S23.E06: The Five Hundredth Episode

[WendyCR72]

What a creative title! (Yes, sarcasm is fun!) Airing October 21, 2021:

Quote

Amaro asks the SVU for help in clearing a convicted man's name and brings a figure from Benson's past back into her life.

 

[Xeliou66]

I really hope SVU delivers a solid episode for their 500th but I have zero confidence in them to do so, this season has been subpar at best so far and it looks like the show is running on fumes - they seem to be more focused on promoting OC than on delivering good cases, they don’t have nearly enough people in the squad, the new chief is a caricature villain, Fin has gotten nothing to do so far, Carisi is the best part of the show but they are still shaky with how they write the legal stuff, and Benson and Rollins haven’t been overly annoying but I’m not a big fan of either as everyone knows. The writing seems stale and it’s like the writers don’t have fresh ideas. I have less confidence than ever in SVU.

It does appear we may get cameos from past characters (it appears Cragen and Warner will be in the episode along with Amaro, I hope that’s true). But I hope this doesn’t become a soap fest or a St Olivia worship session, and I’m afraid it will be both.

[lazylump]

I fear this will be an Olivia love fest with a thin cast there just to bolster her career achievements. There usually is a B plot and I am trying to figure out if there will even be a B plot at all. All I can come up with is Carisi is jealous of Amaro coming back.  That is the only kind of subplot I can think of that is quick, doesn’t detract from Olivia and won’t need any extra cast members  since they seem to be out of them.

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, lazylump said:

I fear this will be an Olivia love fest with a thin cast there just to bolster her career achievements. There usually is a B plot and I am trying to figure out if there will even be a B plot at all. All I can come up with is Carisi is jealous of Amaro coming back.  That is the only kind of subplot I can think of that is quick, doesn’t detract from Olivia and won’t need any extra cast members  since they seem to be out of them.

Yet the keep Noah on.  Even Amanda's girls are safely in their rooms and her kooky family have fallen by the wayside (small mercies).

[dttruman]

On 10/18/2021 at 8:46 PM, lazylump said:

All I can come up with is Carisi is jealous of Amaro coming back.  That is the only kind of subplot I can think of that is quick, doesn’t detract from Olivia and won’t need any extra cast members

Will Rollins get some bonus points here if she acts responsibly with both Carisi and Amaro or will this become a soap opera, where Rolllins seeks out the almighty wisdom of Benson to decide for her. who she will give the rose to, and tell the other one to take a hike

[WendyCR72]

21 minutes ago, dttruman said:

Will Rollins get some bonus points here if she acts responsibly with both Carisi and Amaro or will this become a soap opera, where Rolllins seeks out the almighty wisdom of Benson to decide for her. who she will give the rose to, and tell the other one to take a hike

Now I feel nauseous after reading this, because it sounds exactly like something current SVU would do.

[dttruman]

Forget about the Romantic Triangle by the people concerned, this is an all Benson show, from flashbacks to present day dilemmas.

[Broderbits]

There is no way I will believe Nick Amaro earned a graduate degree in genetics or any kind of science.

[SuzieQ]

Well, it was nice to see old familiar faces, but that was a vintage Olivia love-fest!!  Absolutely barf worthy on the turn it took!

[Xeliou66]

This was underwhelming for a 500th episode, not terrible, but it was all about St Olivia and I didn’t like how the episode completely changed course over the final 20 minutes and turned into a total St Olivia soap fest. I had a feeling the whole time Burton was going to turn out to be bad, and it was all too predictable.

I liked the original case about the guy in prison and I think they should’ve just stretched that out for the whole hour instead of going down the Burton is a predator route. That case was solved too easily, they could’ve stretched it out and had more investigation/legal proceedings.

