S24.E17: Lime Chaser

[WendyCR72]

Quote

The search for a suspect who drugs women's drinks in crowded bars leads the SVU to Muncy's brother. Churlish makes a risky move to impress Benson.

 

[Xeliou66]

So this episode will likely be heavy on Muncy AND Churlish. BLAH. Those characters can both go bye bye any time. I hope Carisi and Fin at least get something to do, and I hope Bruno is in this one. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

SVU is getting crazier and crazier every week this season. LOL

[Diana Berry]

I liking the team . Missed Finn.

[pezgirl7]

Yes, Bruno is back! The way Olivia said it was good to see him made it sound like he had gone AWOL and just decided to pop back into work. I don’t remember Olivia being such a hard ass. Maybe it’s just because she has so many new detectives, but it comes off like she’s trying to be tough just so she’ll get respect. She’s treating them like children, although to be fair, Muncy does act like a child sometimes. At least Olivia softened up a bit at the end. 

This episode was a little odd in the way the story unfolded and the way everyone acted. I don’t really understand why most of the team was so set against Muncy’s brother. I found him more likable than her. 

I’m not loving the flirting between Muncy and Velasco. We don’t always need a romance between main characters.

Edited March 31, 2023 by pezgirl7

[Ms Blue Jay]

Muncy's brother called Velasco "Latinx Travolta".  😄

[Xeliou66]

This was a mixed bag - I liked that the case was something a bit different than normal and had good investigation, but I disliked the bickering between the squad, and I loathe Muncy, she’s so whiny and immature. I really missed Fin and Carisi. I did love seeing Bruno take center stage, please add him to the main cast soon, he’s a great addition. It’s nice to have a full squad again after being underhanded for years. Churlish was cold and unlikable coming into the episode but they seem to be fleshing her out and making her more likable, so I’ll take that. Velasco was good but I’m not liking the idea of a relationship between him and Muncy, SVU is already too soapy.

I wish the case had been fleshed out more instead of just wrapping it up with an info dump at the end - cut out the opening scenes and dial back the intersquad drama and instead have a bit more detective work. But it was still a solid case with a lot of players, and not something that had been done to death.

And get off your damn high horse St Olivia! Constantly preaching to everyone when she’s violated the rules so many fucking times you can’t even count them all, I’m so sick of her lectures to Velasco, Churlish and Muncy. While at least there was minimal Benson worship in this episode, she just grates on my nerves.

So the case was decent enough and I liked having a full squad with Bruno taking the lead, but I disliked the drama within the squad and Muncy continues to be a weak character, I really hope she becomes more professional. 

[Frisky Wig]

Saint Olivia: “and now you have to spend 30 days trying to regain my trust.”

Churlish: “and how do I do that?”

Me: “oh, well, hmm… maybe follow orders like you should’ve been doing all along?” 

[wknt3]

The Good:
It was nice to see an actual team investigation. Even if the team was acting like a bunch of middle schoolers most of the episode.
Bruno. The actor and character actually have enough charm to make this nonsense almost work.
The guest cast (non-perps). Nicely played and with some good lines. Latinx Travolta was great and it was nice to see a victim who was angry without being OTT and she played off everyone well.

The Bad:
The opener. Have I mentioned how much I hate these overly long, poorly edited depictions of the crime with the music mixed in too loud trying to cover up how cheap everything is? I have? A million times? Well if the show can keep pounding one note so can I. It was actually a good idea too so it could have been done better and more efficiently.
Benson. Even the armorer chick from The Mandalorian is thinking she needs to let people make their own choices and respect different POVs a bit more. We've been watching you for a quarter century now and even if the writers have forgotten everything you did as a detective we have not and know you are being a giant hypocrite as well as a poor leader.
No Fin or Carisi. We really could have used one of them this week since they are taking a dump on all the new characters.00
The writing for all of the newbies. Even Velasco, who they had figured out as a quietly competent professional once they got past the misfire of the is he a mole for the Chief of D-Bags plot is now another millennial who can't stop talking like Fox News' idea of what the young urban professionals are saying. Mariska and the writers need to get over what happened with KG getting dropped and move on. Unless their goal is to finally put the show out of it's misery by driving away any remaining viewer under 40?

