S21.E06: Murdered at a Bad Address

[dttruman]

This description is from Googling "SVU season 21,  Murdered at a Bad Address"

The case of a teenage girl assaulted in the projects leads to a startling discovery; Benson puts her trust in someone from her past.

This cast information comes from Fandom

Recurring cast

Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner

Michael Weston as Simon Marsden

Ryan Buggle as Noah Porter-Benson

Jamie Gray Hyder as Detective Katriona Tamin

Guest cast

Happy Anderson as Tim Stanton

Lou Martini, Jr. as Counselor Freddo

Damani Sease as Inmate

Robert Keiley as Perp

[illdoc]

9 hours ago, dttruman said:

The case of a teenage girl assaulted in the projects

"In the projects"?? Not to stereotype, but does that mean we have a non-white victim? Two weeks in a row (one of the cases last week), plus the one from two weeks before that? Who's been lurking here and knows how much we've commented on "Special Victims = White Victims"?!!

Edited October 29, 2019 by illdoc

[dttruman]

A new Sneak Peek came out and it kind of upset me. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but what do you all think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9K-eONYbew

It seems to me like Benson is still indirectly giving orders to Carisi. Why doesn't she ask if Carisi isn't busy before she volunteers him? I guess it's their way of saying Benson is still master of all.

Edited October 31, 2019 by dttruman

[Picture It. Sicily]

Simon Marsden? Barf. Will he be the next to kidnap Noah?

Edited October 31, 2019 by Picture It. Sicily
Punctuation

[Gigi43]

Simon? ! He's not the worst but Simon and Noah could be. 

Ken and the baby are the only acceptable SVU family members. Ken is productive and his kid has been seen only a little and was just cute for Finn moments as tv kids should be .

[wknt3]

10 hours ago, dttruman said:

A new Sneak Peek came out and it kind of upset me. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but what do you all think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9K-eONYbew

It seems to me like Benson is still indirectly giving orders to Carisi. Why doesn't she ask if Carisi isn't busy before she volunteers him? I guess it's their way of saying Benson is still master of all.

Benson gives orders to ADAs who never worked for her so why she treat Carisi any different? It doesn't bother me too much except as an example of them shoehorning Carisi in to the fieldwork. It would be nice to take a few seconds to have her saying she'll call and work things out, but that would take time away from Benson's family drama and we can't have that now can we?

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Benson gives orders to ADAs who never worked for her so why she treat Carisi any different? It doesn't bother me too much except as an example of them shoehorning Carisi in to the fieldwork. It would be nice to take a few seconds to have her saying she'll call and work things out, but that would take time away from Benson's family drama and we can't have that now can we?

Is it their plan to move the detectives around so they are involved with other people's job while doing an investigation.

Benson is made head of SVU (a la Cragen) who is suppose to be mostly desk bound, but here she is actively working outside her office on the case.

Carisi is made ADA but Benson some how gets him (or orders him) to go with other detectives for interviews long before he has a chance to determine if there is a case for prosecution.

Now will Rollins and/or Tamin be going to night school to get their medical degrees so one of them can take over for the Medical Examiner?

Edited November 1, 2019 by dttruman

[dttruman]

It only took 7 minutes into the episode for Benson to say "It's not your fault". But we may have a discrepancy here. She said it to the mother, but not to the victim. Does that count?

Halfway through and I am a little confused with a couple of things, but the investigation is going OK, but Benson, her stepbrother, and Noah are taking up some valuable time.

Edited November 1, 2019 by dttruman

[Gigi43]

Carisi better not sign that f'in paper. So help my TV...

[Gigi43]

The case was pretty good but I missed bits and pieces. They're really trying do things "differently " this year. It felt old school to trace it to an old case. It's sad Carlos lost 16yrs but finally going free but the GoFundMe grave plot was a nice touch that endings usually lack (and I could see that happenig IRL if a story like that made headlines.) Fin and Carisi got air time. The shifty way of getting the signature makes me uncomfortable because even when SVU isn't playing shifty they're a degree of separation from something going down. 

Hi Warner! She was the one who ran the original dna fam search for Liv right?  Simon hasn't been on in years and over all wasn't ever a fixture. Killing him off is going to give up Guilt!Benson because they can't resist. Uhg.

