Joe Hellandback

How about Val Verde? (a prize for whoever can get that reference!)

The Good; Carisi centric rather than Bensonian, also you really feel for the accused kid and his family, showing the damage even an unfounded allegation can do to people. And nice to have a he said, she said rather than a clear cut victim with severe/fatal injuries. Hope we see more of his family, nice to see the characters have some life outside the squadroom, I mean when is the last time we saw Finn's son or Olivia's brother? The Bad; For crying out loud Carisi should immediately recuse himself from the investigation and Stone should have made that clear from the start to Benson knowing her reputation, everything he touches in that investigation is automatically tainted. Stone sadly seems to be going the same way as Barba and joining the SVU groupthink/Benson worship. And of course we have to have our Perry Mason moment where he goads the suspect into confessing on the stand, we couldn't have him being found innocent could we? Because the SVU have to believe every accuser and in the current political climate you couldn't portray some as lying? The writers need to show a bit more courage. Realistically the moment the defence got the disclosure from Carisi on the witness stand she should have applied for all proceedings to be dropped and she would have got it. One question, Stone seems to be getting increasingly pally with Finn and now Carisi, are they setting up a story where the SVU members are forced to choose between him and Benson? Reading through other's comments many have asked why Carisi was on the stand? Simple answer, the defence would have definitely put him there to (quite correctly) portray this prosecution as a family member abusing their authority. More troubling once his niece discloses to him about the first rape he has a duty of disclosure to the defence, he committed a blatant Brady violation.

1. An all-female recreation of the Stanford experiment results in one of the inmates being raped. At the trial the rapist then blames the conditions of the experiment for forcing her to act as she did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment 2. A recently released ex-felon takes a rape survivors group hostage and demands his conviction for rape be annulled. He demands to talk to a male officer and when Benson refuses to hand the phone over he kills a hostage causing a rift between her and Finn. 3. The SVU work with the FBI/Department of Diplomatic Security when the teenage sons of an ambassador of a country wracked by civil war (Burma, Yemen etc) are kidnapped, the hostage takers demanding the end to gang rapes by the military or they will rape them and publish the video on the internet. Events take an even more sinister turn when the secret police of the country (with diplomatic immunity) start terrorising the immigrant community in New York and take their own hostages in retaliation. Then Finn realises an old Army buddy of his who worked as a mercenary in the conflict is involved but which side is he working for? 4. Rape survivors groups begin to picket cinemas showing old movies portraying un-PC scenes (the Vikings, Gone with the Wind, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Gwendolyn, The Long Ships etc). When the protests turn violent the FBI demand the SVU help them infiltrate the groups which they are reluctant to do. But then the statue of a former slave owner is blown up and replaced by one dedicated to the slaves he raped the cat is truly pitched amongst the pigeons.

Oh but could play around with it, make the politician Afro-American, achingly liberal and a supporter of Benson's good causes.

1. A group of women from a 3rd world country accuse their aid worker husbands of raping them and keeping them as economic slaves. This creates chaos within their immigrant community as the charity withdraws from their home country, causing a humanitarian disaster and other aid worker wives contradict their story. Fin is pitted against the rest of the team as he had 'girlfriends' under similar circumstances during his military service abroad. 2. The SVU arrest a night bus driver who preyed on lone drunk female passengers. However it is revealed that he had been reported multiple times in various jurisdictions and the different police forces had never put it together. Some of the victims sue the NYPD for not solving their case sooner and when the judge rules in their favour Stone must have the decision reversed before the justice system is bankrupted by the financial damages. 3. A transgender woman is arrested at a protest and her DNA matches up to an unsolved rape committed when she was a man. However the case becomes a cause celebre as she argues that the person who committed the crime no longer exists and that she too has experienced rape as a woman. 4. A woman who accused an exiled Russian oligarch of rape collapses and dies of an apparent heart attack. Yet a voyeur who had been watching her insists he saw her shot at close range by a man with a handgun. Dr Warner returns to try to discover the true cause of death as the shadow of Cold War espionage stalks the streets of New York. 5. A former porn 'actress' who had made allegations of an affair with a rich and influential politician is found raped. Was this the work of her ex, his supporters or a deliberate frame job in order to cost him the election?

