[Law & Order: SVU in the Media]

Yeah but it sounds like whatever Rafael does threatens the DA office. So I can't see how McCoy would be all that pleased with Rafael. And if he is doing this utterly stupid thing at the behest/encouragement of Olivia, I can only hope that McCoy hands Rafael his ass hard enough to make him reconsider just how much he allows Olivia to influence his professional decisions. 

[Law & Order: SVU in the Media]

More pictures (with Raul for those of us who don't worship Mariska). This one should be interesting. I enjoy political and job pressures for Rafael. I just hope the writing doesn't destroy his character, because the writing has watered down his character the past couple seasons.

http://ew.com/tv/2018/01/29/sam-waterston-law-order-svu-return-photos/

[S13.E11: Full Tilt Boogie]

SVU goes in waves with the sorts of crimes it has. In the early to mid seasons, much of the crimes were murder with some sort of sexual element that was a pretext to bring in SVU. But in the later seasons (seasons 13 and beyond), the bulk of the crimes are actual rapes, much of them acquaintance rapes between people who know each other. And an eye rolling preponderance of pretty white female victims, and rich, powerful male perpetrators. Just like CM, they need to mix up their crimes and motivations, in my opinion. SVU needs more murders and different classes of victims and perps, and CM needs more sexually motivated crimes. 

[S19.E10: Pathological]

I kept thinking about Noah's trauma and wondering just what he thought of it. I mean, does he realize that his grandmother abducted him? I suppose he does on some level, since he was asking if she had done a bad thing. But she didn't abuse or terrify him in any way. Hell, it sounded like he wanted to see her again. So why would he need to stay out of school for three weeks to recover? It almost sounds like it was more for Olivia's comfort than his own. 

[S07.E09: Good People]

I wonder if the writers realize how bad their show is at this point. Are they leaning into the craptastic, and going for some dark comedy, or do they think they are writing an intelligent, interesting show? This show has been a parody of itself for a couple seasons now, but this one took the cake in terms of ridiculousness. 

[S14.E10: Personal Jesus]

That was my point. Her low blood pressure SHOULD have been in her medical history, so April would at least be clued in. That's why I wonder who her OB was. Arizona seemed surprised, and that is the sort of thing that would have been known in advance, because it can be a serious medical complication. 

[S14.E10: Personal Jesus]

I enjoyed this episode, though as the episode progressed, I could see most of those deaths coming. The one I questioned the most was Matthew's wife. We know Arizona was her baby's fetal surgeon, but I presume she had another doctor as her OB? I only ask, because you would think that her chronically low pressure would be in her medical record and available. April might not have realized, because she was dealing with an emergency, but Arizona should have known. But yet,s she looked surprised when she was looking at her medical history. Her death SHOULD have been preventable, and it seemed like some sloppy doctoring on the part of someone. 

[S13.E13: Cure]

If higher ups wanted to break up the team, they could just do it. They could just reassign all of the agents to different departments and that would be that. Let's hope this isn't some stupid, drawn out political fight, because I find those stories very yawn inducing. 

[S13.E13: Cure]

I liked this episode, though I am side eyeing that final scene, because it seems like bad fan fiction from the "Season of JJ". I have to wonder why Rossi wasn't made Acting Chief, but hopefully that will be cleared up next episode. But for now, I'll reserve judgment until we see how this will all play out.

However before that, I thought this episode had an interesting premise and a crap ton of profiling. The BAU actually had to work to determine the unsub, and it wasn't something that should have been freaking obvious to local law enforcement. We didn't know who the unsub was until the team figured it out, and that was a pleasant throwback to earlier seasons. And to my surprise, they didn't rescue the final victim in time, because that doesn't happen very often on this show.

I enjoyed the code breaking between Reid and Penelope. This is the character interplay that I miss from earlier seasons. Penelope was actually tolerable to me, because her smarts were on display and not some contrived cutesy "quirkiness" that got old for me several seasons ago. 

Too bad that Reid wasn't at the autopsy, because he probably could have made a date with that quirky, nerdy assistant. 