Edited November 1, 2019 by Gigi43
Typing more than a sentence or two on my tablet never goes well the 1st try even after 3 yrs together

[dttruman]

I was very disappointed in the use of ME Warner. Her appearance and the use of Benson's stepbrother were there just for the Benson soap opera portion of the episode. I thought there was going to be a major conspiracy involving the Bronx DA and maybe the guards in the Green Haven facilities. It had all the makings for it. This could have been a good two-parter and even Marsden's death could have been used as a warning for Benson and the team to stop digging.

Instead it was a routine correction of justice for an inmate, that also featured Benson and her sad family experience. But there were some inconsistencies that bothered me, if I decided to nit-pick.

[Dr.OO7]

Did Olivia--a cop and a mother--just get up and walk away from her tender-age son to make a phone call and have her back turned to him? WTF?

I kept expecting the next cut to be to her turning to an empty chair.

[jmonique]

I haven't watched SVU in years. Does Mariska have a codicil in her contract that she gets her own completely random storyline or something? Did they really just unearth Simon just to kill him off to give Olivia sad face?

[dttruman]

1 minute ago, jmonique said:

I haven't watched SVU in years. Does Mariska have a codicil in her contract that she gets her own completely random storyline or something? Did they really just unearth Simon just to kill him off to give Olivia sad face?

Well said!

[Pearson80]

11 minutes ago, jmonique said:

I haven't watched SVU in years. Does Mariska have a codicil in her contract that she gets her own completely random storyline or something? Did they really just unearth Simon just to kill him off to give Olivia sad face?

I rolled my eyes at that. I did not understand Olivia's attitude towards Simon, she was willing to ruin her career for him back when Stabler was around.. Not to mention, Simon named his daughter after her. Did he mention his daughter Olivia at all?  His death was so senseless. If any sibling had to die, it should have been Rollins' vile sister. 

Edited November 1, 2019 by Pearson80

[MerBearHou]

The actor who played Carlos was really effective — he broke my heart.  Ricky and he were railroaded as poor, minority, “project kids” who, as it turns out, were terrified of telling their real alibi.  Just heartbreaking and I was glad (though shady for sure) that the other ADA found a way to get the vacate document signed.  With a longtime DA who’s hiding his dementia, who knows how long it would’ve taken to actually get done?  Carlos would’ve died in prison waiting.  Just so sad.  The scene at the gravesite was so touching.  Lots of Carisi and Fin which was a major plus for me.  

I had the same thoughts when Olivia walked that far away from the table where Noah was.  And left that horrible message.  1) will Noah get kidnapped again?  2) something awful has happened to the brother and that’s why he hadn’t showed to the lunch

All in all, I’ve liked this season much more than recent memory because it’s less preachy Olivia, more use of the other actors, more about the cases.  Hope it keeps up.

[SarahPrtr]

53 minutes ago, jmonique said:

I haven't watched SVU in years. Does Mariska have a codicil in her contract that she gets her own completely random storyline or something? Did they really just unearth Simon just to kill him off to give Olivia sad face?

Well, the whole show used to be an ensemble cast, where they were all equally important, but now it's The Olivia Benson Show.  Not only does she get an obscene amount of money to be on SVU, but she's taking valuable characters away from the screen.  Urgh.

[juliet73]

Question: was Wentworth Miller's character supposed to be the same one he played on SVU 10 years ago? Except now he's a DA instead of a detective?

I also thought Noah was going to be gone when Olivia turned her back.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

Instead it was a routine correction of justice for an inmate, that also featured Benson and her sad family experience. But there were some inconsistencies that bothered me, if I decided to nit-pick.

"Routine correction????"

A medically incompetent D.A. still in office.  An A.D.A. coerces said D.A. to vacate charges that should never have been filed against a man that spent 16 years in prison.

[Xeliou66]

This was a good episode.

I liked the way the story played out, with a good use of every character and I liked how the case unfolded, even if it was somewhat predictable- I called the shot that Carlos and Rickey were gay lovers as soon as Carlos wouldn’t give his alibi. And I thought it was sort of easy how they got the real perp, it would’ve been nice to have a bit more investigation leading to that, maybe if they hadn’t given Benson a soapy side plot we could’ve seen more investigation. 