It was great to see Cragen again even if it was just via FaceTime, but it didn’t make him look good that his squad sent an innocent guy to prison, even if the guy did confess. I wish there had been more exploration of the case, did Ian plead guilty or was he convicted? And how did they suspect Ian got the concussion if they thought he was guilty and his story was a lie? There were some questions about the case that I would’ve liked more of an exploration of, instead of it resolving so neatly. I wish they had found a better way to write Cragen back in, and I wish they had given us an update on where Cragen was now (I assume he was in Florida with his partner Eileen), and I wish Cragen had gotten to speak to Fin, they haven’t interacted since Cragen retired, I wish it had been Fin and not Rollins in the first FaceTime scene with Cragen. Still it was great to see a beloved character like Cragen again.

It was also nice to see Warner assist on the case, it’s always a pleasure when she appears, and did you notice she mentioned Rodgers being the ME who did the autopsy!! That was an awesome continuity reference, I love Rodgers and it’s nice to know they remembered her.

I didn’t care much about seeing Amaro again, he was never my favorite, he was a hot tempered crybaby and he seemed to be whiny once again in his final scene in Benson’s office.

Not nearly enough Fin. He was good as usual when he appeared, but he’s gotten pretty much zilch to do all season, and I’m ready for him to take on a heavier role. He’s been a big part of the show, and he deserved a larger role. I wish it had been Fin who talked to Benson one on one instead of Rollins in a couple of scenes. 

Not nearly enough Carisi either, he was only in a couple of scenes, he was good as always but I would’ve liked more of him. However, I was pleased that there was no soapy drama at all between Carisi/Rollins/Amaro, and that they didn’t trash the DA’s office for once.

The whole episode was predictably centered around St Olivia, and she got on my nerves as usual, she hooks up with Burton quickly after reuniting with him but then does a 180 at the end and accuses Burton of taking advantage of her when she was younger. That just didn’t make sense to me. I just get so sick of St Olivia’s self righteousness and the show revolving around her.

This episode had the potential to be good, but they crapped the bed, which is to be expected from modern day SVU. It would’ve been so much better if they had just focused on reopening the old case and getting to the bottom of it, giving Fin and Carisi more of a role, and finding a better way to write Cragen in. Instead they wrapped all that up too quickly just so we could have St Olivia melodrama for the last 20 minutes. Honestly this season has been weak and I have no confidence that it will get any better.

[Jaded]

2 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

It was great to see Cragen again even if it was just via FaceTime, but it didn’t make him look good that his squad sent an innocent guy to prison, even if the guy did confess.

It's rare for them to bring back people from the past and not tarnish their history on the show in some way so St. Olivia will look even more saintly compared to everyone else. It's St. Olivia's world and the rest of them simply live in it. 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Jaded

[wknt3]

The Good:
Fin. This is the first episode this season where Ice-T seemed engaged and Fin had something to do. I kind of wish we got more of him, like that this was one of his cases, but then we probably would be wondering why we weren't seeing Munch. Still would have been nice to have more focus on how long he has been there and not just Liv.
Carisi. While I wish he had more to do here since the cold case plot should mean that he was front and center the whole time, what we got was really solid.
Cragen, Amaro, and Warner, They actually did a good job bringing back some old timers in a natural way. Heck they even tossed in a Rodgers reference! It was nice seeing them although it made me miss the days when we didn't need to resort to stunts to have enough cast members to tell a story.
No Stabler except for flashbacks. It was nice to see them not trying to force some sort of triangle on us. Or maybe they just didn't want to remind us of how they treated Stabler during the Amaro years?
The case. The original case that is, not the boring Benson's ex is a predator one. If they hadn't felt the need to rush through the resolution so we could get to the nonsense it would have actually felt like old school SVU,
Rollins was largely in the background and they didn't go for any soapy nonsense with her.

