S19.E08: Intent

[dttruman]

Sort of a double episode. From the description on IMdB of SVU : The cops get tangled in an elaborate online hoax that leads to the rape of a popular social media star. Meanwhile, Benson sets firm ground rules with Sheila.

Hasn't there already been a rape concerning a popular social media star? Does this mean that this will just be a routine investigation and the rest will be about Benson personal struggle with Sheila?

[QueenMab]

Yes. I'm ordering a pizza I will symbolically share with all of you. Sort of a "Last Supper" thing.

[Xeliou66]

We will definitely get just as much or more Benson/Sheila drama as we have of the case. And yeah the case sounds unoriginal, yet another pretty young popular white girl is the victim, so tiresome. 

[Gigglepuff]

Is it just me, or wasn't there already a social media star as the victim story? 

[RafaelBarba35]

52 minutes ago, Gigglepuff said:

Is it just me, or wasn't there already a social media star as the victim story? 

Star struck Victim?

[dttruman]

Did anybody buy the premise that the MMA guy would actually oblige the social media star and rape her without talking face to face with her about it first? This is very inconsistent to me because they portrayed him as a sensitive and common sense guy.

I wonder how many social media star rapes do they plan on showing this season?

Did this episode seem like they are trying now to cover the personal lives of all members of the SVU. I thought the personal stuff going on between Rollins and Carisi is just as useless and Benson and Noah. It has become too much of a soap opera.

Edited December 8, 2017 by dttruman

[auchic]

Well, that's a hell of a cliffhanger. If only I cared.

ETA: I don't know how to feel about Rollins/Carisi. I'm here for it, but it's starting to feel a little soap opera-ish...will they, won't they, and then they finally do BUT WAIT PLOT TWIST.

Edited December 7, 2017 by auchic

[RafaelBarba35]

21 minutes ago, dttruman said:

 

Did this episode seem like they are trying now to cover the personal lives of all members of the SVU. I thought the personal stuff going on between Rollins and Carisi is just as useless and Benson and Noah. It has become too much of a soap opera.

Of all the white members yes. Fin and Rafael apparently don't count. 

[Spartan Girl]

Trolls suck.

Yeah, I think I'm pretty much done with this show. Never thought I'd say it, but this season broke me. The only high point of this episode was Carisi and Rollins getting into the bar fight and they ruined that with Carisi showing shades of jealous Nice Guy.

I am going back to the reruns of when this show was good. Good luck, folks.

[Mulva]

I don't care if he got a text, he raped her.  The man deserved prison time.  As for Noah, who cares.

[Gigglepuff]

Two plots copied in this one. First, the social media star, and second, the "rape fantasy" was used a few seasons ago in "Theatre Tricks." I couldn't care less about Noah. If the lad is as smart as he seems, maybe he arranged his own abduction for which I would't blame him. 

I'm kind of wondering if Sheila had something to do with Noah's kidnapping. 

[QueenMab]

Noah gets kidnapped....not by Sheila??! Might watch for that. Take him to Cuba. No extradition. He be gone a looooong time! 

[auchic]

9 minutes ago, Gigglepuff said:

and second, the "rape fantasy" was used a few seasons ago in "Theatre Tricks."

Yes, THANK YOU, I knew they had done something similar before and couldn't think of the name, just that it had a very young Adam Driver.

[QueenMab]

Wonder what the numbers are going to be this week with that lame ass Pentatoochie whatever Xmas show lead in. Couldn't have been any whiter.

[QueenMab]

WTF is up with this Rafa bit from Benson? His MOTHER calls him "Rafi", his oldest dearest friends from childhood call him "Rafi", the woman who married his best friend instead of him calls him "Rafi". Benson is so close and special she gets to call him a special name only she can use?  WTF? That bothers me. Please...God...do not ship these two.

[QueenMab]

BTW....tonite was pure grade A soap opera SHIT.

[CelticBlackCat]

The Benson soap opera mixed in with an already done social media sex case with some Carisi/Rollins soap suds thrown in for good measure.  Nice to know Rollins has cleaned up her act and is now a straight-and-narrow mother of one -- NOT!  She has a one-night stand with Buck from The Bar?  Nice going Amanda, hope you're on birth control so you don't have another accidental baby with no baby daddy in sight.  I guess Carisi has seen the light as far as any admiration for his partner is concerned.  I am glad that they didn't hook up though!