Carisi was good and I liked the Queens ADA that he worked with, plus Fin got a large role and there were a lot of scenes of Fin and Carisi together, which I liked a lot, with them being the ones talking to Carlos, and I loved that the episode ended with them at the graveyard with Carlos, instead of on Benson. 

The bad part of the episode was the Benson subplot, totally pointless to bring back Simon and then kill him off just to give Benson more angst and personal drama, that took away from what otherwise was an engaging storyline. The only good part was that we got to see ME Warner again, it’s always nice when she shows up, even if it was just for a brief scene that had nothing to do with the case. 

I did wonder how come the DNA had never been tested before, I guess that Carlos and Rickey didn’t have lawyers trying to appeal their cases or anything but it seemed like the DNA would’ve been tested at the time to see if it matched one of them. Also I wondered how the Queens DA kept his dementia under wraps, that’s a very public position and he would have to make public appearances IMO, and he would now have to answer questions about 2 innocent men getting sent to prison,  it doesn’t seem like he could keep his poor health under wraps given just how demented he was, I would’ve liked some closure for that at the end with it being said that the DA was retiring or something. 

Kat is a nice addition to the squad. 

Overall I liked the episode and found the storyline engaging, and I liked the heavy roles for both Carisi and Fin and how many scenes they had together. But there were a couple of weaknesses, and the Benson/Simon plot dragged the episode down. 

[SarahPrtr]

1 hour ago, juliet73 said:

Question: was Wentworth Miller's character supposed to be the same one he played on SVU 10 years ago? Except now he's a DA instead of a detective?

I also thought Noah was going to be gone when Olivia turned her back.

Yes, Nate Kendall.

[Xeliou66]

38 minutes ago, SarahPrtr said:

Yes, Nate Kendall.

I don’t think the characters were the same, they seemed massively different in personality, and the Queens ADA had enough experience to be a law professor as well, so I’m pretty sure they weren’t the same character. 

[SarahPrtr]

6 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

I don’t think the characters were the same, they seemed massively different in personality, and the Queens ADA had enough experience to be a law professor as well, so I’m pretty sure they weren’t the same character. 

I think you're right.  When he and Carisi met at the bar, I thought Carisi said "Nate" before shaking his hand, but I think he actually said "Hey." Also, Nate from season 10 was divorced with an ex-wife and had a daughter, whereas this ADA was gay.  I don't think I actually heard anyone say Wentworth's character's name... did they???  Maybe I missed it... 

[dttruman]

5 hours ago, Pearson80 said:

I rolled my eyes at that. I did not understand Olivia's attitude towards Simon, she was willing to ruin her career for him back when Stabler was around.. Not to mention, Simon named his daughter after her. Did he mention his daughter Olivia at all?  His death was so senseless. If any sibling had to die, it should have been Rollins' vile sister. 

Are they writing out reoccurring characters abruptly now? I am surprised Warner didn't catch a buIlet unexpectedly here. I wonder if they (writers or producers) are going to have Benson conveniently adopt baby Olivia if something happens to the mother?

That would have been a good episode to see, where Rollins' sister gets her comeuppance.

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, preeya said:

"Routine correction????"

A medically incompetent D.A. still in office.  An A.D.A. coerces said D.A. to vacate charges that should never have been filed against a man that spent 16 years in prison.

I had higher expectations for this episode. I thought there was going to be some kind of major conspiracy. What I meant by "routine" is that that whole subplot with Carlos seemed very superficial. The series of events were just so convenient, that it seemed like it was a good original story line for another episode, but they made some expeditious changes so it would fit in around Benson's emotional family ordeal. Xeliou66 pointed out well that the Bronx DA's dementia was so obvious and would probably be noticed immediately. I am glad they gave Carlos some closure on this but I thought they did it in an almost unrealistic fashion.

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I did wonder how come the DNA had never been tested before, I guess that Carlos and Rickey didn’t have lawyers trying to appeal their cases or anything but it seemed like the DNA would’ve been tested at the time to see if it matched one of them.

Since this is 2019, you'd think that the maintenance guy would be required to give up his DNA because the company he worked for had a contract with the city. Aren't city contracts very specific on that? You have to pass a drug test and other so called strict requirements?

[dttruman]

3 hours ago, SarahPrtr said:

3 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I don’t think the characters were the same, they seemed massively different in personality, and the Queens ADA had enough experience to be a law professor as well, so I’m pretty sure they weren’t the same character. 

