Show Analysis: Dr Huang Will See You Now

[WendyCR72]

I admit: I am much more partial to the early years of the show. Before everything was a personal danger to the cops, and the cases were the true story.

 

And I admit that this show lost a lot for me when Chris Meloni left. Yep, Elliot became more rage-a-licious and was fraying emotionally by the time he bolted, but what can I say, he clicked for me!

 

Also, as some have said here already, I liked that the first seasons, while well aware of the dark subject matter, had moments of levity, humor, and lightness, all of which seems gone now. As if the cases weren't depressing enough, the workplace shouldn't have to be the same way.

 

So, I'd say maybe the first 5 or so seasons, although there were some good late season episodes, but it became much more sporadic for me by then.

 

One aside I find neat is...Olivia went to the same college I did, so it was cool to see my little school get a shout out way back when, but I digress!

 

What say you all?

[WineCheeseChocolat]

I also liked the earlier years the best. I think SVU was at the top of its game during Seasons 2-4. All characters were utilized, there was a nice balance between the police work and the courtroom scenes, lots of Alex Cabot (who still remains my favorite L&O ADA ever), the cases were actually about sex crimes and not contrived and there was natural interaction between the squad without anything getting too soapy.

 

I think Seasons 9-12 were the absolute rock bottom. 

 

I was a big Stabler/Benson partnership fan (not a romantic shipper at all though) and thought I was done after CM left. I tuned in out of curiosity sometime during Season 14 and found that I really liked Barba and Rollins and kind of liked Amaro. And once Stabler was gone, I didn't miss him that much (although I still think the way he was written off was BS). So besides the Lewis travesty and Days of Amaro's Life, I've actually liked the past two seasons.

[Bastet]

I had to consult an episode guide, and it looks like I stopped watching regularly in season six, but had already lost interest in season five.  I've seen bits and pieces of later seasons in syndication when nothing else is on, but the only episodes I'll really plop down and watch are from the early yeras.

 

It was amazing I ever got into the show, really, as I hated - with the heat of a nova - Mariska Hargitay on ER, and I never came to regard her as anything more than decent, but the ensemble made it work for me ... for a while.  "Liv and El" had terrific chemistry as partners, but they both became so annoying as individuals, they were no longer worth suffering through the thin (or absurd) plots.  It used to be one of them would act a fool under certain circumstances - as humans do - and someone else would call them on it or they'd rein each other in, but after awhile they just ran amok on a weekly basis while being narratively hailed as heroes. 

[WendyCR72]

OMG, @Bastet , was it necessary to remind me of Mariska Hargitay's time on ER? Good GOD was her character annoying as hell. And it's sad I recall her name: Cynthia. Cynthia the Constant Crier, when she wasn't mooning over Mark. UGH! (But she was barely recognizable with the long, long hair!) Neil Baer was BTS on ER at the time she was on, so at least they must have known one another by the time SVU started up.

[MorbidPet]

I was a big fan of SVU for the first couple of seasons, as someone else wrote I think I was a big fan up till season 5 and then it started to slowly drift downwards for me and I completely stopped watching those last couple of "The Benson & Stabler" show seasons (I chose that order cause then I can call it the BS show *ha*). The show peaked my interest again when - get ready to flame me - Connie Nielsen came onboard for an arch there in season 8. I adore Connie and I have to say even though I know it goes against like 95% of the SVU fandom I liked her character, not a whole lot but some, and it was something else than the BS show.

Then I read that Danny Pino &, especially interesting for me as I loved [[[loved]]] Chase, Kelli Giddish were coming aboard I immediately started watching again. And since they came onboard it's been like my #1 show. I didn't like the Lewis travesty either. Benson has always been a fave of mine, she was a strong female character I looked up to, but I don't like what she became after Stabler left, I think especially she's been really cold towards Rollins and I hate to see when women treat other women badly, they don't necessarily had to become bffs but I think it would've been nice if Olivia at least tried a little bonding. It was quite obvious Rollins looked up to her when she joined the squad and except for one ep (Theater tricks S13 E11) Olivia have really not showed her any interest at all. All in my opinion though of course ;)

And Lewis didn't make it any better. Liv is now a character I actually dislike, she's bitter and yeah I know PTSD and everything but still, it's not an excuse to be a bitch. I hope Noah can make her into the character I used to look up to. This however - http://nypost.com/2014/08/02/olivia-benson-takes-command-on-law-order-svu/ - does make me start to worry SVU will turn in to a baby drama and I'm not on board for that. I'll jump off the fandom in a second if Noah makes the credits. Pls deal with all that off screen and bring back old Liv into the squad room and I'll be a happy camper.

