S18.E01: Terrorized

[WendyCR72]

Season premiere is coming. And no more long titles with the total letters adding up to the season number, I see. (Thanks, Rick Eid!)

Quote

 

A young boy is found wandering alone in Central Park and the search for his parents leads to startling evidence of a planned mass casualty event in the city. As the SVU works with the joint-terrorism task force to find the suspects and the motive, Lt. Benson must also convince Barba to address allegations of rape and torture the boy's mother discloses.

[Spartan Girl]

The timing of this episode, after the NYC and New Jersey bombs, is eerie.

That's all I've got right now.

[Primetimer]

A ripped-from-the-headlines shooting sees Liv taking the needs of the few personally.

View the full article

[EtheltoTillie]

Pointless convoluted attempt to make a terrorism case into an SVU case. Did not care. And as someone above noted, too creepy that it was aired days after the newest NYC bombings. 

[wknt3]

The Good:

Good acting all around.
Fin! The look on his face after breaking down the door and his line about immigrants.
Some good Barba too.

The Bad:

Too many bad habits of the past carrying over. Noah and the park again (he'd probably be safer playing in a Hudson University dorm)! Liv vs. the evil bosses. SVU fighting all the crime in Manhattan. Liv Taking!It!Personally! Pushing an agenda instead of realism (I'm sure cops just love the Innocence Project).
Not enough Rollins.
Looks like they're going to ruin Big Dodds.

Overall this could have been a great ripped from the headlines season opener if they had just been willing to go a bit smaller. Make them refugees, drop the mass shooting and cop killing, and make the terrorism connection debatable, and give the squad different opinions that they argue about vigorously and you would have a great "issues" show like the beginning of last season or classic SVU. The promo monkeys can still do their thing while we have an actual SVU case.

Edited September 25, 2016 by wknt3
fix formatting

[Demian]

Quote

Pointless convoluted attempt to make a terrorism case into an SVU case.

PISSED. ME. OFF.  Also:  Way to make Andy Karl look like a complete fucking doofus in his memorial poster.  Someone on staff didn't like him that much, I'm guessing.

[RafaelBarbas]

Meh. Just meh.

[LittleIggy]

Barba! Gorgeous Barba is back! :-)

[Kromm]

This show is still on in it's 50th season? (well it feels like it's been on for that long) I admit I didn't watch, but appreciate that my snark about it still being on won't matter at all to hardcore fans.

Do we even have to talk about the lameness of how (according to the Interwebs) Joe Biden shows up next week? Ugh in advance! (not that I plan to watch that episode either)

At least Mariska Hargitay isn't still getting automatic Emmy nominations for this. I can take some solace in that.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Kromm

[Cotypubby]

So I guess no one was concerned at all with trying to find the bicyclist who killed the aunt and then rode off... 

 

I practically expected Liv to adopt Ali at the end there.

[Snookums]

Aw, so Liv and Tucker didn't have a Paris wedding?? Boo! They better not break up! One, because they are good together and two, I cannot take another round of "Liv Cannot Have Nice Things, Romantically Speaking."

[placate]

Wait...wait?  I dropped SVU for like 6 seasons and then caught up, am I suppose to think that the brown haired Noah is the former blonde Noah?  I don't care about immigration issues but I'm suppose to believe that Ice-T does?  I've also been to Bosnia and learned that the majority of them speak English but this one kid doesn't?  This is ripped from the San Bernedino shootings, Orlando gay club shooting, and the stuff that went down between NSA and Apple?  JFC, I'm surprised this show doesn't make more grannies paranoid.

[FinnishViewer]

Quote

I've also been to Bosnia and learned that the majority of them speak English but this one kid doesn't?

Even if the majority of people can speak English, why would a bosnian 4-year-old kid be able to speak English? I live in Finland, where also the majority of people can also peak English as well, but not when they're 4.

