Episode Discussion: Season 3 and Onward

[Route66]

4 hours ago, faithie said:

Is there anything to Bell making goo goo eyes with the female Chinese detective?  It was clear from the dialogue that they have a lot in common.  (Very attractive lesbian cops who lost their marriage to the demands of the job)

They could have saved time by having her introduce herself like "I'm a single lesbian from the 4th precinct." It was awkwardly obvious to have her say "My wife and I started the basketball program" followed by "it outlasted my marriage." I wish the writers could use a bit of subtlety. 

[ribboninthesky1]

On 3/24/2023 at 5:42 PM, Route66 said:

Also, what did she do to earn this? 

Being unprofessional and a hot mess? So is Stabler, but at least he's got several decades of actual experience. 

Since the show is playing musical chairs with the showrunners, this episode sparked my curiosity about an anthology-type series with different focus on various precincts. I know it'll never happen with Meloni as exec producer, but it's NYC.  Surely there are distinct organized crime units for each precinct, or at least boroughs. Would be a way to freshen up the show. 

I'm kind of over seeing the team being completely conspicuous during their "undercover" operations.  Also over Stabler threatening the villains they don't take down immediately.  

12 hours ago, faithie said:

Is there anything to Bell making goo goo eyes with the female Chinese detective? 

I didn't see much interest from Bell's side, but you never know.  Maybe we'll see her again. 

[Raja]

33 minutes ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

Surely there are distinct organized crime units for each precinct, or at least boroughs. Would be a way to freshen up the show. 

The show did start like that with another Sergeants unit bumping heads with not your ordinary Sergeant Bell

[wknt3]

On 3/24/2023 at 5:42 PM, Route66 said:

Is anyone else tired of Jet being treated like the squad's little sister instead of a professional colleague? If anyone else got promoted they'd likely go out for drinks and toast. For Jet they get streamers and balloons and plan to hide and yell "surprise"?

Also, what did she do to earn this? 

I don't know about you, but I find the young hot woman getting special treatment to be entirely realistic. And given her valuable technical skills I can see leadership  going along when the young guys suggested it.
 

As far as what she did to earn it, her hacker skills did save NYC and she could earn tons more money in the private sector...

16 hours ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

Being unprofessional and a hot mess? So is Stabler, but at least he's got several decades of actual experience. 

Since the show is playing musical chairs with the showrunners, this episode sparked my curiosity about an anthology-type series with different focus on various precincts. I know it'll never happen with Meloni as exec producer, but it's NYC.  Surely there are distinct organized crime units for each precinct, or at least boroughs. Would be a way to freshen up the show. 

I'm kind of over seeing the team being completely conspicuous during their "undercover" operations.  Also over Stabler threatening the villains they don't take down immediately. 

I think there is already a lot of shifting focus and moving around to different parts of the city and different types of organized crime. I suppose they could move even further by taking the money they have used for big name recurring guest stars and using it for recurring cops the task force works with and reduce the roles of the non-"Big 3" (Stabler, Bell, Jet) even further - perhaps writing out one of the generic young guys entirely and letting a recurring detective they are working with that arc handle the chase scenes and UC work. Personally what I would love to see is the show going back fo the franchise's roots and exploring the difficulties of prosecuting sophisticated criminal enterprises, but I doubt that will ever happen as it seems like nobody in charge is interested in that kind of thing anymore.

[ribboninthesky1]

On 3/26/2023 at 4:12 PM, wknt3 said:

As far as what she did to earn it, her hacker skills did save NYC and she could earn tons more money in the private sector...

I wouldn't miss her at all if she opted to go private.  Still, you make a good point about her hacker skills saving NYC.  A promotion announcement then would have made more sense vs after botching an undercover operation because she caught feelings. 

[wknt3]

8 hours ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

I wouldn't miss her at all if she opted to go private.  Still, you make a good point about her hacker skills saving NYC.  A promotion announcement then would have made more sense vs after botching an undercover operation because she caught feelings. 

It's a bureaucracy, ma'am. ( incredulous grunt )

[justduckey]

I enjoyed this one. Especially the bonding over their sons and loss and families. I appreciate that they finally brought Elliott’s family back.  