Edited August 2, 2014 by MorbidPet

[FozzyBear]

I think Seasons 9-12 were the absolute rock bottom.

.

Oh my god. I never really watched those seasons, but I have been recently due to Netflix. It's insane how bad they are. Nothing makes sense and I swear only like 50% of the episodes end up having anything to do with a sex crime, but SVU is there anyway making sure people get charged with a crime anytime Benson or Stabler take a disliking to you.

I already went over the WTF that is Wet, but a just watched Retro. Fucking read a science book! Ok so this is the one with the AIDS deniers and the baby that dies due to lack of treatment. So at the end of the episode we find out the woman was infected earlier than we thought (they never explain how she was infected if it wasn't the way she said) and her older son is HIV+ too. Ok fine, except that the kid looks to be 14/15 and the picture of health. If he had been living with untreated HIV since birth he should be one sick kid. Or a miracle child being studied by the CDC. And the mom finally dies of toxic plaquemosis (sp?) but in the way women in old movies used to die of consumption. Rosey cheeked one minute, gracefully wasting away in a hospital the next minute. Uh no. That is not how HIV progresses to AIDS. Read up on the 1980s.

I feel like that's the hallmark of those middle seasons. The show became so obsessed with being shocking and topical that they didn't even bother to address major holes in logic or plausibility.

[WineCheeseChocolat]

Rewatched it tonight on NBC.

 

Why oh why oh why is freaking CASSIDY the one questioning Amaro and the SVU squad? I get that Tucker wanted him to prove he could be objective blahblah but the unprofessionalism of him being involved in the case at all, let alone questioning his live-girlfriend's partner and members of his former squad made me cringe. I couldn't imagine that ever being allowed in real life, no matter how much someone wanted to make a point. And while Liv's heart was in the right place, inviting Amaro to crash on her couch when she just got promoted to supervising him...just seems dicy.

 

Amaro really bugged in this one. His refusal to stand down when he was already in deep shit, his attitude towards Cassidy who was genuinely trying to be nice to him...speaking of which, I never caught the whole backstory about why Amaro dislikes Cassidy so much. I gather it has something to do with prostitution rings, Cragen being framed for murder and Amaro fathering a child while undercover. Anyway, the Cragen frame/prostitution ring/corruption in the DA's office arc is playing on USA tomorrow.

 

Cragen's farewell made me tear up a bit (although not as much as Munch's). I miss him. At least we have reruns.

[WendyCR72]

Cragen and hookers? Whaaa? At least it was a frame, but...no. Never. Not his style. Not after the Mothership and all the other years on SVU. (I'm sure Dann Florek was happy to have something to play, but...really?)

[LeGrandElephant]

I'm only near the beginning of this episode, but I don't understand why everyone is so worried about finding a gun when they have a bullet inside of that cop! Doesn't that prove there was a gun, whether or not they find it? A line explaining what the big issue is would have been nice.

And here's Cassidy showing up - yeah IAB is insane if they think that's a good idea.

[LeGrandElephant]

Ok, so the ricochet or whatever. Still, that seems like the other officers fault, not his.

[munchfan]

I loved the first few seasons with Cassidy jefferys munch stabler benson.  I think they all worked more as a team back then. did like it when fin came into he did add a lot to the show. I feel that benson started out good but after all she went through at the end she understandably became hard and more cold to others she worked with. she was still a good cop but not such a great person. I hope I don't get personally attacked for saying this about good old Olivia but I did on a facebook site I was on it was crazy. I just wanted to find a site where we could talk about our opinions about a show we all love

 

[munchfan]

if you could work with any of the detectives on svu who would you pick and why?