I think you're right.  When he and Carisi met at the bar, I thought Carisi said "Nate" before shaking his hand, but I think he actually said "Hey." Also, Nate from season 10 was divorced with an ex-wife and had a daughter, whereas this ADA was gay.  I don't think I actually heard anyone say Wentworth's character's name... did they???  Maybe I missed it... 

Are you sure? I was so looking forward to having Cassidy return as an accomplished astronaut preparing for the next moon shot, who gets involved with a dead call girl again

[wknt3]

The Good:
The COTW. It was a nice old fashioned serial rape-murder case solved with solid police work and legal manuvering. There were some social issues and there was some advocacy, but it was in the background, and the point was made all the more effectively because of the subtlety.
Carisi. After the first interview in jail he was largely doing his own thing, acting like a lawyer instead of a cop. This is the first episode of the season where we really got to see a lot of the legal side of things and Carisi seemed to be separate, yet equally important.
Carisi & Fin. They are still great together.
The guest cast. As usual. I am amazed that they get such subtly believable performances out of the actors they bring in when half of the regular cast is almost always overacting. Poor Guillermo Diaz can't catch a break on this show can he? If they bring him back again it should be as a perp who gets away with it, just to balance the karmic scales.
Kat - she was well used here and it seems like they might be getting a handle on the character.
The execution of the Benson family soapy subplot. I was impressed given how much WL loves him some family drama that they continued to use it in the same way MC did a lot of the time, as a way to put Mariska front and center without having her take over the case. Plus they used it to write out a bad character! I wouldn't have minded if they had Warner go on to tell us that Simon ODed with Kim Rollins and Grandma Sheila and that surveillance cameras captured everything and there was indisputable forensic proof it wasn't a homicide....

The Bad:
Mariska's acting. In an episode that was mostly done with grace and subtlety she was a jarring exception.
Warner. I was excited to see them bringing her back, but then they completely wasted her.
They really missed an opportunity to make our detectives look elite. I can't be the only viewer who figured out the whole gay angle as soon as they talked about the AIDS death, so why not have the detectives realize it right away, talk about how they'll never get proof and then let the story play out the same? I mean this season is supposed to be a celebration of the show's history in some ways right with the whole breaking the record thing right? So why not admit that both the viewers and the detectives have been at this for decades instead of going for the "shocking twist"?

Overall the good far outweighed the bad, and they can be proud of the result. It felt like the best episodes of the last few years in that it was an attempt to do the classic SVU formula with the entire cast involved.  And next week looks promising as well. Maybe a positive trend?

Edited November 2, 2019 by wknt3

[gaucho91]

8 hours ago, Camille said:

Did Olivia--a cop and a mother--just get up and walk away from her tender-age son to make a phone call and have her back turned to him? WTF?

I kept expecting the next cut to be to her turning to an empty chair.

This was actually the second time in the episode that she turned her back on him, the first being when Simon approached her and Noah went over to the ice cream cart.  I had the exact same reaction as you did.

[RedheadZombie]

This one made me tear up because the Carlos actor was that good.  I hope he sues New York for millions, and I hope the demented Queens DA is dragged into court to show how far gone he is.  Ridiculous that the system allows this sort of thing, TV I know, but it's been rumored that a former Supreme Court Justice or two may have been this bad.  It would also be nice to call in the racist lead investigator.  Maybe it will ruin his move to Florida.

[tvburr]

I think we got a pretty good start with this season. I liked most of the episodes so far and this one was really interesting too. The "gay twist" was only a twist to the characters lol

I usually dont mind the personal drama in the episodes as most of you do. It seems an ok price to pay if somehow those stories keep the actors on the show. (this and money, of course) Have said that, it was weird the way they did it on this episode.

Anyway, season 21 so far its better imo than some of the previous one. Hope that this trend continues.

[mamadrama]

7 hours ago, gaucho91 said:

This was actually the second time in the episode that she turned her back on him, the first being when Simon approached her and Noah went over to the ice cream cart.  I had the exact same reaction as you did.

These are things I do in our tiny town that has fewer than 1,000 people-NOT things I would expect out of a NYC detective who works special victims. I had a WTF moment, too. 