Overall this was another meh episode. Solid concept for the COTW, terrible idea for the squad dynamics. Execution was decent with a few WTF moments. It is distressing that this late in the game they still seem to spinning their wheels a bit and don't have a clear direction. Not making much of a case to keep this going...

[The Wild Sow]

Eh, the title was kind of spoilerish, wasn't it?

[psychfan]

I rolled my eyes so hard as soon as Churlish put that lime in her mouth. Really? That seems like a good idea given why you’re there?

[illdoc]

So, let me get this straight...According to Benson, Churlish "almost ruined the operation", because it was her and not a UC??? What exactly would the UC have done differently?? Churlish (drugged as she was) even had the presence of mind to preserve a urine sample! Did she think it was because she was involuntarily drugged? Her precious Rollins voluntarily took drugs during an undercover operation a few years back and I don't think Benson even scolded her! Furthermore, Benson, don't you think a minor amount of scouting of the bar would have been useful? You know, have Muncy look around and say "gee, there seems to be a door leading to the outside right by the bathrooms (where there is no camera). Maybe that's how the victims are removed without being seen. Perhaps we should have someone watching the alley". BTW, by having Churlish pour the drink onto the floor, you would have had no evidence that the bartender tried to drug her (assuming it had been the drink---you pour it into a baggie or a  container to preserve the evidence and that wasn't a "I'm new to undercover" mistake, that's what she was told to do). Maybe he wouldn't have drugged that first drink. After all, the first victim had had several beers before she had the tequila. What if Churlish had asked for a different drink (such as a beer)? How would he have drugged her then, since the drug was in the lime (btw, I personally thought it was duplicate salt shakers with the drug--easier to explain two salt shakers than a bag of limes)?? BTW, were there no cameras recording what was going on in the hotel room?! You know, where the watching cops could come in to help as soon as it was clear that it wasn't an act?

Edited March 31, 2023 by illdoc

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

Eh, the title was kind of spoilerish, wasn't it?

YES! 

I never know anything and even I knew the drug was in the limes.  Although, I was 50% is Churlish faking it?  and then soon realized she wasn't.  LOL.

[justduckey]

Last night hit me that this is a totally different show than the beginning of the season. Without Finn and Carisi to ground it, it didn’t feel like SVU. Too many new characters I don’t care about. 

[illdoc]

2 hours ago, justduckey said:

Without Finn and Carisi to ground it, it didn’t feel like SVU. Too many new characters I don’t care about. 

SVU: TNG (the next generation)!

[EtheltoTillie]

9 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

Eh, the title was kind of spoilerish, wasn't it?

I hadn't seen the title, so at first I thought it was going to turn out to be the salt.   I shouted "don't take the salt and the lime."

Weren't they going to try to catch those Canadian guys?

The guy who asked for the redhead--was that because they knew about the weird effects of the medication?

At least this episode was 100 times better than the train wreck that was last night's mothership. 

[wknt3]

10 hours ago, illdoc said:

Furthermore, Benson, don't you think a minor amount of scouting of the bar would have been useful? You know, have Muncy look around and say "gee, there seems to be a door leading to the outside right by the bathrooms (where there is no camera). Maybe that's how the victims are removed without being seen. Perhaps we should have someone watching the alley". BTW, by having Churlish pour the drink onto the floor, you would have had no evidence that the bartender tried to drug her (assuming it had been the drink---you pour it into a baggie or a  container to preserve the evidence and that wasn't a "I'm new to undercover" mistake, that's what she was told to do). Maybe he wouldn't have drugged that first drink. After all, the first victim had had several beers before she had the tequila. What if Churlish had asked for a different drink (such as a beer)? How would he have drugged her then, since the drug was in the lime (btw, I personally thought it was duplicate salt shakers with the drug--easier to explain two salt shakers than a bag of limes)?? BTW, were there no cameras recording what was going on in the hotel room?! You know, where the watching cops could come in to help as soon as it was clear that it wasn't an act?

Hey it didn't end up with a hostage situation, nobody died, and none of the squad did anything that could be considered entrapment or aiding and abetting. That's what we call "one of the best executed operations in SVU history"!
 

8 hours ago, justduckey said:

Last night hit me that this is a totally different show than the beginning of the season. Without Finn and Carisi to ground it, it didn’t feel like SVU. Too many new characters I don’t care about. 

