S23.E07: They'd Already Disappeared

[WendyCR72]

A week off this week. This will air on November 4, 2021:

Quote

When a teenage sex worker disappears, Rollins and Velasco find a key clue in a pile of neglected missing persons reports.

 

[Gigi43]

Rollins and Velasco?

 

Oh boy, the countdown is on for Velasco to be a problem for Rollins and Carisi.

[dttruman]

On 10/27/2021 at 2:16 PM, Gigi43 said:

Rollins and Velasco?

 

Oh boy, the countdown is on for Velasco to be a problem for Rollins and Carisi.

I hate to correct you, but Velasco will only be a problem for Rollins, because Carisi will be understanding in short tiny supportive moments and Rollins will be deeply conflicted about something, maybe Velasco. Could it be his lack of empathy for the victim in this episode or how he is drawn to Rollins' strong assertive nature as they painstakingly search for this missing teenage sex worker?

Edited October 29, 2021 by dttruman

[Xeliou66]

I’m not expecting a great episode, because SVU has been underwhelming even by modern day SVU standards this season. And I have a feeling about the direction the episode will go - it will again focus on how some cases are overlooked, this team it will be because the victims are prostitutes - McGrath will probably instruct Benson to move on and say there’s nothing there or be his typical asshole self about it, St Olivia will of course be right and give him another lecture. Only part I’m curious about is Velasco - he’s somewhat intriguing, I’m glad the short handed squad has another detective, and I’m curious as to how Velasco will handle the case and what the rest of the characters will think of him.

[dttruman]

3 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I’m not expecting a great episode, because SVU has been underwhelming even by modern day SVU standards this season. And I have a feeling about the direction the episode will go - it will again focus on how some cases are overlooked, this team it will be because the victims are prostitutes - McGrath will probably instruct Benson to move on and say there’s nothing there or be his typical asshole self about it, St Olivia will of course be right and give him another lecture. Only part I’m curious about is Velasco - he’s somewhat intriguing, I’m glad the short handed squad has another detective, and I’m curious as to how Velasco will handle the case and what the rest of the characters will think of him.

 

3 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

McGrath will probably instruct Benson to move on and say there’s nothing there or be his typical asshole self about it, St Olivia will of course be right and give him another lecture. Only part I’m curious about is Velasco - he’s somewhat intriguing, I’m glad the short handed squad has another detective, and I’m curious as to how Velasco will handle the case and what the rest of the characters will think of him.

I looked in the credits and no credit for McGrath

[dttruman]

I wonder if Benson plans on giving a speech about how the sex workers have been victimized or something and blame it on the police

[Laurie4H]

Is it just me or does the new detective resemble a young John Travolta with a little Jeremy Sisto mixed in?

Edited November 5, 2021 by Laurie4H

[dttruman]

15 minutes ago, Laurie4H said:

Is it just me or does the new detective resemble a young John Travolta with a little Jeremy Sisto mixed in?

I want to say a young Joe Cali from Saturday Night Fever.

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by dttruman

[wknt3]

The Good:
The story. It was nice to see a good old fashioned serial sex offender and a case where we didn't know everything from the beginning. A classic SVU investigation too. It's been obvious that both Chernuchin and Leight see what worked about old school SVU and have attempted to give us some of that. Hopefully they manage to actually give us more than episode or two.
Fin. For the first time in too long he was fully utilized and Ice-T seemed to be engaged. Could have used a bit more snark at times to balance out the Criminal Minds style darkness and squick, but that's a minor quibble.
The ME. I really enjoyed not only having an outside expert to deliver exposition etc, and expand the world of the show beyond the squad and Carisi and show that the detectives and especially Benson don't know everything, but it was a rare instance these days of a secondary character being developed and relating to the victims.
The guest cast. Some nice performances throughout.
The promo for the next episode looks potentially interesting.
No unnecessary OC crossover.
The ending. No St. Benson coming in to bring closure and Fin got a moment.