[wknt3]

20 hours ago, jmonique said:

I haven't watched SVU in years. Does Mariska have a codicil in her contract that she gets her own completely random storyline or something? Did they really just unearth Simon just to kill him off to give Olivia sad face?

Basically what she has is the belief, most likely supported by audience research, that a significant percentage of the show's audience keeps watching just to see how Benson's story progresses and that if she was to leave the series would be over. So there is definitely a belief that she needs to be front and center at all times, one that she apparently agrees with. There are a couple of ways of doing this. One is having her do absolutely everything in the investigation herself from making the coffee to deciding what charges to bring. Another is to basically make the police work a team effort and give Benson her own subplot. Believe me the second choice is far more tolerable. At least you can FF through those scenes or check your phone or something and maybe get an interesting story. When it's Benson single handedly saving all the rape victims and getting all sad faces there's no respite.
 

20 hours ago, Pearson80 said:

I rolled my eyes at that. I did not understand Olivia's attitude towards Simon, she was willing to ruin her career for him back when Stabler was around.. Not to mention, Simon named his daughter after her. Did he mention his daughter Olivia at all?  His death was so senseless. If any sibling had to die, it should have been Rollins' vile sister. 

Why does this have to be an either/or situation? Kill them both off and Grandma Sheila and Dr. Al too!

20 hours ago, Camille said:

Did Olivia--a cop and a mother--just get up and walk away from her tender-age son to make a phone call and have her back turned to him? WTF?

I kept expecting the next cut to be to her turning to an empty chair.

This is Olivia Benson who doesn't use her peephole when people knock on her apartment door while she's leading an investigation that has lead to multiple people being shot in public. She doesn't worry about these sort of things. Plus she's always been able to work things out when he's been kidnapped, held hostage, etc. so no biggie right?

14 hours ago, dttruman said:

Since this is 2019, you'd think that the maintenance guy would be required to give up his DNA because the company he worked for had a contract with the city. Aren't city contracts very specific on that? You have to pass a drug test and other so called strict requirements?

He seemed to be a public employee who probably enjoys strong union protections against those sort of requirements (once you get past the probationary period), but that's irrelevant anyways. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act prohibits an employer asking for an employee's DNA. As far as I am aware the only public employees who can be required to provide DNA samples are law enforcement and crime lab/ME/forensics types and even that is a very murky area as far as how it can be used against them in an investigation.

[wanderingstar]

This episode was all over the place, but it had some nice moments. I liked all the Fin & Carisi scenes with Carlos (and I don't even really like Guillermo Diaz as an actor).

Is Rollins going to permanently whine about Carisi leaving the squad?

Don't get the point of the Simon storyline. Olivia doesn't need more angst, and we viewers definitely don't need to watch more Olivia angst.

Edited November 2, 2019 by Gillian Rosh

[dttruman]

55 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

He seemed to be a public employee who probably enjoys strong union protections against those sort of requirements (once you get past the probationary period), but that's irrelevant anyways. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act prohibits an employer asking for an employee's DNA. As far as I am aware the only public employees who can be required to provide DNA samples are law enforcement and crime lab/ME/forensics types and even that is a very murky area as far as how it can be used against them in an investigation

I thought a city contract might supersede this Genetic Info...Act, because if a rapist (who's name is not in the system, but DNA is) is hired and commits another rape and then busted, the city could also be at fault (besides the company) for hiring this person. It is a gray area situation and both sides do have merit. Can one's DNA be checked for only one specific criteria and only that criteria?

[howiveaddict]

I thought the young actress who played the victim was very good and believable.   I'd like to see her in more things.

Add me to the club that couldn't believe Olivia turned her back on her child, out in public.  

[CrystalBlue]

On 10/31/2019 at 8:24 PM, Camille said:

Did Olivia--a cop and a mother--just get up and walk away from her tender-age son to make a phone call and have her back turned to him? WTF?

I kept expecting the next cut to be to her turning to an empty chair.

I wondered the same thing.  You're in NYC not Mayberry R.F.D., Benson.  Have ya ever heard of kidnapping?  Child predators?

[SarahPrtr]

7 hours ago, Gillian Rosh said:

This episode was all over the place, but it had some nice moments. I liked all the Fin & Carisi scenes with Carlos (and I don't even really like Guillermo Diaz as an actor).

Is Rollins going to permanently whine about Carisi leaving the squad?

