S19.E05: Complicated

[Aethera]

Quote

A 10-year-old kidnapping case is reopened when a young woman is found wandering Central Park alone. Meanwhile, Carisi's conversation with a newspaper reporter puts him in hot water. 

[QueenMab]

Also meanwhile....Rollins macrame's friendship bracelets for her and Benson, Finn kicks back in a park, and Barba stares at his office ceiling while drinking coffee from a mug that says " I run on caffeine, sarcasm, and bad thoughts". Sounds exciting!!

[Gigi43]

From the preview it looks a lot like an old one where a daughter "returns after escaping from the guy that had her for years" and it tuned out one of the sisters killed the real girl over not wanting to tell on her for doing drugs, I think. I don't remember the name of the episode but Stabler was still on the show but later in his run.

[dttruman]

The writers are using some of the lamest excuses at the beginning here to prolong this case when it comes to finding out the identity of this alleged kidnapped victim. From the parents who don't want to traumatize her to Barba who doesn't want to inconvenience them (instead of getting to the truth). They are doing all this just to create a dramatic situation that never should have occurred under normal circumstances.

[Gigglepuff]

Why was Liv assisting in the reunion between Emma and her parents? Wouldn't a social worker or psychologist be more appropriate?

[sockii]

It was a rehash of Season 10's "Stranger", yep. I was hoping for at least SOME other twist, but no, it even went with the-sibling-did-it, only adding in one of the parents helping.

God help me, I think I was actually more interested in the Benoah plot by the end.

[dttruman]

Was this superficial SVU incident written just so Benson could try and understand the feelings of the grandmother (Brooke Shields) who has just found her grandchild? I find it strange at the hearing that she said she employed an investigator to find the child, yet that investigator never contacted the authorities who would have informed him of Benson's lawyer's attempts to find any living relatives.

[dttruman]

8 minutes ago, sockii said:

It was a rehash of Season 10's "Stranger", yep. I was hoping for at least SOME other twist, but no, it even went with the-sibling-did-it, only adding in one of the parents helping.

God help me, I think I was actually more interested in the Benoah plot by the end.

 

2 hours ago, Gigi43 said:

From the preview it looks a lot like an old one where a daughter "returns after escaping from the guy that had her for years" and it tuned out one of the sisters killed the real girl over not wanting to tell on her for doing drugs, I think. I don't remember the name of the episode but Stabler was still on the show but later in his run.

The two episodes that are referenced above have more depth in them this episode of "Complicated".

[Spartan Girl]

In Liv's defense, it's hard to be civil to a long-lost grandma that jumped right into trying to vacate the adoption BEFORE introducing herself.

But at least they resolved to drop the courts and lawyers and negotiate like adults. For now.

Edited October 26, 2017 by Spartan Girl

[HunterHunted]

23 minutes ago, dttruman said:

The writers are using some of the lamest excuses at the beginning here to prolong this case when it comes to finding out the identity of this alleged kidnapped victim. From the parents who don't want to traumatize her to Barba who doesn't want to inconvenience them (instead of getting to the truth). They are doing all this just to create a dramatic situation that never should have occurred under normal circumstances.

15 minutes ago, Gigglepuff said:

Why was Liv assisting in the reunion between Emma and her parents? Wouldn't a social worker or psychologist be more appropriate?

 

No one in their right mind would put that girl back in the home without knowing what she went through and if she's a danger to herself or others. They didn't even do any blood work to discover if she had any medical conditions. They implied that "the abduction" might have sexual in alluding to Cleveland, yet they never checked if "Emma" was pregnant. Of course, Liv knows better than any psychologist, social worker, or doctor.

I think it's so interesting that the dad covered up the daughter's death. If he had bothered to talk to an attorney, he might have realized that his son might have been too young to form the intent to kill and possibly couldn't be charged with a crime. It's possible he could have gone to juvenile detention. It's also possible he could have ended up in a residential treatment facility for emotionally disturbed kids or just outpatient treatment.

2 minutes ago, dttruman said:

Was this superficial SVU incident written just so Benson could try and understand the feelings of the grandmother (Brooke Shields) who has just found her grandchild? I find it strange at the hearing that she said she employed an investigator to find the child, yet that investigator never contacted the authorities who would have informed him of Benson's lawyer's attempts to find any living relatives.