The Bad:
Another episode of our least favorite sitcom (romcom???) Everybody Loves Benson. I'm sorry, but you only get partial credit for not being as bad as it could have been and for the occasion actually calling for a Benson focused episode. You can focus on her as the only remaining original character without making everyone being obsessed with her. And the scene with the other returning guest star from the past, Liv's Giant Wine Glass, was just embarassing,
The last third of the episode. Just bad Benson angst and beating us over the head with Mariska's obsession with power differentials. Wasted a lot of potential.
Not enough of the rest of the cast. The parts that they had were good, but we really needed more. As I said the focus on Benson is legitimate in this case, but they went too far.

Overall this was a decent episode. B-. Maybe the best of the season, but you only get so much credit for avoiding some of the potential pitfalls and not messing up as badly as they could have and have done before this season. A lot of wasted potential here, Which is probably appropriate for summing up the current state of the series,

[Gigi43]

Of course the 500th episode was a Benson fest. I called the old boyfriend was going to be creepy somehow, especially once Liv slept with him present day. So were they saying Liv's mom was right to react the way she did because she was trying to protect Liv from the 21yr old? I seemed like kinda absolving her of at least that incident of breaking a glass and threatening Liv. They acknowledged they had Liv's Mom say something nice about her in ep1 where as the rest of the show she resented tf out of Liv.

 

Amaro has a graduate degree? GTFO. I don't believe he'd have that dedication or intelligence. Did he beat any unfair professors? That was a really long nod to his time on Cold Case.

 

Episode 500, there were flashbacks of LIv and not enough Fin. Which isn't surprising. I don't know why I continue to put up with this. Loved seeing Cragen, Warner and we had Novak in a flashback so good use of bring up old characters.

 

Carisi was good in his scenes. I wanted more of that old case instead of the Benson crap. I'd like to know more of how that guy went to jail for a crime he didn't commit. I'd have liked to know more about Cragen working the case, but maybe Facetime was all Dann was okay with because of covid, though they still could have had him on Facetime more. They avoided any Carisi/Rollins/Amaro triangle soap stuff and we were spared any awkwardness of Stabler being around and Liv hooking up with the creepy ex.

[illdoc]

Until he started speaking, I didn't even recognize Amaro/Danny Pino!!!

[lazylump]

8 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

 

I didn’t care much about seeing Amaro again, he was never my favorite, he was a hot tempered crybaby and he seemed to be whiny

Not nearly enough Carisi either, he was only in a couple of scenes, he was good as always but I would’ve liked more of him. However, I was pleased that there was no soapy drama at all between Carisi/Rollins/Amaro, and that they didn’t trash the DA’s office for once.

 

I agree with this.  I really enjoy Carisi.  He grew on me but I knew the new crew except Amaro would be In the background.  I am hoping now that the milestone is over they can get back to solving crimes.  
i think with amaro hardly even dwelling on Rollisi it is a safe bet that Rollins and Carisi are end game and are going to be on the background this season with the romance.  Personally I wish there was a bit more of them together.  

[Cristofle]

I remember this person coming up a few times, even without the flashbacks in the episode - an adult male who had been dating Olivia when she was a teenager, which was fairly obviously inappropriate and she had a huge blind spot about it. So I guess it was interesting to see it play out in real time - I did find the scene where Olivia found the tape and simply could no longer deny she had been one of many and obviously this man grooms younger women/girls as a routine to be powerful, despite not quite knowing how she could have missed it up to this point. I don't know how I feel about the realization of Olivia's that her mother may have realized she was being preyed upon and in some way wanted to protect her but seemed to have absolutely no actual maternal instincts so she landed on abusive. Because I remember actually thinking that at the time I first saw the episode they flashed back to - that Olivia's mother was a mess of a woman who was correct in thinking this was at the very least, an inappropriate relationship with a vulnerable girl, but who responded to it in the worst way possible. Still, what her mother did WAS really bad, lol. 

I both smiled and rolled my eyes at the "Cold Case" line - I smiled because that is my favorite role of his, but it was a little too overt to land properly, lol. Overall, I think I might have enjoyed this episode more if Amaro had come back on his own and they'd worked through this case, without the groomer angle, but eh. 

