S23.E16: Sorry If It Got Weird For You

[WendyCR72]

Airing March 17, 2022:

Quote

The creator of a dating app is accused of using it to rape women. Velasco's experience as an SVU detective is put on trial.

 

[dttruman]

14 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

The creator of a dating app is accused of using it to rape women. Velasco's experience as an SVU detective is put on trial.

I wonder how Velasco actions are going to be controversial? I am wondering if Benson might have done the same thing in the past, yet she gets off and Velasco has to pay the price?

[wknt3]

19 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Airing March 17, 2022:

Quote

Velasco's experience as an SVU detective is put on trial.

 

Talk about an open and shut case. I mean he only started a few months ago and he's only there like half the time! Unless it's not a trial, but an IA hearing to investigate what he and Fin are doing while Benson has blown the OT budget for the entire Detective Bureau?

[dttruman]

9 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Talk about an open and shut case. I mean he only started a few months ago and he's only there like half the time! Unless it's not a trial, but an IA hearing to investigate what he and Fin are doing while Benson has blown the OT budget for the entire Detective Bureau?

Yeah, there should be no bruising around the hands or anywhere else to show that he manhandled her in any way.

The integrity of Velasco was never in question here to the viewers. That original quote about the episode was way off.

I must of miss something, when did it become a federal crime with all the FBI guys to search through Wrights stuff, I thought that lady was the one who's up on federal charges?

There is too much Benson here. Cragen and Van Buren were never this active in any case

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by dttruman

[janeyjay]

I'm still processing that terrible hair style on Jeremy Jamm. Jon Glaser plays scumbags well. #HeGotJammed

[anna0852]

Jack McCoy shout out!

[dttruman]

1 minute ago, janeyjay said:

I'm still processing that terrible hair style on Jeremy Jamm. Jon Glaser plays scumbags well. #HeGotJammed

A very versatile actor!

[Frisky Wig]

People, if you’re going to have a private conversation, like, I don’t know, about your high-profile boss raping you, don’t talk in a hallway with people walking by! 💡 The phrase “get a room!” is not just for couples engaging in excessive PDA. 

[Xeliou66]

Average episode - another he said/she said rape case with a rich douche perp, those episodes get so tiresome. This was only made better by giving everyone a focus, not just Benson, giving Velasco something to do, and getting some good courtroom scenes with Carisi. So it was superior to most of these types of episodes, which SVU has done way too many of over the last few years.

I like courtroom heavy episodes and the trial scenes were pretty good, we even got to see the jury read the verdict finally, Carisi was good in his role and those parts were the highlight of the show, even if it was convenient the perp had a meltdown on the stand.

Jack McCoy got a mention!! So we finally know SVU and the Mothership are in the same universe!! Maybe this means the trashing of “the 8th floor” is over, and I’m so sick of hearing that phrase.

Fin didn’t get enough to do, but I’m glad he was in the episode and not Rollins. No Rollins usually means a better episode!!

So overall this was okay - a tired premise but decently executed.

[wknt3]

The Good:
Velasco. It was nice to see him getting some solid material, even if it was the 5000th time we've seen one of the squad just coincidentally stumble upon a sex crime that the squad then investigates like conflict of interest isn't a thing. The actor and character are interesting and most importantly new and it helps make these old stories tolerable and at least mildly interesting.
The COTW execution. The concept is beyond tired, but the story flowed well without any crazy twists or being too straightforward. It used a lot of old SVU tropes, but I liked that they just went and tried to do them as good as they could and didn't try to shock us with an illogical out of nowhere swerve or going OTT and trying to do what they've done, but just moreso.
Fin. He got some solid material this week. Also some solid wardrobe this week instead of just that checked shirt. I wish they gave him a little more, especially mentoring Velasco, but what he got was good.
Carisi. Another good week for him with a lot of actual courtroom material.

The Bad:
Benson. For all of the usual reasons. If the show isn't going to write anything new for her neither am I.
No Rollins! Although they still spent too much time talking about her and giving us Rollins family drama by proxy.
The opening, Have I mentioned how much I hate these poorly executed montage openings with overbearing musical cues? I have? 200 times? Well if the show is going to repeat itself so am I.
Even though the execution was solid and competent it was still yet another rehash of rich white CEO abuses power, he said, she said case.

Overall this was OK. A competent telling of the same old story, tolerable mostly because the new guy was at the center and they actually gave us the whole trial so there was at least something a little bit different. Could have been better, could have been a lot worse.

Edited March 21, 2022 by wknt3
fix typos

[dttruman]

8 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

Fin. He got some solid material this week. Also some solid wardrobe this week instead of just that checked shirt. I wish they gave him a little more, especially mentoring Velasco, but what he got was good.

Yeah, it reminded me of when he first started at SVU. He was was wearing suits that looked expensive, made him look like he wasn't going to a seedy part of the city for a drug buy.

