S22.E06: The Long Arm of the Witness

[formerlyfreedom]

Carisi takes on a powerful judge when he inexplicably dismisses the rape case of a university student.

Airing Thursday, January 21, 2021.

[Gigi43]

I can't take this show seriously when they act like Hudson U is prestigious. 

 

They've already said "old boy network" too many times already. 

[wanderingstar]

Does anyone know the name of the actor playing the judge? I know his face, but I can't place it and it's driving me nuts!

[Kleav]

16 minutes ago, Gillian Rosh said:

the actor playing the judge

Josh Stamberg. He sure plays loathesome well!

[tennisgurl]

Oh Hudson University. A place you go for your bachelor in roofies with a minor in having your corpse dragged out of the nearest body of water. 

Edited January 22, 2021 by tennisgurl

[Gigi43]

Three confessions in a row (this may as well be a courtroom) is just lazy and I defended Carisi breaking the guy down last week because it felt natural given he was becoming more unhinged. Am I supposed to believe this judge would rant in a public bathroom.

 

This episode felt too over the top considering it seems it like it's supposed to be Kavanaugh after all this time. We get it. You don't need to have the guy calling Carisi a dego. It's like when they had not-Chris Brown demanding 'his Jew', as if we couldn't make up our minds unless he was a bigot too. I don't know this one, it annoyed me as much as the Illan Omar vs Convinton Catholic (but Jewish) and Sharia Law mixed in. 

 

How many times is Liv going to get warnings to watch out? For all she's been told to watch out from high powered dirtbags, she manages to keep having a ton of blunders that should be hard to come back from but will never actually bite her in the ass and never reflects and changes, just the 'well I'm in it for the victims' deflection. 

[Broderbits]

1 hour ago, Gillian Rosh said:

Does anyone know the name of the actor playing the judge? I know his face, but I can't place it and it's driving me nuts!

 

44 minutes ago, Kleav said:

Josh Stamberg.

Check him out on IMDB, he's been in a ton of stuff!

[EtheltoTillie]

Wow he was vile!  And he insulted my alma mater, Fordham Law. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

That was a greaaaaaaaat episode.  And I never say that.  LOL.  With every single line the judge said at the end I was screaming.  LOL

[Xeliou66]

Another good episode - SVU has started off with 6 decent episodes in a row!!

I really liked the courtroom scenes again, I’ve always liked episodes with a heavy legal focus and they have figured out how to write good legal material this season, and this episode was again heavy on the legal stuff. Carisi was really good once again, this season we’ve really seen how good he is in the ADA role and he’s gotten to act with authority and the courtroom scenes were well done.

I absolutely loved the ending - where the piece of shit prick of a judge got it thrown right back in his face, he had used his power as a judge to do whatever the hell he wanted for years and it was awesome to see another judge use her judicial power to throw his ass in jail. Very fitting ending. 

Most characters got a nice role in this episode, I’ve already talked about Carisi, Fin had some good scenes and lines, it was nice to see Garland back and I liked his role and that he was involved in a high profile case, even Rollins had a couple of good scenes, Kat didn’t have much and she seemed rather whiny again, I wish she would shut up sometimes. Benson for the most part was okay, but there were scenes where her facial expressions were overboard. Mariska overacts sometimes and it was on display tonight, there were a few scenes where it looked like she had tears in her eyes. 

I find Calhoun loathsome, I don’t really get why Benson is friends with her, Calhoun has always represented scum and she seems smug while doing it. I thought her sliminess was on full display tonight. 

I liked the continuity of bringing back Isaiah Holmes, and I liked his role in this episode and how he was able to help put the judge away, but did anyone else notice that he was now in Kings County (Brooklyn) whereas last year he was a Queens County ADA? They didn’t address it either, I would’ve liked a bit more of a clarification on that, my guess is that after he got the innocent guy out of prison last year and probably got the Queens DA’s office sued and hopefully exposed his boss as a dementia case, he switched offices. 

I liked how at the end they alluded to the fact that they were going to go through the judges cases and I hope they were able to get justice for the girl who was raped in the case that the judge dismissed at the start of the episode. I do wonder what would happen to the uncle of the rapist at the start, the judges frat buddy, he not only was an accomplice to rape but he was corrupt and helped get his nephew off the hook - I hope he was investigated as well and hopefully punished. 