So a stranger kidnaps Noah from the dept. store while in Sheila's care, and Sheila and Benson wind up in a cabin together in the new year?  It's gotta be a revenge thing against Benson, probably from one of her previous angst-ridden cases.  I thought Granny would have been the kidnapper, but we all knew there was going to be a kidnapping, right?

The best part of the episode was Barba grilling Heather and getting her to break, a la Perry Mason.  Good job Rafael!

[ForeverAlone]

I found this episode to be...distinctly odd. Now, I don't necessarily mean "odd" in a bad way, but this was a very different type of episode. The case was a bit different (after assuming this was going to be a straightforward rich white dude prick rapist/pretty young white woman victim). The rhythm of the episode was definitely odd, and we haven't had this much personal development in a long time. Yeah, yeah, we had way too much Benoah, but I am not that particularly concerned about the following episode (it's not like the show is going to kill off Noah or anything), but we also got a surprising amount of Dominic and Amanda. I mean, I was honestly surprised they went there with Dominic basically acting like a jealous puppy dog about Amanda. I couldn't tell if she actually wanted him but didn't want to go there (because the writers have already pulled that trigger more than once with regards to her character), or if she just saw him as a friend. I honestly wouldn't mind if the show did go there, but I am not a real fan of the drawn out sexual tension. Of course, if they were going to pair Dominic up with another character, I wish it would be Rafael, but I know the show would never go there. As for the end with the Noah peril, my big question is if this kidnapper was hired by Sheila or not to steal Noah. Either choice would not surprise me. But either way, I really don't care. Even after this episode, I am still puzzled about the whole Ellie thing. No, I would not expect Olivia to tell Noah that his mother was murdered, but what HAS she told him? I mean, Noah has to know he is adopted and it is expected that he would have asked Olivia about his birth mother. While she and Sheila haven't worked out some sort of united front with what to tell Noah, it also seems that Olivia has no plan for how to answer Noah's questions, and that alone is odd. 

As for the case, it was interesting. I did like the fact that there was the twist about this whole case. It made everything more interesting that this wasn't a straightforward rape case. Everything involved with Heather and her arrest was a very odd diversion for the show. From the drunken cop bar brawl (I guess cops can get involved in bar brawls in West Virginia with no blowback), the sexual tension between Dominic and Amanda, the whole passive arrest and passive drive back to NYC. It had this strange rhythm to it, but I didn't hate it. I was just wondering where the show was going with all of this, so I'll probably like it more upon rewatch. I have to say that this was the most and best Rafael of the season, so that alone endears me to this episode. He actually was doing his job as a lawyer, and Olivia didn't have AS much say over the legal strategy as she has had in the past (though my preference would be that she wouldn't be in any of his legal meetings at all). The initial part of the trial was weird, but I did smile a bit that Rafael thought Heather was so pathetic that he would have acquitted her if he was on the jury. But thankfully Dominic was able to come through with some actual case relevant information, and Rafael was able to turn the tables during Heather's cross examination. For me, at least her conviction felt earned, rather than some of the dubious convictions from last season. And it also felt like it wasn't Olivia saving the day on the case, so I am pleased about that choice.

Overall, I liked this episode more than most this season. 

Edited December 7, 2017 by ForeverAlone

[CelticBlackCat]

^ I agree that this epi had a different rhythm and felt different from the usual format.

ETA: I shouted at the TV, "You're not going there, are you?!?" with the Sonny and Amanda almost kiss at the motel.  I think it's ill advised.

Edited December 7, 2017 by CelticBlackCat
Stated above.

[watcher1006]

I groaned to see the fall finale cliffhanger be a Benson-Noah-Sheila story. Worth watching in January? I don't know.

The most improbable point of the episode was when the fighter with the tats agreed to take a guilty plea to help find the Internet villain. Agreeing to throw away millions and become a convicted felon on the sex offender registry when the case against him was so weak? The victim had even refused to have a rape kit taken.

[Xeliou66]

There were some things I liked and some things I didn't. 

