Show Analysis: Dr Huang Will See You Now

[Xeliou66]

I watched several early season episodes this week and it’s really something to compare the quality of the show then to the current quality - this show was so great in the early seasons - great cases with a variety of subjects and good twists and suspense without going overboard, and not nearly as much personal drama and no over-focus on one character. I think season 2 is the best season of SVU - so many great episodes, at least half of them are great, classic episodes.  
I really wish the show was still high quality - the show dropped off some starting in about season 9 and had its highs and lows over the next few years, but it’s devolved into a total shitshow since season 15, with a few exceptions. 

[MarylandGirl]

On 2/10/2023 at 10:43 PM, Xeliou66 said:

I watched several early season episodes this week and it’s really something to compare the quality of the show then to the current quality - this show was so great in the early seasons - great cases with a variety of subjects and good twists and suspense without going overboard, and not nearly as much personal drama and no over-focus on one character. I think season 2 is the best season of SVU - so many great episodes, at least half of them are great, classic episodes.  
I really wish the show was still high quality - the show dropped off some starting in about season 9 and had its highs and lows over the next few years, but it’s devolved into a total shitshow since season 15, with a few exceptions. 

i've also been watching some earlier episodes lately and agree with you. I think part of it also is that having Huang and Warner helped balance it out some--it would be good if they could have a regular psychiatrist and ME again. I think another issue is that so many of the later cases started to be about rich white people and he-said, she-said sort of cases. There are some good ones in there, but the quality in general was so much higher the first, say, 7 or so seasons. Really up through when Stabler left, for the most part, so through season 12. Some good stuff at times after, just much less consistent. Definitely a big dropoff after 15, like you said.

Edited March 13, 2023 by MarylandGirl

[Xeliou66]

31 minutes ago, MarylandGirl said:

i've also been watching some earlier episodes lately and agree with you. I think part of it also is that having Huang and Warner helped balance it out some--it would be good if they could have a regular psychiatrist and ME again. I think another issue is that so many of the later cases started to be about rich white people and he-said, she-said sort of cases. There are some good ones in there, but the quality in general was so much higher the first, say, 7 or so seasons. Really up through when Stabler left, for the most part, so through season 12. Some good stuff at times after, just much less consistent. Definitely a big dropoff after 15, like you said.

Yep having more people involved such as Huang and Warner helped the show, as did having a slew of recurring characters. I think the main factor is the variety of cases, they had cases that dealt with all kinds of crimes and issues and that’s what made the show so good. Now as you said they do a ton of he said/she said rape cases involving rich white people, frequently we know exactly who the perp is and what they are guilty of from the start of the episode, so there’s no suspense. I blame Mariska for this - since those types of episodes became way more common when she got more control over the show, I think she loves the theme of “Benson taking on a powerful predator” and the “believe all women” themes of the he said/she said episodes, and it allows for a lot of scenes of Benson to preach to the victims and people involved and give lectures and try to look heroic and saintly. The show is best when having a variety of cases and storylines, but instead they’ve opted to go for a ton of the same storylines over and over and care more about making Benson look good than about the quality of the show. 

[wknt3]

On 3/13/2023 at 7:11 PM, MarylandGirl said:

i've also been watching some earlier episodes lately and agree with you. I think part of it also is that having Huang and Warner helped balance it out some--it would be good if they could have a regular psychiatrist and ME again. I think another issue is that so many of the later cases started to be about rich white people and he-said, she-said sort of cases. There are some good ones in there, but the quality in general was so much higher the first, say, 7 or so seasons. Really up through when Stabler left, for the most part, so through season 12. Some good stuff at times after, just much less consistent. Definitely a big dropoff after 15, like you said.