ETA: I forgot. It's always nice to see Peter, but MAN, he simply could not hide the sparkle at Mariska in this ep, lol. 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Cristofle

[wonderwoman]

so, meta? or just happenstance?

burton: “i haven’t been a saint, olivia.’

[StaceyNotStacie]

Considering the hype they made over this being the 500th episode, I was surprised and slightly disappointed that there was no Stabler outside of a flashback.  I would have liked to see an introduction between Stabler and Amaro. 
 

There was a scene with Rollins and Amaro in the file room where they seemed a bit cozy looking at the file. I was surprised that there was no conversation between the two of them regarding their past relationship, especially based on the intro it seemed like they kept in touch. 

[dttruman]

1 hour ago, wonderwoman said:

so, meta? or just happenstance?

burton: “i haven’t been a saint, olivia.’

Her response should have been, "Funny you should say that, because that is what I am if you watch L&O SVU".

[Cristofle]

34 minutes ago, Stacey1014 said:

Considering the hype they made over this being the 500th episode, I was surprised and slightly disappointed that there was no Stabler outside of a flashback.  I would have liked to see an introduction between Stabler and Amaro. 

I was bummed! I kind of can't believe they have access to Meloni and didn't introduce Stabler to Amaro, who arguably had the most overt experience of living in his shadow for awhile, so to speak. Amaro HAS to be curious about Stabler. 

[WendyCR72]

5 hours ago, Cristofle said:

I was bummed! I kind of can't believe they have access to Meloni and didn't introduce Stabler to Amaro, who arguably had the most overt experience of living in his shadow for awhile, so to speak. Amaro HAS to be curious about Stabler. 

Don't want to remind the viewers how Elliot held Olivia back or whatever. (Nope, I will never forget that bullshit.)

[dttruman]

The investigation plot of the show was very superficial and anyone could guess what was going to happen.The trial was also partly superficial until the defendant made a unique announcement. Nice seeing some of the old gang back, considering the actors here didn't have much to work with. This could have been made into a good episode, but for some reason they chose to add a Benson enlightenment moment that made a man's nonthreatening seduction process as something that she and other women are calling almost rape. The point was made that he didn't forcibly rape or coerce them, but Benson still thought it was a terrible manipulation on the man's part, even though they could have said "no" at any time. I thought this was Benson part of the episode was nothing but a bias social message.

[howiveaddict]

22 hours ago, Broderbits said:

There is no way I will believe Nick Amaro earned a graduate degree in genetics or any kind of science.

Cee Cee Moore wasn't available.

[Feline Goddess]

10 hours ago, Cristofle said:

ETA: I forgot. It's always nice to see Peter, but MAN, he simply could not hide the sparkle at Mariska in this ep, lol. 

I think that's sweet. 

[TM101]

Boring plot and Amaro being there was just no excitement for some reason and I really liked him. 
 

Disappointing to say the least, for the build up.

[gryphon]

Ok episode—St. Olivia. Sigh.  Nice to see Cragen—and I really loved seeing young Stabler in the flashbacks.   I wish Cragen and Fin would have had a scene together.

[AD35]

On 10/22/2021 at 6:08 AM, Gigi43 said:

Episode 500, there were flashbacks of LIv and not enough Fin.

No wonder Ice-T started doing Car Shield commercials.

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, AD35 said:

No wonder Ice-T started doing Car Shield commercials.

And the Tide commercials with Stone Cold Steve Austin...

[dttruman]

13 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

15 hours ago, AD35 said:

No wonder Ice-T started doing Car Shield commercials.

And the Tide commercials with Stone Cold Steve Austin...

I always liked this commercial that Ice-T did

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkVSdtNoscM

It's not much of a consolation, but you can catch more of him on his series "In Ice Cold Blood" on the Oxygen channel, Thursday from 10am -2pm EST

[Pearson80]

On 10/23/2021 at 8:16 AM, gryphon said:

Ok episode—St. Olivia. Sigh.  Nice to see Cragen—and I really loved seeing young Stabler in the flashbacks.   I wish Cragen and Fin would have had a scene together.

