S21.E13: Redemption in Her Corner

[dttruman]

Episode info from Fandom for law & order: special victims unit season 21 episode 13, "Redemption in Her Corner"

Katriona steps over the line when she suspects a trainer at her boxing gym is taking advantage of his students.

I would have used the Google information, but their's was lacking episode information and what they did have there,  it was not up to date. Their information for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 21 episode 13" is

"Led by courageous and compassionate veteran Lieutenant Olivia Benson, the NYPD's elite Special Victims Unit, including Detectives Odafin Tutuola, Amanda Rollins and Sonny Carisi, investigates crimes that are ripped from the headlines."

Benson is still listed as a lieutenant and not as a captain.

This cast information comes from Fandom as of Feb 3, 2020

Main cast

Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson

Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins

Ice-T as Sergeant Odafin Tutuola

Peter Scanavino as A.D.A. Dominick Carisi, Jr.

Jamie Gray Hyder as Detective Katriona Tamin

Guest castEdit

Alexis Cash as EMT

Quote

 

[wknt3]

On 2/3/2020 at 7:11 AM, dttruman said:

Katriona steps over the line when she suspects a trainer at her boxing gym is taking advantage of his students.

I would have used the Google information, but their's was lacking episode information and what they did have there,  it was not up to date.

That Fandom synopisis matches what appears in my DVR. It seems like there is some sort of upstream issue as none of usual sites have an accurate episode description. Either they have a generic series description or one for an earlier episode. Interestingly TV Guide does have what appears to be this episode's guest cast based on the promo last week:

Clayton Cardenas - Romeo Solís
Daniel Zacapa - Santos Morales
Zuleikha Robinson - Bureau Chief Vanessa Hadid
Jasmin Walker - Counselor Marame Toussaint
Michael Mastro - Judge M. Serani

and perhaps a possible explanation for why there isn't much info out here from the usual sources?

Spoiler

Raúl Esparza - Rafael Barba

It did come up on the media thread and we were dismissive that they would do a guest appearance with no promotion, but maybe they are trying to keep it a surprise? Or it could just be part of some intern somewhere royally screwing up the data entry?

[Xeliou66]

I’m pretty sure this is a screw up/misinformation, I’ll be shocked if Barba returns in this episode. Also, the actress who plays Hadid isn’t listed in the cast for this episode from what I’ve seen and I’m pretty sure she would be listed as there would be no point in hiding her appearance. Besides isn’t this supposed to be a Kat centric episode? I don’t think they will shoehorn Barba into that. Personally I doubt Barba will ever return, I mean why would the actor want to given how they destroyed the character of Barba? 

[Picture It. Sicily]

There is no redeeming Barba. They went for shock value with Raul's exit, no regard for the character or the actor. There's no coming back from baby killing.

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, wknt3 said:

It did come up on the media thread and we were dismissive that they would do a guest appearance with no promotion, but maybe they are trying to keep it a surprise? Or it could just be part of some intern somewhere royally screwing up the data entry?

 

54 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

I’m pretty sure this is a screw up/misinformation, I’ll be shocked if Barba returns in this episode.

Could this be a situation where he appears, but doesn't appear? Where Benson remembers a moment in time with Barba and they show it, but it's actually a a few seconds of the two from a previous episode? Wouldn't Esparza get screen credit for that?

[wknt3]

7 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I’m pretty sure this is a screw up/misinformation, I’ll be shocked if Barba returns in this episode. Also, the actress who plays Hadid isn’t listed in the cast for this episode from what I’ve seen and I’m pretty sure she would be listed as there would be no point in hiding her appearance.

She was there in the TV Guide cast list being discussed - 3rd from the top. As I said I wouldn't be surprised if it's a glitch, but everything else looked right so I'm willing to consider it a possibility, which I wasn't before.

Quote

Besides isn’t this supposed to be a Kat centric episode? I don’t think they will shoehorn Barba into that. Personally I doubt Barba will ever return, I mean why would the actor want to given how they destroyed the character of Barba? 

OK who are you and what have you done with the real @Xeliou66 ? Defending the competence and creative integrity of SVU's writers and producers?! Taking an episode that is supposed to be about one of the supporting characters and shoehorning in a returning cast member and no doubt extended scenes where he tells Liv how great she is and he is sorry he couldn't live up to her example is totally the sort of thing this show would do.