The Bad:
While I appreciate a little comic relief and ordinarily strongly encourage it don't you dare compare Amanda freaking Rollins to Buffy!
They seemed to overdo some of the horror movie style cinematography. It was disturbing enough already, you don't need to oversell it.
They didn't seem to know what to do with the chief, Maybe there is a deleted scene somewhere that would explain the purpose of having him there, but otherwise I would have liked to have them give his time to one of the other characters we could have used more of.
Really could have used more Carisi.

Overall this was a solid episode. Good old school SVU with a bit of novelty thrown in.  Hopefully this is the start of them finding a new sense of direction and actually moving forward.
 

[TV Diva Queen]

Ummm, popping in a for a semi live blog….. That’s the guy that played Louis, right???  

[Frisky Wig]

This new detective is so ‘Saturday Night Fever era John Travolta,’ it’s distracting. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Ok so the serial killer is smart enough to pull this off for 10 years but is outwitted by Benson in like 5 minutes?  🙄. Not smart enough to ask for a lawyer?  Seriously?  Who writes this shit?

How old was that Rainman child in 2016?  That was 5 fucking years ago.  What was he - 1?  And he has photographic memory of the license plate and the car?   With a perfect witness memory with no errors?  Ok

Edited November 5, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

6 minutes ago, Frisky Wig said:

This new detective is so ‘Saturday Night Fever era John Travolta,’ it’s distracting. 

To me he's "Clueless era Jeremy Sisto" I guess I need to see SNF one of these days.

Fin wore Gucci this episode, LOL.

[Xeliou66]

Finally, SVU delivers a good episode!! It took them until the 7th episode of the season to do so, but this was a solid episode from start to finish.

It was very nice to have a classic serial offender case, where we didn’t know what was going on from the beginning and we had a good investigation with the whole SVU squad involved - Fin finally got a nice role, Velasco was pretty good, and Benson and Rollins were solid and didn’t irritate me.

The killer was creepy and was one of SVU’s most effective villains in a while.

I loved the ME and his role - we’ve seen him a few times, but he got a heavy role tonight and it was nice to see a recurring character get some focus and even help comfort a family member of a victim instead of St Olivia!!

No Carisi but that didn’t bother me as much as it normally would as we had a lot of detective work and nothing really required an ADA.

No personal drama at all was nice!!

McGrath didn’t add anything to the episode, he wasn’t nearly as much of an asshole as normal, but his scenes were sort of a waste of time.

Overall this was a good episode with a solid investigation and good roles for each character with no personal drama. Nice to see SVU finally deliver a solid episode.

[The Wild Sow]

7 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

McGrath didn’t add anything to the episode, he wasn’t nearly as much of an asshole as normal, but his scenes were sort of a waste of time.

I was just relieved that his pushing them to pin it on Country didn’t last too long, and they were able to clear him without too much trauma (and without him getting “accidentally “ killed somehow before it was straightened out!)  Cf. Russell Ramsay from  Taken or Jerome Jones from Decaying Morality.

I think Country was exactly what he claimed to be - a good guy and a protector of the homeless women.  Glad he survived. Maybe we’ll see him again.

[lazylump]

Best episode of the season for me despite no Carisi(my fav).  

[dttruman]

8 hours ago, wknt3 said:

A classic SVU investigation too. It's been obvious that both Chernuchin and Leight see what worked about old school SVU and have attempted to give us some of that. Hopefully they manage to actually give us more than episode or two.
Fin. For the first time in too long he was fully utilized and Ice-T seemed to be engaged. Could have used a bit more snark at times to balance out the Criminal Minds style darkness and squick, but that's a minor quibble.

 

6 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

 Fin finally got a nice role, Velasco was pretty good, and Benson and Rollins were solid and didn’t irritate me.

I thought they had a decent premise for an investigation type episode, but I thought Benson was noticeably inconsistent and too involved in this case. I thought Fin should have had a more involved presence in this episode, because he has seen more abjectionable things and would know what it's like living on the streets, because that is where he grew up. The only reason why Benson was so involved was because she is St. Benson of the show and she had to be the closer for this case. Velasco is still a newbie, so you know he'll be apprehensive like Amaro was. Benson was always nice to ME Warner when Warner gave her the rundown on the autopsies, but with this guy I thought she was upitty and was giving him a little attitude, when told them the victims were stuffed with their own clothing and Benson responded "And this helps us how".