Worse, the investigator found out about the adoption because of the child abuse allegation. Those are supposed to be confidential until a confirmation and even then only the perp is disclosed. This is done for many reasons, including protection of the child. But we know that Cassidy is everyone's gossipy Aunt who tells everyone about Liv.

[Gigglepuff]

I laughed when Barba said that they can't vacate an adoption. The show already did that one once too. 

Something seemed up to me when they first showed the brother. Then after things got fishy, I knew the real Emma was dead, especially after the father refused the DNA test, claiming that it would be too "traumatic." As "heartbreaking" as it was for poor Carisi to tragically carry out the body of little Emma, wouldn't that be the job of a ME? Wouldn't a body that's been in the ground for a decade be fragile and practically fall apart if moved?

I actually hope that Sheila will be a positive thing, as long as they tone down the drama there, I'm fine with the idea of having a bio grandmother for Noah. 

[RafaelBarba35]

Okay what the fuck happened to Sonny getting into hot water because of a reporter? Was that deleted? Because if so..... Why? Why are Sonny's scenes getting deleted. We've got two from the premiere and two from No Good Reason (I'm glad the crush one got deleted though, it was kinda creepy). This is getting ridiculous. 

Love the Benson/Barba scene though.

[Gigi43]

My favorite part was Carisi saying they were getting a reunification expert, cut to Liv and only Liv doing the reuniting. They couldn't make a better parody if they tried. I actually laughed. 

 

I don't believe they would tell the family in this day and age without some kind of dna/finger print etc match. 

[candall]

First episode I've watched this season.

Pretty Baby Brooke Shields is the grandmother?!?  How old am I then--a thousand???

I laughed at Carisi.  "Don't touch me.  Don't touch me!  DON'T TOUCH ME!!!"   So Carisi closes in to touch her.

How is it possible they didn't dig up the little girl's body and discover she wasn't quite dead when they buried her?  SVU, you wound up surprising me, after all.

Edited October 26, 2017 by candall

[milner]

I am sure I just saw this same plot on another show.  I knew immediately that the girl was a fake and that the brother was involved.  Anyone remember a show recently with the same story?   And on another topic I hate how Mariska does that weird whisper thing to show emotion, distress etc.  

[RafaelBarba35]

2 minutes ago, milner said:

And on another topic I hate how Mariska does that weird whisper thing to show emotion, distress etc.  

I hate this!!!!! I hate this so much!!!!!! It's annoying!!!

[Danielg342]

Liked Brooke Shields, even if she didn't have much to do. I'll also note that Mariska Hargitay is one year older (53 vs. 52) than Shields is. Make that of what you will.

I figured Glenn out as soon as I saw him. I get the show wanted to have some foreshadowing, but the choice to play "the one guy not excited to see his long lost sibling" very straight backfired immensely.

Did like the rest of the case- it was logical and had believable twists. It did have that "pedestrian" feel in that I got the sense this show's done this before. It also wasn't too different from when other shows tackled the same kind of case.

Still, though, it held my interest. Good to see Isaiah Thomas too, even though that jersey was a bit awkward.

[The Wild Sow]

Wow, they just dusted off "Stranger" and threw in a side of JonBenet Ramsey!  It was obvious from the beginning that the brother was involved.  

How old was he supposed to be, anyway?  At least 21 since he could drink in a bar, so at least 11 when he killed her.

[Jaded]

16 minutes ago, milner said:

I am sure I just saw this same plot on another show.  I knew immediately that the girl was a fake and that the brother was involved.  Anyone remember a show recently with the same story?   And on another topic I hate how Mariska does that weird whisper thing to show emotion, distress etc.  

I remember seeing it on another show too and can't remember which one. The one I saw involved cellphones in the story.

[JyDanzig]

So, I liked this one!  Yes, it was extremely predictable, and yes, they have done the exact same story already, and yes, most of the ridiculous things people have  pointed out are in fact totally ridiculous.

But by the end, it just worked for me.  I found it moving.  It was really all in the performances -- the actress playing the Emma Con Artist was exceptional, the mom really brought it in her last scene, and Brooke Shields was fantastic.