As far as why Esparza would return  3 good reasons come to mind - because he wasn't booked that week, because he gets paid, and because Warren Leight asked him to.
 

6 hours ago, dttruman said:

Could this be a situation where he appears, but doesn't appear? Where Benson remembers a moment in time with Barba and they show it, but it's actually a a few seconds of the two from a previous episode? Wouldn't Esparza get screen credit for that?

Ooh that would be an interesting angle - a flashback. It could even be newly filmed but would be an interesting way of bringing a character back without dealing with the mess they made. Sadly they probably would never do anything that interesting since it seems Leight is determined to undo everything that was done after he left, good and bad together.

Edited February 5, 2020 by wknt3
fixed formatting

[dttruman]

8 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

Ooh that would be an interesting angle - a flashback

Thank for for being so succinct with one word (flashback), that I couldn't even think of at the time.

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, wknt3 said:

She was there in the TV Guide cast list being discussed - 3rd from the top. As I said I wouldn't be surprised if it's a glitch, but everything else looked right so I'm willing to consider it a possibility, which I wasn't before.

OK who are you and what have you done with the real @Xeliou66 ? Defending the competence and creative integrity of SVU's writers and producers?! Taking an episode that is supposed to be about one of the supporting characters and shoehorning in a returning cast member and no doubt hextended scenes where he tells Liv how great she is and he is sorry he couldn't live up to her example is totally the sort of thing this show would do.
As far as why Esparza would return  3 good reasons come to mind - because he wasn't booked that week, because he gets paid, and because Warren Leight asked him to.
 

Ooh that would be an interesting angle - a flashback. It could even be newly filmed but would be an interesting way of bringing a character back without dealing with the mess they made. Sadly they probably would never do anything that interesting since it seems Leight is determined to undo everything that was done after he left, good and bad together.

You make good points, but I just don’t see Raul ever wanting to return. I mean they completely trashed Barba’s character over the final couple of seasons he was on, he turned into Benson’s puppet and then into a baby killer, I don’t know why the fuck Raul would want to return after how they trashed Barba. I have to say, I will be shocked if Barba shows up this week, it will be the first time the show has shocked me in a long time, frequently I can predict the plot before the episode airs like I did last week. 

You are right about Warren wanting to undo everything that was done since he left - it’s not good in that now they’ve trashed the DA’s office, that has really pissed me off, especially since they didn’t even have the decency to say there was a new DA, after in season 19 it was established that McCoy was back in office, now for some reason Warren wants to portray the DA’s office as a dysfunctional bureaucracy to the point where even Chief Garland doesn’t trust the DA’s office, which goes against the whole style of the franchise in which the DA’s office has always been portrayed as upstanding. I really don’t know why they are doing this but it pisses me off. It’s too bad Warren can’t undo some of the bad things that were done in the years he was gone, such as turning Barba into a baby killer. 

[wknt3]

2 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

It’s too bad Warren can’t undo some of the bad things that were done in the years he was gone, such as turning Barba into a baby killer. 

Not "undo" per se but he can certainly find a way to handwave it all away. We can always find out Barba was bipolar and had brain cancer but is now on meds and cured. Or it was all some sort of convoluted sting operation which is why McCoy was sort of sad and reluctant to bring charges and telling him it didn't have to be this way instead of royally pissed and tearing him a new one and firing him on the spot. Or perhaps he didn't actually kill the baby he just suspended it for three years....

[WendyCR72]

4 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Not "undo" per se but he can certainly find a way to handwave it all away. We can always find out Barba was bipolar and had brain cancer but is now on meds and cured. Or it was all some sort of convoluted sting operation which is why McCoy was sort of sad and reluctant to bring charges and telling him it didn't have to be this way instead of royally pissed and tearing him a new one and firing him on the spot. Or perhaps he didn't actually kill the baby he just suspended it for three years....

Or just say lookalike former ADA Kevin Mulrooney escaped from prison and impersonated Barba. Hee. Why not? Mulrooney was already a murderer and this show is almost full-on soap, anyway.