So this is probably in my top two for favorite episodes this season. 

[S19.E11: Flight Risk]

I can't hate on Rafael for what he said, because I probably would have said the same thing. But I also have a twisted sense of humor.

The show deliberately went with the route they did with the story, probably to make multiple political points at once. They chose to make Tara Muslim, and they chose to have her nearly crash the plane. It's like they wanted to make the point that not all Muslims are terrorists (true), but they undercut their message of female empowerment by having Tara freak out and nearly crash the plane. I don't think she was deliberately trying to crash the plane, but I also don't think she was qualified to land that plane. Or at least nothing in the episode made me think she was qualified to land that plane on her own. Everything we saw made it seem like she lost control and was close to accidentally crashing the plane. So unintentionally (because I don't think that was the point the writers were going for), they supported the notion that women pilots are too emotional to fly under extreme stress. I am relieved that Tara was convicted of some sort of federal charges, because she deserved to go to jail for her reckless behavior. 

[S13.E12: Bad Moon on the Rise]

I was wondering when the show would get around to clinical lycanthropy, though the idea of it  would be a better Halloween episode. I had higher hopes for something creepy, but it fell apart for me at the end, once we got the full back story. 

I suppose this show goes for "timeless" with these episodes, but certain things take me out of episodes, and it seems to be more of a thing in later seasons. I always assume episodes are supposed to be set in present day during the first airing, meaning this episode should be taking place in January in New  York City. If that is the case, it was freaking obvious that this was filmed in California. I mean, no indication of cold weather or anything. NYC in January is freezing cold. Can't this show at least pretend that it takes place in different locations, in different seasons.

If I was Luke's date, and some crazy lady showed up to ambush my date, I wouldn't have been so friendly. I would have given her serious side eye. Sure, I would totally understand why my date had to be dragged away on emergency business. But Penelope was just weird, and not charming in the least (at least to me). 

[S19.E11: Flight Risk]

Generally speaking, I liked this episode. The only thing that made me really groan was when Rafael wanted the grand jury to return an indictment of grand larceny against Optimum Airlines. I had no issue with him convening a grand jury to determine institutional culpability (which he did to great effect in season's 14 "Girl Dishonored"). What I had an issue with was the crime he was alleging. That was just too unbelievable, along with his speech to the grand jury at the end. I give him a bit of a pass, because he knew that was a fool's errand, and he knew the score, but was trying to make a point anyway. At least he made his own decision to pursue justice, and wasn't pushed into it by Olivia.  So based on that, it didn't feel AS ridiculous as the shit show that was "Imposter". But everything up to that point was a reasonably decent episode. 

I was glad that there was a bit more nuance to Tara's story, at least in the fact that she was going to have to do two years in a federal prison for her incredibly reckless behavior. I was afraid that she would be let off scot free after the rape allegation, and that, plus the whole terrorism angle, brought back bad memories of "Terrorized" from last season. So thankfully that part wasn't ignored, because I know if I was a passenger on that flight, I wouldn't have given her a pass (even though I wouldn't think the pilot was a hero after finding out he raped Tara). I did have a bit of side eye at the reasoning that she flew with Logan, because she needed to do her job, but then she fell apart at the end, and basically went rogue. There is no GOOD excuse for that sort of unprofessional behavior. But I guess the show wanted to bring in that terrorism angle to the story. I did have to giggle at how quickly Rafael was able to secure Logan's guilty plea, but they needed some time for the grand jury angle. 

This episode also had the right amount of Olivia, meaning she wasn't front and center, and the episode wasn't all about her personal drama. Though I did wonder what was up between Fin and Dodds at the end. I guess the memo Fin was referring to was about Dodds interviewing possible replacements, but he was within his rights to do so, in my opinion. 