The best part was that there was great use of Barba. We finally got to see him in the courtroom doing what he does best, there has not been nearly enough Barba or courtroom scenes this season, so we finally got to see that. 

The case kept my interest enough, I couldn't figure out what exactly was going on at the start and it turned out decent enough, I liked that we had a woman perp instead of the typical white male, that was a nice twist, I thought we were once again going to see a misogynistic geek white guy computer whiz as the perp. 

I agree that the plot wasn't very original, we have already seeing the catfishing thing done before. And the victim was just like almost every other victim the show has : young, white, attractive and rich. Not the first time the victim's been a social media star either, we've all ready had one this season in the episode that ended with St Olivia ending bullying and changing the lives of hundreds of teenagers with one sermon. It's gotten ridiculous, it seems like the writers are trying to attract the hipster trendy crowd and ignore everyone else. 

All of the characters had good material, Fin had some funny lines. But what was up with Carisi apparently being jealous of Rollins? That was weird and very soapy. I liked seeing Carisi and Rollins in WV and I liked seeing them talk at the bar and the fight scene was funny, after all we never get any focus on anyone except for Benson so some of Rollins and Carisi was a welcome change, but I could've done without Carisi being jealous of Rollins' having a one night stand, that was just pure soapy. Don't ruin Carisi with him behaving like a jealous teenager and don't let Rollins' hook up with another colleague, she seems to have really cleaned up her act and become a strong detective, don't get rid of all that and hook her up with another colleague. 

Benson was as irritating as ever, and I'm so tired of Benson/Granny and Noah. Most tiresome and pointless shitty storyline SVU has ever done, even Stabler's goddamn kids didn't take up this much screen time. And seriously, Benson hasn't told Noah anything about his bio mom? So does Noah not know he's adopted or what? Totally absurd, Noah can talk and communicate now, surely Benson would've mentioned his bio mom at some point. And we all knew Noah was getting kidnapped at the end, though I thought Granny would just take the kid and run. Now we don't know who's responsible, but I still think Granny may be the mastermind, she may have set the whole thing up with an accomplice. That's the way I'm hoping it turns out actually because I'm sick of Granny and would love nothing more than to see her dead or thrown in jail. 

Another thing that really bugged me and hurt the episode was that the MMA fighter would never have pled guilty to a crime when he could've gotten off completely. It doesn't matter how much money he has or that he was not going to jail, no one would take a plea and have a criminal record when they could get off scot-free. That was ludicrous and unbelievable, it doesn't matter how much he's upset about what happened, he's not pleading guilty when he could likely walk. That was bullshit, they should've found another way to get more serious charges on the catfisher. 

And I'm going to say again how sick I am of all the victims being young wealthy attractive white women. I miss when we would see a wide variety of cases and victims, now the victims are indistinguishable. I guess they are doing this to attract a particular type of viewer, but I'm sick of it, where are the victims that are poor/middle class or minorities or older people? Anyone can be raped, rape is more about power and control than about sex, and having only one type of victim reinforces that stereotype that rape victims must be attractive, and it also allows the show to depict sexy photos of the victim like they did tonight, which is just exploitative. For Mariska and the show to act like they are shedding light on sexual violence issues and but then turn around and have these cheap exploitative and stereotypical victims is extremely hypocritical.

[Fiero425]

3 hours ago, Gigglepuff said:

Two plots copied in this one. First, the social media star, and second, the "rape fantasy" was used a few seasons ago in "Theatre Tricks." I couldn't care less about Noah. If the lad is as smart as he seems, maybe he arranged his own abduction for which I would't blame him. 

I'm kind of wondering if Sheila had something to do with Noah's kidnapping. 

I know it was the 1st thing I thought! She wants Noah probably because of entitlement losing her daughter! I won't be shocked if it happens to be the case! I probably wouldn't have allowed Sheila to take him anywhere alone! You always have to have that niggling feeling that this would be possible! A woman's grief can make them do things irrationally! She was a mess due to guilt; an inability to save her daughter! ;-(

3 hours ago, Mulva said:

I don't care if he got a text, he raped her.  The man deserved prison time.  As for Noah, who cares.