[ChristiKRN]

Did anyone else note that Warren Leight tweeted that there is a casting surprise in tonight’s episode?  Exact tweet: “Breaking: one casting surprise in tomorrow’s #SVU21 is not in and of itself tragic. Reflective, bittersweet, oddly prescient, but not out and out tragic.” Tweeted on 2/5 @10:26 PM.  I’m getting my hopes up again that it is Raul Esparza.  There may be some high-pitched screaming happening if the old Barba shows up, not the Benson-castrated version. 

I’m also looking forward to a Kat-centric episode.  I hope it shines a light on a competent, objective detective.  Am I asking too much from this show?

 

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, ChristiKRN said:

Did anyone else note that Warren Leight tweeted that there is a casting surprise in tonight’s episode?  Exact tweet: “Breaking: one casting surprise in tomorrow’s #SVU21 is not in and of itself tragic. Reflective, bittersweet, oddly prescient, but not out and out tragic.” Tweeted on 2/5 @10:26 PM.  I’m getting my hopes up again that it is Raul Esparza.  There may be some high-pitched screaming happening if the old Barba shows up, not the Benson-castrated version. 

I’m also looking forward to a Kat-centric episode.  I hope it shines a light on a competent, objective detective.  Am I asking too much from this show?

 

Okay, the fact that Warren tweeted about a casting surprise makes me think we may see someone from the past in this episode and that it could be Barba. 

I do not think the episode will make Kat look good, almost always when a character gets an episode centered on them it makes them look bad and I’m afraid Kat will cross the line and Benson will have to reprimand her.

[ChristiKRN]

Okay...I just saw Julie Martin’s tweet also confirming :”Tune in tonight special guest you have missed”.  There was a retweet below from Norberto Barba, a regular director for SVU, stating: ”My ‘tocayo’ makes a prescient call tonight on SVU.”  Tocayo means namesake.  I believe we have confirmation of a Barba visit; I can’t remember any Norberto’s.   I know there is going to be the expected Benson scene but I also hope he has one with Carisi.

I have way too much time on my hands right now being off work on medical leave.  

Xeliou66, I sincerely hope you are wrong about Kat but knowing how they like to make detectives look incompetent and/or undisciplined, I have a feeling you may be right about Kat in tonight’s episode. 

Edited February 7, 2020 by ChristiKRN

[Xeliou66]

25 minutes ago, ChristiKRN said:

Okay...I just saw Julie Martin’s tweet also confirming :”Tune in tonight special guest you have missed”.  There was a retweet below from Norberto Barba, a regular director for SVU, stating: ”My ‘tocayo’ makes a prescient call tonight on SVU.”  Tocayo means namesake.  I believe we have confirmation of a Barba visit; I can’t remember any Norberto’s.   I know there is going to be the expected Benson scene but I also hope he has one with Carisi.

I have way too much time on my hands right now being off work on medical leave.  

Xeliou66, I sincerely hope you are wrong about Kat but knowing how they like to make detectives look incompetent and/or undisciplined, I have a feeling you may be right about Kat in tonight’s episode. 

If Barba is coming back, please give him a scene with everyone, not just Her Holiness Saint Olivia. It really pissed me off how in his departure Barba only got goodbye scenes with McCoy and Benson, complete with him worshipping at St Olivia’s altar, he didn’t get a goodbye scene with the rest of the squad. Please give him scenes with the rest of them tonight if he does return.

[dttruman]

3 hours ago, ChristiKRN said:

I’m also looking forward to a Kat-centric episode.  I hope it shines a light on a competent, objective detective.  Am I asking too much from this show?

There have been episode previews before that tell us that their episode is about one certain member of the SVU that's not Olivia Benson. It may start that way, but the main focus returns to spotlight the trials and tribulations of Benson.

[dttruman]

Well the Barba Mystery has been solved.

[Gigi43]

I don't care when this was filmed. How dare they place Barba in Iowa at this point in time. He's been through enough. Im going with Raul trying to disguise himself out of embarrassment, he's still up Livs ass. 

[dttruman]

11 minutes ago, Gigi43 said:

Im going with Raul trying to disguise himself out of embarrassment, he's still up Livs ass. 

I haven't seen any recent pictures of him. Did he grow that or is it really a disguise they made him wear?

