book this show is based on, and yeah, the character Raul plays is not the main character. Though he was in it more than I expected, and the book went in directions I didn't quite expect. It could make for an interesting show, though I don't know how it would go beyond one season, unless they drag the story out or significantly change it.

SGT Preston's beard also caught my eye. GENERALLY speaking, there is still a ban against beards. However, sometimes you see African American service members receive shaving profiles (I think due to skin issues from shaving or something), so they are allowed to have very trimmed beards. I'm not sure if that is just on a temporary basis or permanent, but I have seen it on occasion (though it is still rather rare). I'm just going to assume that is what was going on with SGT Preston (and I"m being generous here, because I really don't think the writers put any thought into that whatsoever), because otherwise, no he should not have had a beard.

Yeah, all of those things listed are incorrect. The salute is definitely off, because yeah, enlisted soldiers don't salute each other, even more higher ranking enlisted soldiers. Plus service members don't wear headgear indoors except for a couple instances. It's not even a matter of respect, but rather military protocol that prohibits the wearing of headgear indoors. SVU always wants to portray the military in a vacuum when it comes to showing military rapists, but again, these men have commanders and they would have some involvement. But that would have meant changing things to be more realistic (i.e. the lying, crying private perjuring himself and SGT Preston somehow being secretly transgender with no one knowing his secret), rather than the story they chose to tell.

The funny thing is, SSG (the rank of the rapist) is not some senior rank. It is a mid grade rank. He wasn't an officer or anything. These men have a commander somewhere (who really should have been involved in this episode, because if three people from one unit are arrested, you can better believe their commander would be informed), so it's not like the lying, crying private would have been hung out to dry if he had testified honestly. As it is, I do hope he is convicted of perjury, and yes, he would likely be dishonorably discharged from the military if that happened.

I really do wonder what the writers were thinking when they wrote Amanda so OOC and bitchy this episode, because it was obviously a deliberate choice on their part. I mean, it was completely unnecessary to further the story or add to her character development. Did they think they needed some contrast to her horrible behavior to Sky to drive home the point that sex workers deserve respect (something anyone working in SVU would already know)? It's weird. Dominic got an entire relationship and breakup in one episode in the deleted scenes and now the writers trot out some never mentioned cardiologist boyfriend that cheated on Amanda with prostitutes. Contrast that to the Benoah overdose (though thankfully they pulled back from that after the ridiculousness that was the first half of this season). It just reinforces some fans' belief that the writers really only care about Olivia and all other characters are simply props to further whatever agenda the writers/producers want to bring forth each week.

Yeah, that was the same thought that went through my head. Since when do men have to justify why they don't want to sexually abuse women? Are they trying to imply that if a man doesn't want to rape a woman or have sex with a prostitute, he must be gay or transgender? I assume NO that is not the point they were trying to make, but the whole situation was oddly handled. I guess it was the only setup the writers could think of that would allow SGT Preston to make his big, inspiring speech in court (which was the true point of this episode), that they needed such a clumsy setup. From that, I assume the defense attorney knew SGT Preston was transgender (and if so, how? I guess he got the same medical report that identified SGT Preston's blood as female, but other than that, I have no clue) and was trying to use that as some sort of weapon that if he was lying about his gender identity, he was lying about SSG Rapist (I don't remember his name). Of course that would just allow Peter to redirect SGT Preston and get him to affirm that he didn't want to harm Sky, because he has no interest in sexually abusing women, gender identity be damned. That statement would have had more power to implicate SSG Rapist rather than saying that he didn't harm Sky, because he is a transgender man. Even though this took a different turn than "Military Justice", it is still interesting that the successful convictions in both cases rested on a male sexual minority in the military outing themselves in court.

It took Rafael four years to fold to Olivia, so give it time, and that didn't start happening until season 18. Though since Peter is Michael's pet like Rafael was Warren's, it might not be anytime soon. Olivia did the bulk of the emotional work, dealing with both Sky and SGT Preston. That could easily have been shared among the team. Dominic and Fin didn't do much besides their actual job. Fin would have been a better choice to interact with SGT Preston in my opinion, and could have been a good opportunity to show that his views have evolved, just like many current views in the military have evolved. There was no reason to write Amanda as an unhinged bitch, and the "explanation" for her egregious behavior was character assassination, because it was so unnecessary. It was a conscious storytelling choice to make Olivia the emotional hero of this episode and the savior of the case.