I think she had to be crazy to go back to that guys place; esp. since she was a virgin and he had already hinted at "hittin' it" with her! Stupid! I probably just don't like her due to the social media lifestyle! Hard to believe talentless hacks like the Kardashians are so popular and have gotten super rich doing it! I've never understood the fascination! ;-(

[Fiero425]

1 hour ago, watcher1006 said:

I groaned to see the fall finale cliffhanger be a Benson-Noah-Sheila story. Worth watching in January? I don't know.

The most improbable point of the episode was when the fighter with the tats agreed to take a guilty plea to help find the Internet villain. Agreeing to throw away millions and become a convicted felon on the sex offender registry when the case against him was so weak? The victim had even refused to have a rape kit taken.

If he had a brain, he should have just fought it! He's not obligated through coercion or guilt to give up his life to make that woman whole by prosecuting some strange broad from Virginia! ;-)

4 hours ago, RafaelBarba35 said:

Of all the white members yes. Fin and Rafael apparently don't count. 

Rafael had a couple episodes bringing in his family and social life; subsequently becoming a case since a childhood friend was implicated in crimes! :-)

[dttruman]

6 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Trolls suck.

Yeah, I think I'm pretty much done with this show. Never thought I'd say it, but this season broke me. The only high point of this episode was Carisi and Rollins getting into the bar fight and they ruined that with Carisi showing shades of jealous Nice Guy.

I am going back to the reruns of when this show was good. Good luck, folks.

I thought that bar scene was pretty weak, they could have identified themselves as police officers right after that big guy took a swing at Carisi. Both of them should have been arrested for assault, like all the rest who participated in the bar fight. Rollins should definitely be arrested for sucker punching that one guy. This whole scene was a poor attempt of mock heroics

[dttruman]

3 hours ago, Fiero425 said:

Hard to believe talentless hacks like the Kardashians are so popular and have gotten super rich doing it! I've never understood the fascination! ;-(

Could not agree more!!!!!!

[dttruman]

3 hours ago, Fiero425 said:

If he had a brain, he should have just fought it! He's not obligated through coercion or guilt to give up his life to make that woman whole by prosecuting some strange broad from Virginia! ;-)

This is probably the most unbelievable part of this episode. This whole unbelievable chain of events, just to fit in that "Cat Fishing" angle is ludicrous!!

[Lebanna]

6 hours ago, QueenMab said:

WTF is up with this Rafa bit from Benson? His MOTHER calls him "Rafi", his oldest dearest friends from childhood call him "Rafi", the woman who married his best friend instead of him calls him "Rafi". Benson is so close and special she gets to call him a special name only she can use?  WTF? That bothers me. Please...God...do not ship these two.

I don't know, Rafa is actually the normal shortening for Rafael. It's just the typical thing to nickname someone with that name.

Like, if someone's name was Edward, even if most people outside work called them Ned, it wouldn't be weird at all if a friend in the office nicknamed them Eddie.

Also, there's Rafa Nadal, who has a tendency to win everything. Not a bad nickname for a lawyer.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Lebanna

[wknt3]

The Good:
Fin! Doing his thing, working the case, not putting up with any bullshit from suspects, the rest of the squad, or the script. I loved "I'm allergic to West Virginia" although given the way they decided to go Full Southern Stereotype we probably could have gotten some great GIFs out of a Fin and Carisi roadtrip. And I think I would enjoy Farisi relationship drama a lot more than Rollisi at this point. Maybe we finally learn how he just knows stuff after all these years?
Rollins. She is definitely being used well since they rebooted her character. She has a great chemistry with the entire cast and I'm liking her more than ever. I think it's because between KG cutting back a bit after having her kid and them realizing they had written Amanda into a corner and needed to reboot and clear the slate a bit she is the closest thing we have to a fresh face on this show.
Barba telling Liv that there is a difference between morality and legality. It's not quite "your not Jesus" but at this point I appreciate anyone reminding us that Benson is not the ultimate authority and I appreciate a return to basics of L&O storytelling like "I can't get a conviction with this you need to bring me something more." Of course it's undercut by Carisi immediately walking in with what they need, but hey they needed that time for more Benoah.
Another solidly written script. Not a huge fan of the plot or the subplots, but it was well executed even the soapy nonsense parts.

