S26.E08 Cornered

[Xeliou66]

Episode description 

Carisi tries to protect two women taken hostage in a tense standoff between police and a violent thief; Benson and Rollins devise a risky plan to get everyone to safety 

[EtheltoTillie]

Wow that was rough. 

[anna0852]

That was pretty intense. Carisi isn’t going to get past that anytime soon.

[Diana Berry]

That was more intense than imagined.  
 

The previews from startup in January looks like he’s back to normal.  Guess he will have two months to recover. 

[MediaZone4K]

Good episode. I think Carisi could have convinced the co-conspirator to shoot the main guy earlier. 

I also didn't expect the rape to happen. I feel like they threw that in there because it's SVU.

*I was almost surprised Carisi did not to help the guy in the end. 

 

 

Edited Friday at 04:20 AM by MediaZone4K

[Iguessnot]

Wow a great episode.  Great acting and surprising twists and we avoided the usual Benson dynamics.

[Iguessnot]

38 minutes ago, MediaZone4K said:

Good episode. I think Carisi could have convinced the co-conspirator to shoot the main guy earlier. 

I also didn't expect the rape to happen. I feel like they threw that in there because it's SVU.

 

 

At least SVU was involved organically, by Benson witnessing Carisi as a hostage. 

The actress really sold the horror of her rape without us seeing the deed and without Benson whispering to her.

Carisi even managed not to be saved by Benson. 

[Xeliou66]

This was slightly better than I expected - at least it wasn’t a Benson saves the world hour, and Carisi got a nice focus, but it didn’t seem to make sense that Benson was once again in charge of the hostage situation, and there were no real twists or anything - they just threw the rape in cause it’s SVU and they needed to have some sex crime. I wonder if they’ll reference this again soon, because that had to take a toll on Carisi.

I still don’t sense any romantic chemistry between Carisi/Rollins, I feel they were forced together.

I really missed Bruno and Fin, they are the best thing about SVU now, but it was a good episode for them to be absent given that they wouldn’t have had anything to do.

[Packerbrewerbadger]

I think Carisi is carrying a lot of guilt for not being able to save the owner or stop the rape.  It will haunt him. 
 

I must have missed something but why didn’t they storm the store when the hostages were in the cooler?  Did  they loose visual?  And during the rape , I thought Carisi 

  could overtake the younger guy.  But that would have left the rape victim very vulnerable?
 

 

[Wizardpatch]

There was no chance either of those morons were going to charge the freezer to kill hostages if SWAT stormed in. Wasn't Carisi begging them to act fast while Benson was asking about the robbers' names and backstories? He could have even held the freezer door closed for half a minute at least.

Edited Friday at 06:21 PM by Wizardpatch

[babyrambo]

This was one of the better episodes of the season. The actress was great but Tess felt like a plot device and the assault shoddily tacked on to meet the SVU quota. Also I didn’t buy any of their excuses for not storming in when the hostages were in the freezer. No way those guys (one who was drunk) would’ve been able to sprint to the back in the time it would’ve taken the cops to get inside.

[slowpoked]

A good, intense episode. Nice focus on Carisi, and I’m glad he took it upon himself to spare us another Olivia Benson episode there at the end.

I don’t blame Carisi on doing an about face on the younger perp. You say and do what you can to save your life, plus like he said earlier, the perp is already 23 yrs old, and shouldn’t be naive. I thought when Carisi turned the gun on him, that was him being cop Carisi.

2 hours ago, babyrambo said:

Also I didn’t buy any of their excuses for not storming in when the hostages were in the freezer. No way those guys (one who was drunk) would’ve been able to sprint to the back in the time it would’ve taken the cops to get inside.

Yes - botched writing there. Plus when the younger perp said that Boyd wanted a drink, and they didn’t have money to buy, so that’s why they’re robbing the place, why wouldn’t they just take the alcohol directly at a store, and call it a day?

[cfinboston]

DAE get OG "DR 1-102" vibes from this? That's the episode where Serena faces disbarment from giving legal advice to a criminal in a hostage situation.

I feel like Deonte will appear again and insist Carisi told him to shoot Boyd with the assurance that it's self defense.

We know cops can lie, but can DAs? Carisi absolutely seemed to be giving him legal advice, despite him obviously not going to be the prosecutor.