[WendyCR72]

Elliott. Yes, he had rage issues. Yes, he was excitable. Yes, he often went way too far and could be a smug ass.

 

But Chris Meloni is pretty.  :-)  Call me shallow!

[FozzyBear]

I loved the first few seasons with Cassidy jefferys munch stabler benson. I think they all worked more as a team back then. did like it when fin came into he did add a lot to the show. I feel that benson started out good but after all she went through at the end she understandably became hard and more cold to others she worked with. she was still a good cop but not such a great person. I hope I don't get personally attacked for saying this about good old Olivia but I did on a facebook site I was on it was crazy. I just wanted to find a site where we could talk about our opinions about a show we all love

No trouble from me. I'll do you one better. I don't think Benson was ever really a great dectective. She may have been a good cop, but she was way too myopic to ever be a good investigator. She generally made up her mind in 5 minutes and refused to see any other point of view.

I will say that it's amazing how much better S1 was and how quickly the show took a down turn. In S1 they acted like officers investigating crimes. You know doing their job. By S2 we already have "barley contained raging"Stabler and "I'll do anything to put you in jail if I don't like you" Benson.

[WineCheeseChocolat]

Fin, because he's the only one of the squad that currently has his shit together. Actually, aside from playing Cowboy a bit his early days and having not been a super awesome father, he's been quite consistently stable, sane and rational. There's not a whole lot of Fin love in the SVUniverse, but I'd trust him 1000 times over any of his "messed up" coworkers.

 

Munch was always great too but I don't think I could've dealt with the conspiracy theories on a daily basis.

 

ETA: Ha, just tonight, on the rerun, Olivia says to Fin, "When did we become the voice of reason?" Sorry Liv, that's all Fin.

Edited August 10, 2014 by WineCheeseChocolat

[AntiBeeSpray]

Munch! Loved his sense of humor.

 

Fin would be a close second, since he could put people in their place at times.

[MorbidPet]

Fin. Without a doubt. A good partner, funny, has your back, good looking. Yes he would be ideal.

But if we're talking just riding along with in a car all day long & stare at them I'd go with Amaro or Rollins. Eyecandy, check. Shallow, check.

[nygma619]

My favorite season of svu hands down is season 4. The cases were a little more out there than usual (see Angels, Risk, and Damaged) but were never as silly as later seasons would get (I'm ignoring Dolls for the sake of argument), while still maintaining the edginess of seasons 2 & 3.

Edited August 15, 2014 by nygma619

[nygma619]

Oh, those were the worst (unless you are hate-watching for laughs), though I feel like after season six/seven, the entire creative train went off the rails. Monkeys in basketballs as special victims? The Second Life episode whose plot, over a dozen viewings later, I still cannot make rational sense out of. Magic mushrooms? The little girl-on-the-phone-is-it-a-hoax-or-not one? The ridiculous shoe-horning of politics into plots (Casey serving subpoenas to Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld). Plot twists every five minutes (it's about child abduction.. no wait, it's about sex offenders who escaped during Hurricane Katrina... oh no, now it's an anthrax scare... oh and a cute journalist is going to jail to protect Olivia!).

Second Life? Are you talking about season 9's Avatar, if so I can rationalize it. But that doesn't mean it was any less crap.

Also lets be fair in stating that in season 5 and before there were SOME creative choices that are up for debate Like dressing a real person up to being a doll; a guy trying to fool people into believing he's using girls to achieve cloning, a perp undressing in front of Stabler but isn't smart enough to know OTHER PEOPLE would be watching from the window, convicting a therapist for using sodium amytal, and that's not even all of them.

 

So yeah, SVU has been doing silly alot since season 6 and beyond; but lets not kid ourselves into thinking that they weren't before that.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

hee hee, "Avatar." "Vixy Platinum" is code at PTV HQ for "clueless treatment of internet culture by a TV show" and I stand by it. SO TERRIBLE. (I can never not watch when it's on, though.)

[WendyCR72]

Monkeys in basketballs as special victims?[

 

I'm sorry, but...whaaaa? Is this just a joke in the post or was this real? And if it was real, who was drunk enough to ALLOW this?!