[blxckbird]

the thing i was thinking about the entire episode: did carisi get an even stronger accent over the summer? :D

4 hours ago, placate said:

Wait...wait?  I dropped SVU for like 6 seasons and then caught up, am I suppose to think that the brown haired Noah is the former blonde Noah?  I don't care about immigration issues but I'm suppose to believe that Ice-T does?  I've also been to Bosnia and learned that the majority of them speak English but this one kid doesn't?  This is ripped from the San Bernedino shootings, Orlando gay club shooting, and the stuff that went down between NSA and Apple?  JFC, I'm surprised this show doesn't make more grannies paranoid.

it's a different kid, his name is just noah :D

and the kid doesn't speak english because he's like 3 years old lmao :D

and i think it *does* make grannies paranoid, although most people seem to see how ridiculous some of the stories are :D

[Josette]

I wanted the show to reveal the woman to be an actual terrorist because Olivia was getting on my nerves.

Oh, and I agree about the photo of Dodds.  When Olivia saw the newspaper in the trash, I had to freeze the  image.  I wouldn't have known it was Dodds if the copy hadn't talked about Sergeant Dodds being loaded into a hearse. 

Edited September 22, 2016 by Josette
just to add something

[PugLoaf]

2 hours ago, Josette said:

I wanted the show to reveal the woman to be an actual terrorist because Olivia was getting on my nerves.

This is all I could think as well. And to be honest, as far as the woman goes, it might make me a bad person but I feel like if she was so worried about their influence on the son she would've done something before now even at personal risk. Leaving him with the aunt just makes her look culpable in the spree to me. 

[skittl3862]

I like New Noah. I normally don't like young children on shows, because they're too young to actually act and are basically crying, drooling props who stare vacantly off camera at their real mother behind the scenes while the scene goes on around them until they're old enough to monotonously parrot lines (looking at you, Lily on Modern Family). This kid actually interacts with Mariska in a believable way, and vice versa. It's cute. I don't want this much Noah screen time every week, but still, cute. I prefer him to Kathleen Stabler or Zara Amaro.

[marceline]

I shut this off about 20 minutes in. I'm not here for Law & Order: Joint Terrorism Task Force. And frankly, given real life events, I'm done watching shows where cops badgering, manhandling and violating the rights of people is presented as acceptable and heroic just because the stakes are high. That scene where they busted into the office of the brother was sickening. Grabbing his phone, barking orders at him, etc... This has been an issue with this show since back when Stabler was brutalizing every person unfortunate enough to be locked in a room with him and it's only gotten worse.

Edited September 22, 2016 by marceline

[Hero]

I wish SVU would have better plot lines. The terrorist plot lines are over done. 

And please, no more Olivia in peril storylines.

[J-Man]

Quote

Even if the majority of people can speak English, why would a bosnian 4-year-old kid be able to speak English? I live in Finland, where also the majority of people can also peak English as well, but not when they're 4.

But his mother, father, and uncle all spoke perfect English, so there's no reason to believe that a child who was BORN in the US to an English-speaking mother and exposed to English-language media (television, at least) wouldn't at least speak SOME English. That was just ludicrous.

[Lillybee]

I noticed that Iced Tea is beginning to look his age.

[WendyCR72]

37 minutes ago, Lillybee said:

I noticed that Iced Tea is beginning to look his age.

IT'S LEMONADE! (Sorry, his Geico commercial came to mind here.)

[AntiBeeSpray]

9 hours ago, Suzy123 said:

I wish SVU would have better plot lines. The terrorist plot lines are over done. 

And please, no more Olivia in peril storylines.

I agree on that. But I didn't mind it as much this time. The pacing made it tolerable.

[AntiBeeSpray]

40 minutes ago, Lillybee said:

I noticed that Iced Tea is beginning to look his age.

Well he is nearing 60. Not that is a bad thing, no one stays young forever. And that doesn't mean a thing. Age is just a number. 

[placate]

20 hours ago, blxckbird said:

and the kid doesn't speak english because he's like 3 years old lmao :D

That's actually the perfect phase to learn another language.  Kids that young are still a blank slate and the reason I still remember how to speak Korean ;)

[wknt3]

13 hours ago, Suzy123 said:

I wish SVU would have better plot lines. The terrorist plot lines are over done. 

And please, no more Olivia in peril storylines.

 

4 hours ago, AntiBeeSpray said:

I agree on that. But I didn't mind it as much this time. The pacing made it tolerable.

It was very well done for what it was, and I agree that it was more tolerable this time than some of the previous ones, but it was still an overdone and unbelievable plot. Yes it was tolerable, but as I said before it could have been much better than just acceptable with some fairly minor tweaking. You would think they would have learned their lesson about running recurring plots into the ground by now.