[funandfitpt]

10 hours ago, janeyjay said:

I'm still processing that terrible hair style on Jeremy Jamm. Jon Glaser plays scumbags well. #HeGotJammed

I could not figure out where I knew the actor from, so thank you. 

[SuzieQ]

This episode just annoyed me from start to finish!😄

[wknt3]

22 hours ago, dttruman said:

I must of miss something, when did it become a federal crime with all the FBI guys to search through Wrights stuff, I thought that lady was the one who's up on federal charges?

He wasn't saying it was a federal crime for the FBI to be searching, he was saying it was a federal crime scene so the FBI was there searching. It wasn't particularly clear, but that was actaually decent writing since Jon Glaser was supposed to be a bit unhinged and just trying to muddy the waters.

[The Wild Sow]

4 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

I must of miss something, when did it become a federal crime with all the FBI guys to search through Wrights stuff, I thought that lady was the one who's up on federal charges?

I think they were searching her office.

Oh, I spent most of the hour thinking, "WHO is the actress playing Cress?  Where the heck do we know her from?"

Then I realized - she was Sondra, the pregnant gambling club manager in "Gambler's Fallacy" - the episode that introduced Declan Murphy!  Sherri Saum.

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, The Wild Sow said:

I think they were searching her office.

Oh, I spent most of the hour thinking, "WHO is the actress playing Cress?  Where the heck do we know her from?"

Then I realized - she was Sondra, the pregnant gambling club manager in "Gambler's Fallacy" - the episode that introduced Declan Murphy!  Sherri Saum.

Thought she was familiar! Although I remember Sherri Saum from the Logan/Barek Season 5 Criminal Intent episode, "The Healer", as a nurse that used voodoo to get money out of her patients to "cure" them, and ended up smothering two sisters like mummies in plastic wrap. Eerie as hell episode.

[dttruman]

9 hours ago, wknt3 said:

He wasn't saying it was a federal crime for the FBI to be searching, he was saying it was a federal crime scene so the FBI was there searching. It wasn't particularly clear, but that was actaually decent writing since Jon Glaser was supposed to be a bit unhinged and just trying to muddy the waters.

I thought there was a caption that said " Federal inspectors raiding Mr. Wrights office". I agree with the unhinged part of that narcissist, but I thought he would welcome it so it would prove it was all her and he was innocent. As for the rape charges that's another thing.

Edited March 19, 2022 by dttruman

[Jms1960]

Most ridiculous hair I have ever seen on a human is on Jon Glaser in Law and Order SVU, Sorry if it got weird for you. It is so ugly it's almost laughable. I wouldn't buy toilet paper from a freak who looked like that.

[FozzyBear]

What happened to Rollings? Did I miss something last week?

[dttruman]

1 hour ago, FozzyBear said:

What happened to Rollings? Did I miss something last week?

No, they just make up excuses then insert them into the conversations of the detectives.

[Zaffy]

The best character in the whole current Law & Order universe is Carisi.  I wouldn't mind having him in the original reboot instead of Dancy.

[faithie]

I hope my daughter never gets a cushy corporate job in a fancy NYC office building. Those places are absolute rape factories.

I attended college with a load of upper middle class white males from the NYC metro area.  I'm trying to understand why not a single one is in jail for sexual assault.

 

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, faithie said:

I hope my daughter never gets a cushy corporate job in a fancy NYC office building. Those places are absolute rape factories.

I attended college with a load of upper middle class white males from the NYC metro area.  I'm trying to understand why not a single one is in jail for sexual assault.

 

If you are up to it and you don't mind talking about some of those incidents, I suggest you contact the producers of SVU and relate some of those to them. They are probably in dire need of new material, but make absolutely sure that they pay you for what you have and make sure you get a steep price for it. SVU producers are known for pinching pennies.

[Wizardpatch]

Jon Glaser's hair was the real "especially heinous" crime this week.

[Iguessnot]

Just watched the episode. I thought I clearly heard the young lady yelling at Cress in front of all the officers saying that if she accused him, she would be compensated. Yet it was never brought up again.

[dttruman]

12 hours ago, Wizardpatch said:

Jon Glaser's hair was the real "especially heinous" crime this week.

Yeah, it added to his creepiness

[tennisgurl]

Not an awful episode, but it was mostly just another "he said/she said" of the rich and powerful with a smug rich white guy as the rapist and a vulnerable attractive young victim, complete with another "make the bad guy have an outburst in front of the jury" ending. Even with the dating app gimmick if you've seen one of those on SVU you've seen them all. Not an awful episode, helped greatly by a solid supporting cast, including Jeremy Jamm himself and Sherri Saum, who will always be Lena from The Fosters to me, plus some much needed screen time for Velasco. Not a horrible episode, it had its moments, but I doubt I will remember it very much. 