[nygma619]

I'm sorry, but...whaaaa? Is this just a joke in the post or was this real? And if it was real, who was drunk enough to ALLOW this?!

 

Not exactly. The monkey in the basketball WAS a thing that happened (no matter HOW much I would rather forget it). But the monkey was not a special victim, just something SVU got tangled up in while investigating an SVU case that was intertwined with that.

[WendyCR72]

Not exactly. The monkey in the basketball WAS a thing that happened (no matter HOW much I would rather forget it). But the monkey was not a special victim, just something SVU got tangled up in while investigating an SVU case that was intertwined with that.

 

Now I'm really grateful I stopped watching so far back.

[webruce]

Fin would be my pick for a STABLE partner, and he knows his way around town.

Amaro would be nice to hang out with when he has his stuff together. But right now I'd be scared he'd take a poke at me if I said the wrong thing.

Liv would be a stable one too, but in moving up to Sargent we wouldn't be equels on the field.

Rollins at times make good judgements, but not always. But in my shallow ways as some have stated she would be fun after hours, lol.

Munch would be a good partner at times but at times I would think would be boring in the stake out and I'd fall asleep, lol.

Stabler would be like Amaro(or Amaro like Stabler), but would have his good points too.

So as stated first my pick is Fin!

Edited August 26, 2014 by webruce

[WendyCR72]

There is no such thread for the DVDs or whatever, so I created this.

 

If you're one who doesn't have any SVU DVDs yet and wanted to grab them, now's your chance. Amazon's Deal of The Week is for the entire L&O franchise DVDs on sale for up to 70% off.

 

So get 'em while the getting's good. The deal is good until 9/6 (11:59 p.m. PT, so call it 9/7!).

 

Also, feel free to discuss bonus materials - or lack thereof - of the DVDs here, quality, what have you...

[AntiBeeSpray]

Woot! Thanks for the heads up! :)

[MorbidPet]

I wish they would put extra material on the DVD's. I tweeted Warren about it and got the reply that he would try but it wasn't up to him/them. That was before last season's dvd release.

I would just love to get the treats you get on Sons of Anarchy's DVD's, like the read-throughs, commentaries on almost every episode by Kurt and some of the cast, it's just such a treat for a diehard fan and I wish SVU would treat us too but I don't think it ever will happen :(

[WendyCR72]

Woot! Thanks for the heads up! :)

 

You're welcome.  :-)

[AntiBeeSpray]

You're welcome.  :-)

I'm going to be ordering season 9 :). Since Robin Williams was so good in it. Just have to get another Amazon card... due to tax :(.

 

Edit: Just got the card and ordered the season.

[Spartan Girl]

 I know we're all still trying to put the whole Lewis saga behind us, but can anyone who gets the latest season on DVD let us know if there was a deleted scene that at least showed some reaction of his stupid bitch lawyer that Lauren Ambrose played reacting to what he did to her parents?  Thanks.

[Spartan Girl]

Back on TWOP I started a thread about the most frustrating and disappointing moments on this show, and seeing as how we have plenty to bitch about these days, I thought I'd bring it back here.

 

Unsurprisingly, most of the moments I found most frustrating were from the past couple of years.  The Lewis arc goes without saying, not only because they dragged it out so much, but also because the writers kind of brushed off/overlooked any potential storylines of Lewis' groupies -- aka Lauren Ambrose as the moron lawyer who let Lewis torture her parents and the stupid jurywoman who helped him escape -- getting their comeuppance.  With all the hate she gathered among us, they could have at least shown Lauren Ambrose's reaction when she found out she was responsible for him murdering her father and raping her mother.  So yeah, I felt kind of cheated out of that.

 

"Funny Valentine" was almost a big frustration.  I understand battered women's syndrome and all that, but the fact that the girlfriend willingly let her boyfriend get away with murdering her friend/mentor that was trying to protect her was just awful.  So I didn't have much sympathy left for her by the end when her boyfriend killed her too.

 

Anyone else want to vent their own SVU frustrations?

[Sarah D. Bunting]

^ Tucker, and I know the viewer is "supposed to" side against him, but he's so right! Robert John Burke's variations on a theme of disgusted "do you expect me to believe" blah blah are awesome. 