[Gigi43]

14 minutes ago, dttruman said:

I haven't seen any recent pictures of him. Did he grow that or is it really a disguise they made him wear?

 

I'm not sure but this is the first I'm seeing him full facial hair not just some scruff. 

[librarian29]

Raul Esparza filmed this in December when he was starring in Seared. He had the beard for his role as Harry the chef.

[dttruman]

I can not believe the lecture Benson gave to Tamin, when it was two episodes ago that Benson took it upon herself to get personally involved with the pole dancer/ stripper mural painter. Benson is being so hypocritical and so sanctimonious.

This episode was driven by the strong performances of the guest stars. Benson was being a sexist and a major drawback to this. All of Benson's reprimands to Tamin was something she could have said to herself in almost every prior episode.

[breezy424]

Damn.  I was watching Grey's Anatomy (another show with a saint - referred to as the sun) and switched over.  Unfortunately, they had Grey's end a little after ten and I missed  Barba except for the last 20 seconds.

I like Kat.  Too bad the stories are just becoming weaker and weaker.  The writing is pretty bad.

I love Carissi but TPTB have to decide if he's an ADA or a cop under Olivia.  Can't stand Hadid.

[Xeliou66]

This was a middle of the road episode IMO.

First off, the return of Barba was a disappointment - while it was very nice to see him again and hear what he was up to, he was onscreen for all of about 30 seconds that had nothing to do with the rest of the episode. Since they got him to return, I wish he had actually been there in person or they had given him a bit more. 

I found Benson to be very hypocritical with how she was giving advice about not getting too close to victims, Benson has gotten personally involved more times than I can count and she has no business lecturing about it. 

Carisi was great, I liked him tearing into Kat after she went to the jail and talked to Esperanza without her lawyer, I enjoy seeing Carisi with more authority and I think he makes a good ADA, I’m hoping for more of him in court soon. 

Of course Kat disobeyed orders, that was predictable, like I say, everytime a character gets an episode centered around them, they usually break rules.

Fin was good as well, he almost always is. I disliked Rollins continuing to be bitchy towards Kat, what is her problem exactly? I loathe Rollins.

The case was just middle of the road - I had a feeling the dad was going to be involved given Esperanza’s reaction to him, so it was pretty predictable once again. We didn’t get to know the boxing coach very much so we didn’t get to see how sleazy he was and we never really found out if he was a serial predator or if it was just the one girl, and I didn’t really care very much about the outcome of the case, although the dad was a truly despicable piece of shit. 

Hadid is useless and still has less than zero personality and is still being used as more of a plot device than a character, at least she only had 2 scenes tonight, but she adds nothing to the show.

Overall this episode was better than the previous few episodes, but that isn’t saying much. The case wasn’t bad and Carisi and Fin were good, but Benson was irritating and hypocritical once again, Rollins got on my nerves, the story was still fairly predictable and only having Barba on screen for 30 seconds was disappointing.

[ChristiKRN]

I am so disgusted right now.  They get Raul Esparza and it is not even a physical appearance?  I’m not even sure if he was on screen for 30 seconds; I should have known it was going to be a letdown for me.  We didn’t even find out what he was doing specifically; it was all about Benson again.  Carisi is bringing her soup; you would have thought Benson was the grieving widow not the ex-girlfriend who broke up with Tucker 2 years prior.  

There were so many things wrong with this episode; I don’t even know where to start.  I almost fell off my sofa when Benson told Kat that she needed to keep a professional distance; that if you get too close, you can’t help the victim.  WOW- what a novel concept!  I’m also not sure why Benson and Rollins were upset with Kat for passing along the message from Esperanza’s father to get a lawyer.  I’m assuming that she was under arrest for assault at that point and that is part of her rights.  I know that they were wanting to talk to her about Kami but I would think that the local precinct would be handling her case for the assault at that point.  Based on the information  they had when they spoke to Hadid, I’m not sure why Rollins was pissed that she was charging her with manslaughter.  Did she  think she should have gotten off completely?  I just hate Rollins. 

The actress who played Esperanza was excellent; that scene with her father in prison was so charged and she nailed it as did the actor playing Santos.  That’s the only positive thing I can say about this episode.  My view may have been tainted by how they started the episode .  