 

On 3/13/2023 at 7:54 PM, Xeliou66 said:

Yep having more people involved such as Huang and Warner helped the show, as did having a slew of recurring characters. I think the main factor is the variety of cases, they had cases that dealt with all kinds of crimes and issues and that’s what made the show so good. Now as you said they do a ton of he said/she said rape cases involving rich white people, frequently we know exactly who the perp is and what they are guilty of from the start of the episode, so there’s no suspense. I blame Mariska for this - since those types of episodes became way more common when she got more control over the show, I think she loves the theme of “Benson taking on a powerful predator” and the “believe all women” themes of the he said/she said episodes, and it allows for a lot of scenes of Benson to preach to the victims and people involved and give lectures and try to look heroic and saintly. The show is best when having a variety of cases and storylines, but instead they’ve opted to go for a ton of the same storylines over and over and care more about making Benson look good than about the quality of the show. 

To be fair they have realized they were overdoing the he said, she said cases with wealthy white victims and perps and given us more variety in the past few years. And yes this is an area where Mariska's influence is a primary cause - when her influence is strongest we get more (i.e Season 18) and when there is a stronger showrunner counterweight we get more types of crimes. I think it's not just about her ego - her work with her foundation exposed her to a lot of advocates and experts who pointed out that the vast majority of sexual assaults involve victims and perps who know each other and a smaller majority involve a power dynamic. And I suspect the focus on wealthy young white women as victims is more about target demographics. As far as fewer recurring characters and showing the crime I would bet that this is all about the budget. You can show the crime in cheesy, poorly edited montage and use actors who you are already paying for the later acts and avoid paying recurring guest star money for the MEs, CSU techs, etc. needed when you are doing whodunnits every week. Of course Mariska plays a role there as she is getting a larger slice of a smaller pie, but I can't entirely blame her for using her leverage and the ultimate blame lies with Dick Wolf and NBC.

[Spartan Girl]

The ending to “Vanity’s Bonfire” still irks me to this day. Not just that Liv and Amaro helped the terminally ill mom take the rap for her daughter, but it was all so unnecessary. Liv was right in the first place: a jury would understand and sympathize that a teenage girl with a sick mom snapped after Delia had the audacity to show her the sex tape with her father. Very few people would have compassion for an unstable, selfish woman that harassed her married boyfriend’s dying wife and the adopted parents of her baby. Factor in the daughter’s age, and she could have gotten a pretty good plea deal, not go away for life.

Also I’m gonna have to side-eye the daughter hard for letting her mom go to jail instead of telling the truth. Yeah, the mom told her to keep quiet but kids defy their parents all the time. I would never let my mom take the fall for me, especially if she had cancer.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[Xeliou66]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

The ending to “Vanity’s Bonfire” still irks me to this day. Not just that Liv and Amaro helped the terminally ill mom take the rap for her daughter, but it was all so unnecessary. Liv was right in the first place: a jury would understand and sympathize that a teenage girl with a sick mom snapped after Delia had the audacity to show her the sex tape with her father. Very few people would have compassion for an unstable, selfish woman that harassed her married boyfriend’s dying wife and the adopted parents of her baby. Factor in the daughter’s age, and she could have gotten a pretty good plea deal, not go away for life.

Also I’m gonna have to side-eye the daughter hard for letting her mom go to jail instead of telling the truth. Yeah, the mom told her to keep quiet but kids defy their parents all the time. I would never let my mom take the fall for me, especially if she what cancer.

Yep - Vanity’s Bonfire is one of SVU’s worst episodes ever because of that awful ending, and frankly I found it unbelievable even for Benson’s standards that she would let the mom cover for the daughter in that case. Epically stupid. 

[Xeliou66]

I never did post my overall thoughts on season 24, so I’ll do that now on this thread 

It was a mixed bag - the best thing about the season was having a full squadroom again in a lot of episodes, it was really nice to see that there were more than just a couple of detectives in Manhattan SVU. The detectives themselves were again a mixed bag ( I love Bruno, Churlish is growing on me, Muncy was awful), but it was nice to see a full squad.