I also liked how they didn’t portray the Manhattan DA’s office as a bunch of corrupt, inept backstabbers like they did last year, instead, while they did have political concerns, the higher ups were supportive of Carisi and wanted to see the judge held accountable. It seems they’ve written out Hadid for good, which I’m thrilled about, she was one of the worst characters in SVU history and I love seeing Carisi act independently and with authority and without having to worry about higher ups stabbing him in the back. Just another way they’ve improved the legal writing this season. 

I did have to laugh at all of the Hudson U references - we all know that place is the rape capital of America, and I think it was almost an inside joke tonight between the writers and the fans. 

Overall this was a good episode - I’m always partial to legal heavy episodes, and they did it well again, most characters had good scenes, the case was compelling with the villain being one of the most despicable shitstains SVU has dealt with in a long time, and the ending was incredibly satisfying. SVU has started off the season with 6 decent episodes, I can’t believe I’m saying this about modern day SVU!!!! They’ve finally reached a level of being consistently solid, and let’s hope it stays that way.

[MaryHedwig]

2 hours ago, GussieK said:

Wow he was vile!  And he insulted my alma mater, Fordham Law. 

You scared me. I thought you were going to say your alma mater was Hudson U.

Edited January 22, 2021 by MaryHedwig

[CrystalBlue]

3 hours ago, GussieK said:

Wow he was vile!  And he insulted my alma mater, Fordham Law. 

And he insulted Italians (I'm half Italian).  😡

[Pj3422]

11 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Oh Hudson University. A place you go for your bachelor in roofies with a minor in having your corpse dragged out of the nearest body of water. 

Anybody follow Hudson University (@OfficialHudsonU) on Twitter? It’s hilarious. 

[Debbiejo]

11 hours ago, Gigi43 said:

Am I supposed to believe this judge would rant in a public bathroom.

Agreed...........too contrived and easy a solution.  And the judge was too over the top in hs insults and snobbish comments.

[heatherchandler]

13 hours ago, Gillian Rosh said:

Does anyone know the name of the actor playing the judge? I know his face, but I can't place it and it's driving me nuts!

I know he has been on a lot of shows, but I remember him as Sarge on Six Feet Under!  

[tennisgurl]

Hudson University has become this really dark running joke by now, its kind of hilarious. The writers know that Hudson University's student body is entirely filled with evil, hazing loving frat boys, the scholarship girls they rape, pre-med female students who moonlight as escorts, and any number of potential murderers or victims, they know we know it, its just funny at this point. 

Now after a string of episodes that mixed the formula up a bit and were actually shockingly good, we go back to SVU's favorite villain, Evil Rich White Guys, and an episode that was mostly just fine. This episode was alright, I didn't like it nearly as much as I liked the last few. It just wasn't as engaging for me, but its hard to put my finger on why. The acting was all fine, the guy playing the judge is really good at playing a scumbag, and for the most part all of the main characters were just fine, no one got stuck playing Designated Asshole (the main bad guy was probably such an asshole he sucked up all residual asshole energy) and while there was certainly a good deal of lecturing from the main cast, complete with that dialogue that always sounds really unnatural, like how many times the phrase "old boys club" was used, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I think I just found the main bad guy to be so over the top evil and bigoted, that it kind of took me out of the narrative. Like, I get what they were going for, that this guy is so privileged that he really does think he can get away with doing or saying anything so he just doesn't care about what he says or does, and I can buy that he has gotten away with all of this abuse, but it seems a bit nuts that no one has noticed the frothing at the mouth crazy racism from this guy yet. How has no one ever heard him going on one of these rants when he apparently cant be in a room with with a non WASP for more than two seconds without unloading a MASSIVE stream of hate speech that would impressive even the nastiest of internet threads? I actually thought some of his earlier comments, like the "Hanging Jury" thing to Garland or the cracks about Carisi's school and how he would never fit in, were more like the things a really racist well bred WASP type would say. Its clearly racist/classist, but its stuff he can walk back later and say he didn't mean for it to be taken that way and play it as more of him being a victim of "cancel culture" or at least he would hold most of the worst back for when he is with his bros. Going on that ridiculously racist rant to Carisi right in his office and then later to Isaiah Holmes in the bathroom. I certainly buy a judge being THAT awful, but I would imagine he could normally hide it a bit better. 