I had no intention of watching this episode because it would have been about St Olivia, the show was so much better as a true ensemble.  They should have brought back the original cast  from the first season and if they had to do something meaningful with Saint Olivia then they should have played on her on and off history with Brian Cassidy.  I always felt he was her best pairing on the show because she comes across as a real woman dealing with a man that she loves but can never seem to get it right with him..

[dttruman]

1 hour ago, Pearson80 said:

I had no intention of watching this episode because it would have been about St Olivia, the show was so much better as a true ensemble.  They should have brought back the original cast  from the first season and if they had to do something meaningful with Saint Olivia then they should have played on her on and off history with Brian Cassidy.  I always felt he was her best pairing on the show because she comes across as a real woman dealing with a man that she loves but can never seem to get it right with him..

Apparently the producers and writers don't seem to want her to get it right with any guy she knows. They want her to be a Bad News Buffet, so everyone can feel sorry for her when it comes to this part of her life.

[wknt3]

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

Apparently the producers and writers don't seem to want her to get it right with any guy she knows. They want her to be a Bad News Buffet, so everyone can feel sorry for her when it comes to this part of her life.

Only part of it is the producer's intent. Yes they want us to feel sorry for her, make sure she is available for UST with every male character except Noah and Fin (even Ice-T's loyalty has limits) and avoid truly blowing up the potential Benson/Stabler "happily ever after" etc. But part of it is that keeping a love interest for too long means paying the actor. And a huge part of it is that Mariska is just not able to pull it off. I mean this is someone who managed to make scenes with Andre freaking Braugher boring. One of the greatest actors of our time and she gave him less to work with than the dog on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I think one indication of Christopher's Meloni's skills as an actor is that he is able to generate chemistry with her. I would say that Robert John Burke is the only other performer who has managed to pull that off. Everyone else, even great actors whose work on the show and elsewhere I have greatly enjoyed have left me wanting to see the rehearsal with MH's stand in instead.

[dttruman]

16 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

But part of it is that keeping a love interest for too long means paying the actor. And a huge part of it is that Mariska is just not able to pull it off.

I think they have found the guy and we witnessed it in this episode. We have seen him before in other episodes but there was no chemistry set up by the writers. Does anyone think a romance could develop between Benson and Langan, after all he did warn Benson about Lowe and his lothario reputation. It may not be something that is complementary, but is not illegal. Now that Benson is depressed, will they both end up consoling each other? Can Hargitay and her husband (in real life) bring that passion to the TV screen, like they do at home. let's wait and see.

[wknt3]

49 minutes ago, dttruman said:

Can Hargitay and her husband (in real life) bring that passion to the TV screen, like they do at home. let's wait and see.

Hmmmmm. I don't know. Don't you think Mariska would be worried about it looking like she is using the show to express her personal feelings? Or that she can't distinguish between herself and the character she plays? I don't think she is the kind of person who would do that...

[Xeliou66]

I’ve actually wondered about the possibility of a Benson/Trevor Langan romance as well, since Langan is played by MH’s husband and Langan and Benson have worked closely together in the past few seasons, but I don’t think they’ll ever go there, because it seems like they are 100% committed to the Benson/Stabler ship. I sadly have no doubt the show will end with Benson/Stabler together, that’s the only reason they brought Stabler back and killed off his wife, and that’s what the loudest of the social media shippers want, so I have no doubt that’s where they’re going. And I don’t think they will pair up Benson with anyone until then, because it would just anger the shippers, plus I don’t think the show will go much longer, so I think they are probably already working on setting up the Benson/Stabler romance.