 

I have myriad frustrations, OBVIOUSLY, and my over-itude with Amaro's scrawny little self-righteous bullshit knows few bounds, but I'll simply add: Benson's GODDAMN brother. There were ways to make that storyline pay off over time in ways that were subtle or interesting; the show went with exactly none of those ways, and instead stupid Simon is getting framed, or isn't, or is part of a federal investigation, or is getting his hometown sheriff exposed as corrupt, or or or ugh ugh ugh. And Benson is simpering nonstop throughout.

[WendyCR72]

Hence my telling you, Chattygal, the connection was but a peripheral one. Hee. (Forget the desk. I was sort of appalled that show made her everything she seemed to hate: A person devoid of feeling (not ALWAYS, but enough) and politically ruthless, no matter what.)

 

Alex Cabot?! Um, no.

 

No wonder Conviction failed.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

Conviction failed because of Milena Govich. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[soybombyx]

Tucker is my favorite SVU character.

[WendyCR72]

And then they immediately recycled the name "James Steele" for the lead crown prosecutor in L&O: UK, but at least Ben Daniels could act circles around his American counterpart.

 

Well now, don't I feel dumb?! How did I never notice that?

[WendyCR72]

When I started watching UK, I assumed Steele was a shoutout to Stone, since CP Steele was more Ben than Jack. But now I have to reconsider everything, because there's no way Conviction's James Steele had anything in common with Ben Stone. 

 

Well, we do agree that L&O: UK's Steele was like Ben Stone. (Oddly, the actor's name WAS Ben. LOL!) I won't let the US Jim Steele ruin the correlation in my head.  :-P

[prican58]

First off, I had a mad girl crush on Mariska because she was so damned hot and I obsessed over SVU from S 1-5. I watched all the USA marathons over and over, I loved the cop relationships especially Munch and anyone else who'd listen to him. 

 

Alex was and is the best ADA ever and when she left, I was pretty much done. I waded through the Casey eps not hating her but not really interested. Then the cops stared to become very dark and psychologically scarred. I get that SVU crimes can do that to a detective and that's why I bet most don't stay with that detail 15 years in a row. How many times can we see Liv in peril, or see Stabler become unhinged and violent. Ugh. After Casey I just stopped watching. And when Meloni left I knew there was no turning back for me. If I were Mariska I would have left already but with a growing family I'm sure she didn't want to lose the cash cow. Kids gotta eat and maybe go to college.

 

Anyway, even Giddish whom I like a lot, could not keep my attention on this show. 

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Seasons 1-5 was SVU at it's best, a true ensembbecamew.

Never would begrudge Mariska her Emmy win, but the down slide began after that.

Neal Baer declared her the defacto star, there went the ensemble format.

Still got some solid episodes during seasons 6-8, then quality ones were far and few in later years.

Then came ridiculous fare, like Zebra and Beef.

Head scratching casting additions, like Harry Con nick Jr and Sharon Stone.





The endless drama, that Benson's personal life beczme

[Malbec]

I'd agree that seasons 2 - 5 hit the sweet spot: good cases, the ensemble had settled into place, less emphasis on personal drama.  I also liked Casey's first... year or so?  Even though the show was starting to get dumb by that point, she had a good run for a while.

 

I also think Seasons 13 and 14 are excellent.  They really got back to basics, with a solid focus on cases and suspects, and even the episodes that were about the detectives' personal drama were mostly handled well.  I quit watching the show sometime during the monkey basketball era because I was sooooo sick of the detectives' personal lives being front and center -- but even from that perspective, I thought the episode where Rollins' sister sets her up and the episode where Amaro learns of his son were both very strong episodes.

[Malbec]

Amaro frustrates me because when he was first introduced, he seemed like a pleasant change from some of the things that had gone wrong with the writing for Stabler (and don't get me wrong; I LOVE Meloni and I loved Stabler back in the day, but the writing for him got really lazy).  I really liked that Amaro had a cold-blooded, even outright deceptive streak, and that he was more into mind-gaming suspects than threatening them.  His slightly arrogant perfectionism was also an interesting character flaw to me, and I feel like they could have taken that in SO many interesting directions rather than going down the UnStabler 2.0 route.