It was nice seeing Isaiah Holmes and getting some backstory for him, and it turns out he is a rare survivor of Hudson University! Also nice to see Garland for a minute, its been awhile since he showed up. Honestly, I have no clue why Olivia is friends with Calhoun, she seems like she is the kind of person Olivia would normally utterly detest. Obviously she is just doing her job and everyone, even scum, deserve a fair trail, but she always seems to be defending the worst people ever, and uses really nasty, shady defenses in the court. Her whole defense this whole episodes of her many rapist clients seems to be "she was a lying slut who wanted it" and that was all. 

The end with the judge making Creep Judge serve his sentence in prison was pretty great, I very much enjoyed seeing the smug smirk fall off his face. I guess that, even as questionable as taping the guy was from a legal perspective, which wouldn't really change much about the actual trail legally, they just had to convince the judge presiding over the case that the guy was the worst person ever and should be rotting in jail. I got a crisp twenty dollar bill or any inmates with a shank! The actual tape was painfully contrived, and while I usually like court episodes, we have had quite a few of them lately and I am ready for more of a mystery again. 

[sd dude]

This reminded me of a real life situation but I just couldn't put my finger on it.  Oh well, maybe I'll just have another beer.  I like beer.

By the way, this is not the same Wentworth Miller character that threw a perp out the bathroom window all those years ago, is it?

[Xeliou66]

13 minutes ago, sd dude said:

This reminded me of a real life situation but I just couldn't put my finger on it.  Oh well, maybe I'll just have another beer.  I like beer.

By the way, this is not the same Wentworth Miller character that threw a perp out the bathroom window all those years ago, is it?

No, Wentworth Miller was not playing Nate Kendall, the cop who probably threw the perp out the bathroom window in the season 11 premiere, he was playing Isaiah Holmes - the lawyer that he also played in last seasons episode Murdered at a Bad Address, when he was a Queens ADA who helped Carisi get an innocent guy out of prison, in this episode, he had moved over to Kings County (Brooklyn) and was a Kings County ADA who led the civil rights division apparently. 

[MaryHedwig]

14 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Hudson University has become this really dark running joke by now, its kind of hilarious. The writers know that Hudson University's student body is entirely filled with evil, hazing loving frat boys, the scholarship girls they rape, pre-med female students who moonlight as escorts, and any number of potential murderers or victims, they know we know it, its just funny at this point

Not to mention the episode where the mothers have sex with the professors in order to assure their daughters get a spot at Hudson. (I remember commenting after that one that those mothers should consider what they could have done  to assure their daughters do not go to Hudson)

Edited January 23, 2021 by MaryHedwig

[CrystalBlue]

6 hours ago, sd dude said:

This reminded me of a real life situation but I just couldn't put my finger on it.  Oh well, maybe I'll just have another beer.  I like beer.

By the way, this is not the same Wentworth Miller character that threw a perp out the bathroom window all those years ago, is it?

The real life situation distracted me from staying with the story as presented because I kept comparing the real accusations with the story witnesses and victims who were obviously more believable (at least to me).  Maybe I should have started my own drinking game with beer for every time they said "old boys' network."

[MrsWitter]

15 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

How has no one ever heard him going on one of these rants when he apparently cant be in a room with with a non WASP for more than two seconds without unloading a MASSIVE stream of hate speech that would impressive even the nastiest of internet threads? I actually thought some of his earlier comments, like the "Hanging Jury" thing to Garland or the cracks about Carisi's school and how he would never fit in, were more like the things a really racist well bred WASP type would say. Its clearly racist/classist, but its stuff he can walk back later and say he didn't mean for it to be taken that way and play it as more of him being a victim of "cancel culture" or at least he would hold most of the worst back for when he is with his bros.

I understand your larger points, but I think it’s important to point out that the judge wasn’t a WASP. He had a distinctly Irish surname (Gallagher) and the real-life parallel story was also about an Irish Catholic. There’s a distinct history of conflict between the Irish and the Italians in America (I say this as someone who is half Italian and half Irish). While the Irish, as an earlier immigrant group who were *theoretically* more WASP-adjacent, engaged in a lot of prejudiced behavior toward Italians, Irish Catholics are NOT WASPs. Not remotely. That’s why, historically, they were also subject to a lot of discrimination.