[Sake614]

 So in the end, Olivia was a victim because she was 16? 40 years ago, it wasn’t such a big deal for a teenager to date someone older. Statutory rape wasn’t even a thing. Or at least it wasn’t as big a thing as it is today. When I was 17 I dated a 21 year old, when I was 15, my boyfriend was 19. And why must every man Olivia dates turn out to be a villain? Can’t it just not work out? Or heaven forbid, it actually DOES work out between them and (gasp!) Olivia is happy! But no, we can’t have that, 🙄

and this may be really shallow, but can’t the show’s hairstylist do something with that stringy mess of hair on MH’s head? It desperately needs to be styled! Her hair (and makeup) used to be spot on. Now it’s just a wreck.

[WendyCR72]

29 minutes ago, Sake614 said:

and this may be really shallow, but can’t the show’s hairstylist do something with that stringy mess of hair on MH’s head? It desperately needs to be styled! Her hair (and makeup) used to be spot on. Now it’s just a wreck.

The franchise needs hair and makeup folks that know how to do makeup/hair for mature stars. No, they are not ready for a rocking chair, but when it seems like they are still trying to style 50-something actors like 30-somethings, they need to change up their techniques.

[Zoe]

4 hours ago, dttruman said:

I think they have found the guy and we witnessed it in this episode. We have seen him before in other episodes but there was no chemistry set up by the writers. Does anyone think a romance could develop between Benson and Langan, after all he did warn Benson about Lowe and his lothario reputation. It may not be something that is complementary, but is not illegal. Now that Benson is depressed, will they both end up consoling each other? Can Hargitay and her husband (in real life) bring that passion to the TV screen, like they do at home. let's wait and see.

They've teased it a few times before, but I think only as a wink to the audience (though I think he did flirt with her in his first appearance, before they started dating?). It would be so easy to pull off, but I think they prefer the drama. 

[weaver]

That was Aiden Quinn?   I didn't recognize him.   He was a rising big star back in the day.

I also didn't know that was Mariska's real life hubby. WOW.    

Otherwise, it was the show I've come to expect from SVU and why I rarely watch anymore.  

 

[dttruman]

16 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Hmmmmm. I don't know. Don't you think Mariska would be worried about it looking like she is using the show to express her personal feelings? Or that she can't distinguish between herself and the character she plays? I don't think she is the kind of person who would do that...

Where to start?  She has been doing it for quite a while now, she brings her husband and her cousin Eddie on the show, and many of the scripts are skewed to her political and social beliefs. She has had to kind of back off on that because the ratings were diving. Many consider her and her character synonymous in so many ways.

Edited October 25, 2021 by dttruman

[illdoc]

3 hours ago, dttruman said:

Where to start?  She has been doing it for quite a while now, she brings her husband and her cousin Eddie on the show, and many of the scripts are skewed to her political and social beliefs. She has had to kind of backed off on that because the ratings were diving. Many consider her and her character synonymous in so many ways.

I do believe the original post was sarcasm.

[dttruman]

4 minutes ago, illdoc said:

I do believe the original post was sarcasm.

Apologies to the group and especially "wknt3"

Edited October 25, 2021 by dttruman

[tennisgurl]

After so much hype over the Five Hundredth episode, this was mostly the boring St. Olivia hour that I was hoping it wouldn't be. Its pretty consistent with this point in the SVU franchise though, sadly enough. We have tons of soap opera drama with Olivia where they dump tons of crap on her so that we can feel bad for her and can listen to her give a million boring lectures about victims and power imbalances that we have heard better versions of before, we interrupt a decently interesting cold case plot for yet another he said/she said about the rich and beautiful featuring St. Olivia, and we get reminded again and again that, despite the shows long list of characters and plots, its all about Olivia. They could have just called this "The Five Hundredth Episode of Olivia" instead of SVU.