[MaggieG]

It's been a long, lonely summer without my boo Carisi!!

17 hours ago, J-Man said:

But his mother, father, and uncle all spoke perfect English, so there's no reason to believe that a child who was BORN in the US to an English-speaking mother and exposed to English-language media (television, at least) wouldn't at least speak SOME English. That was just ludicrous.

Right!! You would think he would be fluent in both English and Bosnian. Unless they only spoke Bosnian (or Serbian) to him and kept him locked in a room.

[Packerbrewerbadger]

Still not sure why the boy had a gun in his backpack?  Aunt wanted protection?

[blxckbird]

8 hours ago, placate said:

That's actually the perfect phase to learn another language.  Kids that young are still a blank slate and the reason I still remember how to speak Korean ;)

i mean, yeah we started learning english in kindergarten too... plus he's in 'murica and i'm guessing he would probably have been born there since he's so young, so he should speak english. :D 

[AntiBeeSpray]

8 hours ago, wknt3 said:

 

It was very well done for what it was, and I agree that it was more tolerable this time than some of the previous ones, but it was still an overdone and unbelievable plot. Yes it was tolerable, but as I said before it could have been much better than just acceptable with some fairly minor tweaking. You would think they would have learned their lesson about running recurring plots into the ground by now.

Yea you'd think... but it is Olivia SVU. That said, I'm looking forward to next week's ep. This week's ep helped to build up a bit of momentum.

I'm curious, if you were able to, what would you have done differently?

[wknt3]

4 hours ago, AntiBeeSpray said:

Yea you'd think... but it is Olivia SVU. That said, I'm looking forward to next week's ep. This week's ep helped to build up a bit of momentum.

I'm curious, if you were able to, what would you have done differently?

Yeah I know it's L&O: LIV (featuring Ice T and some other guys) and they will endlessly repeat some plots and scenes because MH's ego demands it. But still...

As far as what I'd do differently I'd have dropped the shooting, the huge arms cache, etc. put the SVU case front and center and made the terrorist connection much more debatable. So there would be a lot of interest from the brass, but it would be reasonable for the squad to be front and center while JTTF was investigating in the background. And perhaps the rapist would be offering to provide evidence on radicals if they didn't prosecute and TPTB would be all in favor while Liv is opposed and Barba is conflicted because it's not cut and dried exactly how valuable and accurate the info is. I'd have also had real conflict among the squad about the right way to go. So keep the basic premise, but make it a sexually based offense they're investigating instead of a huge terrorist plot and present an actual debate that explores the shades of gray. There are smaller things too like not making Chief Dodds' resentment explicit in the dialogue, and have Tucker talk about all the potential fallout of his new job ("now I've got the cops and DA's hating me") but those are the big ones. This isn't monkeys in basketballs or crazy killer crime scene techs - there's a good idea here that could have made for a great episode with a few changes.

[torqy]

On 9/23/2016 at 3:55 PM, wknt3 said:

Yeah I know it's L&O: LIV (featuring Ice T and some other guys) and they will endlessly repeat some plots and scenes because MH's ego demands it. But still...

 

Sadly, all too true (and Ice T isn't really even featured!) and reasons why I have officially given up on this show. Mrs. Torqy will watch it until she shuffles off to Buffalo (in syndication you can't escape it) but I'm out. After reading the comments above, I guess a new showrunner hasn't made much of an improvement.

So many shows that once were good have been kept alive on ventilators and feeding tubes...

[marceline]

On 9/23/2016 at 0:56 AM, Lillybee said:

I noticed that Iced Tea is beginning to look his age.

I blame that on the one year old child he has at home. LOL! New parenthood is tough even when you're young.

Edited September 24, 2016 by marceline

[txhorns79]

When Anna had said she was raped and threatened into participating in the shooting, I flashed back to that old Law and Order episode with Amanda Peet where she and her boyfriend go on a murderous crime spree.  The second he is killed, she claims he raped and threatened her into partnering with him on the spree.  

And yes, it seemed ridiculous that the SVU team appeared to be taking lead on a potential terrorist attack.   