When they brought the perp in for the interrogation, I thought that he would identify himself mostly with Fin. Why would he do that with Benson, when he should probably identify Benson more to his mother? Fin should have been the closer, IMO.

[dttruman]

3 minutes ago, The Wild Sow said:

I was just relieved that his pushing them to pin it on Country didn’t last too long, and they were able to clear him without too much trauma (and without him getting “accidentally “ killed somehow before it was straightened out!)  Cf. Russell Ramsay from  Taken or Jerome Jones from Decaying Morality.

I think Country was exactly what he claimed to be - a good guy and a protector of the homeless women.  Glad he survived. Maybe we’ll see him again.

I thought they should of at least made it easy on him for their harassment and threats, but for some reason they always seem to leave out the apologies. Remember "Dissonant Voices"

[dttruman]

8 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Ok so the serial killer is smart enough to pull this off for 10 years but is outwitted by Benson in like 5 minutes?  🙄. Not smart enough to ask for a lawyer?  Seriously?  Who writes this shit?

They should have had another victim who wasn't associated with the girls, but was some kind of building inspector or lawyer who were involved in some way of having that building inspected.

[Zoe]

12 hours ago, TV Diva Queen said:

Ummm, popping in a for a semi live blog….. That’s the guy that played Louis, right???  

I did see a resemblance--like a cross between Pablo Schreiber and Christian Bale. 

[The Wild Sow]

2 hours ago, dttruman said:

They should have had another victim who wasn't associated with the girls, but was some kind of building inspector or lawyer who were involved in some way of having that building inspected.

Oh, I disagree! I think the whole premise was that these were victims no one was looking for - even when their family or friends reported them missing they went into the NHI file 🤬. 

Actually, should’ve had some kind of Gabby Petito/Lacey Peterson/Elizabeth Smart-type “Missing White Girl” situation playing in the background- not really involving the SVU crew, but playing on TV in the restaurant, mentioned in passing in the squad room, etc....just captivating the whole country.  While a dozen women were slaughtered and not found for ten years because very few people were looking for them.

Because “they’d already disappeared.”

[wknt3]

r

11 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Ok so the serial killer is smart enough to pull this off for 10 years but is outwitted by Benson in like 5 minutes?  🙄. Not smart enough to ask for a lawyer?  Seriously?  Who writes this shit?

But he wasn't that smart except in his choice of victims. It was both shown and stated that there was little to no real investigation done by the police because murder is just an occupational hazard of sex work in their eyes. It was pretty explicit that he wasn't a criminal mastermind brought down by elite investigators, but a pathetic deranged mysoginist who was was easily bested once the police actually started trying. Which isn't to say that there wasn't some lazy writing and Benson worship going on, just that a deliberate and respectable creative choice was made and I am willing to cut them a little slack here. It was a good and interesting idea that was executed competently but imperfectly like most of the episode.

[tennisgurl]

That was actually a lot better then I expected it to be, probably because I am always a sucker for a good old fashioned serial killer investigation, especially opposed to another boring he said/she said case. I expected to get a lot of the evil chief trying to stall the case because the victims weren't "good" victims while St. Olivia gives a million speeches about how these women are ignored by the system but instead that was all in the subtext instead of us getting bashed in the head with it and they mostly focused on the actual mystery. The investigation seemed a bit too easy, considering this guy had been getting away from this for ten years and had this whole house of horrors for years without anyone catching him, but it was still an excitingly creepy case where most of the cast got some time to shine. There were some contrivances, like the first woman's son being on the spectrum and able to give a perfect depiction of the car the guy was driving, but I guess that was the point. These cases could have been solved years ago but no one thought to look for these woman who, like the title said, had already disappeared even before they were murdered. 

No personal drama, big speeches, and minimal histrionics, which I was very happy about, even if some of the gasping about the horrors of what happened seemed a bit over the top. I am glad that Finn got some good material, Ice T seemed a lot more engaged in this one then he has been for a lot of the season, and Velasco was pretty good. Sad about the lack of Carisi, but since this was an investigation heavy episode I don't really mind. Even Olivia managed to not be overly annoying, I thought her being touched by the empathy the ME showed the victims sister was actually a pretty nice moment for her. 