Just curious, but just how long was the sentence (and the charge) for the dude who killed Penelope's parents? Because yeah, like others have pointed out, he would not still be in prison 20 years later (though come one, based on prior Penelope canon, Penelope would be early 40s by now and not late 30s), unless he had prior convictions, and I don't think he did at that young of an age. Of course this was the same show (with Penelope involved again no less) that tried to shove a death penalty case through in a matter of months for dubious reasons. So I don't expect legal vermisilitude (on a show about law enforcement no less). But it still irks me nonetheless.

This was an episode where Olivia was about the only one who looked good in this episode. Amanda was an unhinged, crazy, unprofessional bitch, because of ridiculous reasons that was basically character assassination. Dominic and Fin were fine (though I am growing weary of Dominic's increasing aggression toward witnesses), but I agree that it would have been a good opportunity for Fin to convince SGT Preston to testify, since he could likely relate to him better since they are both black men in the military. Olivia really has no idea of what it is like to be in the military, and would have been a nice chance to highlight someone else showing compassion and respect and not her singlehandedly saving the day like normal. I do like her interaction with Sky, but mainly because of the contrast to Amanda's horrible behavior.

Was I supposed to laugh hysterically when at the party, the one dude vomited blood on the lady and then everybody suddenly collapsed with bleeding eyes? Because that is certainly what I did. It felt like a Criminal Minds black comedy version of "Amplification" or "Poison" from season 1.

No, the whole name, rank, serial number line is only used to withstand interrogation after being captured. That is not something that would have been used in a normal way of interacting with the police. All he had to do was invoke his right to an attorney and to silence, and that would have been the end of it (at least initially).

And how Rafael is now a babykiller in canon (though not in my imagination, because I am doing my level best to block the travesty that is "The Undiscovered Country.") It's like this showrunner wants to turn all of the former SVU ADAs into criminals. Casey better duck and cover in a bunker, because they are coming for her next.

This episode just felt off to me. I mean, everyone was so freaking aggressive toward victims, witnesses and the like. Regardless of whatever drama may be going on in Amanda's life, she was so freaking deeply unprofessional with Sky. She should have been formally reprimanded. It takes a lot for me to prefer Olivia's interaction with victims (because I usually find her too schmaltzy for my taste), but she at least treated Sky with compassion and respect. Sky was under no obligation to talk to the police or file a report, and treating her like garbage like Amanda did was certainly not going to actually help them do their job. And what was up with SGT Preston acting like he was a POW when questioned by the police? He has every right to invoke his right to silence, but that whole charade was stupid and not the way a real military NCO would talk. Plus I have to think that the NYPD would involve these men's commander when questioning and arresting. Yes, NYPD has jurisdiction to arrest them, but I can't see them just waltzing in and not consulting any chain of command at all. Granted, I am always attuned to the ways SVU gets the military wrong in their episodes, so I am more likely to nit pick. And what the fuck was that late breaking twist about SGT Preston being a transgendered man, just to throw some in vogue military issue into the mix? This is something that would have been known, at least by SGT Preston's commander, which is why the commander should have been involved in this whole case from the start (even on an informational basis, because you would think the police would want to get a sense of these men by talking to their commander). And if they are trying to suggest that SGT Preston could be SECRETLY transgender in the military (and by that, I mean secretly transitioned into openly presenting as a different gender), that is just a complete load of bullshit. The Obama era policy about transgender in the military originally took effect in June 2016 (and now seems to be in a holding pattern in some ways), but that would have only applied to people already in the military. So that would mean that SGT Preston would have been female when he originally enlisted, so I don't see how he could have been hiding this big secret all this time, because at some point in the past 18 months, he would have had to transition to presenting as a male, and his commander would have been involved. Even if he was new to the unit, he would likely still be in the process of gender transitioning (which again, his commander would know about), and once he completely transitioned, his gender marker in his military record would be changed to male (which didn't sound like it had happened). And I agree with those who are saying, that SGT Preston's gender identity didn't need to be raised at trial at all (and did the defense attorney know about it, and if so, how?), because there are plenty of men who don't want to have sex with prostitutes or abused women, gender identity be damned. That is all he had to say on the stand, but this episode wanted to make a larger political point (though it missed some key realistic elements for transgender in the military). I would have liked to see this case tried by Rafael, only because I think it would have been a good counterpoint to the infamous prostitute rape case we heard about on his very first episode. I also would have loved to see Rafael's angry reaction and threats of perjury conviction after the lying private lied on the stand. I did appreciate Peter taking a hard line with Olivia when it came to the case regarding evidence, because corroboration was needed, because of all the conflicting stories in the beginning and the lack of forensic evidence. I also HIGHLY disagree with Peter's statement that the lying private would have been prosecuted in military court for making false official statements against a superior NCO. Even if the NCOs had been found not guilty, that doesn't mean that the one private lied on the stand. Yeah okay, he might have been at risk for retribution from the NCOs, but that is a different thing that his commander would have the obligation to protect him from. Overall, this episode go so much wrong about the military that it just made me want to scream. It just felt like one of those political episodes that was more about grandstanding and not about realism.