[S13.E11: Full Tilt Boogie]

Hmmm...I expected more from a Kirsten/Erica collaboration, but I wasn't exactly feeling this one. I found the investigation generally interesting (though a bit preachy at times, but the opioid crisis is a popular storytelling device these days) , with plenty of red herrings thrown at us (so much so, we knew that none of these would stick, because they were coming at us fast and furious), though I felt the episode took a real dip in quality towards the end with the wacked out mother. I kept waiting for Reid to show up, because I thought he was supposed to be in this episode, and he finally did halfway through. I figured the unsub was a woman after Mac's killer was completely obscured.

I guess my central problem with this story is that the BAU would never have been called in on this case in the first place. The cops had a named suspect. Who cares if she was found in a national park? At worst, then officers from the Virginia FBI field office would do any sort of investigation if it required a federal presence. This wasn't even a good pretext for getting the BAU involved, and I felt there was very little actual profiling. This was all just straight investigation, and not even necessarily the most interesting investigation to begin with. 

[S19.E10: Pathological]

Without a doubt, this was my favorite episode of the season. It felt like one of those really good, old school season episodes. I mean, like older episodes, this used the possibility of a sex crime as a pretext to more crimes. I figured this episode would end in a murder, but I thought the mother would murder her child after she was convicted or something like that. But the daughter killing the mother was an interesting twist. I also felt this episode used the team effectively. Of course I think a good chunk of that was because of the reduced presence of Olivia, because she was on leave. Sure, I would have been happy if she was barely in it, but at least this time, Fin got to actually do his job as team leader for the most part in her absence and was good at it. Dominic and Amanda got to do their job, and even Rafael pretty much did his job on his own. Of course I wondered why he didn't kick the case down to family court in the first place, if he didn't want to charge her with first degree murder (at least that is what I assume he charged her with). But at least the investigation was interesting and the court scenes were good. Too bad they didn't show the judge verbally spanking Rafael, because that would have been interesting to see. I wish the show would keep this sort of balance for future episodes, because it really did feel more like an ensemble and not the Olivia Benson Drama Hour. I could even ignore the couple of scenes with Noah, because they didn't feel overwrought. Granted I would prefer Noah-less episodes for the rest of the season, but at least this felt more realistic. And it was nice to see Amanda with Jessie, because she is just as much of a single mother as Olivia, but we barely ever see it. 

[S19.E09: Gone Baby Gone]

This story was written in such a way as to allow the team, and Olivia in particular, to do all the work. No it isn't realistic, but this episode was going more for Mariska scenery chewing and overwrought emotion than realism of a multi state child abduction case.

[S19.E09: Gone Baby Gone]

I had a whole host of jurisdictional questions with how this investigation played out, once the players left NYC. Of course the show had to manipulate it so Olivia could go rogue and solve the case on her own, but in reality, this would have likely been coordinated with some other law enforcement agencies. Hell, Barba offered to bring in the FBI (who SHOULD have been brought in once this case crossed state lines) and she just blew him off. There is some hint in future episodes that Fin is going to have to protect Olivia, and I bet it has to do with her conduct during this case. I hope she gets smacked down for her irresponsible behavior. It would be nice if the team's unethical behavior wouldn't be rewarded or glossed over. 

[S13.E10: Submerged]

10 hours ago, idiotwaltz said:

This episode would’ve made for absurd comedy except it wasn’t funny. I can’t believe someone actually wrote the line, “There is no crying when you’re a pirate” and other people approved it, then a whole bunch of other people produced this episode. 

This is right up there with the SVU episode where the bad guy was smuggling monkeys in basketballs. 

SVU Basketball Monkeys is the height of campy crime procedurals and is a craptastic classic. Criminal Minds needs to work harder to achieve such heights of unintentional comedy. :) :) :) :) 

[S13.E10: Submerged]

What the hell did I just watch? Freaking pirate play as a trigger for being a serial killer? This is the sort of illogical, weird, uninteresting cases that result when there is some moratorium on more realistic serial killer motives and actions. 

And you would hope parents would teach their kids to not talk to strangers, especially creepy looking strange men. But I guess not. 