[Raja]

A full Coast Guard Captain shows up for a life raft that is ashore. The franchise never really understood the military and who would be doing the work. Of course we never found out which  Customs agents the traffickers  had like the Coast Guard Captain. I was surprised the arc already ended I was sure the aborted slave auction would have lead to another episode

[christie]

2 hours ago, Raja said:

I was surprised the arc already ended I was sure the aborted slave auction would have lead to another episode

Me too.

 

Oh, the irony of Elliot telling someone not to be a hot head LOL

[TooMuchRealityTV]

I actually liked this episode and this arc. They probably could have done more with the arc and done it over 3-4 episodes, but oh well. Heck even the bit in the end with Eli was okay, and I usually hate seeing Elliot's family. At least it tied in well with the rest of the episode.

[Medicine Crow]

I was totally bored with this episode & the father not doing what he was told (& endangering everyone else) ... very aggravating.  I barely made it to the end!!!

[Raja]

19 minutes ago, Medicine Crow said:

I was totally bored with this episode & the father not doing what he was told (& endangering everyone else) ... very aggravating.

For a teacher from China, of all places, he certainly had no fear of being locked up abroad. While I didn't believe a middle class man from there could get out and do what he did the episode was the opposite of boring to me. I was looking forward to another crack at the Chinatown Captain and detectives to see if they were just deferring to community leaders or were like the Coast Guard Captain.

But all we might get is not your ordinary Sergeant Bell's new girlfriend to come back to.

[Snazzy Daisy]

S03•E18 - Tag: GEN

When the OC team started to work on the robbery cases, I expected DI Thurman to show up and put a stop to it since it isn’t exactly OC related.

Gay Stabler - Gaybler! Elliot went UC again as zaddy Roger. The dancing, the tight tee, ohh man… 😂

That shirtless photo of Stabler in his Guyser profile, it does look familiar. We have seen it before, right?

Zaddy Stabler! Chris Meloni is totally in his element. 😂

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by SnazzyDaisy

[StaceyNotStacie]

They might as well call this Law & Order: Undercover because that’s what every episode is about. 
 

I think Jet and the gang were having too much fun with Stanley’s Zaddy profile. 😂 

[Raja]

On 4/7/2023 at 3:23 AM, SnazzyDaisy said:

When the OC team started to work on the robbery cases, I expected DI Thurman to show up and put a stop to it since it isn’t exactly OC related.

I don't know about that watching older Crime Story or Goodfellas the organized crime crews pulled robberies and high profile burglaries before they went into drugs and human trafficking.

The OCCB crosses paths with narcotics, special victims, and other specialized units functions. As a show I think they are doing a better job of showing us how OCCB gets in a case than the franchise did in showing how Major Case took it instead of the 27th homicide detectives on Criminal Intent.

[justduckey]

22 hours ago, StaceyNotStacie said:

They might as well call this Law & Order: Undercover because that’s what every episode is about. 
 

I think Jet and the gang were having too much fun with Stanley’s Zaddy profile. 😂 

Elliot’s reaction to all of that had me loling!

[Zoe]

Just now catching up, and I'd have to say this show's version of a "Chinatown" episode was probably one of the better ones within the franchise. The stereotypes weren't over the top, and there was only one obviously fake accent (though the CC's were wrong about them speaking Cantonese).

And Bell and Chang were totally making eyes at each other. 

[wknt3]

On 4/7/2023 at 11:48 AM, StaceyNotStacie said:

I think Jet and the gang were having too much fun with Stanley’s Zaddy profile. 😂 

Nope! Everybody was having just about the right amount of fun. Including the writers, Meloni, and the audience. And as much as we might complain about them going too much for the bad cop/spy drama cliche of putting your lead undercover to give them a chance to show off their range/change things up for the viewers it would be malpractice not to go all in in this situation. Forget the BS shipping this is fan service we can all get behind! And CM doing slightly flustered Stabler is comedy gold.

[ribboninthesky1]

For me, this was probably the best episode of the season (so far).  Not sure how many are left.  Whatever changes were made BTS, they seem to be trying to steer things back in the right direction. 