[dttruman]

7 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Since they got him to return, I wish he had actually been there in person or they had given him a bit more. 

It was better for him and better for the guest stars for him not to be there. If he was there, you know for damn sure, they would have killed him off. The writers (and producers) would also have to cut back on some of the good performances by the guest stars, because you know they aren't going to cut back on any of the regulars dialogue, especially Benson's.

 

7 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Carisi was great, I liked him tearing into Kat after she went to the jail and talked to Esperanza without her lawyer, I enjoy seeing Carisi with more authority and I think he makes a good ADA,

Why didn't Carisi show this type of emotion, when Benson climbs his back or steps over the line when she gets personally involved.

 

6 hours ago, ChristiKRN said:

The actress who played Esperanza was excellent; that scene with her father in prison was so charged and she nailed it as did the actor playing Santos.  That’s the only positive thing I can say about this episode.

Agreed and most of the other guest stars were good too. In other episodes we have seen scenarios of the older male and the underage girl carrying on a relationship, but they always seem to be white. How does the Latino or Hispanic persuasion react to this? I wonder if that aspect should have been explored more?

Edited February 7, 2020 by dttruman

[wknt3]

The Good:
They delivered on what they promised, actually giving us a Kat focused episode instead of an episode that should have been about her but was just a Benson solo episode with Kat as sidekick.She even got the big emotional finale all to herself!
The guest cast. They were really good from top to bottom.
It was nice seeing a NYC that wasn't entirely white and rich.
I seem to be the only one, but I liked how they handled the Barba cameo. It was a good way to see a familiar and well liked face without having him take over the episode or spending a lot of time having to retcon the terrible way he was written off.
Kat. It's really enjoyable seeing someone new again and bringing in new angles.
Fin. Solid as always although as usual lately they really could have used some more snark.
This is sort of half-credit but I liked that they actually had a little bit of self-awareness about how big of a hypocrite Benson was being and the callback to Cragen giving her the same lecture. This would have been such a better episode if they had followed through with that throughout the episode.

The Bad:
Rollins. I don't know if they are trying for a characterization here and failing (Rollins is worried Kat will replace her as Liv's protege? Rollins is subconsciously mad at Kar for making Carisi's departure permanent? Rollins doesn't want Kat making the same mistakes she did?) but it is really getting tiring watching her lecture Kat all the time about how to be a good detective. It is one of the weeks where the moral of the story seems to be that it's time for the show to bow out gracefully...
What was the point of having Hadid there? It was nice that they weren't making her a cartoon villain for a change, but those scenes seemed kind of pointless. Unless they were trying to make her less of a cardboard cutout in which case they have my blessing. Unless they want her more sympathetic so we will feel bad when they blunder into a hostage situation and kill her off to save money once Carisi is credible as an experienced ADA in which case blessing withdrawn,..
A lot like Blue Bloods they seemed to want to show that the show's star and hero was fallible and flawed, but then couldn't quite actually do it. If they had managed to carry on how Benson was trying to avoid repeating past mistakes (hell they are pretty much current mistakes) and be a better leader like Cragen this could have been outstanding, but no once they got through her heart to heart with Kat she was again a saint and the font of all wisdom.

Overall this was an improvement. Somewhere on the high side of average maybe even the low side of good. A solid B/B+ which after the recent spate of mediocrity is welcome. I think that this was a fairly obvious idea that they have run into the ground, but they executed well with the exception of Benson and Rollins.

[dttruman]

54 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

What was the point of having Hadid there? It was nice that they weren't making her a cartoon villain for a change, but those scenes seemed kind of pointless. Unless they were trying to make her less of a cardboard cutout in which case they have my blessing.

Do you think she just made an appearance to show that Carisi still has to knuckle under to her and Carisi is just following orders?

 

56 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

If they had managed to carry on how Benson was trying to avoid repeating past mistakes (hell they are pretty much current mistakes) and be a better leader like Cragen this could have been outstanding, but no once they got through her heart to heart with Kat she was again a saint and the font of all wisdom.

It will be so typical of the writers (and producers) if we see Benson becoming so personally involved in next week's episode acting all high and mighty.

[jcbrown]

I hated this episode. I thought the plot was tortured--since when do cops have the time to go looking for crimes? The actress who played Esperanza was good. It was too bad she did not have decent writing to work with.