I also thought this episode did something well that SVU never does well -- the themes in the case offered a compelling counterpoint to Benson's personal arc, without being too on the nose.  Usually when they attempt "the issues in the case resonate with the issues in the personal story", the paralleling is waaaaaay too literal and it just feels stupid.  Here, you see how it was making Benson think of her own situation, without being a conveniently exact copy of her present dilemma.

I'd say it's the first episode this season where I've decisively liked all the plotlines in the episode.  A tried-and-true story, but well executed.  Nice job, show.

Edited October 26, 2017 by JyDanzig

[Lebanna]

32 minutes ago, milner said:

And on another topic I hate how Mariska does that weird whisper thing to show emotion, distress etc.  

She inherited it from her mother. Seriously, go watch her mom's performance in anything. Same whisper.

It used to drive me nuts in SVU, but then I realized what it was about. It's kind of sweet and sad.

[Xeliou66]

This episode was average, better than the last 2 weeks but not great. It was a ripoff of Stranger from season 10 where a girl returns home only to be revealed as an imposter and the real girl was murdered by her sister. They should've come up with more of an original plot. 

I did like how there was actually an investigation, I like how there are less he said/she said cases this year and more investigation, and I like how Benson is more in the office and letting the detectives do more in the field. 

I did have some questions though about how the crime took place, when exactly was the girl killed? She was reported missing after school, so did she come home, the brother killed her, then the dad told him to go to the park and report her missing? If so, where was the mom? Where did the dad take the body then, he couldn't have buried her in the middle of the day, did he take her to a secluded area outside the city? How did the police not get suspicious that no one else noticed the girl, was the park quiet? What about surveillance cams on the route from the school to the park, wouldn't they have shown the girl wasn't there? And how the fuck did the mom not know something was wrong, hard to believe the dad and son would've been able to keep it from her for 10 years? Too many unanswered questions and vague details, would've appreciated more. 

Some Barba is better than no Barba, but his appearance was basically an afterthought once again. Stop underusing him, he's a great character and he's getting barely any screen time. Churnuchin is a mothership writer who has done some great courtroom stuff so why can't we get more court like we did in episode 1? 

And what happened to the Carisi story? I guess the same thing that happened to Fin supposedly being involved in No Surrender, it was false information in the episode description. You just can't trust what NBC puts out in those. I did like how Carisi was involved tonight, but I'm sick of scenes with him and Barba and Fin getting deleted because the writers are so concerned with kissing Mariska's ass. 

Too much Benson personal crap again, but I'm glad that they didn't make Brooke Shields into a nemesis for Benson or a caricature villain. I'm glad that things seem to be going okay now with both characters acting reasonably, hopefully there will be less Benson at home scenes and more on the cases in the future.

It was immediately obvious Glen was hiding something, his behavior was way off the whole episode. The dad as well was acting funny. 

Pretty cool to see Isaiah Thomas make an appearance, I always like when they use real people, gives the franchise the feeling of being grounded in reality that it's always had. 

Overall an interesting start that once again fizzled. I wish the writers would put more effort into coming up with good stories instead of rehashing plots and leaving holes. And use Barba more, please. 

Edited October 26, 2017 by Xeliou66

[WendyCR72]

43 minutes ago, Jaded said:

I remember seeing it on another show too and can't remember which one

An episode of Elementary actually had a story of a girl kidnapped who returned - who was also an impostor. Ironically, Kathryn Erbe (Alex Eames on L&O: CI) played the mother of said missing girl. Seems to be a popular theme.

[QueenMab]

Oh God! The whispering scene! Stop it. Is she trying to seduce? Sound "sexy"? WTF? Stupid story rehash. Half way through and where is Carisi's big mouth trouble? And Barba? No reason for him to be there. Interesting they are such good friends but she hadn't told him about this adoption problem? Maybe they are detaching those two. Good. I'll take less Barba if it means a more ethical, realistic "relationship" between those two. This is a yawn so far.