I really loved the scene towards the end when when Bell talked about how tough the case was and the day-to-day challenges, and Stabler admitted that he had no idea what she was going through.  And never would.  But that he would support her however she needed it.    

Edited April 10, 2023 by ribboninthesky1

[Snazzy Daisy]

Season 4 of L&O:OC will only have 13 episodes. 

 

[Snazzy Daisy]

With already reduced no. of episodes in S4, will L&O:OC be affected by this??! 🤔

Actors On Dick Wolf NBC Series Reduce Episodes Amid Broadcast Budget Tightening

 

[WendyCR72]

14 minutes ago, SnazzyDaisy said:

With already reduced no. of episodes in S4, will L&O:OC be affected by this??! 🤔

Actors On Dick Wolf NBC Series Reduce Episodes Amid Broadcast Budget Tightening

 

I read this, and it said since OC was only renewed for 13 episodes, that show should "not be as affected".

(It also said that it may not affect series mainstays, including Mariska Hargitay. Shocking. /s)

[Raja]

They choose the wrong unit for diplomatic protection, an IED goes off and you sit in the kill zone with pistols drawn. 

The show has the empty where is everybody feel of the pandemic  era productions. The give us this set up  off all hands on deck but then it feels like two detectives are doing all of the investigation with their support in court and watching after Elliot's mom.

[ribboninthesky1]

13 hours ago, Raja said:

They choose the wrong unit for diplomatic protection, an IED goes off and you sit in the kill zone with pistols drawn. 

This was THE dumbest thing.  NYPD isn't some small police department, so I was chuckling and shaking my head in disbelief that this group would be tapped to "protect" a diplomat.  And I was rolling when they were just standing around after the bomb went off. 

[edhopper]

Shouldn't the FBI have taken it over after thr bomb?

[Raja]

16 minutes ago, edhopper said:

Shouldn't the FBI have taken it over after thr bomb?

Everybody defers to not your ordinary Sergeant Bell and her unit.

[Snazzy Daisy]

S03•E19 - A Diplomatic Solution

I don’t get it. As the protective detail for the diplomat, when the bomb went off, shouldn’t the OC team get her out of that dangerous situation ASAP, move her to a safe place? Her safety is their main priority. Why are they forcing her to stay in the car?

The bomber could be working in a team and their lookout guy will quickly realize that they have destroyed a wrong car. A plan B could be set in motion within minutes.

 

[Andyourlittledog2]

I was astonished that when asked for assigned research on India's political situation one of the NYPD detectives responded and attributed ChatGPT.  Seriously?  I wouldn't trust ChatGPT to tell me what is the best toothbrush to buy at this point.  

And yes to all of the above regarding the immediate response to the IED/bomb. So dumb. Also, where is the FBI and the CIA and the US Marshalls and Secret Service and all the other people who should have a role here when a US ally's diplomat is almost blown up in NYC?  I guess they heard Stabler was on the case so they didn't need any other law enforcement. Stabler will get it done all while monitoring his elderly mother and covering for his boss who has a child custody court thing that day.

Stabler's little manhandling of the Indian Embassy's security head on embassy soil was a bit much. Stabler has zero authority there. I don't trust security guy but Stabler should be banned after that. He had no right to touch that man no matter what he said or how Stabler felt about it. This kind of behavior is why I stopped watching SVU many years ago. I couldn't stand Stabler's arrogance and temper.  

Seriously, these writers. It's like they live in fantasy land.

[Lukeysboat]

Just watched the most recent ep, and I’ve gotta say Ellen Burstyn looks incredible! Hard to believe she’s 90. 

[ribboninthesky1]

On 4/29/2023 at 8:29 PM, Andyourlittledog2 said:

I guess they heard Stabler was on the case so they didn't need any other law enforcement. Stabler will get it done all while monitoring his elderly mother and covering for his boss who has a child custody court thing that day.

Why is this so funny?

On 4/29/2023 at 8:29 PM, Andyourlittledog2 said:

Stabler's little manhandling of the Indian Embassy's security head on embassy soil was a bit much. Stabler has zero authority there.

But hey, the security was a.bad.guy! Thus, righteous Stabler is justified. 