 

[wknt3]

The Good:
Solid acting from everyone, both regular cast and guest stars. Even Mariska avoided overacting for the most part. This was an unremarkable script elevated by above average acting.

Carisi telling Benson she wasn't his boss anymore. I hope the writers remember that in the future.

The Bad:
Yet another hostage situation that SVU somehow stumbles into. And again Benson is allowed to take command and start negotiating instead of the actual specialists. At least she didn't single handedly save the day after botching every major tactical decision so that probably puts it above 75 percent or so of these cases...

No Fin and Bruno and Velsasco and Silva were glorified extras. Why not give them the week off and give Fin a big role - actually have the old gang back together for a week?

Overall this was an interesting change of pace in that it was a great execution of a a bad concept. As usual it felt like the script could have used another draft, but  ESU not ending things earlier and the lack of explanation of some of the motivations of some of the characters could be a matter of editing as the dialogue was mostly quite good. I don't think I liked it as much as most of those commenting here, but it was above average and probably actually good. I really do wish that we had Fin there though - it seems like a huge missed opportunity to do something actually special for the fall finale.

[Sake614]

5 hours ago, cfinboston said:

DAE get OG "DR 1-102" vibes from this? That's the episode where Serena faces disbarment from giving legal advice to a criminal in a hostage situation.

I feel like Deonte will appear again and insist Carisi told him to shoot Boyd with the assurance that it's self defense.

We know cops can lie, but can DAs? Carisi absolutely seemed to be giving him legal advice, despite him obviously not going to be the prosecutor.

 

I think the difference is that Selena didn’t say she was an ADA and was acting as the perp’s lawyer. Here, they all knew Carisi is an ADA. I also didn’t see it as him giving Deonte legal advice. More just saying what the kid wanted to hear in order to save his and the girl’s life.

[cfinboston]

12 hours ago, Sake614 said:

I think the difference is that Selena didn’t say she was an ADA and was acting as the perp’s lawyer. Here, they all knew Carisi is an ADA. I also didn’t see it as him giving Deonte legal advice. More just saying what the kid wanted to hear in order to save his and the girl’s life.

I can envision it coming back to haunt him when Deonte's lawyer insists that Carisi told him to shoot Boyd. Carisi tells him it would be self defense and Deonte shoots him. It seems a very solid defense that a prosecutor told you it was ok to do it. 

[Sake614]

2 hours ago, cfinboston said:

I can envision it coming back to haunt him when Deonte's lawyer insists that Carisi told him to shoot Boyd. Carisi tells him it would be self defense and Deonte shoots him. It seems a very solid defense that a prosecutor told you it was ok to do it. 

Possibly for shooting Boyd, but not for the rest. He actively participated in an armed robbery. He threatened the hostages, and stood idly by while Boyd raped Tess. He also did nothing when Boyd shot Ali. So I’d think the whole ‘defense of others’ thing came much too little, much too late to do him any good. Either way he’s still an accessory to murder and rape.

[cfinboston]

1 hour ago, Sake614 said:

Possibly for shooting Boyd, but not for the rest. He actively participated in an armed robbery. He threatened the hostages, and stood idly by while Boyd raped Tess. He also did nothing when Boyd shot Ali. So I’d think the whole ‘defense of others’ thing came much too little, much too late to do him any good. Either way he’s still an accessory to murder and rape.

For sure, but I can definitely see it being a season finale cliffhanger if Carisi is brought up on charges. Deonte definitely was guilty of multiple crimes, but he shot Boyd after asking Carisi if it would be considered self defense. Carisi said it would and Deonte subsequently shot Boyd. He can make the argument that he shot Boyd only because a prosecutor told him to. Deonte also asked Carisi about the accessory charges and he might argue that potentially saving the other lives should be a consideration.

[Diana Berry]

25 minutes ago, cfinboston said:

For sure, but I can definitely see it being a season finale cliffhanger if Carisi is brought up on charges. Deonte definitely was guilty of multiple crimes, but he shot Boyd after asking Carisi if it would be considered self defense. Carisi said it would and Deonte subsequently shot Boyd. He can make the argument that he shot Boyd only because a prosecutor told him to. Deonte also asked Carisi about the accessory charges and he might argue that potentially saving the other lives should be a consideration.