The Bad:
The usual Benoah crap for the usual reasons. Imagine if we spent half the time we spent with grandma Brooke and Noah on things like exploring the defense lawyer's motivations?
Rollisi. Really hated them going and making it all textual like this. They have great chemistry together and it's fun to speculate and make jokes about. But it's best left off screen and unexplored. Carisi acting like a teenage doofus with a crush was painful to watch and I don't want to see them get together or break up or decide not to get together. Everyone knows that UST and shipping can only go on for so long. Especially fans of this show. But you aren't going to be on the air long enough to worry about it.
They really need another character. Even though this episode was well written it felt constricted a bit especially when they went out to investigate.
It was a bit repetitive as others have mentioned already, Another show exploring consent. The social media angle. Another pretty rich white victim. Another high profile perp. It was better done than most of the episodes that have covered the same material in the past few seasons, but it still felt "been there, done that, got the conviction despite a lack of evidence or law because Benson said so.

Overall it was well done, but a bit of a rehash. Perhaps it's unfair to punish this episode for the sins of last season, but they need to avoid this kind of case for awhile. Give us a whodunnit, a rape murder, a poor male victim, go in an entirely different direction. Even with the twist and without a "victim testifies because Benson convinces them to and justice triumphs" ending it just feels too much like more of the same damn thing. Oh well on to next week - maybe Noah will not be found and Liv will be rendered catatonic for the rest of the season and all the rest of the episodes will be 10 minutes of Benson in the psych ward making anguished faces and whispering about how tortured she is and 30 minutes of the squad solving cases and Barba/Stone prosecuting them? We can dream right?

[watcher1006]

Something else occurred to me while I was watching the episode. Weren't Rollins and Carisi conducting themselves unprofessionally on their trip to West Virginia? Rollins definitely had too much to drink. Our of town cops need to watch their conduct when they are working out of their jurisdiction. And the bar fight - if word of that got back to the NYPD brass, if some sort of civil or criminal action had been filed against the two, they would have been in big trouble. An opportunity missed for Benson to actually play a disciplinary role as squad chief.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

  I guess Carisi has seen the light as far as any admiration for his partner is concerned.  I am glad that they didn't hook up though!

Me too. I don't have a problem with Rollins hooking up with the WV bartender but hasn't she already been with half the NYPD? Why would Carisi even want to go there? As far as potential boyfriends go, I think Carisi is a prize and could do so much better than Rollins and all her largely self-created drama.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Joimiaroxeu

[Gigi43]

I think I may be letting how SVU official media (mostly Facebook) kisses Mariska's ass about being beautiful, wonderful etc, leaving Kelli out.  Generally speaking if Rollins' wants to hook up on a business trip that's fine with me and in character. Yet it bugs me that we're getting Benson Greatest Mom Ever and when we finally get something with Rollins' she's hooking up with a stranger and being all "Sometimes I have sex" with Carisi... I don't think that makes her inferior to Benson but it comes off as the show wanting me to think that. Again, I could be letting other things influence my take.

 

Fin being allergic to WV! Finally an episode with him having great lines again.

 

I like we saw a good amount of everyone and it was not just a he said/she said. However I have trouble with the idea that people really do not say anything to confirm once meeting said person face to face. What was Barba smoking that that girl is sympathetic for being pathetic. It's not pathetic to spend your time arranging rapes of famous people, it's sick and disgusting. If being from a small town and having a sick mom is up there as a defense to harm people that don't even have to do with creating the situation then where does the line get drawn? More people than not have hard times in life. If that starts becoming an excuse the system will be really jammed up.

 

I hope Lucy got sick of being "on call" and just took Noah for good.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Gigi43

[devious455]

Surprisingly, I liked the episode. Minus Benson and Sheila drama and Rollisi road trip. The case was actually interesting and it was quite well done. I liked the twist and it had courtroom scenes where Barba looked like a competent lawyer. Good use of Fin and Benson wasn't sanctimonious as always. But do we really need "a mysterious man kidnapped Noah" storyline? I dread the next episode already. 

The biggest disappointment of the episode was that Carisi wasn't punched in his dumb face in the bar fight. He totally deserved it. He was trying to sleep with a drunk partner on a work trip and acted like entitled jealous idiot when she hooked up with somebody else. Really? And from what I read on Facebook, people are blaming Rollins for breaking his heart. Oh, poor little puppy. I can't with this character and some people. He can't do wrong. 