[JPPT1974]

Spoiler

Heard in the last episode for season 3, an US Attorney benches both Benson and Stabler as got to wondering if it has to do with Elliott crossing a line and getting Benson possibly nearly killed or that they got too close over in a case. But no way and no how these two can stay bench as nobody knows them better at all.

 

[edhopper]

Special units also have a lot of support personnel for paper work, filing, etc... not just 4 detectives.

Its a weird case, and what was that last scene about ?

[justduckey]

I thought the dialogue was sharp and snappy this week. Looking forward to the crossovers!

[edhopper]

One more thing. The Organized Crime Division of the NYPD was ended in 2016 when the entire Dept was restructured. At the time it had 1600 personnel, not 5.

So last week they are on Diplomatic detail and investigate something the FBI or Secret Service should be doing. This week they are looking into a case that belongs to the Dept. of Corrections or needs the State's involvement.

Not a bad episode, but they are straying into Rookie territory.

[Raja]

9 hours ago, edhopper said:

So last week they are on Diplomatic detail and investigate something the FBI or Secret Service should be doing. This week they are looking into a case that belongs to the Dept. of Corrections or needs the State's involvement.

Not a bad episode, but they are straying into Rookie territory.

The FBI Special Agent seemed to hero worship the organized crime duo when he called them in to help with the murders of bank robbing suspects. I guess local homicide played it like on The Wire, federal suspects so they pawned the who dunnit off to the FBI before stuck it right back on NYPD.

Did Detective Stabler  actually show the FBI's evidence response team, or was that a NYPD crime scene unit how to pull evidence from where the head was found?

[Guncle Adam]

I'm struck by how much OC has moved away from its original concept of 6-8 episode arcs. I don't mind the standalone episodes; some of them have been good. But the long arcs are what set OC apart. Without them, I'm less interested. 

[MarylandGirl]

7 hours ago, Guncle Adam said:

I'm struck by how much OC has moved away from its original concept of 6-8 episode arcs. I don't mind the standalone episodes; some of them have been good. But the long arcs are what set OC apart. Without them, I'm less interested. 

Agreed! Though the Wheatleys got tiresome, I enjoyed the other arcs. Thursday's episode could have stretched for multiple eps, I think--maybe having one of them go undercover in the prison for a couple eps to figure out what's going on with the guards, for example. Or maybe we start earlier in the bank robbery arc, before the two guys are killed.

Also, before they revealed the "furloughs," did anyone else think maybe the sister had taken some of her brother's DNA with her after a visit, then either committed the crime herself or passed the DNA to someone else? (OK, at first, when I heard, "twin," I thought maybe it was actually her DNA, but then remembered that only two males or two females can be identical twins that would have the same DNA.)

[CrystalBlue]

On 5/5/2023 at 8:15 PM, edhopper said:

Its a weird case, and what was that last scene about ?

 

I am wondering the same thing.

[justduckey]

I loved everything about last nights episode. Can’t wait until next week!

[ribboninthesky1]

On 5/8/2023 at 12:11 PM, Guncle Adam said:

I'm struck by how much OC has moved away from its original concept of 6-8 episode arcs. 

It's interesting, as I remember reading many complaints on this forum about the arcs, particularly the Wheatleys. 

The show's BTS scrambling definitely impacts the writing of the show. I'm rather ambivalent about it - just find a tone and stick with it.   

[MarylandGirl]

45 minutes ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

It's interesting, as I remember reading many complaints on this forum about the arcs, particularly the Wheatleys. 

The show's BTS scrambling definitely impacts the writing of the show. I'm rather ambivalent about it - just find a tone and stick with it.   

I didn't like the Wheatley arc--well the return of them, the first part was OK--but I liked the Albanian and Donnelly ones.

[wknt3]

On 5/8/2023 at 12:11 PM, Guncle Adam said:

I'm struck by how much OC has moved away from its original concept of 6-8 episode arcs. I don't mind the standalone episodes; some of them have been good. But the long arcs are what set OC apart. Without them, I'm less interested. 

 

16 hours ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

It's interesting, as I remember reading many complaints on this forum about the arcs, particularly the Wheatleys. 

The show's BTS scrambling definitely impacts the writing of the show. I'm rather ambivalent about it - just find a tone and stick with it.   