Don't get the point of the Simon storyline. Olivia doesn't need more angst, and we viewers definitely don't need to watch more Olivia angst.

You need to keep cramming as many life events into her life, otherwise, how can she have enough experience to solve every single case AND run a precinct???

Peter Scanavino uploaded an excerpt of a podcast he did regarding the Rollins meltdown on his Twitter account.  Well, he doesn't really say that much about it, but it's there if you want to check it out.

6 hours ago, howiveaddict said:

Add me to the club that couldn't believe Olivia turned her back on her child, out in public.  

In New York CITY.  This is in the same line of everyone-is-so-safe-here as TV characters in NY never locking their doors.  SO much reality there.  I live in a safe neighbourhood in Australia where women can safely go out at night alone but we ALWAYS lock our doors.

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

On 10/31/2019 at 11:24 PM, Camille said:

Did Olivia--a cop and a mother--just get up and walk away from her tender-age son to make a phone call and have her back turned to him? WTF?

I kept expecting the next cut to be to her turning to an empty chair.

I wondered the same thing.  You're in NYC not Mayberry R.F.D., Benson.  Have ya ever heard of kidnapping?  Child predators?

15 minutes ago, SarahPrtr said:

6 hours ago, howiveaddict said:

Add me to the club that couldn't believe Olivia turned her back on her child, out in public.  

In New York CITY.  This is in the same line of everyone-is-so-safe-here as TV characters in NY never locking their doors.  SO much reality there.  I live in a safe neighbourhood in Australia where women can safely go out at night alone but we ALWAYS lock our doors.

I am just going off the top of my head here and I am not trying to exaggerate. But when there have been child abduction cases, wasn't it the SVU detectives who criticized the parent for not watching their kid close enough? I seem to remember Benson doing it a couple of times, but I think Stabler and Amaro also did it too. Wasn't there also an incident,  where Benson lost sight of Noah one time and almost had a panic attack trying to find him for a few seconds and she chastised him? If we ask the writers why she looked away so long, we'll they just say it was traumatic experience for Benson? Is this just sloppy writing or just too many show runners who don't seem have a consistent grasp of the Benson character?

[SarahPrtr]

11 minutes ago, dttruman said:

I am just going off the top of my head here and I am not trying to exaggerate. But when there have been child abduction cases, wasn't it the SVU detectives who criticized the parent for not watching their kid close enough?

Oh, but I'm not a parent.  I couldn't POSSIBLY understand.

[Zoe]

On 10/31/2019 at 11:38 PM, juliet73 said:

Question: was Wentworth Miller's character supposed to be the same one he played on SVU 10 years ago? Except now he's a DA instead of a detective?

Writer's Room Twitter says his name was Isaiah Holmes.

On 11/1/2019 at 6:07 AM, wknt3 said:

Poor Guillermo Diaz can't catch a break on this show can he? If they bring him back again it should be as a perp who gets away with it, just to balance the karmic scales.

Woah, I didn't recognize him! Same deal too except it was Benson who put him away last time.

[dreamer]

On 10/29/2019 at 3:52 PM, dttruman said:

Recurring cast

Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner

It's always nice to see familiar faces back on SVU! Because I stumbled upon her scene with Benson on IG, and I couldn't recall whether it was an old or new scene, until I spotted the word "spoilers" in the caption.

I found their interaction interesting and very subtle. Especially, compared to Benson and Rollins' scene later in the episode. There was a huge contrast!

On 11/1/2019 at 6:24 AM, Camille said:

Did Olivia--a cop and a mother--just get up and walk away from her tender-age son to make a phone call and have her back turned to him? WTF?

I kept expecting the next cut to be to her turning to an empty chair.

I imagined that with Noah's facial expressions, that he was a representation of the viewer! XD

Now, let's talk more about Fin and Carisi!

I liked that they were both very intuitive in helping Carlos in their own way. Two scenes stood out:

• When the chains were taken off and he was still walking as if:

Quote

Fin: "You can walk like a man now, Carlos."

Carisi: "A free man."

• When Carlos commented that the stone looked new.

Quote

Carisi: "Some people read about your case. There was a GoFundMe."

Carlos: "A what?"

Fin: "Folks chipped in."

Overall, I enjoyed watching this week's episode.