The cold case was interesting, I like the idea of them going back to look at old crimes thanked to advances in technology, but it ended so abruptly and with so many questions unanswered, it felt like they originally had a whole episode dedicate to this case but then had to throw half of it out to focus more on St. Olivia's melodrama. So the cops knew the kid was concussed, but still didn't buy his story about someone attacking him? We never even got to see the reaction of the mom or really see the innocent guy going free, or even Cragen or the cops showing some remorse for what they did wrong, the guy just confessed after a few decades and then the story is over. It seems like a real missed opportunity, sacrificed on the altar of St. Olivia. 

It was nice seeing some flashbacks to old episodes and even some old characters like Cragen and Warner, but that was really the only thing that made it feel like a big anniversary episode. I would have liked some references to other old characters or to give Finn, who has been here almost as long as Olivia, some more screen time, especially with Cragen, but they were still nice to see. Really the only parts worth bothering with.

So I guess Olivia's mom attacking her with a broken bottle was alright because the guy really was a creep? 

Edited October 25, 2021 by tennisgurl

[judyri]

Did she throw her phone in the river? Just why?

[dttruman]

36 minutes ago, judyri said:

Did she throw her phone in the river? Just why?

I think it was that cassette tape that had that song on it, that was suppose to be so meaningful. It turns out it was just part or his routine to seduce the women he liked

[judyri]

9 minutes ago, dttruman said:

I think it was that cassette tape that had that song on it, that was suppose to be so meaningful. It turns out it was just part or his routine to seduce the women he liked

That makes more sense.  But yeah, too much Olivia this episode, could have spread the love a bit.

[faithie]

8 hours ago, dttruman said:

Where to start?  She has been doing it for quite a while now, she brings her husband and her cousin Eddie on the show, and many of the scripts are skewed to her political and social beliefs. She has had to kind of back off on that because the ratings were diving. Many consider her and her character synonymous in so many ways.

Honestly, I can't name a single other movie or tv show that MH has appeared in.  I know there were a few things in the 1990's but nothing comes to top of mind.  At this point it's nearly impossible to separate the actress from the character; especially when the character gives so many political speeches. 

[Pearson80]

On 10/24/2021 at 10:28 PM, Sake614 said:

 So in the end, Olivia was a victim because she was 16? 40 years ago, it wasn’t such a big deal for a teenager to date someone older. Statutory rape wasn’t even a thing. Or at least it wasn’t as big a thing as it is today. When I was 17 I dated a 21 year old, when I was 15, my boyfriend was 19. And why must every man Olivia dates turn out to be a villain? Can’t it just not work out? Or heaven forbid, it actually DOES work out between them and (gasp!) Olivia is happy! But no, we can’t have that, 🙄

and this may be really shallow, but can’t the show’s hairstylist do something with that stringy mess of hair on MH’s head? It desperately needs to be styled! Her hair (and makeup) used to be spot on. Now it’s just a wreck.

Why must Olivia see every man as a predator, that is a problem for me. Olivia was better when Stabler was around because she was nuanced and balanced him out. I remember Olivia referencing that relationship with Stabler and she said what you said in your post abut dating an older man.  Stabler took the position that Olivia took in this episode regarding that relationship and Olivia begged to differ. I cannot stand Olivia and I often wonder how the show would have been like if Stabler had remained on the show and never left..

[Tachi Rocinante]

16 hours ago, faithie said:

Honestly, I can't name a single other movie or tv show that MH has appeared in.  I know there were a few things in the 1990's but nothing comes to top of mind.  At this point it's nearly impossible to separate the actress from the character; especially when the character gives so many political speeches. 

She was an unstable staffer on ER and in the B-movie Lake Placid.  That's all I got.

[dttruman]

 

2 hours ago, Tachi Rocinante said:

19 hours ago, faithie said:

Honestly, I can't name a single other movie or tv show that MH has appeared in.  I know there were a few things in the 1990's but nothing comes to top of mind.  At this point it's nearly impossible to separate the actress from the character; especially when the character gives so many political speeches. 

She was an unstable staffer on ER and in the B-movie Lake Placid.  That's all I got.

I guess she is 150% committed to SVU and anything associated to Wolf Productions