 

16 hours ago, MarylandGirl said:

I didn't like the Wheatley arc--well the return of them, the first part was OK--but I liked the Albanian and Donnelly ones.

I have to agree with most of what's been said here. Without the arcs you end up with something that is not particularly unique in any way and often feels like a low budget version of a CBS procedural and is only watchable because of some great actors in the lead roles. And I think that our complaints about the arcs were mostly about Wheatley as supervillain and bringing him back and dropping more interesting stories to do so. To a lesser extent the complaints about the other arcs were about execution and the constant tinkering with tone and format. I would prefer them doing longer arcs with each episode being a story of it's own as well. With occasional one offs to transition and take part in crossovers. As mentioned before I would also love to see them working with the DAs office to build a case and debate when to move, but it seems like that ship had sailed.

[Raja]

On 5/6/2023 at 11:23 AM, edhopper said:

One more thing. The Organized Crime Division of the NYPD was ended in 2016 when the entire Dept was restructured. At the time it had 1600 personnel, not 5.

Going to the SVU crossover of the revenge website judging by how OCCB dealt with Gary Longo that old style organized crime is no longer seen as a big deal.

On 5/8/2023 at 9:11 AM, Guncle Adam said:

I'm struck by how much OC has moved away from its original concept of 6-8 episode arcs. I don't mind the standalone episodes; some of them have been good. But the long arcs are what set OC apart. Without them, I'm less interested. 

It turns out the prison wasn't as stand alone as originally thought

[Snazzy Daisy]

S03•E21 - Shadowërk

”Uber Eats for violent crime.”

Well, Ayanna said it best.

Given the magnitude of this cybercrime organization, OCCB should’ve called an experienced profiler like Dr. Huang. He has retired but it’s known that he’s still doing consultation works around NYC. Among all people, they chose Amanda? Heh. 😏

The reunion of Olivia and Amanda should’ve happened in SVU universe. Same goes to Olivia and Oscar Papas’ reunion. Why bother doing these in OC?

Will Jet be working with Malachi again in tracking down this ghost called Hyakunin Giri ???

Do I really need to watch SVU S24 finale in order to understand OC S03 finale? Ugh. 😣  
 

[Raja]

The end of the SVU/OC crossover has got to be the poorest example of policing and federal agenting that I have seen on TV in a very long time.

[WendyCR72]

10 minutes ago, Raja said:

The end of the SVU/OC crossover has got to be the poorest example of policing and federal agenting that I have seen on TV in a very long time.

Let's face it: The franchise abandoned any semblance of realism a hell of a long time ago. I think Dick Wolf is just content to cash the checks now, quality be damned.

[Snazzy Daisy]

S03•E22 - With Many Names

Whoever wrote this episode deserves to be listed in Shadowërk. Enuf said.

Jamie Whelan has been killed just for a shock value.

This S3 finale sucksss! 😣

 

[wknt3]

On 5/16/2023 at 6:14 AM, Snazzy Daisy said:

S03•E21 - Shadowërk

Do I really need to watch SVU S24 finale in order to understand OC S03 finale? Ugh. 

Yes you did need to watch Part 1 of the SVU finale to understand Part 2 of the SVU finale. Isn't that obvious?
 

9 hours ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

S03•E22 - With Many Names

Jamie Whelan has been killed just for a shock value.

Nope. He's been killed because they need to cut costs so one of the generic young male detectives had to go. Plus they are tinkering yet again so when and if they ever find a new showrunner they can use this as the explanation for whatever direction they end up going in.

[Raja]

On 5/16/2023 at 3:14 AM, Snazzy Daisy said:

Do I really need to watch SVU S24 finale in order to understand OC S03 finale? Ugh. 😣  

The first two hours played like the traditional crossover, the last two however was a mini version of the season's opening Law & Order event and the shows were fully integrated without stopping for credits and traditional openings. The SVU had a B story  of an unconnected spree rapist to keep Ice-T busy.

[ribboninthesky1]

My mind was blown at how, despite the number of law enforcement there were in the woods, some dude who barely knew how to shoot managed to mortally wound one of them.  That poor FBI medic who was running around...