Normally the ME (and most experts) just exist to drop exposition so it was really nice seeing the ME get some more focus, and I really like how much they showed that he cares about the victims and their families, even if most of his job is in a lab away from people. Telling the victims sister to focus on the picture of her living sister and not her body was a really nice thing to do. The actor did a great job of being professional but very compassionate, and in general the supporting and guest cast were all really good, especially the killer, the sister, and the girl playing the main victim, who really made me feel for her in a short amount of time. 

There were some weird moments, like the kids playing vampire hunter as they skated around the neighborhood, this show often struggles at trying to add comic relief, but it did at least add some color to a bleak episode. Not a perfect episode, but one that I really enjoyed and was not annoyed by, which is the best I can really expect from this show at this point.

[dttruman]

5 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

8 hours ago, dttruman said:

They should have had another victim who wasn't associated with the girls, but was some kind of building inspector or lawyer who were involved in some way of having that building inspected.

Oh, I disagree! I think the whole premise was that these were victims no one was looking for - even when their family or friends reported them missing they went into the NHI file 🤬. 

Actually, should’ve had some kind of Gabby Petito/Lacey Peterson/Elizabeth Smart-type “Missing White Girl” situation playing in the background- not really involving the SVU crew, but playing on TV in the restaurant, mentioned in passing in the squad room, etc....just captivating the whole country.  While a dozen women were slaughtered and not found for ten years because very few people were looking for them.

Because “they’d already disappeared.”

As sad as it maybe, the reported disappearances of these girls by family or friends may or may not have been ignored. After all they are sex workers, selling it on the streets. Just how much they want to be found maybe up for debate. But the narrative they are pushing here is if a white girl is reported missing, it's an all out effort to find her. If it's not a white girl as these ten are, nobody will care, but since SVU is involved they will stop at nothing to find them. They even threw the NYPD under the bus by making them look apathetic with that NHI file.

My point for bringing another victim was to better explain why the building hadn't been inspected for almost ten years

Edited November 5, 2021 by dttruman

[preeya]

6 hours ago, wknt3 said:

But he wasn't that smart except in his choice of victims. It was both shown and stated that there was little to no real investigation done by the police because murder is just an occupational hazard of sex work in their eyes.

Why wasn't the "missing" Chinese building owner's case being investigated? The kid with the skateboard had more knowledge of the situation than the NYPD.

 

What is McGrath's position/title in the pecking order of SVU or NYPD?
 

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by preeya

[wknt3]

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

They even threw the NYPD under the bus by making them look apathetic with that NHI file.

I don't think they threw NYPD under the bus so much as ripped from the headlines. Or if not the headlines at least from decades of books, articles, podcasts, etc.

 

30 minutes ago, preeya said:

Why wasn't the "missing" Chinese building owner's case being investigated? The kid with the skateboard had more knowledge of the situation than the NYPD.

It probably was investigated more than the others, but as he was a target of convenience with no direct connection to the killer IIRC it would be a difficult case. And if he didn't have family or friends with connections most likely there would not be a lot of resources devoted to the case based on everything I have ever read and seen on other procedurals. It could have been addressed better and most likely would have been in the prime years as it would be easy to tie it in thematically, but it's not a glaring plot hole.
 

Quote

What is McGrath's position/title in the pecking order of SVU or NYPD?

Pretty high up. Above Garland or Dodds. Chief of Detectives according to the L&O wiki although I don't remember it being stated explicitly although that doesn't mean it wasn't. A lot of the dialogue has been rather unmemorable this past decade after all. He is a 3 star chief and is Liv's CO until they fill Garland's spot.

[dttruman]

1 hour ago, preeya said:

Why wasn't the "missing" Chinese building owner's case being investigated? The kid with the skateboard had more knowledge of the situation than the NYPD.

 

What is McGrath's position/title in the pecking order of SVU or NYPD?

Would you say sloppy writing?

