S25.E03: The Punch List

[txhorns79]

Airing February 1, 2024.

Quote

Benson tries to support a victim's family when tragedy strikes twice.

 

[Xeliou66]

Since the forums were offline last week when this episode aired, I’ll be the first to comment

This was much better than the first two episodes, and it was great to see the squad solving a case without Benson. I loved seeing Fin take the lead and Fin and Bruno’s interaction with the doctor who was assaulted were great, so much better than the usual Benson interacting with victims. The case was very interesting and played out well, although I did wonder about the motives of the two lowlifes who drugged the doc and forced the escort to perform sex acts on him, other than the robbery element, why the forced sex? Were they just thrill seekers who got off on violating other people? I would’ve liked that explored a bit more, but the case was good. Carisi was solid in the legal role as well, and it was such a nice change of pace to see Fin, Bruno, Velasco and Carisi work together and solve a case with no help from St Olivia!

I’m beyond sick of the Maddie subplot though and I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about St Olivia trying to hold her family together while taking it personally. Get this shit done with already.

This episode shows that the show still has potential to be good, but Mariska’s ego drags it down. They’ve finally got a strong squad of likable detectives although they could use one more, Carisi is great in the ADA role now, and the show still has interesting stories to tell, but the Queen Bee demanding to hog the screen time and play the hero just drags it down through the mud. This episode showed that the less of Benson the better the show.

[Ohiopirate02]

5 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

I’m beyond sick of the Maddie subplot though and I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about St Olivia trying to hold her family together while taking it personally. Get this shit done with already.

Same.  It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, the thought of a season long crusade by St. Olivia to bring back Maddie.  She's the most stereotypical "perfect" victim that I cannot root for her even though I know I should.  If the show really wanted to do a season long arc of Olivia and the squad looking for a single victim, why not make her/him/they a more imperfect victim--non-white, from a bad background, drug addict, etc.

[Wizardpatch]

I kept expecting the doctor to be into some weird sick shit, like underage, toilet camera porn or something. But he just wanted a guy to be friends with.

[txhorns79]

I thought it was weird that Maddie's mother called Benson to essentially sit with her and provide comfort at the hospital after her husband tried to hang himself.  Surely this woman has friends or family to help her?

[Spartan Girl]

35 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

I thought it was weird that Maddie's mother called Benson to essentially sit with her and provide comfort at the hospital after her husband tried to hang himself.  Surely this woman has friends or family to help her?

I’m probably going to hell for admitting this but when she was asking Liv if it was her fault her husband tried to kill herself because she blamed him for Maddy’s disappearance, I screamed, “YES!” at my TV. And her whining that she’ll be all alone if he died didn’t endear her to me either.

At least the actual case was good, for once. Tess and the doctor were both victims, and I’m glad the writing made it clear. Too bad Liv was too preoccupied with the Maddy crap to care, but like everyone else said, we need a break from her.

[wknt3]

The Good:
The COTW. A solid investigation the proceeded step by step in old school SVU fashion (if a bit stripped down due to cast/budget cuts and the time needed for Benson's personal drama) with the squad acting as a team with the DA's office to investigate a sexually based offense. And it was nice to see the writers actually bothering to find an interesting angle that hadn't been done to death yet.

Fin. It is always nice to see Ice_T getting some decent material and actually be motivated to do more than phone it in.

The guest cast. In particular the victim and the call girl who did a nice job and avoided going OTT.

The Bad:
The opening. Clunky to the point of verging on self parody at times - especially Bruno the sensitive and understanding cop and nobody but Benson being able to exercise some judgement and discretion.

Benson. Speaking of OTT bad acting... At least she was off to the side and we could ignore or FF most of her nonsense.

The Maddie subplot continues. There is actually a good idea here for adding something new to a very tired formula without requiring any extra money or new cast. A case that doesn't go down right away or maybe even at all followed over the course of a season while other cases come and go would be interesting and add some realism and a new way of showing the emotional and psychological effect on the investigators. This is just yet another indulgence to Mariska's ego and telling us how incredibly special Benson is without ever actually showing us and is a drag on the show rather than a boost.

Overall this was a solid episode. The non-Benson parts were a B+ and the Benson scenes were a D-. Probably a B-/C+, but at least it was an interesting disappointment and after the last two thudding mediocrities that's something.

[Sake614]

I loved how Olivia ran out of the meeting with Tess when Maddie’s mother called. ‘Sorry victim, I can’t talk to you. Have to go comfort the mother of a girl I never met who was taken hostage and turned into a sex doll. I’m actually wearing a bracelet with her name. Want one?’ But then at the end of the episode, Liv is all in on Tess like she was involved the whole time. And of course she gets the final shot. Is it in Mariska’s contract that she always gets the last camera shot no matter what’s going on? Gah! I’ve never hated a character as much as I do Olivia Benson. And I actually used to like her!