Worst things about the season were the usual Benson crap and worship of her, and while there were no horrendous episodes that made me want to break my tv, there were a lot of forgettable, unoriginal, mediocre episodes, particularly in the first half of the season. The show seemed to lack direction at times. The 3 episode arc about Benson in the Bronx wasn’t good. And there was no reason for the Velasco subplot that implied he was shady, and Benson’s attitude towards him was really condescending and extremely hypocritical, fortunately they got Velasco back on track by seasons end. And Muncy was an awful addition, she was totally unbelievable as a detective and came off as juvenile, I really wish they knew how to write female characters better, hopefully they’ll do it better with Churlish as they got a much better handle on her by seasons end and she may become a solid character. And having Rollins last episode as a regular be more about St Olivia/Noah than Rollins was pathetic. 

Fin and Carisi were standouts as always, Fin is the anchor of the show, and Carisi had his best season yet as ADA, they knocked off the “trash the DA’s office” bullshit and let Carisi do his job. He’s just as good in the ADA role as in the detective role. Bruno is great as well, best new character since Carisi.

Best episode of the season was definitely Dutch Tears, great Fin centric storyline with nice stuff for Bruno and Carisi as well, and none of the stuff that annoys me about modern day SVU, plus a Munch update! There was no glaring worst episode of the season, but more than a few completely forgettable episodes.

It’s nice that we have a few recurring characters as well now, such as ME Truman and Lorraine Maxwell. But get rid of McGrath ASAP, every time he’s on screen I long for Dodds/Garland. 

So while season 24 lacked direction at times, it seems like the show found better footing at the end of the season and hopefully will be better going forward - I hope they bump Bruno and Churlish up to regulars, and it will be interesting to see if they bring back Rollins on a full time or part time basis. The cases towards the end of the season were more original and better done than in the first half of the season, so maybe the writers are starting to figure things out. 

[Mislav]

I still remember how badly written the episode "Harm" was. The worker at the refugee center, mostly dealing with Muslims, is murdered. One of the suspects is a girl who made a controversial song/music video about Islamic terrorism and how Quran tells men it's OK to beat their wives. Her aunt was killed in 9/11 terrorist attacks. The girl is a suspect because the girl tried to tank her college application. When the girl points out that Quran really does teach such things, the writers have Fun respond by saying that the Bible says men shouldn't let women teach or talk to them.

The scene is beyond stupid and heavy handed for several reasons. First, Fin doesn't even try to refute what the girl saud about the Quran, because he can't. He just uses whataboutism. Second of all, that same logic can be used against him. "If that Bible verse is problematic, what does that say about the Quran?" Because the Quran does contain even worse passages, like the girl said. Thirdly, the SVU doesn't even know that the girl and her family are even Christians, so they basically assume "against Islam=Christian". Lastly, they are acting like this was some stereotypical skinhead/neo-Nazi radicalized by Stormfront and shock jocks, and not somebody whose family member was actually killed on 9/11. Didn't you show more sympathy to the perpetrator in "Branded", even though she sexually assaulted two people?

Also, there is no way the SVU would have responded with the same vitriol to somebody who made such a song about Christians, or burned a bunch of Bibles in public, or anything.

But the SVU's selective morality really takes the cake. Remember the lawyer from "True Believers"? He, in all likelihood, knew that his client (on trial for rape) was guilty. But he still tried to convince the jury that the racist cops framed him. He shamed and victim-blamed the victim while cross-examining her. And the jury bought it. And after that episode, Olivia and the SVU still cooperate and even semi-befriend that same lawyer, apparently believing his heart was in the right place. Where was their outrage then? Just ew. I wished somebody would shoot that worthless scum to death in front of the courthouse (and his client too), but of course that didn't happen.

They also act like the victim trying to tank the girl's college application was a good thing. Ironically, the victim worked at a refugee center, and she more than likely would have gladly helped completely undocumented immigrants get into the country, totally believing their sympathetic stories with no way of knowing anything of their true identities or intentions. Then, a few years later, when something like the Berlin truck attack or London bridge stabbing happens on American soil, I'm sure everyone would act surprised. "Who could have possibly seen this coming?" Once again, ew.