[kicotan]

4 hours ago, MrsWitter said:

There’s a distinct history of conflict between the Irish and the Italians in America (I say this as someone who is half Italian and half Irish).

Indeed, it is very complicated.  It annoys me when shows like this try to push the One True Way of Inequality as WASP vs non-white. It absolutely isn’t the time for any TV show that wants to remain popular to unpack the myth of universal white supremacy in America...that all “whites” here have been equal.  My favorite line from season 4 of Fargo: “You might not be black, but you ain’t “white” (speaking to the Irish and Italian experience, coming to America).

There is also distinct history of discrimination between Italians and Sicilians in America.  I’m not sure if Carisi is Northern Italian/Southern Italian or full on Sicilian...but I say this because Mr. kicotan is half Italian/ half Sicilian.  He grew up going to Atlantic City in the summers between 1955 and 1965 with segregated beaches.  Sicilians weren’t allowed to be in the Italian section-they had to be on the other side of where the African American section was.

I was born what folks would look at and consider a WASP, except there isn’t one recorded crossing of my ancestors to these shores. The colonial process of illegal trafficking of white children from their mother country of England to North American colonies obviously wasn’t on the books.   Only one book mentions it-the dictionary-as the origin of the word kidnap. And yet, here I am...not one smidge of Irish according to Ancestry.com...just a white mutt.

[853fisher]

Who is directing, or failing to direct, Mariska such that some of these weird enunciations make the final cut?  "That's why we keep fye-ting!" Nobody sounds like that at a moment of heightened emotion.

I was pretty bored with this one.  This show doesn't do light and shade well these days.  I think it's a mistake to associate so many recurring characters outside of the NYPD with fallen morals and a "this didn't used to be you!" speech.  I think it's a mistake to depict indiscriminate shouting "dago" and "f*****" and "halfbreed" as the hallmark of a member of the "old boys club" (take a drink) when there are a lot of bigots who do insidious things but have the wisdom not to spout off quite that way.

And I think the "ripped from the headlines" or "here you are obviously supposed to insert [real life person / event]" moments look a little desperate when they're not timely.  "Locker room talk" was the hot new punchline in, what, October '16?  How long have the writers been waiting to riff on that one with "men's room talk"?

They renewed this for how many more seasons?  I virtually always stick with a show once I've started.  After this long, I don't think I'll quit, but Lord, give me strength.

[CrystalBlue]

33 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

Who is directing, or failing to direct, Mariska such that some of these weird enunciations make the final cut?  "That's why we keep fye-ting!" Nobody sounds like that at a moment of heightened emotion.

I was pretty bored with this one.  This show doesn't do light and shade well these days.  I think it's a mistake to associate so many recurring characters outside of the NYPD with fallen morals and a "this didn't used to be you!" speech.  I think it's a mistake to depict indiscriminate shouting "dago" and "f*****" and "halfbreed" as the hallmark of a member of the "old boys club" (take a drink) when there are a lot of bigots who do insidious things but have the wisdom not to spout off quite that way.

And I think the "ripped from the headlines" or "here you are obviously supposed to insert [real life person / event]" moments look a little desperate when they're not timely.  "Locker room talk" was the hot new punchline in, what, October '16?  How long have the writers been waiting to riff on that one with "men's room talk"?

They renewed this for how many more seasons?  I virtually always stick with a show once I've started.  After this long, I don't think I'll quit, but Lord, give me strength.

I don't quite know why it's still acceptable in a network, not cable, TV show to have the bad guy spout the racial and sexual orientation slurs you mentioned, but the N-word is off the list, as it should be.

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, CrystalBlue said:

I don't quite know why it's still acceptable in a network, not cable, TV show to have the bad guy spout the racial and sexual orientation slurs you mentioned, but the N-word is off the list, as it should be.

I don’t have a problem with the use of slurs, sometimes using that kind of language is necessary to show how despicable someone is and the hate some people can spew. I didn’t know the N word was off limits now, I know the original L&O had characters say it a few times. 

I did think the phrase “old boys club” was said too many times, and the “men’s room talk” line seemed odd.

[dttruman]

20 hours ago, MaryHedwig said:

Not to mention the episode where the mothers have sex with the professors in order to assure their daughters get a spot at Hudson. (I remember commenting after that one that those mothers should consider what they could have done  to assure their daughters do not go to Hudson)

Wasn't that episode "Imposter" where Benson forced a rape charge on the guy by "Deception" and the son of the so-called victim ended up killing himself because of Benson's extreme insistence with the prosecuting?