[S19.E09: Gone Baby Gone]

I would have liked this episode more if this was just a straight up case of kidnapping and nothing involving Benoah. Because of that, there were just too much heightened emotions from everyone involved. Of course, most of us called Sheila being behind Noah's disappearance back when we first heard about this, so the "twist" discovery at the middle of the episode didn't shock me, but rather just confirmed my expectations. When the focus was on the investigation and not emotions running overboard, I thought the case was interesting. However, my biggest problem with this episode is of course the victim was Noah, so that clouded everyone's judgement. One of the aspects of this show I have consistently hated from the beginning, is the police brutality that often results. Granted, that occurs much less since Elliot retired, but they went to the well for this episode way too much. I was really not okay with Amanda smacking around a suspect and mistreating his daughter. I hate to see that in shows, even though I know we are supposed to root for that sort of behavior. It just makes me cringe. The same with Olivia going rogue and going up to the cabin without backup. At least all she had to deal with was a crazed Sheila, and not someone who was an accomplished criminal. 

For the most part, there was ample team stuff in this episode. Even Rafael had something to do other than hold Olivia's hand. And of course some good Fin, though of course Dodds was right on with ordering Olivia to stay away from the case (even if she didn't listen to him of course). 

Here's hoping this is the end of this season's Benoah drama, but I don't know if we are that lucky. 

And when the final scene begun with Rafael on Olivia's doorstep, I was SOOOO afraid that they would start kissing or something, but thankfully the rest of the squad was there acting as a "family." I normally hate that sort of thing, but I would rather see that than any sort of Barson drama. That is my one red line for this series. No romantic Barson. I'm good with good, platonic friend Barson (which we saw in abundance this episode), but I draw the line at romantic Barson. 

[S13.E09: False Flag]

I didn't hate this episode, so that is good. Throughout the entire episode, I felt I was watching an X Files episode, one that would be darkly funny on that show. I certainly wouldn't have hated it if the show had gone for some more humor, but that is not really this show for the most part. I liked the structure and the investigation. It used the team well and there were some surprises along the way. This one was probably one of my favorite episodes of the season. 

[S19.E08: Intent]

I found this episode to be...distinctly odd. Now, I don't necessarily mean "odd" in a bad way, but this was a very different type of episode. The case was a bit different (after assuming this was going to be a straightforward rich white dude prick rapist/pretty young white woman victim). The rhythm of the episode was definitely odd, and we haven't had this much personal development in a long time. Yeah, yeah, we had way too much Benoah, but I am not that particularly concerned about the following episode (it's not like the show is going to kill off Noah or anything), but we also got a surprising amount of Dominic and Amanda. I mean, I was honestly surprised they went there with Dominic basically acting like a jealous puppy dog about Amanda. I couldn't tell if she actually wanted him but didn't want to go there (because the writers have already pulled that trigger more than once with regards to her character), or if she just saw him as a friend. I honestly wouldn't mind if the show did go there, but I am not a real fan of the drawn out sexual tension. Of course, if they were going to pair Dominic up with another character, I wish it would be Rafael, but I know the show would never go there. As for the end with the Noah peril, my big question is if this kidnapper was hired by Sheila or not to steal Noah. Either choice would not surprise me. But either way, I really don't care. Even after this episode, I am still puzzled about the whole Ellie thing. No, I would not expect Olivia to tell Noah that his mother was murdered, but what HAS she told him? I mean, Noah has to know he is adopted and it is expected that he would have asked Olivia about his birth mother. While she and Sheila haven't worked out some sort of united front with what to tell Noah, it also seems that Olivia has no plan for how to answer Noah's questions, and that alone is odd. 