 

I get what the writers were going for: bigotry is never OK and the War on Terror was a mistake (something that many Americans have realized by 2007, but many were probably still on the fence about it too). But seriously, get it together. Equating free speech with torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and hate crimes (even indirectly) is the worst kind of virtue signaling and wanton ignorance.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Mislav

[Xeliou66]

Harm was indeed poorly written - it was very clunky and heavy handed. Season 9 was around the time the show’s writing started to deteriorate and become very inconsistent, Harm was one of the worst from season 9. While I agree with the stance that torture is always wrong and illegal, I thought that episode did a poor job of dealing with the subject matter. And yeah SVU can be all over the map in later seasons with regards to how sympathetic characters are to suspects/victims - very inconsistent, and I think Benson in particular can be very hypocritical when she will condemn others for actions that she herself has done, and it drives me nuts how Benson seems to think that women who’ve been assaulted have the right to take the law into their own hands. 

[Spartan Girl]

I hate “Harm” because the corporation basically helped the murderer and his family escape the country, so then the whole thing was redirected to the doctor that helped the killer torture people, then then she wound up getting off Scott free (other than suspending her license). So nobody is held accountable for any of it. Ugh.

I honestly can’t believe the killer’s wife would willingly have gone with him. And even if she didn’t know what he did, ten bucks says that nutcase killed her and the kids in the future.

On 8/23/2023 at 2:02 PM, Mislav said:

But the SVU's selective morality really takes the cake. Remember the lawyer from "True Believers"? He, in all likelihood, knew that his client (on trial for rape) was guilty. But he still tried to convince the jury that the racist cops framed him. He shamed and victim-blamed the victim while cross-examining her. And the jury bought it. And after that episode, Olivia and the SVU still cooperate and even semi-befriend that same lawyer, apparently believing his heart was in the right place. Where was their outrage then? Just ew. I wished somebody would shoot that worthless scum to death in front of the courthouse (and his client too), but of course that didn't happen.

Agree with everything, but I wouldn’t wish that on Ellis. I didn’t hate him as much as that PIG Buchanan, who actually enjoyed slut-shaming victims, then had the nerve to mention his own daughter and how she “likes to party” in one case.

[Xeliou66]

16 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I hate “Harm” because the corporation basically helped the murderer and his family escape the country, so then the whole thing was redirected to the doctor that helped the killer torture people, then then she wound up getting off Scott free (other than suspending her license). So nobody is held accountable for any of it. Ugh.

I honestly can’t believe the killer’s wife would willingly have gone with him. And even if she didn’t know what he did, ten bucks says that nutcase killed her and the kids in the future.

Agree with everything, but I wouldn’t wish that on Ellis. I didn’t hate him as much as that PIG Buchanan, who actually enjoyed slut-shaming victims, then had the nerve to mention his own daughter and how she “likes to party” in one case.

Buchanan is one of the best adversaries on SVU, yeah he seems to enjoy representing rich scumbags and trying to get them off by victim blaming and he does seem to take pleasure in tormenting victims. He’s a smug bastard with a punchable face - he’s loathsome but his episodes are always entertaining.

[Mislav]

Happy Halloween!

[Mislav]

Merry Christmas!

[kathyk2]

I watched an old episode of SVU Rotten where Fin and Olivia were partners. They were so good together. I would have kept them as partners and paired Munch and Stabler. The show would avoid the Elliott and Olivia soap opera. I agree that SVU would benefit from having more characters especially a psychiatrist.

[Xeliou66]

54 minutes ago, kathyk2 said:

I watched an old episode of SVU Rotten where Fin and Olivia were partners. They were so good together. I would have kept them as partners and paired Munch and Stabler. The show would avoid the Elliott and Olivia soap opera. I agree that SVU would benefit from having more characters especially a psychiatrist.

Yeah a psych expert is sorely missed, as are a lot of the recurring characters. It’s crazy to me how SVU now only has 4 main characters, it’s absurd how the show has become so centered around St Olivia to the point where everyone else is just a side character. I’m sick of the nonstop Olivia worship - this show has just become a vehicle for MH to promote herself.