[Cotypubby]

Much better episode than the first two! And at least most of Olivia’s scenes were self-contained so I was able to fast-forward through the Maddie plot garbage without missing anything important.

[Xeliou66]

2 hours ago, Sake614 said:

I loved how Olivia ran out of the meeting with Tess when Maddie’s mother called. ‘Sorry victim, I can’t talk to you. Have to go comfort the mother of a girl I never met who was taken hostage and turned into a sex doll. I’m actually wearing a bracelet with her name. Want one?’ But then at the end of the episode, Liv is all in on Tess like she was involved the whole time. And of course she gets the final shot. Is it in Mariska’s contract that she always gets the last camera shot no matter what’s going on? Gah! I’ve never hated a character as much as I do Olivia Benson. And I actually used to like her!

Spot on. And it’s hard to believe I used to like Olivia when she was a detective under Cragen - I didn’t love her the way some do but I did like her, that all changed when the show started revolving entirely around her with the sole purpose of making her look good and no one was ever allowed to criticize her and she could never be wrong about anything. I absolutely loathe her now. It’s clear that Mariska’s ego and control over the show is dragging down the quality of it.

[Sake614]

It’s funny because I really had little use for CM/Elliot back in the day but I really grew to adore him. And the reverse is true for MK/Olivia. Her character has not gotten better with age. 

[shapeshifter]

13 hours ago, wknt3 said:

The Good:
The COTW. A solid investigation the proceeded step by step in old school SVU fashion (if a bit stripped down due to cast/budget cuts and the time needed for Benson's personal drama) with the squad acting as a team with the DA's office to investigate a sexually based offense. And it was nice to see the writers actually bothering to find an interesting angle that hadn't been done to death yet.

I hadn't watched the show in about a year, but left it on after the rebooted Mother Ship and stayed tuned once they seemed to move the current Olivia soapy drama off screen. 
I spent way too much time editing a couple of thoughtful posts on Reddit, to which others responded with equal thought (or at least passion, LOL) but it was all deleted by last night. 🫤

So, just: 
I didn't even recognize Krumholtz until late in his appearance.
Great casting since his sweetness never totally disappears below his bad guy acting personas. 

[MarylandGirl]

I thought the COTW was pretty good and fairly original, though that was quite a lengthy cold open!

But agreed that the Maddie subplot was just ugh. The extended scene of Olivia staring at the music box, I wanted to just throw something at the screen. Actually, I wanted the mother to hear the music and rush in there going, "What are you doing??? Don't' touch her things! Get out!!!"

[tennisgurl]

Turns out, all we had to do to finally have a good episode was to quarantine Olivia into her own stupid little subplot! I really liked the case of the week, I am glad that they showed that the doctor and the call girl were both being victimized and we didn't get some lame twist where the doctor was the real bad guy or something. Fin, Bruno, and Velasco all work together really well, doing actual detective work and being sensitive to the victims without making it all about them like some people do. I had a few lingering questions, like how things escalated from robbery to sexual assault, but overall it was a solid case with a good guest cast. Most importantly, it was a good idea that the show actually used to its potential. 

What is up with these openers? Its like the writers and editors want to make these mini movies before the episodes even start and they're usually just padding. 

Do you think that Maddy's mom called Olivia to comfort her after she husband tried to kill himself because she knew that any of their actual family and friends would say that, yes, it probably didn't help his mental health that she kept blaming her husband for their daughters kidnapping when he was already dealing with her daughter being missing and clearly feeling terrible as well. Or maybe she just recognizes a kindred spirit in Olivia, who also constantly overacts and acts like she's the only one at all affected by Maddie's disappearance, more than Maddie's father or even Maddie herself. This plot is so lame, its just more St. Olivia shilling and all of the worst parts of SVU stretched out over several episodes. It doesn't help that, after season after season of the show trying to brand itself as being about justice for all victims and social justice, the victim that most grabs Olivia and the show is a sweet innocent pretty young white teenager, the most perfect stereotypical victim. 

[illdoc]

3 hours ago, MarylandGirl said:

The extended scene of Olivia staring at the music box, I wanted to just throw something at the screen. Actually, I wanted the mother to hear the music and rush in there going, "What are you doing??? Don't' touch her things! Get out!!!"

Did you miss the part where Olivia takes off the bracelet and puts it into the music box?! I wonder what the mother will think if she opens the box and finds the bracelet! Will she call Olivia and Olivia will have to break the news to her--"No, we didn't find her. No, it's not actually hers. It's a bracelet I took off the look-alike sex doll. I wanted Maddie to find it (should she ever return) and know that there are sex dolls that look like her out there."???

[shapeshifter]

31 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

. I had a few lingering questions, like how things escalated from robbery to sexual assault,

This formula:
Dickishness + lot$ of cocaine + starter pistol = sexual assault 
works for an SVU plot.