[Vella]

I honestly thought I'd missed the "DNA is a match!" scene because there is no way police would reunite a long lost child with their family without first confirming with titanium proof, that there is DNA match to the family.  She literally walks off the street and without knowing a THING about her, they just hand her over to strangers. They don't know if she's dangerous, what her medical state is, why she only 'remembers' things when Carisi eagerly supplies the details. They hadn't even investigated the white van story before the girl was already announced publicly as Emma.  There's dramatic licensing and then there's THIS.

[ForeverAlone]

This episode was much better when it was season 10 and called "Stranger." This episode was just a poor retread. Plus the entire episode centered on an idiot plot point on the part of SVU. I mean,  I cannot imagine in real life anyone who emerged after being missing for 10 years would be reunited with a family without verifying identity through fingerprints or DNA. If the police had just insisted on identity verification (you know, do their due diligence as police), this whole mess could have been avoided. But then we would not have had the story, but like I said, this is just a retread from an older, better episode.

 

And yes, this episode sorely underused Barba, and what happened to the Carisi subplot? My two favorite characters are getting short changed (though at least there were some other good Carisi scenes) in favor of too much Benoah. 

 

Because, yes I am completely over Benoah drama. Granted I am not a parent, but I don't see any harm in Sheila Porter being granted some sort of visitation. Just make this story go away (but I doubt we'll be that lucky). 

Edited October 26, 2017 by ForeverAlone

[Zoe]

Came here to complain this was a rehash of that other episode. Beaten to the punch!

Father was recycled too--he played the homeless father with a bunch of children, of which the eldest 2 got sold into slavery.

[Brookside]

1 hour ago, Danielg342 said:

Liked Brooke Shields, even if she didn't have much to do. I'll also note that Mariska Hargitay is one year older (53 vs. 52) than Shields is. Make that of what you will.

 

I turned this on late and didn't know the  grandma story. The camera was on Brooke Shields and at first I thought she was playing some long-lost sister of Benson.

[WendyCR72]

I hate defending this on any level, but I think, with the show being so old, there was bound to be retreads of past, better episodes. This one just seemed a lot more obvious. (I know, with the cash these writers make, they should/could be more original, but the problem seems widespread. Look at all the sequels and reboots on TV, coming to TV, or in the movies now.)

[ForeverAlone]

I can deal with retreads in theory, but I hope that the new story either explores a different aspect of the story, or at least the story isn't poorly written. Since this story could only exist, because SVU failed to do its job, the side eye I have for this retread is especially strong. Maybe if the story had now been exploring any aftermath from the SVU incompetence, it could have been interesting. But this was nearly the exact same story as "Stranger", only poorly written. 

[bequialife]

I don't know why they would have Olivia Benson's character having a kid.  She is an older single woman with an extremely stress-filled job trying to do this on her own?  No family/friends to help out? And often requiring working evenings and weekend.  In all the past episodes there were plenty of night scenes, weekend scenes, etc.  Not a good idea.  Are SVU producers running out of ideas?

[CelticBlackCat]

24 minutes ago, bequialife said:

I don't know why they would have Olivia Benson's character having a kid.  She is an older single woman with an extremely stress-filled job trying to do this on her own?  No family/friends to help out? And often requiring working evenings and weekend.  In all the past episodes there were plenty of night scenes, weekend scenes, etc.  Not a good idea.  Are SVU producers running out of ideas?

No one else in NYC was available to save Noah so the job landed to Saint Olivia.  She has Lucy to take care of Noah during her long work days and she only lives 20 minutes from her home in NYC.  Now that Granny Porter has arrived, Lucy Poppins may get a break from her 18-hour days when Saint Olivia graciously allows her to spend time with her grandson who is the same age as herself.

[CheetaraThunder]

2 hours ago, ForeverAlone said:

This episode was much better when it was season 10 and called "Stranger." This episode was just a poor retread. Plus the entire episode centered on an idiot plot point on the part of SVU. I mean,  I cannot imagine in real life anyone who emerged after being missing for 10 years would be reunited with a family without verifying identity through fingerprints or DNA. If the police had just insisted on identity verification (you know, do their due diligence as police), this whole mess could have been avoided. But then we would not have had the story, but like I said, this is just a retread from an older, better episode.

 

And yes, this episode sorely underused Barba, and what happened to the Carisi subplot? My two favorite characters are getting short changed (though at least there were some other good Carisi scenes) in favor of too much Benoah. 