I also came back on because of questions about ethical violations.  It seems pretty grey but carisi’s life was in danger .  I would tell the guy anything to that point .

I’m seeing  talk on other boards about Carisi going back to being a detective.  Any thoughts?

Edited Saturday at 07:06 PM by Diana Berry

[Xeliou66]

I highly doubt Carisi could get in any ethical trouble here, his life was in danger and he never told the perp he was his lawyer, which is what got Serena in trouble in the Mothership episode, she went in as a negotiator and deceived the perp, Carisi was a hostage whose life was in danger. But then again given that SVU isn’t always well written I could see them trying to come up with some trouble for him.

No way Carisi goes back to being a cop - it would mean less stable hours for him and he has a family now, plus for the show it would mean they would have to ditch someone in the current squad plus find a new ADA for SVU and I don’t see them doing that. I think this current squad is working really well overall - Fin and Bruno are awesome, Silva has been decent with what she’s had so far, Velasco is fine, Curry is okay, and they’ve finally given Carisi good material as an ADA. This season has honestly been better than I expected given how last season was really dreadful at times. SVU can still do good stories when they put the effort into it - the main issue is still the portrayal of Benson as some kind of saint who does no wrong and saves the day every time - it’s cheesy and ridiculous and weakens the show. But this season has been sort of a bounce back after how bad last season was. 

[marny]

That primal scream from the poor woman who was assaulted was incredibly affecting. This show is usually more of a background noise show for me, but that moment got me emotional. 

[pezgirl7]

5 hours ago, marny said:

That primal scream from the poor woman who was assaulted was incredibly affecting. This show is usually more of a background noise show for me, but that moment got me emotional. 

Agreed. I don’t remember the last time a victim acted that way. It still bothered me though when she nonchalantly took out her Apple Watch and didn’t think to call the police. Then wanted it back to contact her boyfriend.

[tennisgurl]

That was shockingly intense, no way is Carisi going to just walk this one off. I don't want him to spiral or try to become a cop again out of some misguided belie that he lost his edge and that's why he wasn't able to stop the murder or rape, but I hope they take some time to explore him dealing with this. I am happy that we got a Carisi episode, but damn, poor guy. 

Overall this was a really good episode, even though it had Olivia, yet again, taking over a hostage negotiation instead of letting a specialist handle it. And of course Rollins can run in and be in charge too, as if she and Olivia have a major personal investment in this situation that keeps them from keeping a cool head. The rape also felt a bit gratuitous, like they felt like they had to add one in because this is SVU, but it as sill handled pretty well. 

Really good performances from both the regular cast and the guest stars, the victims primal scream after she was let out of the store was really intense, it felt like the kind of real that this show keeps us away from, normally victims only get a bit of crying as they get comforted by Olivia. I always like seeing Silas Weir Mitchell, even playing the villain. 

[txhorns79]

On 11/23/2024 at 1:39 PM, cfinboston said:

For sure, but I can definitely see it being a season finale cliffhanger if Carisi is brought up on charges.

Brought up on charges for what?  He was being held at gunpoint.  Everything he said and did was done under duress.

The only thing I didn't like about the episode was when Carisi did the "hero" thing at the end by trying to take on the perps himself during the moment he and Benson were supposed to swap out.  It's so reckless and he's lucky he didn't get himself or anyone else killed. 

[Iguessnot]

7 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

Brought up on charges for what?  He was being held at gunpoint.  Everything he said and did was done under duress.

The only thing I didn't like about the episode was when Carisi did the "hero" thing at the end by trying to take on the perps himself during the moment he and Benson were supposed to swap out.  It's so reckless and he's lucky he didn't get himself or anyone else killed. 

From Carisi's point of view, his friend was dead and he was unable to stop the woman's rape. So for him to walk out safely while the other woman is left behind and Benson trades places, would be unfathomable to him. 

[txhorns79]

1 minute ago, Iguessnot said:

From Carisi's point of view, his friend was dead and he was unable to stop the woman's rape. So for him to walk out safely while the other woman is left behind and Benson trades places, would be unfathomable to him. 

His reasoning doesn't really matter.  His actions were reckless and put civilians and himself at grave risk for harm.