[The Wild Sow]

3 minutes ago, dttruman said:

Why wasn't the "missing" Chinese building owner's case being investigated? The kid with the skateboard had more knowledge of the situation than the NYPD.

The owner wasn’t missing - he was believed to have died of a heart attack (actually poisoned by the killer.) He died intestate, and his relatives - who I think they said are still in China - had been wrangling over his properties for 10 years.

[dttruman]

32 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

2 hours ago, dttruman said:

They even threw the NYPD under the bus by making them look apathetic with that NHI file.

I don't think they threw NYPD under the bus so much as ripped from the headlines. Or if not the headlines at least from decades of books, articles, podcasts, etc.

What I didn't like about it and over the years is that every dept of the NYPD, seems to be portrayed as apathetic or incompetent except for SVU.

[dttruman]

3 minutes ago, The Wild Sow said:

The owner wasn’t missing - he was believed to have died of a heart attack (actually poisoned by the killer.) He died intestate, and his relatives - who I think they said are still in China - had been wrangling over his properties for 10 years.

You'd think within that 10 year period, whomever is looking after the property or buildings would have it inspected. Don't city inspectors go around and check buildings making sure they are up to code and all that?

[Zoe]

I was getting a little worried about the ME--that they were going for another Rudnick. If they're going for another Warner instead, I'll take it. 

[Diana Berry]

Good episode

I did fall asleep at the end. I went back to rewatch. At the beginning of the show when the Victim is on the phone with her sister, the man that comes up behind her sounds like he had a British accent.

 

I did like the creepy ME who turns out to be not creepy. Maybe they can make them part of the cast

[Xeliou66]

1 minute ago, Zoe said:

I was getting a little worried about the ME--that they were going for another Rudnick. If they're going for another Warner instead, I'll take it. 

I really like this ME - his name is Abel Truman according to online sites, and I hope he doesn’t get thrown under the bus the way so many prominent characters have been. He is a colorful character, and it’s always nice to see them visit an ME as in recent seasons we haven’t seen nearly as many recurring characters.

[Cristofle]

7 minutes ago, Zoe said:

I was getting a little worried about the ME--that they were going for another Rudnick. If they're going for another Warner instead, I'll take it. 

LOL, you too? For a hot second, I was pretty sure he was the killer.

Solid episode - probably the best of the season. A classic - but very creepy and disturbing - mystery. 

[preeya]

1 hour ago, wknt3 said:

He is a 3 star chief and is Liv's CO until they fill Garland's spot.

So he's actually 2 steps above Benson?

Edited November 6, 2021 by preeya

[Lady Jane]

22 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Ok so the serial killer is smart enough to pull this off for 10 years but is outwitted by Benson in like 5 minutes?  🙄. Not smart enough to ask for a lawyer?  Seriously?  Who writes this shit?

How old was that Rainman child in 2016?  That was 5 fucking years ago.  What was he - 1?  And he has photographic memory of the license plate and the car?   With a perfect witness memory with no errors?  Ok

Even the smart people on these things never ask for a lawyer. As a lawyer, may I please exhort everyone reading this to ASK FOR A LAWYER. I don't care if you're just trying to be helpful, can clear it up quickly, etc., ASK FOR A LAWYER.

The kid looked maybe 11-12 to me, but children confuse me, so who knows. In most things these days, it seems the only two possibilities for characters "on the spectrum" seem to be "incoherent, incontinent, and violent" or "savant with perfect memory." While we use the term "neurodiverse" -- we don't really see any "diversity" in the portrayal of characters with Autism -- something that would be very well addressed if we had people with autism sitting at the table.

13 hours ago, dttruman said:

When they brought the perp in for the interrogation, I thought that he would identify himself mostly with Fin. Why would he do that with Benson, when he should probably identify Benson more to his mother? Fin should have been the closer, IMO.