[mamadrama]

On 9/22/2016 at 4:43 PM, J-Man said:

But his mother, father, and uncle all spoke perfect English, so there's no reason to believe that a child who was BORN in the US to an English-speaking mother and exposed to English-language media (television, at least) wouldn't at least speak SOME English. That was just ludicrous.

 

On 9/22/2016 at 9:03 AM, blxckbird said:

 

and the kid doesn't speak english because he's like 3 years old lmao :D

 

On 9/22/2016 at 8:47 AM, FinnishViewer said:

Even if the majority of people can speak English, why would a bosnian 4-year-old kid be able to speak English? I live in Finland, where also the majority of people can also peak English as well, but not when they're 4.

Because he wasn't "just"Bosnian. He was Bosnian-American. The fact that they made a point of saying that she'd been in the US for 7 years (or was it 10?) and the kid was obviously younger than that means that he was almost certainly born here. Why WOULDN'T he have been speaking English? Even if they spoke their native language at home, I am assuming he watched television (cartoons) and got out of the house on occasion. Heck, when my daughter was 1 she could speak quite a few words of Spanish, just by watching Dora and Diego. :-) We've traveled all over the world with our kids and even just spending a week or two in a foreign country has allowed my kids to pick up simple phrases here and there, and my kids are still in the single digits. Living around that full-time, like Ali did, would have made him bilingual. 

To me, that was a plot hole that annoyed me to the point of irritation. 

[wknt3]

21 hours ago, torqy said:

Sadly, all too true (and Ice T isn't really even featured!) and reasons why I have officially given up on this show. Mrs. Torqy will watch it until she shuffles off to Buffalo (in syndication you can't escape it) but I'm out. After reading the comments above, I guess a new showrunner hasn't made much of an improvement.

So many shows that once were good have been kept alive on ventilators and feeding tubes...

I can understand your POV. I largely checked out a few seasons ago as I had little interest in Rollins and less in Amaro and the whole grimdark era of SVU. I watched the occasional espisode because I loved what the show used to be and I still liked the cast. I will watch the occasional episode of anything Donal Logue appears in no matter what a mess it is. But enough about Gotham.  I came back aboard because of Carisi and an uptick in quality over the last couple seasons, especially the first half of last season. To borrow your metaphor I think it's been weaned off the ventilator and is eating for itself again, and is back home out of the ICU looking pretty good for it's age. The new showrunner hasn't made much of an improvement, but there has been a lot of improvement in the last couple seasons. To me it's gone from a bad show with some good holdovers from the past to a good show with some annoying bad habits from the past. If they can keep it up and give us more great RFTH eps like last season I'll FF through Noah and Rollins' personal life and stick around until the end. And I'm willing to give the new guy a bit of time to convince Dick Wolf and Mariska that they've only got a few years left no matter what they do so why not go all the way with the back to basics approach that has gotten good results so far?

[torqy]

1 hour ago, wknt3 said:

I can understand your POV. I largely checked out a few seasons ago as I had little interest in Rollins and less in Amaro and the whole grimdark era of SVU. I watched the occasional espisode because I loved what the show used to be and I still liked the cast. I will watch the occasional episode of anything Donal Logue appears in no matter what a mess it is. But enough about Gotham.  I came back aboard because of Carisi and an uptick in quality over the last couple seasons, especially the first half of last season. To borrow your metaphor I think it's been weaned off the ventilator and is eating for itself again, and is back home out of the ICU looking pretty good for it's age. The new showrunner hasn't made much of an improvement, but there has been a lot of improvement in the last couple seasons. To me it's gone from a bad show with some good holdovers from the past to a good show with some annoying bad habits from the past. If they can keep it up and give us more great RFTH eps like last season I'll FF through Noah and Rollins' personal life and stick around until the end. And I'm willing to give the new guy a bit of time to convince Dick Wolf and Mariska that they've only got a few years left no matter what they do so why not go all the way with the back to basics approach that has gotten good results so far?

Well stated.

[FinnishViewer]

On 9/25/2016 at 10:47 AM, mamadrama said:

 

Because he wasn't "just"Bosnian. He was Bosnian-American. The fact that they made a point of saying that she'd been in the US for 7 years (or was it 10?) and the kid was obviously younger than that means that he was almost certainly born here. Why WOULDN'T he have been speaking English? Even if they spoke their native language at home, I am assuming he watched television (cartoons) and got out of the house on occasion. Heck, when my daughter was 1 she could speak quite a few words of Spanish, just by watching Dora and Diego. :-) We've traveled all over the world with our kids and even just spending a week or two in a foreign country has allowed my kids to pick up simple phrases here and there, and my kids are still in the single digits. Living around that full-time, like Ali did, would have made him bilingual. 