As for the case, it was interesting. I did like the fact that there was the twist about this whole case. It made everything more interesting that this wasn't a straightforward rape case. Everything involved with Heather and her arrest was a very odd diversion for the show. From the drunken cop bar brawl (I guess cops can get involved in bar brawls in West Virginia with no blowback), the sexual tension between Dominic and Amanda, the whole passive arrest and passive drive back to NYC. It had this strange rhythm to it, but I didn't hate it. I was just wondering where the show was going with all of this, so I'll probably like it more upon rewatch. I have to say that this was the most and best Rafael of the season, so that alone endears me to this episode. He actually was doing his job as a lawyer, and Olivia didn't have AS much say over the legal strategy as she has had in the past (though my preference would be that she wouldn't be in any of his legal meetings at all). The initial part of the trial was weird, but I did smile a bit that Rafael thought Heather was so pathetic that he would have acquitted her if he was on the jury. But thankfully Dominic was able to come through with some actual case relevant information, and Rafael was able to turn the tables during Heather's cross examination. For me, at least her conviction felt earned, rather than some of the dubious convictions from last season. And it also felt like it wasn't Olivia saving the day on the case, so I am pleased about that choice.

Overall, I liked this episode more than most this season. 

[S19.E07: Something Happened]

Because the investigation was basically just watching Olivia interrogate Laurel, we never got a SOLID answer about that. But what we did see certainly pointed to Laurel having consensual sex with the man and then killing him afterward. Or at least that is how I interpreted what few facts of the murder the show focused on. 

[S19.E07: Something Happened]

We know very little about the actual murder that took place, because the show was more focused on fake father daughter incest (fake for Laurel, because she just imagined that it happened to her instead of her sister). Sure, Laurel's relationship with her father obviously played a role in why she killed that man, but we were left with very little understanding of the crime the police and DA should have been investigating. Of course it is because this episode was just an excuse to over indulge in scenery chewing, and not as focused on building a solid investigative case, because yeah, all these questions being raised here are the same ones I had.

What exactly was the timeline of the murder? I'm going to guess they had consensual sex at some point during the night, and then  Laurel killed him afterward, but we are still somewhat in the dark. All of the triggers for Laurel (the watch, the aftershave) are triggers that would have happened when she met the man. But she went home with him anyway, and presumably had sex. So that would indicate that went into her murderous fugue state after the sex was over, but why was that necessarily the trigger for actually murdering the man? Dr. Huang would have been able to get a better read from Laurel on what her state of mind was when she actually murdered him. 

Why was there no blood on Laurel? Did she take a shower afterward or was just extremely lucky after murdering him in a fugue state?

How did she get into the Museum of Natural History? You would think she wouldn't have been able to just sneak in there, not in her obviously mentally unhinged state. 

I do like the fact that the case was not what we thought it was going to be. Having the supposed victim turn out to be the perpetrator and a rape actually be a murder, was an interesting turn of events. It was ALMOST worthy of being in the Neal Baer era SVU canon (the good canon and not the cringe inducing camp canon). But the shortsighted focus on trading daddy horror stories between Laurel and Olivia (and being a shameless attempt at garnering Emmy nominations for them both actresses), really resulted in a half baked investigation and the rest of the team shunted aside to watch Olivia interrogate Laurel with concern. The episode really could have been better if it was more tightly written. 

[Season 19 Spoilers & Speculation]

E! posted this "spoiler" for next week's episode.

http://m.eonline.com/news/897461/law-and-order-svu-sneak-peek-what-noah-reveals-about-his-grandma-leaves-benson-shocked

Presumably this sets into motion whatever showdown happens between Olivia and Sheila, but I can't figure out why. Based on the verbiage of this article, you would think that Sheila told Noah that she was going to abduct him. But all she said to him was that Ellie loved him very much and she wished Noah could have met her. I don't see the problem in that, so maybe someone could enlighten me. I mean, Noah has to know he's adopted right? I wouldn't expect Olivia to tell Noah his birth mother was brutally murdered, but I ASSUME she told him that his mother couldn't take care of him (and maybe that she died), so Olivia was able to be his mother. What am I missing here? 

[S19.E07: Something Happened]

Yeah, what a load of horseshit. We have literally spent seasons dealing with Olivia's pain about her father and the pain she experienced with William Lewis. Everybody she works with already knows these, ad nauseum. There is no where else to go with these two issues, short of retconning, which thankfully they did not do. This whole #BensonsSecret crap was nothing more than a marketing ploy to get people to watch the show. And most people can see it for what it was and aren't happy about it (nor should they be).