[kathyk2]

3 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Yeah a psych expert is sorely missed, as are a lot of the recurring characters. It’s crazy to me how SVU now only has 4 main characters, it’s absurd how the show has become so centered around St Olivia to the point where everyone else is just a side character. I’m sick of the nonstop Olivia worship - this show has just become a vehicle for MH to promote herself.

I don't think the show worships Olivia she's been through too much trauma. Mariska has been with the show from the beginning it makes sense the show revolves around her. 

[Xeliou66]

19 minutes ago, kathyk2 said:

I don't think the show worships Olivia she's been through too much trauma. Mariska has been with the show from the beginning it makes sense the show revolves around her. 

It makes sense that she’s the main character but the show does revolve around her too much, at the expense of other characters. And yes the show does worship Olivia - she’s never wrong about anything, other characters are constantly talking about how she’s the greatest, no one is allowed to question her and so on. Benson is treated like a fucking superhero. I really miss the days before MH became a producer and hijacked the show, when the cases were front and center, not Olivia drama, when other characters got screen time, and when Benson wasn’t always 100% right about everything and was portrayed as a normal character and not a saint and an all knowing beacon of light. 

[wknt3]

On 1/10/2024 at 7:42 PM, kathyk2 said:

I don't think the show worships Olivia she's been through too much trauma. Mariska has been with the show from the beginning it makes sense the show revolves around her. 

 

On 1/10/2024 at 8:06 PM, Xeliou66 said:

It makes sense that she’s the main character but the show does revolve around her too much, at the expense of other characters. And yes the show does worship Olivia - she’s never wrong about anything, other characters are constantly talking about how she’s the greatest, no one is allowed to question her and so on. Benson is treated like a fucking superhero. I really miss the days before MH became a producer and hijacked the show, when the cases were front and center, not Olivia drama, when other characters got screen time, and when Benson wasn’t always 100% right about everything and was portrayed as a normal character and not a saint and an all knowing beacon of light. 

Well said. There is a difference between the show being centered on a star, and the show building up the lead by shoving anyone else down. Criminal Intent vs. SVU. Heck even Organized Crime which was designed as a Meloni vehicle from the start and lacks any other reason to exist has done more to have an actual ensemble, with the shedding of characters and cast having more to do with a lack of sustained coherent vision and characters having natural endpoints to their story. They even kept the original male co-lead who took focus from the lead around loooong past the natural endpoint to his story...

Edited January 13 by wknt3
fix typos

[Xeliou66]

I was watching some of the SVU Saturday marathon on ION today, and I’ll say again - season 15 is when SVU started to go downhill into the 100% St Olivia circle jerk that it’s become today - particularly Cragen and Munch leaving is the start of what sent the show downhill. And it could’ve still been good after their departures, even with Benson as squad leader, if they had actually let Benson grow as a character and become more objective and aware of her biases and work on her adjusting them to be a good squad leader. But Mariska’s ego wouldn’t allow it - instead Benson became MORE biased and used her position as squad leader to engage in activism and agenda pushing, and it was also the start of portraying Benson as a beacon of light and wisdom, with countless people thanking Olivia for speaking out for them and telling her how great she was - that rarely happened before season 15. And of course Benson wasn’t allowed to be wrong about anything anymore. Mariska becoming a producer is what ruined the show - it stopped being SVU and became the St Olivia hour. 
Some people say that the show went downhill when Stabler left, I disagree, seasons 13-14 were much getter than the last 3 or 4 Stabler years actually, it was season 15, when Mariska became a producer and Munch/Cragen retired, that the show started going downhill.

And it’s a travesty what they did to Barba, SVU’s best ever ADA, I was watching episodes like Military Justice and Jersey Breakdown where he was so good, and it’s shameful how they castrated him, had his character go off the rails and then just become lovesick for Benson. Disgusting. 