[AntiBeeSpray]

When Eames was brought in on SVU. She said that Goren was doing his own thing now. Which made no sense. Since that doesn't fit his character.

[WendyCR72]

When Eames was brought in on SVU. She said that Goren was doing his own thing now. Which made no sense. Since that doesn't fit his character.

 

Especially since Goren made it clear to Gyson he wanted his job. I deny that whole SVU arc. So...poof.

 

But I think that was done to maybe compare Goren leaving Eames with Stabler leaving Olivia and...WTF-ever there.

[AntiBeeSpray]

Especially since Goren made it clear to Gyson he wanted his job. I deny that whole SVU arc. So...poof.

 

But I think that was done to maybe compare Goren leaving Eames with Stabler leaving Olivia and...WTF-ever there.

 

I just think that Mr. Wolf didn't like Goren that much... so in my mind it's why Goren disappeared. Which tbh isn't fair to the character.

 

Never really viewed it that way.

[WendyCR72]

I just think that Mr. Wolf didn't like Goren that much... so in my mind it's why Goren disappeared. Which tbh isn't fair to the character.

 

Never really viewed it that way.

 

I don't think it had to do with Dick Wolf. Warren Leight was EP of both CI and SVU. Which makes the arc odder still as it was he who wrote those therapy scenes. I don't think it was about dislike of Goren more than it was VDO has moved on, but SVU/WL wanted KE to guest star, so this was the idiotic way it came about.

 

Back to SVU, there is no reason the show cannot AT LEAST have a one liner about what characters not appearing in an episode are up to. Like maybe Finn is undercover or something happened with his son...

[AntiBeeSpray]

I don't think it had to do with Dick Wolf. Warren Leight was EP of both CI and SVU. Which makes the arc odder still as it was he who wrote those therapy scenes. I don't think it was about dislike of Goren more than it was VDO has moved on, but SVU/WL wanted KE to guest star, so this was the idiotic way it came about.

 

Back to SVU, there is no reason the show cannot AT LEAST have a one liner about what characters not appearing in an episode are up to. Like maybe Finn is undercover or something happened with his son...

 

Ah. I see. Still not a fan of how Wolf dealt with the character overall imo.

 

Definitely, that would make some sense. Why leave people hanging in that regard?

[Princess Sparkle]

I'm not sure if this is more frustrating or dumb, but it seems to make sense to put it here. I just finished watching Quickie, and leaving aside a lot of the rediculousness in the episode, what drove me bananas was this: in the episode, we find out that the perp thinks his mother abandoned him, and so he hated her, which makes him hate women. At the end, we find out that his grandfather has been lying to him, and what actually happened was that his mother killed her boyfriend for beating her and her son (the perp), and so she went to prison. The grandfather said he went with the "your mother abandoned you" story, because he thought that he was protecting the grandson, and that it was "better than the truth."

In what world is letting a kid think their mother didn't love them and so they abandoned them better than knowing their mother killed the man beating them. That made NO sense whatsoever

[Sarah D. Bunting]

The Cusack/Cusick episode is on USA right now. I would locate this episode as around the point where scenery-gobbling became the unfortunate norm for our heroes, but Liv's hair looks so pretty in this season.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

YE$ I agree about the ending of Quickie.

Still baffled that Grandpa Jimmy Olsen told him that, but Hurt Locker Guy was great in the episode.

I hate how Olivia's relationship with her mom was retconned.

The OTT hatred for Dani Beck, shippers lost their collective shit when Stabler kissed her.

How they cast McManus in S10, then threw her to the wolves.

Having Greylek say some slick shit about Casey in her first appearance.

Giving Marcia Gay Harden the Stephanie Lazerus treatment.

Wasting and neutering a great character, Mike Cutter.

William Lewis

The idiot Forensic Tech Stuckey, who thought that was a great idea?

Kathleen Stabler.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

 

The idiot Forensic Tech Stuckey, who thought that was a great idea?

 

And then he killed the cute one I actually liked! Geh, this show.