[preeya]

51 minutes ago, jcbrown said:

I hated this episode. I thought the plot was tortured--since when do cops have the time to go looking for crimes? The actress who played Esperanza was good. It was too bad she did not have decent writing to work with.

and have only ONE active case where the entire team goes trekking around the city doing interviews, stakeouts, visits to prisoners, psychiatric counseling, etc, etc, etc.

[CrystalBlue]

Barba With a Beard communing via Skype with Saint Olivia.  Oy vey!  Maybe he'll find out where Donal Logue is hiding in Iowa.

I enjoyed this episode after the disappointing "thrill" of seeing Raul.  It was better and more interesting than the past couple of dreck-driven episodes.

Guest actors were great.  Loved seeing Angel from Mayans, M.C.!  (Romeo played by Clayton Cardenas.)

[dttruman]

3 hours ago, preeya said:

4 hours ago, jcbrown said:

I hated this episode. I thought the plot was tortured--since when do cops have the time to go looking for crimes? The actress who played Esperanza was good. It was too bad she did not have decent writing to work with.

and have only ONE active case where the entire team goes trekking around the city doing interviews, stakeouts, visits to prisoners, psychiatric counseling, etc, etc, etc.

I have to give them credit for this one, because this was more believable, than the one where Benson determines there was a rape or sexual assault from a wall mural (She Paints with Vengeance) and gets the alleged victim a lawyer and has SVU investigate and Carisi prosecutes.  It's a good thing Benson didn't get personally involved.

[ChristiKRN]

37 minutes ago, CrystalBlue said:

Barba With a Beard communing via Skype with Saint Olivia.  Oy vey!  Maybe he'll find out where Donal Logue is hiding in Iowa.

I enjoyed this episode after the disappointing "thrill" of seeing Raul.  It was better and more interesting than the past couple of dreck-driven episodes.

Guest actors were great.  Loved seeing Angel from Mayans, M.C.!  (Romeo played by Clayton Cardenas.)

Thank you-I knew I recognized the actor who played Romeo but couldn’t place him.  Haha- wonder if Danny Pino put in a good word for him.  

“Disappointing thrill of seeing Raul” is a great way of phrasing his appearance.  I was so excited to see him but then it was only for 30 seconds. I would love to see him come back for more significant screen time.  

I love Donal as much as I love Raul.  I know Leight voiced his wish to have him back also.  I loved Declan but I know his visit will be heavy on Rollins’ personal drama.  Considering Kim is coming back as well as a possible introduction to Rollins’ father, it’s too much Rollins.  We haven’t seen him in over 4 years; I would rather just let it be. 

 

 

[wknt3]

11 hours ago, dttruman said:

Do you think she just made an appearance to show that Carisi still has to knuckle under to her and Carisi is just following orders?

Who knows? Maybe they just wanted us to remember she was still there. Maybe they committed to a certain number of episodes this season and they figured this was a good fit. Maybe there was something more planned that got cut for time or they figured since it was Kat and not Benson they didn't have to take the time to show him getting marching orders and could have him actually acting like an ADA and telling the cops what he needed to make a case? I'm kind of leaning towards there being some sort of setup in this episode, maybe involving Hadid, although God knows what they might be planning as it would explain why they needed the leaders of the writing staff to come up with a story that is pretty much as standard issue SVU as you can imagine (and frankly I would be ashamed to take that credit and pay if it was me.)

[FozzyBear]

Is pronouncing Romeo “Row-May-oh” instead of “Row-me-oh” common? I’ve never heard it before.

thats all I got.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, FozzyBear said:

Is pronouncing Romeo “Row-May-oh” instead of “Row-me-oh” common? I’ve never heard it before.

thats all I got.

Do you remember the actor Caesar Row-may-oh? Which is not the same as Row-me-oh and Juliet.

[WendyCR72]

3 minutes ago, preeya said:

Do you remember the actor Caesar Row-may-oh? Which is not the same as Row-me-oh and Juliet.

Except wasn't the actor Cesar Romero? That extra letter changes the pronunciation, anyway!  😛

[preeya]

1 minute ago, WendyCR72 said:

Except wasn't the actor Cesar Romero? That extra letter changes the pronunciation, anyway!  😛

I stand corrected.