Benson being self righteous and criticizing her detectives for acting like she did and then following it up with making stupid tactical decisions? Feels like SVU to me!
 

5 hours ago, illdoc said:

SVU: TNG (the next generation)!

Nah. I doubt it's going to get a lot better in a couple seasons...

[kitkat343]

I also found it totally unbelievable that they ever let a detective who was serving as bait for a date rape case out of their sight.  Wouldn't it be someone's job to always watch her and make sure she is okay?  How does she just disappear from the bar?  But as noted above, there were no hostages or shootings so I guess I'd agree it counts as a success.

[wknt3]

22 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Weren't they going to try to catch those Canadian guys?

Yes. Part of the info dump at the end was that Interpol notified them they had been arrested in Canada. It was easy to miss since they wasted so much time showing us that nobody under 40 can act like a professional...

[Route66]

Is anyone wondering why on OG they literally have an entire detective devoted to pulling up camera footage from everywhere in the city, and yet SVU does not have video of public parks, alleys, or hotels? Maybe Benson should call over to the 2-7 and ask to borrow their video lady.

I hated how they were so obnoxious about Muncy's brother being a good CI. Would you rather he suck at it? Was he supposed to approach the bartender and just say "Hey. Can you maybe slip date rape drugs to some girls? I'll give you pictures and you call me when they're incapacitated. K?" 

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

15 hours ago, Route66 said:

Is anyone wondering why on OG they literally have an entire detective devoted to pulling up camera footage from everywhere in the city, and yet SVU does not have video of public parks, alleys, or hotels? Maybe Benson should call over to the 2-7 and ask to borrow their video lady.

I hated how they were so obnoxious about Muncy's brother being a good CI. Would you rather he suck at it? Was he supposed to approach the bartender and just say "Hey. Can you maybe slip date rape drugs to some girls? I'll give you pictures and you call me when they're incapacitated. K?" 

It would be amazing if Muncy left and we got her brother instead 😄

[Sake614]

I hate to defend St. Olivia, but Churlish isn’t even a detective and has no UC experience. benson kept calling her OFFICER and everyone else was talking about how Churlish wanted to get her gold (detective) shield. So that’s probably why Benson was so hard on her. Sure Benson did stupid ass things in her career (more times than anyone can count) but IIRC,Cragen and Stabler both ripped her a new one several times in the first season. Once she was more seasoned, she could do no wrong. But in the beginning, she was called on her mistakes. 

Of course none of this negates the fact that Olivia wasn’t even told about the plan beforehand and no one else thought to make sure Churlish had instructions on what to do etc. 

[GiandujaPie]

I didn't get this episode. Was Muncy's brother actually involved in the operation? I'm also not sure what the scheme was. So some guy "orders" a girl, and somehow she miraculously ends up at that bar so that bartender can drug her with the limes. What if she doesn't order a tequila shot with a lime chaser? What if she doesn't suck the lime? And then after she starts to feel woozy, she goes to the bathroom and they kidnap her and take her to the hotel where she gets raped. What if the girl doesn't go to the bathroom? What if her friends take her home instead? In the case of the redhead, she had friends and an ex-husband in the bar. Why didn't they go looking for her? And was that redhead "ordered" specifically, or was she just the only redhead in the bar that fit the "order" by the Canadians? 

I also didn't understand why everyone assumed Muncy's brother was in on the whole thing simply because he was friends with the bartender. 

I don't dislike any of the new detectives, but don't like how the whole episode only involved them and there was no Finn or Carisi. The cost-cutting measures for this show are so obvious. 

[tennisgurl]

Its really too bad that we spent so much time on the squad bickering and being pissy with each other because the actual case was interesting, I wanted to know more about how this evil plan worked and how it functioned. It seems like it has a lot of moving parts, what do they do if the women they're interested in doesn't like tequila? Pick another red head? What if they don't run off to the bathroom? There are a ton of variables and I left the episode wanting more explanations as to how this all scheme worked. 