 

Because, yes I am completely over Benoah drama. Granted I am not a parent, but I don't see any harm in Sheila Porter being granted some sort of visitation. Just make this story go away (but I doubt we'll be that lucky). 

 

With the Carisi subplot, I actually think they switched the episode descriptions with a later episode. 

I think it should show up next week. But, if they completely dropped it, then fuck the writers.

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, Jaded said:

I remember seeing it on another show too and can't remember which one. The one I saw involved cellphones in the story.

Exact same plot was on Blue Bloods two weeks ago. But father was not involved in killing. Just brother. I was really having deja vu during this episode. 

6 hours ago, milner said:

I am sure I just saw this same plot on another show.  I knew immediately that the girl was a fake and that the brother was involved.  Anyone remember a show recently with the same story?   And on another topic I hate how Mariska does that weird whisper thing to show emotion, distress etc.  

See above. 

Edited October 26, 2017 by GussieK

[dttruman]

8 hours ago, Gigglepuff said:

I laughed when Barba said that they can't vacate an adoption. The show already did that one once too. 

Something seemed up to me when they first showed the brother. Then after things got fishy, I knew the real Emma was dead, especially after the father refused the DNA test, claiming that it would be too "traumatic." As "heartbreaking" as it was for poor Carisi to tragically carry out the body of little Emma, wouldn't that be the job of a ME? Wouldn't a body that's been in the ground for a decade be fragile and practically fall apart if moved?

I actually hope that Sheila will be a positive thing, as long as they tone down the drama there, I'm fine with the idea of having a bio grandmother for Noah. 

Yeah I noticed that too about Carisi removing the body. This whole episode had so many police procedural investigation errors in it I couldn't keep up with them. They are having the regulars do the most inauthenic things now just to make them look sympathetic or heroic. It looks like they let go another valuable member of this show, the technical advisor.

[wknt3]

The Good:
Rollins. I really liked the her in this episode especially the scene in the bar. One of the few good things to come out of the last season and a half was the rebooted Rollins who is actually believable as a detective.
Carisi. Nice chemistry with Rollins as usual and it's good to see them as investigators instead of Benson's acolytes.
Benson as CO. They are struggling a bit but they seem to be groping their way to where they should have been all along with Benson as a hands on CO leading interrogations, dealing with families, etc. instead of as a detective who happens to run the squad in her spare time. With a couple of exceptions that have already been mentioned like the reunification scene it was refreshing that what we saw as a cop was logical progression from the character I loved so much in earlier seasons and not St. Benson, Martyr of Justice, Protector of Victims, Polymath that Puts Bobby Goren to Shame.
Good acting from the guest cast once again. In fact it might have been too good as it was obvious that the brother's reactions were off, but nobody else picked up on it right away.
A glimmer of hope that we aren't going to have the Anvil of Doom hanging over Noah's head all season. And the connection between Benoah and COTW was competently done.

The Bad:
Why not give Fin the week off again if you aren't going to do much with him?
Barba too. He didn't seem to serve much of a purpose as far as advancing the plot.
The NBC promo monkeys screwing with us again promising a Carisi plot that never appeared.
Some real WTF moments that I'm not sure were bad writing or critical material edited out to give us more Benoah or if nobody remembers the basics of how police investigations are supposed to work, but I can't understand why they didn't go to red alert as soon as "Emma" refused to provide DNA. Or why that the squad didn't see what all the rest of saw with the brother and give us the classic L&O scene where the detectives tell the CO something is up and the CO tells them that they don't have enough yet and their gut isn't enough on such a high profile case.
So nobody in the SVU universe can run a simple database search? Grandma Brooke's PI couldn't find Noah even though the adoption was a matter of public record until the child abuse investigation which should be confidential? WTF?
I think somebody mentioned this upthread already, but the whispering scene was terribly acted. And the whispering is annoying. Olivia BENSON not Olivia BATMAN.