[SarahPrtr]

10 hours ago, preeya said:

and have only ONE active case where the entire team goes trekking around the city doing interviews, stakeouts, visits to prisoners, psychiatric counseling, etc, etc, etc.

Well, the entire world knows that NYC is a very small town with not that many people.  How much crime could there possibly be???

 

18 hours ago, dttruman said:

It will be so typical of the writers (and producers) if we see Benson becoming so personally involved in next week's episode acting all high and mighty.

She never gets personally involved!  Not once, in 21 seasons.

 

7 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Barba With a Beard communing via Skype with Saint Olivia.  Oy vey!  Maybe he'll find out where Donal Logue is hiding in Iowa.

And Cragen is somewhere in Wyoming or Nebraska.

 

 

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, FozzyBear said:

Is pronouncing Romeo “Row-May-oh” instead of “Row-me-oh” common? I’ve never heard it before.

thats all I got.

I thought the first pronunciation was the Spanish pronunciation, because the "e" is suppose to sound like the long vowel "a".

[wknt3]

On 2/7/2020 at 11:00 PM, FozzyBear said:

Is pronouncing Romeo “Row-May-oh” instead of “Row-me-oh” common? I’ve never heard it before.

thats all I got.

 

On 2/8/2020 at 3:48 AM, dttruman said:

I thought the first pronunciation was the Spanish pronunciation, because the "e" is suppose to sound like the long vowel "a".

That is correct. All the Romeos I've known IRL (as opposed to English class) have pronounced it that way. They've all been either Hispanic or Filpino (strong Spanish influence).
 

On 2/8/2020 at 12:45 AM, preeya said:

Do you remember the actor Caesar Row-may-oh? Which is not the same as Row-me-oh and Juliet.

 

On 2/8/2020 at 12:49 AM, WendyCR72 said:

Except wasn't the actor Cesar Romero? That extra letter changes the pronunciation, anyway!  😛

Also correct. There is an SVU connection to Cesar Romero by way of former SVU actor Gilbert Gottfried who has a story he likes to tell abcout Romero that would have made a good subplot or scene back in the days when they did comic relief. (Warning - very much NSFW)

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by wknt3
kant spel tooday

[FozzyBear]

4 hours ago, wknt3 said:

 

That is correct. All the Romeos I've known IRL (as opposed to English class) have pronounced it that way. They've all been either Hispanic or Filpino (strong Spanish influence).
 

 

 Also correct. There is an SVU connection to Ceasr Romero by way of former SVU actort Glbert Gottfried who has a story he likes to tell abcout Romero that would have made a good subplot or scene back in the days when they did comic relief. (Warning - very much NSFW)

 

Thanks guys. I grew up in Californian an area with a large Hispanic population, but honestly Romeo wasn’t a name I really heard much at all. Most of the time I heard it people were pronouncing it like the play. Good to know.

[tennisgurl]

Hey we get to see Barba...sort of, more like he just Skyped in for a brief cameo to let us know he is still alive and has a beard now. After the terrible way he was written off, I guess I can only be happy he got to stop by without being retroactively revealed to be a bad guy, or killed off for more Benson angst. 

It was cool getting a Kat episode, and getting to see more of her life when she isnt on the job. I do like Kat in general, this show really needed some new blood, and while her personality isnt exactly new and innovative (brash, tough) it is still a personality, and thats pretty good when it comes to new characters at this point. Yeah she was clearly out of line several times this week, even if Olivia lecturing about not getting too personally invested in victims is hilariously hypocritical, but I generally like the energy she brings to the show. In a lot of ways, Kat is lucky she ended up on the show in its later years, it really fits into her mindset as a detective. Easy to booo at bad guys who are totally evil who she can manhandle a bit as they smug it up, and the vulnerable (even if its secretly) young women they abuse, it really works well for her "kick ass, tell the bad guy they're scum even before they have all the info, ask questions maybe if she thinks about it later" style of police work. I have no idea how Kat would deal with the darker, more complex cases we used to get, like the cult members who mass murdered their own children, the crazy home school mom who manipulated her teenage son into killing his younger brother to "save him" from foster care, or the shoe fetish guy who killed a woman but was found to have severe brain damage after years of abuse and was unaware of what he did. I really dont know how she would deal with those kinds of cases that we dont get anymore. Its hard to look like an awesome badass when the person your giving the "your going to jail scumbag have fun getting prison raped!" is a hysterically crying mentally ill teenager.