I felt like Liv got it just right with this guy -- he was utterly emasculated and abused by his mother, which in combination with the right (wrong) biology, was the motivation for what he was doing. He wouldn't tangle with an actual alpha male like Fin -- his whole deal was kidnapping, raping, and killing these women who were "already disappeared." He targeted a vulnerable population of women he could easily access and who were already at risk for violence. He didn't even have the real confidence to take a socioeconomically low-risk victim. I think a guy like him would never challenge a real "alpha" like Fin because he knows Fin is the real deal. The perp was desperate to prove his manhood, his virility, and more than anything else, his intelligence. His mother saw him as a loser, which first compelled him to commit these crimes to prove her wrong, then compelled him to try to impress an impressive woman like Olivia. I have, however, been known to watch Criminal Minds a little too closely. 

5 hours ago, dttruman said:

As sad as it maybe, the reported disappearances of these girls by family or friends may or may not have been ignored. After all they are sex workers, selling it on the streets. Just how much they want to be found maybe up for debate. But the narrative they are pushing here is if a white girl is reported missing, it's an all out effort to find her. If it's not a white girl as these ten are, nobody will care, but since SVU is involved they will stop at nothing to find them. They even threw the NYPD under the bus by making them look apathetic with that NHI file.

My point for bringing another victim was to better explain why the building hadn't been inspected for almost ten years

I think when the ME was with them in the squad room showing them his two new ID's he said at least one of them had not even been reported missing. Count me in on suspecting he was evil! What he did with the sister and the photo was so thoughtful and kind, and WISE. I'm glad Olivia acknowledged him for that.

2 hours ago, dttruman said:

You'd think within that 10 year period, whomever is looking after the property or buildings would have it inspected. Don't city inspectors go around and check buildings making sure they are up to code and all that?

I'm sure it varies by location, but lots of buildings never get inspected after they are originally built. If there's not an elevator to be inspected, and without a special reason to do so, LOTS of buildings go uninspected. (See, Oakland Ghost Ship fire.) 

[judyri]

I don't know why the mother was so insistent to come down to the station and 'help' her son when all she did was calmly badmouth him.

 

Again, lazy writing?

[illdoc]

18 hours ago, dttruman said:

You'd think within that 10 year period, whomever is looking after the property or buildings would have it inspected. Don't city inspectors go around and check buildings making sure they are up to code and all that?

You're funny! They barely check the buildings that are occupied! An abandoned building? Never. Only if it, say, collapsed or caught on fire or something would they check codes. Maybe if someone was about to sell it they'd have it inspected. And whose to say that someone is looking after the property? Our neighbors moved out of their house just before it was foreclosed on and no one came around for months (not even to mow the front lawn). It was only after it was broken into that someone came around to board up the house. Occasionally someone mowed, but that's it for over a year until it was bought.

[TM101]

22 hours ago, Cristofle said:

LOL, you too? For a hot second, I was pretty sure he was the killer.

Solid episode - probably the best of the season. A classic - but very creepy and disturbing - mystery. 

I was convinced he was going to end up being the killer giving he’s a little weird and creepy and the fact he was getting more air time than usual.

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by TM101

[wknt3]

On 11/5/2021 at 8:14 PM, preeya said:

So he's actually 2 steps above Benson?

2 steps on the org chart (although if he really pisses her off I'm sure she can just call the mayor or her bestie in the White House and get off with a mild scolding) and several ranks as there 2 grades of inspector and 2 grades of chief between them. NYPD Ranks

 

On 11/5/2021 at 11:01 PM, Lady Jane said:

I'm sure it varies by location, but lots of buildings never get inspected after they are originally built. If there's not an elevator to be inspected, and without a special reason to do so, LOTS of buildings go uninspected. (See, Oakland Ghost Ship fire.) 

 

18 hours ago, illdoc said:

You're funny! They barely check the buildings that are occupied! An abandoned building? Never. Only if it, say, collapsed or caught on fire or something would they check codes. Maybe if someone was about to sell it they'd have it inspected. And whose to say that someone is looking after the property? Our neighbors moved out of their house just before it was foreclosed on and no one came around for months (not even to mow the front lawn). It was only after it was broken into that someone came around to board up the house. Occasionally someone mowed, but that's it for over a year until it was bought.