Overall it was OK I guess. Still miles better than last season, but still glaring problems with some basic elements of storytelling. I would think a veteran showrunner with lots of L&O experience would have insisted on fixing some of the glaring problems with the plot mechanics of the COTW, but I guess it's possible that he sees it as triage and giving us different types of cases, fixing the morass that the legal side had become and getting non-Benson characters back in the mix is the priority. They seem to have made good progress there though so it's time to start in on the basics of procedural plotting.

[shapeshifter]

On October 25, 2017 at 11:27 PM, Xeliou66 said:

It was immediately obvious Glen was hiding something, his behavior was way off the whole episode. The dad as well was acting funny

Not surprisingly, newbie Actor Glen gave away way too much, IMO, whereas H!ITG! Actor Dad was much more nuanced about it.

 

And once again, Peter Scanavino/Carisi did more emoting with his body in a few seconds (watching the reveal of and then carrying the child-shaped blanket) than the rest of the cast did with all of their line deliveries.*

 

 

On October 26, 2017 at 6:35 AM, wknt3 said:

And the whispering is annoying. Olivia BENSON not Olivia BATMAN.

Hah! Thank you for this!

 

On October 26, 2017 at 1:15 AM, ForeverAlone said:

ng. But this was nearly the exact same story as "Stranger", only poorly written. 

I can only guess they didn't realize that it wasn't even as good as the original until it was in the can. There ought to be a rule: No story retread unless it's an improvement on the original. Just because it is story-adjacent to the Benoah plot-of-the-week doesn't mean it can be hastily thrown together.

 

*ETA: I'm blaimIng the "Don't touch me!" scene on direction.

Edited October 28, 2017 by shapeshifter

[sockii]

5 hours ago, ForeverAlone said:

I can deal with retreads in theory, but I hope that the new story either explores a different aspect of the story, or at least the story isn't poorly written. Since this story could only exist, because SVU failed to do its job, the side eye I have for this retread is especially strong. Maybe if the story had now been exploring any aftermath from the SVU incompetence, it could have been interesting. But this was nearly the exact same story as "Stranger", only poorly written. 

This. I would have liked it FAR better if they'd acknowledged that earlier case. Maybe have Olivia's initial doubts when Carisi is sure it's Emma tied in to her remembering and recounting the events of "Stranger".

But then, we couldn't have had this idiot plot, could we?

*sigh*

[milner]

Thank you so much Gussie K it was Blue Bloods!  I knew it was a recent show with the same plot but just couldn’t get my old brain in gear and it was driving me crazy. Thanks again ?

[QueenMab]

Why did they call this episode "Complicated"? It wasn't complicated at all. Just a hodgepodge of "stuff" going on. Nobody did very much and all MH did is whisper to the point I thought " oh for crap sake! Just bang her already and move on. She's gone the whole show trying to sexually seduce everyone with this annoying sex whisper bs". WTF is up with that bit?! She's a COP...not a phone sex worker. Story was a non-story rehash. Whatever.

[QueenMab]

Does anyone know if Barba is on next week? Because otherwise I don't care about Benoah. Or whatever pos story they throw out. I watch with the sound off until Barba comes on. 

[CheetaraThunder]

11 minutes ago, QueenMab said:

Does anyone know if Barba is on next week? Because otherwise I don't care about Benoah. Or whatever pos story they throw out. I watch with the sound off until Barba comes on. 

 

Honestly, the only good things were the little Barba we got, and seeing Fin/Rollins/Carisi work together.

Carisi/Rollins are becoming my new favorite partnership as of lately.

[LittleIggy]

I kept yelling at the screen “Do a DNA test!”

[Jaded]

6 hours ago, GussieK said:

Exact same plot was on Blue Bloods two weeks ago. But father was not involved in killing. Just brother. I was really having deja vu during this episode. 

Thank you!

I watch too many legal related shows new and in reruns that I couldn't remember which one I  had seen it on recently.
 

Edited October 26, 2017 by Jaded

[marceline]

Dear SVU,

I don't give a fuck about Noah.