[CrystalBlue]

3 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I don’t have a problem with the use of slurs, sometimes using that kind of language is necessary to show how despicable someone is and the hate some people can spew. I didn’t know the N word was off limits now, I know the original L&O had characters say it a few times. 

I did think the phrase “old boys club” was said too many times, and the “men’s room talk” line seemed odd.

I get your point and I agree with such usage in cable shows or series and movies.  But I thought the censorship had infiltrated the primetime TV slots.  And I'm still burned about Carisi being called a Dago (and the crack about garlic).  I felt so bad for our Sonny!  It's just that in the climate of today, I doubt L&O would bring back the N-word for shock value and certainly not for reals.  Can you imagine if SVU had a character calling Kat a [insert racial slur here] and naming an Hispanic food item she purportedly smells of?  It's the picking and choosing of which groups of people get passes that pisses me off.

Three cheers for the woman judge augmenting the doucebag judge's sentence to be served in jail!!!

[Xeliou66]

2 hours ago, dttruman said:

Wasn't that episode "Imposter" where Benson forced a rape charge on the guy by "Deception" and the son of the so-called victim ended up killing himself because of Benson's extreme insistence with the prosecuting?

Yes - that is one of the worst episodes in SVU history, it featured St Olivia at her very worst, pushing an agenda instead of being a police officer, and bullying Barba into prosecuting something that WAS NOT A CRIME!! And instead of telling St Olivia this, Barba went along with it like the puppet he became. And as a result of Benson’s fanatical agenda pushing, the son of one of the moms who slept with the guy killed himself. That episode was fucking horrendous - it featured most of the worst things about modern day SVU, with Benson acting as a social justice crusader and not an officer, and there was literally NO CRIME to prosecute, Benson just thought it should be a crime, and Barba lost his spine and went along with it because he wouldn’t stand up to Benson. 

[faithie]

LOL that the bigoted judge carried on a long-term sexual "arrangement" with the smoking hot black girl.

Guess Leight and Crew didnt realize the disconnect there.

 

Also LOL that the writers seem to know very little about elite colleges in the 21st century.  They would have you think that students wear t-shirts that say "working class kid on financial aid/scholarship".  And while there are still plenty of wealthy, preppy WASPS, these  days they are outnumbered by the combination of Jews and Asians.

[CrystalBlue]

4 minutes ago, faithie said:

LOL that the bigoted judge carried on a long-term sexual "arrangement" with the smoking hot black girl.

Guess Leight and Crew didnt realize the disconnect there.

 

Also LOL that the writers seem to know very little about elite colleges in the 21st century.  They would have you think that students wear t-shirts that say "working class kid on financial aid/scholarship".  And while there are still plenty of wealthy, preppy WASPS, these  days they are outnumbered by the combination of Jews and Asians.

To Judge Bigot, that smoking hot black girl was just another servant to him.  😞

[MaryHedwig]

2 hours ago, dttruman said:

Wasn't that episode "Imposter" where Benson forced a rape charge on the guy by "Deception" and the son of the so-called victim ended up killing himself because of Benson's extreme insistence with the prosecuting?

You are right! That's our girl for you!

Edited January 24, 2021 by MaryHedwig

[faithie]

3 minutes ago, CrystalBlue said:

To Judge Bigot, that smoking hot black girl was just another servant to him.  😞

I guess kind of like antebellum US slave masters who had "relationships" with female slaves.

[wanderingstar]

This episode was...A LOT. I think it would've been sufficient for the judge to be a predatory asshole. They didn't need to have him be a bigot too.

And I agree with others who've said the judge's confession in the bathroom was a little convenient.

I did like the actress who played the trail judge. 

[MrsWitter]

12 hours ago, kicotan said:

There is also distinct history of discrimination between Italians and Sicilians in America.  I’m not sure if Carisi is Northern Italian/Southern Italian or full on Sicilian...but I say this because Mr. kicotan is half Italian/ half Sicilian.  He grew up going to Atlantic City in the summers between 1955 and 1965 with segregated beaches.  Sicilians weren’t allowed to be in the Italian section-they had to be on the other side of where the African American section was.