Of course, if either the dermatologist or the call girl carried a gun and were knowledgeable enough about firearms to recognize a starter pistol, the result could have = 1 or 2 dead dudes

[gesundheit]

Hey, actually a pretty solid episode! Almost old-school. Couldn't really tell where it was going, fantastic famous guest star who gets some meaty material, detectives and lawyers doing actual detectiving and lawyering instead of just St. Olivia doing mental health counseling! I don't even mind the dumb Olivia bookends if that's the price of admission to the good stuff.

 

On 2/5/2024 at 3:32 PM, Xeliou66 said:

 

I’m beyond sick of the Maddie subplot though and I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about St Olivia trying to hold her family together while taking it personally. Get this shit done with already.

 

Truly. I thought the mom hated Olivia anyway, but now all of a sudden she's her best friend and entire support system!

23 hours ago, Sake614 said:

But then at the end of the episode, Liv is all in on Tess like she was involved the whole time. 

That infuriated me. Woman, you did nothing! You bailed on this woman's horrific story partway through, you don't get to have the wise, self-congratulatory wrap-up with her!

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Turns out, all we had to do to finally have a good episode was to quarantine Olivia into her own stupid little subplot! I really liked the case of the week, I am glad that they showed that the doctor and the call girl were both being victimized and we didn't get some lame twist where the doctor was the real bad guy or something. 

Agreed! I assumed that's exactly what we were getting when they demonstrated that he's an uber-wealthy, for-profit cosmetic doc -- that's SVU catnip for an evil dude. But nope, they actually let him just be a fairly decent guy dude with some midlife insecurities! And it was actually really cute the way he was so proud to his wife about being "undercover" and having to go back to finish his "job."

 

The ingredients are all still there! I'm expending all my energy trying to feel gratitude for that instead of resentment that they can still pull it off but typically choose not to. (This is not to suggest this was ever some masterful piece of prestige TV, but they did have a formula that often did the trick.)

Also I hope we don't have to sit through any of Liv's EDMR sessions

[Cotypubby]

Did anyone else find it strange that he kept calling his wife “Mom” in the opening scenes? I kept expecting a reveal of some weird sexual role play, but nope.

[MarylandGirl]

On 2/6/2024 at 2:43 PM, illdoc said:

Did you miss the part where Olivia takes off the bracelet and puts it into the music box?! I wonder what the mother will think if she opens the box and finds the bracelet! Will she call Olivia and Olivia will have to break the news to her--"No, we didn't find her. No, it's not actually hers. It's a bracelet I took off the look-alike sex doll. I wanted Maddie to find it (should she ever return) and know that there are sex dolls that look like her out there."???

Yes, I meant to comment on that, too! I'd think it would be really jarring if the mother looks in there and sees it. Just...so weird.

[mommalib]

As i'm watching this episode all I kept thinking is how much better this show is with less Benson. They need to do this more often. Of course I always love when the homie Ice-t gets to shine and his chemistry with Bruno maybe up there with what he had with Munch. 

[gesundheit]

But once again with the hilarious 1970s version of NYC -- when that property manager was like "eyyyyy -- crimes happen in this building constantly, whaddya want, it's Brooklyn!" as if most of Brooklyn isn't now more upscale than the Upper East Side.

 

(Of course this what happens when your writers room is on the other side of the country and probably lived in 1970s NYC and hasn't been back since outside insulated work travel between airports, hotels, and events/meetings)

[cfinboston]

I want to know how he tried to hang himself off a closet rod that's only around five feet off the ground. Or why Liv couldn't just untie the belt rather than cut it.

Her being with Maddie's mom gave me vibes of that insipid scene where she read "Goodnight Moon" to the dementia addled professor.

How did he get the phone number of the guys who drugged him and ran up his credit card? If you drugged someone and stole his money, why leave your contact information?

DAE think his nurse/assistant arranged the assault because she got him the invitation to the club? 

[shapeshifter]

35 minutes ago, cfinboston said:

How did he get the phone number of the guys who drugged him and ran up his credit card? If you drugged someone and stole his money, why leave your contact information?

It was complicated but in keeping with old school Law & Order perp searching.
They looked at Dr. not-Krumholtz's credit card charges and found a bodega where a lot of charges were rung up. They got the security camera footage which gave them pictures of the 2 dudes. 
Then they went to the place where Dr. not-Krumholtz had reserved a VIP table and showed the pictures, which led to "They did buy a round of drinks before your friend showed up" followed with "Where do you keep your receipts?" which would allow SVU's tech person to pull up phone numbers etc.

Edited February 10 by shapeshifter

[Iguessnot]

I found the premise of this episode to be beyond belief. Why would a prostitute (escort if you are white and preppy looking) go to the police and say she raped the older guy? Total farce. At least the couple provided some comic relief.