Regards,
Marceline

[kilda]

10 hours ago, CelticBlackCat said:

No one else in NYC was available to save Noah so the job landed to Saint Olivia.  She has Lucy to take care of Noah during her long work days and she only lives 20 minutes from her home in NYC.  Now that Granny Porter has arrived, Lucy Poppins may get a break from her 18-hour days when Saint Olivia graciously allows her to spend time with her grandson who is the same age as herself.

yep, because it's super hard to find adoptive families for healthy white babies who are legally available for adoption.  (eyeroll)

don't even get me started on all the harmful myths about adoption this episode reinforced - the bio family is to be feared!  they will come back and have your adoption overturned!  This crap scares a lot of people away from adopting, and Mariska as an adoptive parent KNOWS better.  No court would have even given grandma a hearing about overturning the adoption.  It can't happen and would never have even made it into a courtroom.  She also would not have had any legal standing to request visitation.  I'm glad Olivia let her have visitation, but as a legal petition?  Nope, grandma wouldn't have even had standing to file a petition.

[Gigglepuff]

Every aspect of the Noah storyline is filled with harmful myths about adoption. Mariska should know better, that's for sure. The problem is that as MH said herself, she doesn't know where she begins and where Benson ends and I think she's out of touch with reality.  In regards to the Noah story, first of all, there would have already been families who were pre approved for adoption and waiting for a match. Secondly, this is a child born of a junkie mother. Only in a fairy tale would he luck out and have zero health or developmental issues. Yeah, Ellie said she quit drugs as soon as she found out she was pregnant. Well, lots of junkies talk like that, and secondly, unless she knew the exact moment that she conceived, she was using at at some point during her pregnancy. In addition, cold turkey withdrawal is not the best thing for either mother or baby. Somehow, I highly doubt Ellie was receiving the best prenatal care. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the system is filled with babies/children who do have issues, but by some miracle, Noah is healthy and seemingly unaffected (aside from those minor speech issues from last season), and NO ONE wanted him or could care for him, aside from Benson. Here's the next thing. As politically incorrect as this may sound, it is much harder for a single person to adopt a child. Yes, single moms can be great. I myself was raised by one. However, a single parent, who works long hours, with little family and little support is really not the best candidate. In the real world, there are more people waiting to adopt (especially healthy infants) than there are available children, hence the long waiting lists. Besides, what circumstances changed in Benson's life that made her qualified to adopt? She was turned down as a prospective adoptive parent earlier in the series, so what happened, aside from MH wanting Benson to become a mother and Warren Leight kowtowing? 

I agree with you @kilda that this episode furthered negative myths about adoption and the evils of the bio family. This isn't the 1960s anymore, where people lie to their kids about being adopted, in fact, in many cases, contact with bio family members is strongly encouraged. 

Edited October 26, 2017 by Gigglepuff

[illdoc]

I also like the fact that, despite the fact he was a baby when adopted and is about 5 now, the adoption took place (in Barba's words) 3 years ago!

[WineCheeseChocolat]

 Either this show is getting more predictable or I’m getting better at figuring out the ending (I suspect the former) because I figured out it was a Stranger redux pretty much from the beginning AND that the dad was involved (he kept sending the detectives away, didn’t want them to talk to the girl).

 Did they say that the original cops had found Emma’s underwear? Why would the dad plant those if part of his reasoning was to spare his wife pain? She’d not only imagine her little girl being abducted but raped as well. How old was Glenn when this happened? From his description of his version of events (childlike thinking) and that he was still living with his parents ten years later, he couldn’t have been more than 8-10. It sounded like he was being sentenced as an adult. Maybe because he kept secret about the coverup after he became an adult?

I’m glad the Noah arc is not going to drag out in a big custody battle, but one thing besides the obvious stuff bugs. In S15, Ellie was presented as a hardened former foster/street kid. I got the vibe she had known nothing but foster care growing up. Now I’m supposed to believe she grew up in a stable two-parent home with a loving mother and ended up in her situation because of normal teenage acting out?

I get some inherited the whispering tendencies from her mother, but MH’s whispering has really gotten bad the past two seasons. In the good old days, she could show Liv’s vulnerability without the dramatic overacting.

[RafaelBarba35]

6 hours ago, QueenMab said:

Does anyone know if Barba is on next week? Because otherwise I don't care about Benoah. Or whatever pos story they throw out. I watch with the sound off until Barba comes on. 

Yeah he is but I don't know how much screen time he's gonna get sick this seems like a Rollins episode. Key word 'seems'.