[wknt3]

Moving this over from the episode thread as it's really more general discussion -

 

On 3/29/2024 at 5:50 PM, dttruman said:

I have so many question, but I think we may never get answers to some of them. Has Wolf given Hargitay the keys to the SVU show? If not, how much clout does she have or what is she guaranteed? Does she have to bring in each show under budget to keep her character as the main one each week? Can the Benson character take two weeks off to see how it effects the ratings or does it need to be a whole month?

 

On 3/30/2024 at 10:13 AM, Zaffy said:

I didn't really have a problem with "Saint Olivia", but now she has become insufferable. The writing is really bad and the acting as well. And I do not get it, I know Mariska can act well.
Maybe they have market research we do not know about and follow what "the audience wants",  dunno, it is just bad.

Yes they do have market research. There is a certain percentage of the viewers that have stuck around to see how Benson's story turns out. I know it has been mentioned in past articles. We also know that it is out there because NBC execs have previously said publicly that they were waiting to sign a contract before renewing the series. And because Dick Wolf does not let any actor get so much money and become bigger than the show without some hard evidence that it is needed.

As far as the extent of her power and influence it does have limits. NBC is only willing to spend so much on the show, even if it is the number 1 scripted drama on NBC and Peacock (yes, yes bar so low it's on the ground etc.) and they did realize after Season 18 that they needed to provide a variety of plots even if Mariska had a certain focus on particular types of sexual abuse and power dynamics that she wanted to portray almost exclusively. The biggest limit on her creative influence is the showrunner and the budgetary constraints. Chernuchin and especially Leight have strong track records and influence on their own and pushed back a bit. Without that we find that it's all Benson all the time. As far as budget is concerned - budgets are not really her concern and don't seem to interest her except in being the highest paid actress on network television. Which is why it is one of the few real limits to her influence - budgets get tighter and her salary keeps rising which meant for example KG had to go even if Mariska wanted her to stay. And that they can't do too much to make Benson into an action hero. Dick Wolf is not going to spend his own money to keep Mariska happy. And money is the reason that no matter what we will not see a significant decrease in her screen time. She simply gets paid too much to sit on the bench (insert Mets joke here) and they don't really have any alternative unless Meloni ends up free...

Edited April 2 by wknt3

[dttruman]

3 hours ago, wknt3 said:

Moving this over from the episode thread as it's really more general discussion -

 

 

Yes they do have market research. There is a certain percentage of the viewers that have stuck around to see how Benson's story turns out. I know it has been mentioned in past articles. We also know that it is out there because NBC execs have previously said publicly that they were waiting to sign a contract before renewing the series. And because Dick Wolf does not let any actor get so much money and become bigger than the show without some hard evidence that it is needed.

As far as the extent of her power and influence it does have limits. NBC is only willing to spend so much on the show, even if it is the number 1 scripted drama on NBC and Peacock (yes, yes tallest m***** etc.) and they did realize after Season 18 that they needed to provide a variety of plots even if Mariska had a certain focus on particular types of sexual abuse and power dynamics that she wanted to portray almost exclusively. The biggest limit on her creative influence is the showrunner. Chernuchin and especially Leight have strong track records and influence on their own and pushed back a bit. Without that we find that it's all Benson all the time. As far as budget is concerned - budgets are not really her concern and don't seem to interest her except in being the highest paid actress on network television. Which is one of the few real limits to her influence - budgets get tighter and her salary keeps rising which meant for example KG had to go even if Mariska wanted her to stay.  Dick Wolf is not going to spend his own money to keep Mariska happy. Which is one reason that no matter what we will not see a significant decrease in her screen time. She simply gets paid too much to sit on the bench (insert Mets joke here) and they don't really have any alternative unless Meloni ends up free...

Very good analysis!!

[Olis93]

Up to season 15 of my rewatch and I still maintain the William Lewis arc has some of the best acting to come out of the series. Pablo Schreiber and Mariska Hargitay give it their all and work incredibly well together. One of the few highlights of an otherwise mediocre season 15. 