When it comes to crimes involving military members, if the crime occurred off a military installation, it would typically fall to civilian law enforcement to investigate and prosecute. But civilian law enforcement would still likely play nice with military police and investigators.

I liked this episode better when it was originally called "Minimal Loss." That one had way more psychological profiling and much less graphic, unnecessary violence.

Yeah, but this show is notorious for screwing up timelines. Sure when Rossi was introduced, he was 52 at the time. BUT then they did the retcon where he was at the Tet Offensive. Assuming he was 18 at the time of the Tet Offensive in January 1968 (the youngest he could reasonably be), that would mean he would have been born in 1949 at the latest, which means he would be no younger than 69 this year.

I liked this episode. It actually surprised me with the unsub, and I do enjoy having my expectations subverted. It was nice to see that it wasn't just a dude killing off his dates. And it certainly explained the rapid pace of the kills, because before that, I thought the show was really overdoing it with the escalating pile of bodies. At least there was some sort of psychological explanation for it this time. And it was nice to see some actual profiling that built toward unsub identification and not just Penelope pulling a magic rabbit out of a hat. She actually spent more time investigating creepy fiance dude, and that was nice to see the team do their actual job. I enjoyed the various team interactions, and it felt more natural to me than plenty of other team scenes in recent years. Sometimes it has felt forced, but this time, it seemed to flow better. I could see the evil fiance twist coming from a mile away, but that had to have been intentional. At least he ran off in the end after Rossi put the hurt on him. It went a long way to at least hiding the fact that Rossi is old these days (way too old to still be an active agent in the FBI, but I've complained about that for the past couple seasons). It was rather humorous to have likely virgin Spencer (or at least nothing in this show has indicated he has had sex) weighing in on the evolutionary advantages of multiple sexual partners.

Hmmm...I think it would have been interesting if Hayley had been 17 (the age of consent in New York). Then once you take statutory rape charges off the table, the ADA would be forced to deal with the fact that they framed an innocent (though thoroughly creepy) man. Then they would have to grapple with the surprise incest that isn't actually statutory rape, but isn't really a crime in NY either, since neither of them knew they were related at the time of the sex. You know, just so there couldn't be any legal talk of Hayley being a victim (she already was an unsympathetic victim). And just because I like to mix things up for fun.

At this point, the only way this show will improve is if they bring in a new, better showrunner, who comes in with a strong vision and better writers. Unless that happens (and it COULD if the network wanted it), nothing will change. I long ago made peace with this show, and I typically only watch for Reid these days. As for this episode...meh. I was hoping for some crazy, killer clown antics, but alas, no. I wish there was more Pennywise and less sad clown in my opinion.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It felt like a good, old school episode. We don't often get any sort of murders these days, and even though Hayley turned out to not be dead, at least it was a nice change of pace. I especially liked that Hayley was not a sympathetic victim, because she admitted to planning to frame Drago for her disappearance. And she certainly was all into the sex, even if she sounded like a typical teenager who thinks they are more mature than they actually are. And her super creepy reaction AFTER she found out that she was screwing her father reminded me of that season 13 episode (and they even used the "genetic sexual attraction" label from the same episode- good to see that Olivia paid attention to Dr. Huang's teachings). James was creepy, at least in how he couldn't keep it in his pants until Hayley was of legal age. I started to suspect that something was up with him when he didn't want to testify. But I honestly thought he had murdered her out of jealousy, because she ran off with Drago. Then of course we got the indication of a sexual relationship. So I wasn't SHOCKED when we found them alive and in bed together. And the final twist that James was screwing his own daughter Hayley was a classic, old school SVU twist. Wow, this is like the good Neal Baer years. I didn't see that twist coming until it was upon us. I have to say that I smiled when Olivia apologized to Peter for pushing him to take a murder case to trial, even though there was no body, so the case was entirely circumstantial. Combine that with Peter's snarky question if she was always this pushy (and her reply that he just needs to wait to get to know her), and it's ALMOST like this show was displaying some self awareness about how often Olivia badgers the ADA to take weak cases to trial. Now if she would just stop doing it, it would be great. Bonus points for finally showing Fin's grandson (over a year after he was born) and referencing Ben Stone's long lost daughter from the mothership. This episode was probably my favorite one of the season so far. And bonus for not overdoing Olivia, since she actually let her detectives do their jobs and detect while she ran point from back at the station. If only the show could continue to show this better consistency.