Yes! It sounds like Mr. Kicotan is similar in age and background to my father. My father is actually half Southern Italian/half Sicilian, with a Sicilian surname. I almost put that in my original post, but I was afraid I was getting too much into the weeds and nobody would be interested. I’m glad you brought it up and that at least one other person is interested!
 

As for Carisi, he mentioned in the episode with the Italian exchange students that he had family from or near Ischia, which is an island off the coast of Naples (so Southern Italy). But I think his mother made cannolis (I know he has also bought pastries from a bakery, but I thought his mother might have also made some), which are traditionally Sicilian. So he might be another Southern Italian/Sicilian mutt!

2 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Can you imagine if SVU had a character calling Kat a [insert racial slur here] and naming an Hispanic food item she purportedly smells of?  It's the picking and choosing of which groups of people get passes that pisses me off.

Kat is Lebanese, not Hispanic.

[MaryHedwig]

57 minutes ago, Gillian Rosh said:

I did like the actress who played the trail judge.

She was channeling Whoopi Goldberg vibes, even before her scene at the end. How did that creepy judge think he was going to get anything pass her?

 

[FozzyBear]

Did anyone else find it funny how many times the mentioned these people went to college in the 1990s? I mean most people in their 40s probably went to college in the 1990s, but they just kept bringing it up over and over. You mean in the 90s?!?!? 

[WendyCR72]

2 hours ago, FozzyBear said:

Did anyone else find it funny how many times the mentioned these people went to college in the 1990s? I mean most people in their 40s probably went to college in the 1990s, but they just kept bringing it up over and over. You mean in the 90s?!?!? 

So I shouldn't say that I went to college...IN THE '90s, and I'm now in my 40s? Huh!  😛

[FozzyBear]

24 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

So I shouldn't say that I went to college...IN THE '90s, and I'm now in my 40s? Huh!  😛

I think I’ll do that at with tomorrow. Hi, I went to college...in the 90s!

[TV Diva Queen]

That defense attorney (who's name escapes me) is so awesome at the job and I just hate her (because she's really good).  I "hate" her as much as I hate Danielle from the Mothership.  I know its going to be a good episode when she's on.

[CrystalBlue]

13 hours ago, TV Diva Queen said:

That defense attorney (who's name escapes me) is so awesome at the job and I just hate her (because she's really good).  I "hate" her as much as I hate Danielle from the Mothership.  I know its going to be a good episode when she's on.

Rita Calhoun played by Elizabeth Marvel.

I liked Tovah Feldshuh as Danielle Melnick on L&O too!

[SarahPrtr]

On 1/26/2021 at 4:07 PM, FozzyBear said:

I think I’ll do that at with tomorrow. Hi, I went to college...in the 90s!

Haha, same!! I'm in my 40s and went to college in the 90s!  Back when I could still hand-write a lot of my assignments!!!

[wknt3]

On 1/23/2021 at 3:48 PM, Xeliou66 said:

 I did think the phrase “old boys club” was said too many times, and the “men’s room talk” line seemed odd.

"Men's room talk" was meant to evoke/reference "locker room talk". So it was deliberately a bit odd and nonsensical.

 

On 1/23/2021 at 7:04 PM, CrystalBlue said:

I get your point and I agree with such usage in cable shows or series and movies.  But I thought the censorship had infiltrated the primetime TV slots.  And I'm still burned about Carisi being called a Dago (and the crack about garlic).  I felt so bad for our Sonny!  It's just that in the climate of today, I doubt L&O would bring back the N-word for shock value and certainly not for reals.  Can you imagine if SVU had a character calling Kat a [insert racial slur here] and naming an Hispanic food item she purportedly smells of?  It's the picking and choosing of which groups of people get passes that pisses me off.

I can totally imagine that. Even though as already mentioned she is Lebanese. As the writing has improved over the last few years hopefully she would then respond with a quip about how the bigot can't even figure out what minority group she belongs to and not getting all self righteous or using violence.

Quote

Three cheers for the woman judge augmenting the doucebag judge's sentence to be served in jail!!!

I liked that too, I just wish that there was some indication that Carisi expected it as a real possibility. It would have made the comeuppance a little bit sweeter, established him as a sharp lawyer, and they could have had a few lines about how if Judge Kavenfaux wasn't so busy with the old boys club he would have realized that the judge would never let it go through and never would have plead out. It was a real missed opportunity.