[Xeliou66]

26 minutes ago, Olis93 said:

Up to season 15 of my rewatch and I still maintain the William Lewis arc has some of the best acting to come out of the series. Pablo Schreiber and Mariska Hargitay give it their all and work incredibly well together. One of the few highlights of an otherwise mediocre season 15. 

It was well acted I agree - I’m usually very critical of Mariska but she acted well in those scenes - she used to be a lot better IMO, it seems like her acting went downhill when they started portraying Benson as a holy figure, now she just makes the same over dramatic facial expressions and speaks in the same intense whisper. She used to be a lot better IMO, I don’t know if she just got complacent or her ego got too big or what.   
I could’ve done without Lewis escaping the final time - it would’ve been a better arc if they had just put him in prison, his final escape sort of made him a super villain and those characters annoy me. Lewis was compelling up until then and the actor played him well.
I don’t dislike the storyline as much as others do, but I feel like season 15 is when the show went downhill - MH became a producer around then, and Cragen and Munch left, and we started getting the all Benson all the time soap opera, with a side dose of Amaro and Rollins drama. I thought about quitting the show the end of season 15 was so bad, Carisi’s introduction at the start of season 16 gave the show some life and an interesting new character and him along with Barba and Fin are why I kept watching, and seasons 16 and particularly 17 were actually improvements over season 15 although they had plenty of flaws. Season 18 is when the show really went down the crapper into nonstop Benson worship, and while there have been good moments and episodes in the seasons since then, the St O worship has kept the show down. This season the worship of Benson seems to be at an all time high - it’s making the show damn near unbearable now, which is a shame as they have a strong supporting cast beyond Benson - Fin is still the anchor of the show, Bruno is awesome, Velasco is good, Sykes and Curry have potential even if it’s ridiculous they made lateral moves to work for St O, and Carisi is just as good of a prosecutor as he was a detective. However the characters not named Benson get very little focus - Mariska’s ego and her hogging the spotlight is sinking the show. 

[Olis93]

12 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

It was well acted I agree - I’m usually very critical of Mariska but she acted well in those scenes - she used to be a lot better IMO, it seems like her acting went downhill when they started portraying Benson as a holy figure, now she just makes the same over dramatic facial expressions and speaks in the same intense whisper. She used to be a lot better IMO, I don’t know if she just got complacent or her ego got too big or what.   
I could’ve done without Lewis escaping the final time - it would’ve been a better arc if they had just put him in prison, his final escape sort of made him a super villain and those characters annoy me. Lewis was compelling up until then and the actor played him well.
I don’t dislike the storyline as much as others do, but I feel like season 15 is when the show went downhill - MH became a producer around then, and Cragen and Munch left, and we started getting the all Benson all the time soap opera, with a side dose of Amaro and Rollins drama. I thought about quitting the show the end of season 15 was so bad, Carisi’s introduction at the start of season 16 gave the show some life and an interesting new character and him along with Barba and Fin are why I kept watching, and seasons 16 and particularly 17 were actually improvements over season 15 although they had plenty of flaws. Season 18 is when the show really went down the crapper into nonstop Benson worship, and while there have been good moments and episodes in the seasons since then, the St O worship has kept the show down. This season the worship of Benson seems to be at an all time high - it’s making the show damn near unbearable now, which is a shame as they have a strong supporting cast beyond Benson - Fin is still the anchor of the show, Bruno is awesome, Velasco is good, Sykes and Curry have potential even if it’s ridiculous they made lateral moves to work for St O, and Carisi is just as good of a prosecutor as he was a detective. However the characters not named Benson get very little focus - Mariska’s ego and her hogging the spotlight is sinking the show. 

The Lewis arc in hindsight was the start of Benson taking over the show and it really hurt her character.

The show progressively declined after the Stabler years. Seasons 13-17 we're more hit and miss but still had some great episodes and storylines. Season 18 was pretty rough and I tend to skip most of those episodes on rewatch. I do enjoy season 19 though and think it's the last decent season before it really goes down the crapper in season 20 and beyond. The show is not even a shell of its former self anymore.