I quite liked this one, great performance from Dean Winters who really struck you as someone who is beginning to fall apart, all the little tics, you wonder why he just doesn't quit, take his pension and become a PI in some sleepy town? He says to 'The Great Olivia Benson' what many of us have been saying for so long. Nice to have Stone and the female detective finally say the right thing to Benson and co, that the ex-lover of the suspect shouldn't be involved in the investigation. You wonder though why he didn't insist on taking Cassidy down to IA? That said, totally lame the way Cassidy then confesses to having been abused himself, can't we have someone without a tragic backstory for once?

Nope, the IRA hand in glove supported the Nazis, an extremist nationalist movement which wished to exterminate a political, religious and ethnic minority to have a totalitarian state where everyone is the same. They had a lot in common. The rest of the Irish Free State wasn't far behind, their neutrality almost lost us the war.

MUST have some cameos from the 90s series, at very least MJH

Anything with Callisto, singing, nudity, Annie/Harry/Mattie, Aphrodite or hurt/comfort.

Anything with the India arc and King Con, just dreadful! Also Back in the Bottle, just terrible!

I think the whole conspiracy angle is so played out it has become incredibly boring. However, I love this show and the characters so I still watch it for the funny, self referential eps like 'The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat', 'Babylon' and 'The Were-Monster'.

Sad to see him go but he'd had a good run, nice that he was still working and successful right into his 70s. He had big shoes to fill with replacing Frank but the genius of the role was that he wasn't a Frank clone, we felt for him and often sympathised with him given the antics of Hawkeye and co. I always loved his final scene where he tells Colonel Potter he will be his inspiration for his new post as the head of a surgery team.

I quite liked this, nice to see some familiar faces and a nice goodbye for Barba. What will he do now? I figure represent Cuban refugees/political dissidents but it would be awesome if he came back some time representing a defendant against the SVU. Never seen Stone before so I have an open mind. The essential thing is that he doesn't become Benson's lapdog, I want a scene where she walks up to him drinking in a bar and he says to her "No, we're not playing that game" and walks away.

1. After a suspect is exonerated by remarks made by an accuser on the web a judge rules that any victim's full internet and text history must be disclosed to the defence. As victims start withdrawing their allegations rather than have their private lives aired in public DA Stone has to find a way to revoke the decision before the SVU drown under all the computer evidence they now have to review. 2. A rapist preys on a group of high class call-girls who cannot appear in court without losing their daytime careers/marriages. The case becomes even more complex when several turn out to be police women. 3. A pair narcotics cops aid the SVU in apprehending a stranger rapist. However when the cops are charged with 'flaking' suspects their evidence is thrown out putting hundreds of convictions at risk. Meanwhile Noah's grandmother sends him gifts and letters using recently released prisoner friends, causing Benson to wonder if she can ever entirely shut her out of her son's life. 4. The SVU is ordered to take part in a reality TV show where a celebrity jury must decide if a fictional defendant is guilty or not. But when a real rapist is caught he cites the show as his inspiration as part of his defence. 5. Fin's son returns to help in the hunt for an aerial drone voyeur who has become an internet sensation. Meanwhile Carisi becomes involved with a group campaigning for reform of the NYPD putting his career at risk but is then approached by Internal Affairs to be a mole within the group.

Watched him do One Night and it's hilarious, too bad he never got to perform in SVU. He's at least as good as Giles' brother. Don't blame him for leaving, his character had just descended into Benson's lapdog. Plus he's reached that 100 episodes mark which many actors do, making him a millionaire, making him a minor celebrity and getting repeat fees which he could essentially live off so now he can do Broadway and other less well paying gigs which he enjoys. Question is what will Barba do now? I figure taking the cases of Cuban immigrants/political dissidents. Love to see him come back some time as a defence lawyer taking on the SVU.