It was nice seeing Bruno, I generally like him even if his constant philosophizing gets old, but everyone else was getting on my last nerve. Churlish was smug and cold, Muncy was smug and argumentative, and Olivia was so high on her high horse that I'm amazed she could even see. Even when she made some good points about how childish everyone was acting, she came off as so condescending and presumptuous, like she alone is capable of deciding who you are not only as a cop but as a person and you need her approval to finally be worthy. I like having a full squad again, but the team dynamics are an absolute chose to sit through. 

Everyone should be embarrassed at how easily Churlish was kidnapped surrounded by NYPD cops. Why would she put anything that guy gave her in her mouth? Why did they take their eyes off her for a second?  

I don't know why everyone was giving Muncy and her brother so much shit and jumping so quickly to Teddy being in on it. Yeah he seemed like a bit of a dick but he was only guilty of being friends with a guy who was secretly a bad guy, plenty of people have no clue what people they know are really up to, especially if its just a casual friend. It seemed like Churlish especially was hoping that he was in on it so that she could rub it in Muncy's face. Then everyone was throwing shade for him doing a good job on the sting, why are they upset? That's what they wanted him to do! 

[slowpoked]

On 4/6/2023 at 2:54 PM, tennisgurl said:

It was nice seeing Bruno, I generally like him even if his constant philosophizing gets old,

And is he really that much older and senior as compared to other detectives? He doesn't strike me as that much older, like say Benson and Fin are. He talks to the Muncy, Churlish and Velasco as if he's got a good 20 years on them.

[webruce]

On 4/5/2023 at 10:33 AM, GiandujaPie said:

I didn't get this episode. Was Muncy's brother actually involved in the operation? I'm also not sure what the scheme was. So some guy "orders" a girl, and somehow she miraculously ends up at that bar so that bartender can drug her with the limes. What if she doesn't order a tequila shot with a lime chaser? What if she doesn't suck the lime? And then after she starts to feel woozy, she goes to the bathroom and they kidnap her and take her to the hotel where she gets raped. What if the girl doesn't go to the bathroom? What if her friends take her home instead? In the case of the redhead, she had friends and an ex-husband in the bar. Why didn't they go looking for her? And was that redhead "ordered" specifically, or was she just the only redhead in the bar that fit the "order" by the Canadians? 

I also didn't understand why everyone assumed Muncy's brother was in on the whole thing simply because he was friends with the bartender. 

I don't dislike any of the new detectives, but don't like how the whole episode only involved them and there was no Finn or Carisi. The cost-cutting measures for this show are so obvious. 

Fin had the day off. Carisi "talked" on the phone to ok the UC action at the bar. 

Rich guys in town for meetings or whatever want to let off some steam. They ask the bartender how to meet easy girls. They don't want hookers. So there was a bunch of bartenders in different bars looking to hook them up, for cash.  So for Abby( the redhead), was just at the wrong bar at the wrong time. If she wasn't there, or wasn't having problems and wanted a tequila, then the other bartenders would be looking to match Chester and George with a red head. But the reason Alec, the ex and his date Leslie didn't look for Abby, was they thought she hooked up with a guy, or just went home mad.  But not sure if a redhead didnt show up that night, would the guys be out of luck? The bartenders were backed by the Patesh family, as the evidence showed when they raided Sunil who made the drugged limes, ( I to thought it was the salt), and his brother Rav and sister Asha who trucked the drugged "main event" of the party to the rich guys at the fancy motels. So this had happened many times.  But also there had to be times, friends did take home a drunk candidate. Or the bartenders selected only the girls that were alone. 

Teddy, Grace Munseys brother, was friends with Arlo the bad bartender. The guys didn't trust him because he gave Bruno and  Velasco a couple of "I don't care" answers about sex with a drunk girl. Also when he was at the meeting place at the motel, he didn't answer his phone when things went wrong and the entire NYPD was watching Muncy boast about drinks and Churish gave them the slip, with help.  I am surprised that Sunil Patesh knew who Teddy was when he was arrested. 

And as stated earlier, the 2 guys were snagged in Canada, by Interpol. It would have been nice to see local PD picking them up. Unlike with the FBIs going from NY to say Colorado in "minutes" to make an arrest.  Also not all bad guys are stupid enough to stay in town thinking they got away with it, because someone else set it up. 

The new cast is a learning curve, but you shouldn't have a plug and Play "Rollins" or "Amaro", everytime one leaves the show. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by webruce
Added thought.