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, wknt3 said:

"Men's room talk" was meant to evoke/reference "locker room talk". So it was deliberately a bit odd and nonsensical.

 

I can totally imagine that. Even though as already mentioned she is Lebanese. As the writing has improved over the last few years hopefully she would then respond with a quip about how the bigot can't even figure out what minority group she belongs to and not getting all self righteous or using violence.

I liked that too, I just wish that there was some indication that Carisi expected it as a real possibility. It would have made the comeuppance a little bit sweeter, established him as a sharp lawyer, and they could have had a few lines about how if Judge Kavenfaux wasn't so busy with the old boys club he would have realized that the judge would never let it go through and never would have plead out. It was a real missed opportunity.

Good point about the ending, I still loved it though and thought it was very fitting.

I missed your usual takes on what was good and bad about the episode, those are always fun to read. Do you have any further thoughts on this one? 

[wknt3]

21 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Good point about the ending, I still loved it though and thought it was very fitting.

I missed your usual takes on what was good and bad about the episode, those are always fun to read. Do you have any further thoughts on this one? 

I liked the ending too, and agree it was fitting I just thought there was an obvious opportunity to do something more and take it to the next level. I don't think I have much to say that hasn't already been covered perhaps because this wasn't an episode with a lot of depth - it was competent certainly, but clunky and more than a bit heavy handed. Of course part of that was the headlines it was ripped from are not exactly subtle. It was a B-. I'm still waiting for them to take the next step and give us a truly great episode on the level of early season 17.

[Xeliou66]

2 hours ago, wknt3 said:

I liked the ending too, and agree it was fitting I just thought there was an obvious opportunity to do something more and take it to the next level. I don't think I have much to say that hasn't already been covered perhaps because this wasn't an episode with a lot of depth - it was competent certainly, but clunky and more than a bit heavy handed. Of course part of that was the headlines it was ripped from are not exactly subtle. It was a B-. I'm still waiting for them to take the next step and give us a truly great episode on the level of early season 17.

I feel like SVU has reached a level of consistency they haven’t had since season 17, with all 6 of their episodes being decent so far. I really liked episodes 3 and 4 of this season especially. There are still some kinks in the writing they need to work out, but they’ve fixed their worst writing issue from last season - the legal/courtroom writing. 

[wknt3]

21 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I feel like SVU has reached a level of consistency they haven’t had since season 17, with all 6 of their episodes being decent so far. I really liked episodes 3 and 4 of this season especially. There are still some kinks in the writing they need to work out, but they’ve fixed their worst writing issue from last season - the legal/courtroom writing. 

To be fair Season 18 is the most consistent of the last decade plus. You didn't say consistently good...

[Xeliou66]

3 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

To be fair Season 18 is the most consistent of the last decade plus. You didn't say consistently good...

LOL you are right about season 18 - it was consistently lousy. But I thought season 17 was consistently good for the most part, there were a couple of duds but I thought overall it was very good. This season is the most consistent they’ve been since season 17, they almost always have at least one dud episode by this point. 

[Kel Varnsen]

Decent episode.  Although I wish they could have thrown in a follow up line about how they were going after the guy who bribed the judge from the case at the beginning. Or at least something about how they got that person to flip on the judge and they were now going to be charging him with accepting a bribe as well. 

It also would have been fitting if there was a line at the end about how the judge's washroom threat recording got leaked to the press by someone. Especially since one of his victims was a court reporter.

 

[SunnyBeBe]

The actor who played the judge reminds me of Stephen Collins:(

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Stephen_Collins

 

 

 

 

[CrystalBlue]

2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

The actor who played the judge reminds me of Stephen Collins:(

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Stephen_Collins

 

 

 

 

Oh God, you're right!  Maybe on purpose?

Quote from above article, last paragraph:

On October 8, 2014, a recording was released in which Collins confessed to his then wife Faye Grant that he had molested several underage girls prior to 2012. [1] Following the audio's release, Collins was fired from production on Seth MacFarlane's Ted 2. [2] The Christian cable network Up responded to the scandal by pulling 7th Heaven from air. Reports that the actor had shot and killed himself later that night proved to be false. [3] In December 2014, he admitted that the allegations of sexual abuse were true. [4]