I am glad that they gave Velasco a meaty subplot, even if how it happened seemed rather contrived. I thought at first that she had specifically looked for a cop to go on a date with so she could tell them what happened, but I guess it was just a coincidence that she matched with an SVU detective. Nice to give him some time to shine at least, I like his vibe a lot. I also found the backstory to be a bit weird, was it implied that the app guy was abusive to his wife and she was going to leave him at Cress's urging before she died? If Cress knew he was abusive to her best friend and then raped her, why would she ever go into business with him? Why let her goddaughter anywhere near the company where she would be near him? Its not that I don't believe that it could happen, but it all seemed to show up so quickly as the last minute twist that I am confused about the actual sequence of events and Cress's motivations. Was she that attached to her app idea?

Those opening musical montages are just embarrassing, at least one had the excuse of being an in-universe cheesy advertisement. 

I liked seeing a lot of Carisi and him getting a lot of solid lawyer moments. I also don't miss Rollins and didn't need the constant reminders of what she is up to offscreen. They don't spend time trying to explain where Finn has gone off to when he isn't around, why does it matter if Rollin's stupid mom has gotten a stupid bone broken?

Edited March 21, 2022 by tennisgurl

[CrystalBlue]

Better than no Rollins was no Noah.

So Velasco's only crime was that he's been in the SVU for only six months?  I was yelling at him to leave the drunk woman at the bar and knew nothing good was going to come of it and was relieved that she didn't accuse him of rape; just that him trying to help her with her key and innocently touching her triggered her rape encounter in her mind.

I knew the idiot app inventer had lost the jury when he said all the women like kink.  That was before his outburst on the stand.  I knew that Cress was going to disclose that he'd done the same thing to her because she always looked like she was on the edge of doing so to me.  Was that what the "suicide attempt" drunk/drugged phone was about?

I liked that the jury foreman was in a wheelchair for the representation (not that I'd want anyone to be in a wheelchair).

[dttruman]

1 hour ago, CrystalBlue said:

So Velasco's only crime was that he's been in the SVU for only six months?  I was yelling at him to leave the drunk woman at the bar and knew nothing good was going to come of it and was relieved that she didn't accuse him of rape; just that him trying to help her with her key and innocently touching her triggered her rape encounter in her mind.

Yeah, I thought it was disingenuous to Velasco character, when the Wright's attorney questioned his experience with SVU. Why don't the producers and writers ever have the defense attorneys object to Benson testimonies when she tells how a victim reacts to or goes through after being sexually assaulted. She is not a shrink or therapist?

[TV Diva Queen]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:12 AM, funandfitpt said:

I could not figure out where I knew the actor from, so thank you. 

Omg. Me too!  And the CFO I don’t know who she is either. I’ll read the rest of the thread and then off to file her. 

[Sake614]

The cfo was Sherri Saum. She’s gotten a lot of work since starting in soaps. I know her from One Life to Live, where she played the girlfriend of now real-life husband Kemar de los Reyos. She’s certInly proved herself to be versatile, which is more than I can say for him. 

[dttruman]

7 hours ago, Sake614 said:

The cfo was Sherri Saum. She’s gotten a lot of work since starting in soaps. I know her from One Life to Live, where she played the girlfriend of now real-life husband Kemar de los Reyos. She’s certInly proved herself to be versatile, which is more than I can say for him. 

I looked her up and she is the perfect example of the type of actor who we have seen before but have trouble identifying her, because she appears in many shows, but only a handful of times in each show.

[Sake614]

7 minutes ago, dttruman said:

I looked her up and she is the perfect example of the type of actor who we have seen before but have trouble identifying her, because she appears in many shows, but only a handful of times in each show.

Well…she was on OLTL for three years 😀. But yes, she’s done a lot of guest roles in her career but hasn’t had a series of her own. And since OLTL was my soap for many years, I immediately recognize any alumni 😀

[dttruman]

8 hours ago, Sake614 said:

8 hours ago, dttruman said:

I looked her up and she is the perfect example of the type of actor who we have seen before but have trouble identifying her, because she appears in many shows, but only a handful of times in each show.

Well…she was on OLTL for three years 😀. But yes, she’s done a lot of guest roles in her career but hasn’t had a series of her own. And since OLTL was my soap for many years, I immediately recognize any alumni 😀

Sorry, not a fan of soap operas due to time constraints. Can't watch all the channels all the time.

[Jaded]

20 hours ago, Sake614 said:

The cfo was Sherri Saum. She’s gotten a lot of work since starting in soaps. I know her from One Life to Live, where she played the girlfriend of now real-life husband Kemar de los Reyos. She’s certInly proved herself to be versatile, which is more than I can say for him. 

I remember when she was on the short-lived NBC soap Sunset Beach where another character who was female kept trying to impregnate Sherri's character with a turkey baster.
 

 

[jabRI]

I have to think of this as a weak episode.  Especially Cress, why would you start a dating app with a man that admitted to sexually assaulting you, and knew that his late wife (your best friend) wanted to divorce him for we assume these same reasons.