PS: there was no mention of Hadid. *ding ding*

[MamaMax]

On 11/1/2019 at 8:22 AM, gaucho91 said:

This was actually the second time in the episode that she turned her back on him, the first being when Simon approached her and Noah went over to the ice cream cart.  I had the exact same reaction as you did.

21 hours ago, mamadrama said:

These are things I do in our tiny town that has fewer than 1,000 people-NOT things I would expect out of a NYC detective who works special victims. I had a WTF moment, too. 

Not to mention.... Noah has ALREADY BEEN KIDNAPPED ONCE. Gahhhhhh. 

[MamaMax]

You know what I would LOVE to see? Instead of "our heroes" coming across a wrongly convicted person who was the victim of a cartoonishly racist, ignoranct cop...how about they come across a case that Benson and Stabler investigated? That now appears to have been wrongfully convicted? And Carisi et al have to push against St. Olivia?

[dttruman]

2 hours ago, MamaMax said:

You know what I would LOVE to see? Instead of "our heroes" coming across a wrongly convicted person who was the victim of a cartoonishly racist, a con ignoranct cop...how about they come across a case that Benson and Stabler investigated? That now appears to have been wrongfully convicted? And Carisi et al have to push against St. Olivia?

If they do, I'll wager it will be Stabler's fault or mistake. Remember when Benson was having a conversation with somebody (can't remember who), but she threw Stabler and his reputation under the bus. If they bring up past mistakes about the squad it will probably be Stabler's doing.

[kicotan]

I was a teensy bit surprised at St. Olivia’s pressing need to leave the table and turn her back on Noah...but then they ended it with wrongly convicted dude being released from his chains and shuffling out of the courtroom AS IF he wouldn’t have to go back to prison to be processed out, like y’know, in the REAL world...and I realized I’m merely watching a Soap Opera.

Reva Shane’s clone came to mind...you Guiding Light fans know what I’m talking about.

[Shy]

Carlos looks very familiar. Heavier set but I’ve seen him before.  Angrier I believe. How can I get his real name?

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, Shy said:

Carlos looks very familiar. Heavier set but I’ve seen him before.  Angrier I believe. How can I get his real name?

I looked him up and that is Guillermo Diaz and Holy Cow! This is the guy who played Bobby Sabo in L&O "Marathon" a great episode. This was when everyone may have thought Briscoe committed perjury to get a murder conviction.

You weren't kidding about him putting on weight. He sure is a good actor. Good performance back then and also now.

[wknt3]

6 hours ago, Shy said:

Carlos looks very familiar. Heavier set but I’ve seen him before.  Angrier I believe. How can I get his real name?

2 hours ago, dttruman said:

I looked him up and that is Guillermo Diaz and Holy Cow! This is the guy who played Bobby Sabo in L&O "Marathon" a great episode. This was when everyone may have thought Briscoe committed perjury to get a murder conviction.

You weren't kidding about him putting on weight. He sure is a good actor. Good performance back then and also now.

He had another memorable SVU role in "Justice Denied" where he was also wrongfully convicted in one of Benson's cases which may be why you recognized him. Also he was good on Scandal and (I hear) Weeds. He was also on everything Dave Chapelle did with other actors, but like his mothership roles that was before the added bulk and he looks really different now.

[ChristiKRN]

I liked the case of the week and how it spun off into another case.  In recent years,  the original case was essentially forgotten in deference to wherever the case spun but they continued to tie in Lupe throughout the episode.  The guest cast was great; I especially liked the young actress who played Lupe.  The Queens ADA (?Wentworth Miller) was a little wooden.  The storyline featuring Carlos was both somewhat far fetched and realistic at the same time.  It’s  completely believable that a Latino man would want to hide being gay but to the extent that he would rather be portrayed as his sister’s rapist and murderer and mother’s murderer than a gay man?  I really liked Kat this episode; she was sensitive and smart without being too overly emotional- Benson and Rollins should take note.   I was surprised benson allowed her to take the lead in interviewing Lupe. Nice to see the dynamic duo of Carisi and Fin working together again.  

It was a travesty to have Dr. Warner back for just 1 scene that tied into benson’s personal life only.  I was so pissed about this; whoever made this decision should be fired.  Why bring Simon back just to kill him off other than for the sole purpose of adding to Benson’s ongoing personal angst?  Ridiculous side story.