It bothered me that they wrote the scene where Carisi walks into bar where Barba and Benson discuss the case and he brings the evidence that saves the case. Again. That happened like 4 episodes ago. These writers don't watch the show. It's obvious now. Could Fin save the day for once or it always needs to be the wonder boy? Just a rhetorical question. 

Anyway, this episode gave me hope case-wise that it's possible to write an interesting story. Too bad it was overshadowed with stupid personal drama.  If it's necessary to have personal stories I would like to see if Barba goes outside his office and Forlini's bar or he lives in one of those places. It's 5 years and we still don't know. 

[BunchOMalarkey]

I feel like they planted this seed about Carisi being more involved in Amanda's life than just a partner a while ago. He is really good with her kid, used to offer her advice and encouragement about being a single mom based on what he saw with his sister, if I remember correctly. I can understand how emotional lines got crossed. I really love Carisi. I love when he gets on Barba's nerves with his law school talk. Would like to see that again. He's a straight arrow guy in a world of gray and it is nice to see his beliefs come up against the real world. I wouldn't be mad if he and Amanda got together. 

Fin's West Virginia line was a highlight for me.

Noah is the worst iteration of Cousin Oliver ever. Tired of that storyline. 

I thought the catfish rape storyline was interesting in that it was just ripped from the headlines. There was a sports star -- basketball, I think -- who was catfished. Both he and the girl he thought he was talking to were both being catfished. I even think the catfisher tried to implicate him in child porn. Really nasty stuff that probably still trails after him even though the allegations were false. I think this goes to show how vulnerable we all are, whether we live our lives on line like the two celebs, or live vicariously online like the catfisher. 

[farmerbud52]

What was the reason the girl was doing this, I must have missed it?

[illdoc]

Incidentally, whatever happened to Rollins' baby??? Who was watching her while Rollins was in WV? It would have been nice to at least have a line "If I can get so-and-so to stay with Jessie I can go to WV" or something like that! And...we have official confirmation that Noah is 5 years old (and apparently grabbed adopted by Olivia at age 1)

[Joimiaroxeu]

Oops, wrong forum...

Edited December 7, 2017 by Joimiaroxeu

[GraceAnne]

I’m sorry is there someone out there looking for more Benson drama?  I can’t believe there is an audience dying to hear more about Noah. So.... why??? 

[HunterHunted]

This episode was a combo of a couple of different real life inspirations.

• It was War Machine raping, assaulting, and trying to kill Christy Mack.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40171316

• It was this episode of Catfish involving Chris Birdman Andersen and a social media personality, which has the exact same premise excluding the forcible rape. And the person who mutually catfished Birdman and the social media had no real excuse for it either.* Luckily, the police in Birdman's case had the sense to not charge him with a crime even though Birdman did have sex with and have nude photos of the underage social media personality.

http://previously.tv/catfish/catfish-gets-in-way-over-its-head-by-moonlighting-in-ex-offender-re-entry/

7 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Me too. I don't have a problem with Rollins hooking up with the WV bartender but hasn't she already been with half the NYPD? Why would Carisi even want to go there? As far as potential boyfriends go, I think Carisi is a prize and could do so much better than Rollins and all her largely self-created drama.

Carisi hasn't seemed to have had an issue when Rollins was busy banging all of the losers that she hooks up with, but this mostly polite bartender who sends them drinks sets his teeth on edge? The woman is a bad judgment machine. He should be using her as a bellweather. If she's sexually interested in him, then he needs to reevaluate his choices because he's probably fucking something up.

Noah must sparkle like a Twilight vampire because I can't see why everyone wants him.

4 hours ago, farmerbud52 said:

What was the reason the girl was doing this, I must have missed it?

*There was no real reason for doing this in the real case either. She lived in the middle of nowhere, cared for her sick mom, and thought it would be entertaining to fuck up the lives of two strangers.

[cometcupid]

25 minutes ago, HunterHunted said:

This episode was a combo of a couple of different real life inspirations.