NYC is more active than most in the building inspection area because of the density of large builidings and the history of tragedies involving neglected repairs and upkeep. However I admit that I have no clue how often an unoccupied building would be looked at, especially in the last couple of years when just about everything was delayed or postponed. So like a L&O judge I'll allow it but caution them to watch themselves in the future...

[CrystalBlue]

On 11/5/2021 at 4:40 PM, dttruman said:

You'd think within that 10 year period, whomever is looking after the property or buildings would have it inspected. Don't city inspectors go around and check buildings making sure they are up to code and all that?

Not if they're paid off to stay away.  I don't mean to start a whole thing that our serial killer had the ways, means and connections to do so in this case, but it happens.  Welcome to the Big Apple.  Also, I'm sure things fall through the cracks all the time, after all, they are bureaucrats handling this stuff.

[CrystalBlue]

I agree with everyone that this was one of the, if not the best, episode this season.  I never got evil or questionable vibes from the ME and thought he was the real deal from the beginning.  His compassion for the deceased and their family and friends was really touching.  Nice to know about that picture "trick" which implants happy memories in such a traumatic experience for the people he deals with.

On 11/6/2021 at 8:00 AM, judyri said:

I don't know why the mother was so insistent to come down to the station and 'help' her son when all she did was calmly badmouth him.

 

Again, lazy writing?

I thought it was indicative of the weird family dynamic.  Neither one of them were normal and at first I thought Mother might be in on her son's serial killing career!

[txhorns79]

2 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

His compassion for the deceased and their family and friends was really touching.  Nice to know about that picture "trick" which implants happy memories in such a traumatic experience for the people he deals with.

I couldn't think of any real point where I've found SVU to be touching, but that whole scene with the picture was actually quite lovely.  Even Liv appeared overcome for a moment, and credit where it is due, I did half wonder if that was a legit Mariska reaction, as opposed to acting.    

[sd dude]

The building was abandoned.  It was not zoned for residential use and there were no current licensed businesses operating on the premises, so who would inspect it and for what reason?  Unless there were complaints from neighbors - homeless squatters, noisome odors, or other subjectively hazardous conditions, there would be no reason for the city services to ever bother.  And our genius perp probably did due diligence to keep the building minimally presentable and sealed up tight.

That's my stab at supporting the writers.  But it does strain credulity that in ten years not a single group of homeless or neighborhood kids ever broke into the building and got a gander at what was inside.

Edited November 9, 2021 by sd dude
Corrected erroneous information

[txhorns79]

3 hours ago, sd dude said:

That's my stab at supporting the writers.  But it does strain credulity that in ten years not a single group of homeless or neighborhood kids ever broke into the building and got a gander at what was inside, especially during that few year stretch when the perp was incarcerated out of state.

I think the person who was incarcerated out of state was the restaurant owner.  He was later proven to be innocent.  It was the carnival worker who was kidnapping and murdering women, and I don't think he was ever in jail.   

[sd dude]

58 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

I think the person who was incarcerated out of state was the restaurant owner.  He was later proven to be innocent.  It was the carnival worker who was kidnapping and murdering women, and I don't think he was ever in jail.  

Thank you.  You're right.  Being incarcerated during some of the disappearances was Country's alibi for the murders.

[CrystalBlue]

The vampire hunter skater kids were on to something though.  They were just too afraid and not stupid enough to break in and investigate!  Good thing too:  can you imagine the trauma those boys would have gone through?

Edited November 10, 2021 by CrystalBlue
and not an

[Tachi Rocinante]

Great episode until the last 10 minutes, when it devolved into "I'll show YOU, Mom!"  Retch.

I thought for sure it was going to be a 2-parter. 

They still owe Country The Rib Guy that apology and meal, too . . .

Edited November 11, 2021 by Tachi Rocinante

[DaynaPhile]

On 11/5/2021 at 5:46 PM, Zoe said:

I was getting a little worried about the ME--that they were going for another Rudnick. If they're going for another Warner instead, I'll take it. 

Oh my gosh I totally was gearing up for him to be the killer! Suddenly having so much screen time for a side character I thought for sure it would be him. 

[anna0852]

Did they borrow a Criminal Minds writer for this? This felt like what happens 3 days before "wheels up in 30".