Going back to Olivia, her lecturing anyone about putting their own personal crap onto cases or getting too close to victims to the point where you lose professionalism is utterly ridiculous. I think they were trying to show that Olivia has learned from her tendencies to do this in the past (even calling back to Cragen telling her the same thing) but the problem is, Olivia still does that all of the time! In just this episode, she was practically begging Esperanza to make up a story about how Romeo abused her or attacked first so she could claim self defense. Even before they had the whole story, they had all clearly picked a side, and yeah its easy to do that when Romeo was apparently a predator, but there should at least be some objectivity when it comes to solving a case. Plus, we also got yet another hushed Olivia "she is scared! And hurt!" which I am just so sick of hearing from her. That voice she uses just sounds so freaking condescending. No, you dont know how you feel, only Olivia does!

So, what happened to Cami exactly? She was the original victim and the one whos abuse started this whole thing, but its like they moved onto Esperanza as the main victim and just totally forgot about her. Also, I love how SVU detectives can now just go around looking for cases to solve, whether or not they have any context or know a crime has been committed, and they just have that kind of spare time. Yeah they should be aware if something is going on and not ignore it, but dont they already presumably have a huge case load? Do they have the manpower to dedicate this much time and resources to a hunch, instead of their presumed mountain of cases that are logged in the back? Maybe those are all the cases that either dont involved a detective personally, or involve all of those less traditionally attractive or non female victims and child abuse cases that we never see. At least this week we had a case involving people who were non white and wealthy, and not just rich white guys in suites, even if it still involved a lot of He said/She said stuff again, the only well we draw from anymore. 

Carisi got some good moments, especially when he lost it on Kat about speaking to Esperanza without a lawyer, even though it led to that weird "all men are, but he is totally right" exchange between Olivia and Kat. What the hell? 

The acting from the guest cast was pretty good, they really kept my attention, and the case itself wasnt that bad, even if it almost seemed like two cases, Romeo and the abusive father, and neither of them were fully fleshed out to their full potential because there just wasnt enough time. 

[TV Diva Queen]

On 2/7/2020 at 10:00 PM, FozzyBear said:

Is pronouncing Romeo “Row-May-oh” instead of “Row-me-oh” common? I’ve never heard it before.

thats all I got.

My kids have two friends that pronounce their "Row May Oh"  (first name) and one friend with the Rom May Oh last name.  I think its a thing....  and that's all I got.  LOL  Except that I was unclear if that even was Barba until St. said his name to the squad.  

[Neiman]

I loved seeing Barba again even if it was just a short time.  

I'm already very tired of Kat.  I wish they'd find another detective.

Seeing Liv mourn Tucker is too much.  She dumped him.  Still don't understand that relationship given how he treated her and Stabler early on.  I'm not liking the captain as a hands-on detective episodes, but at least they aren't exploring her family issues.

[CrystalBlue]

3 hours ago, Neiman said:

I loved seeing Barba again even if it was just a short time.  

I'm already very tired of Kat.  I wish they'd find another detective.

Seeing Liv mourn Tucker is too much.  She dumped him.  Still don't understand that relationship given how he treated her and Stabler early on.  I'm not liking the captain as a hands-on detective episodes, but at least they aren't exploring her family issues.

Olivia conveniently having Tucker's photo with her "in happier times" handy in her desk drawer was ridiculous.  I was never on the Tucker Train as far as Liv having a romantic and sexual relationship with him after his IAB years.

No Benoah is always is good thing.

I'm not a big Kat fan; I can take her or leave her, as long as she reins in the OTT you white men crap.

[Joe Hellandback]

Yeah of course the dad had to be a rapist, I thought that the moment I saw him. Because in SVU world every woman who exhibits violence or crazy behaviour has to have been the victim of childhood abuse. Plus more leading than a dog walking service. At least Carisi is starting to get angry about the SVU's abuse of process. 

Still, nice to see Barba again, I like the beard.