This was interesting. It showed how fundamentally left wing the show's writers are because they think they gave a balanced ep dealing with these conflicting viewpoints but actually it slid uncontrollably to the left and they never realised it. Why wasn't there more outrage when Barba drops the charges? He was probably right, there was no chance of a conviction but still, you'd think there would be uproar. How come the SVU don't want to pursue the left wingers who bombed the right wingers house? They trample on other people's cases all the rest of the time. What I did like was the right wing politician at the end going to the coffee house where the suspect worked, showing she wouldn't be intimidated. It would be nice for her to return in the future episode some time. I like the defence solicitor, he was very clever, using the very OJ style tactic of creating an alternate theory and giving the jury someone to hate and an excuse to let the suspect off.

This started out really well but then went to pieces. Surely the mad co-pilot can't call the pilot because that's witness tampering? Why is there ALWAYS another rape victim? Do we never have a rapist who only has one victim? Did they have to arrest him in public in front of everyone? So we abuse our position and misuse the law due to a personal vendetta against a company because it uses sexy advertising? What exact evidence did both victims possess, any defence solicitor could just say they self harmed or were fans of rough sex. We need a devils advocate character on SVU, someone who defies the group think and speaks for the accused, maybe if you had a recurring defence solicitor.

The magician Always thought that would be a great ending to the series, Benson is convicted of a sex crime and we never quite know if she's guilty or innocent, the final shot is of her in her cell contemplating her new life.

Well this one was pretty good, I thought when they brought Benson in from being off duty (why exactly apart from giving Olivia some more screentime) they were going to ruin it but thankfully it became all about Barba which was refreshing, I hope we have more eps like this one. The OJ prosecution wasn't incompetent, not their fault the detective who finds the vital evidence turned out to be a racist, discrediting him in the juries eyes. Basically they thought this was just an ordinary domestic murder and didn't realise it was a racial issue.

Now you see I like him better with his porn star moustache, I think it suited him. As for the character I'd say he's a qualified lawyer and I'd like him more to clash with the others over legal points, I thought that was going to happen in 'Gone Fishin' over Finn kidnapping the suspect but he (or the writers) chickened out.

Okay, this pretty much played out as I thought it would, however I did like that they didn't kill her, I would like to see Benson and Noah visit her in prison/mental asylum at some stage,

1. A famous musician makes allegations on stage against a celebrity magician who had criticised his womanising lifestyle causing several accusers to come forward. The magician counters by staging a live lie detector test which he passes effortlessly. When he is charged he challenges the SVU team in a series of experiments to see if they can distinguish liars from truth tellers and they worry he is using subliminal influencing on the jury. 2. The famous actress mother of a man who killed himself after being accused of sexual harassment, ruining his career, launches a campaign. She hires male models to engage in the same sort of behaviour her son was accused off and films the accusers reacting in different ways depending on the attractiveness or invented background of the stooge. 3. A series of manipulated incidents generate mass hysteria in New York with various ethnic and religious groups pitted against one another, each convinced the other is sexually preying on their community. When Benson receives a cryptic message she begins to wonder if Merritt Rook really did die in that river?

Can't believe they retconned out the kids, all you'd need to say is that Leo and Vince got full custody and moved out of town, they could visit them off camera between seasons. Do hope we have Beverley Lester back. Everyone still looks great, especially Eric McCormack. Watching this in the UK is interesting because they make the joke about Trump not lasting a year as president and he just about has. Tim Allen was never that funny, what made it funny was watching this rapidly fading Alpha (Beta?) male having to interact with the diverse female cast of characters, especially Eve who was a somewhat unique character on TV. Hope we have Rosie back, even if she just phones Karen from her hospital bed/retirement home or whatever.

Yes, I thought of that twist the moment you mentioned it. Although testing on animals is no guarantee, penicillin is lethal to guinea pigs. My idea though is that these guys would have no prior criminal records. A recently released rapist rapes his original victim for the 2nd time. He is prosecuted but then evidence emerges that the victim lied the first time around and he was actually convicted of a crime he did not commit. Should Barba put him on trial for a crime he has already been punished for?

Ah but this is the other way around!