To me, that was a plot hole that annoyed me to the point of irritation. 

You're assuming that they would behave like your family, while they clearly wouldn't because the father is a radical. What makes you think he would want to expose his kid to western TV programs, or let his kid socialize with western kids?

[Monkeybball]

I'm trying to figure out a way to say this as delicately as possible....so bear with me.  I am a survivor of sexual assault as well so this is not me being blind to its effects and seriousness but....

I AM SO SICK OF THIS SHOW ACTING LIKE RAAAAAAPE IS THE WORST CRIME IN THE UNIVERSE AND THAT IT COMPLETELY TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER EVERYTHING ELSE!!!!!

I can't even tell you how many times over the years someone has done something completely shady or CRIMINAL and the squad has been like "but guys, let's remember, she was RAPED."

Just look at the way Olivia's tune and tone changes the minute Ana said she was raped.  All of the sudden Liv becomes her ADVOCATE.  Excuse me, you are a police officer.  You are not a defense attorney, as Dodds said.  You are a POLICE OFFICER.  Yes Detectives often do advocate to some degree for the victims they work with but not on this level.  It's just ridiculous.  Olivia goes from being completely evil-Liv-faced to the girl to omgmypetrapevictim.  It's getting a little bit out of control.  Just because someone was raped does not absolve them from responsibility from everything else that they do in their lives.

 

HOWEVER....it did present an interesting element to this particular girl's case, because the effect of repeated and sustained over the years sexual violence.  I totally get how it mitigates her crime in this particular scenario, BUT - I'm sick of Liv being all goo-goo eyed over every rape victim that comes her way.  

 

Okay I didn't say that delicately at all.  Nor did I even really communicate what I wanted to.  I don't know.  It bothers me.

 

ETA: That Dodds line about "you doing your job cost my son his LIFE!", who saw that one coming a mile away? Would have loved for them to have held off from that for at least a few episodes, let the tension build.  I don't think that would be the first thing he says to her out the gate.  God I'm sick of Olivia's emotional dilemmas.  I wanna see more Tucker.  He's hot. 

Edited September 28, 2016 by Monkeybball

[betsyboo]

2 hours ago, Monkeybball said:

I'm trying to figure out a way to say this as delicately as possible....so bear with me.  I am a survivor of sexual assault as well so this is not me being blind to its effects and seriousness but....

I AM SO SICK OF THIS SHOW ACTING LIKE RAAAAAAPE IS THE WORST CRIME IN THE UNIVERSE AND THAT IT COMPLETELY TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER EVERYTHING ELSE!!!!!

 

I understand what you mean. I get that this show is SVU so sex crimes needs to be front and center - but then stick with what you know and don't intro the terror plot.

FWIW,  I can't imagine what you went thru, and kudos to you for even being able to *watch* this kind of show. be well.

[Xantar]

I must be missing something because I didn't see the defendant in this one actually fire a shot during the Central Park attack. What exactly was the legal theory that made her culpable in the attack?

[katisha]

19 hours ago, Xantar said:

I must be missing something because I didn't see the defendant in this one actually fire a shot during the Central Park attack. What exactly was the legal theory that made her culpable in the attack?

I was confused about that too.  Guilt by association, it seemed to me. 

[Princess Sparkle]

I'm guessing she was on the hook for Felony Murder, right?  Because if someone dies while you're committing a felony, it doesn't matter whether you pulled the trigger, you're on the hook for the murder.  So I'm guessing the whole terrorist piece or the illegal weapons possession is the felony, and then the murder is charged from there. 

[bethster2000]

On 9/23/2016 at 7:15 AM, MaggieG said:

It's been a long, lonely summer without my boo Carisi!!

On 9/22/2016 at 1:43 PM, J-Man said:

Look, at least your boo is coming back!  I'm still not over losing my sweet, sweet Nick Amaro!

Here's an idea: get back Nick, give Olivia her walking papers.