• It was War Machine raping, assaulting, and trying to kill Christy Mack.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40171316

• It was this episode of Catfish involving Chris Birdman Andersen and a social media personality, which has the exact same premise excluding the forcible rape. And the person who mutually catfished Birdman and the social media had no real excuse for it either.* Luckily, the police in Birdman's case had the sense to not charge him with a crime even though Birdman did have sex with and have nude photos of the underage social media personality.

http://previously.tv/catfish/catfish-gets-in-way-over-its-head-by-moonlighting-in-ex-offender-re-entry/

1

I called it early on in this episode that they were using the Birdman case. The big difference between the SVU case and the real case was that in the real case, the sex between Birdman and the girl was consensual, even though it was orchestrated by a catfish. The girl was 16 (I think), so she was old enough to consent but under 18, so the suggestive photos of her that were exchanged would be child pornography. It only became a legal issue when the catfish tried to use the photos to extort money. A grown man flying out a teenager he doesn't even know for a weekend hookup is definitely gross, but he didn't do anything illegal. 

Benson pressuring the guy into confessing to rape when he could have easily fought it was ridiculous. There must have been a different way to prosecute the catfisher. I know Benson & co wanted to charge the catfisher with accessory to rape, but there must have been a computer-crime related charge they could have used to prosecute her.

[RafaelBarba35]

15 hours ago, Fiero425 said:

 

Rafael had a couple episodes bringing in his family and social life; subsequently becoming a case since a childhood friend was implicated in crimes! :-)

Yeah two in what, 5 years? I want to know more about Barba. What about the death threats (the most interesting storyline dropped after two episodes. Oh and they spend maybe 10 minutes on it?  How's his mother doing? Does he see her regularly? Does he visit his abuelita's grave regularly? How long has he known Carmen? What about him and Rita? Do they get together and talk? 

 

Or Fin. How's his son? His grand baby? Is he dating anyone? Does he see John often?  What does he do outside of SVU? Guys been on the show for 18 years and we don't know that much about him. Hell we know more about Carisi than Fin.

I mean we get alot of the other three. These two tend to get ignored when it comes to plot lines. 

[Xeliou66]

3 minutes ago, cometcupid said:

Benson pressuring the guy into confessing to rape when he could have easily fought it was ridiculous. There must have been a different way to prosecute the catfisher. I know Benson & co wanted to charge the catfisher with accessory to rape, but there must have been a computer-crime related charge they could have used to prosecute her.

Agreed completely with this, it was completely unbelievable that the fighter would plead guilty when he could get off scot-free just so the catfisher could be prosecuted for rape. Doesn't matter how bad he felt, he would never plead guilty to something he could get off for, period. That part was just absurd, surely there could've been another way to prosecute the catfisher for more severe charges. 

That part, Carisi's bizarre OOC behavior of acting like a jealous teenager and the Benson/Sheila stuff ruined the episode.

[ChristiKRN]

I don't know what to think about this episode.  I did like the premise of the rape case; it was one of the more interesting plotlines in a while.  Always good to see Barba in a courtroom scene. I thought it was ridiculous that the Monster (aka Van from Reba) agreed to a deal with Barba; no jury would have convicted him.  Once again, the power of Benson persuaded him to give up everything just because she told him to so they can go after the real criminal in this storyline.  Not realistic.  Also, unrealistic was not having the catfisher being handcuffed when Carisi and Rollins were bringing her back to NYC; I guess they were preoccupied with other things...

Which leads me to the Carisi/Rollins scenes.  I don't even know where to start.  Did I misinterpret the scene in the squad room after they returned from W. Virginia when Rollins was talking about having sex with people who are pains in the a** directed at Carisi; was she insinuating that they have slept together already? Would that have been why he appeared jealous when she slept with the bartender?  Also, noted that she mentioned "dabbling" in MMA watching; is she returning to her gambling ways as well?  I can deal with a "rollisi" pairing about as much as I can deal with hot mess Rollins.  

Too little of Fin again, but he did have a great one-liner about being allergic to W. Va. 

Too much Noah again. The whole next episode is going to be about Noah, Noah, Noah...

[CelticBlackCat]

8 hours ago, Gigi43 said:

I think I may be letting how SVU official media (mostly Facebook) kisses Mariska's ass about being beautiful, wonderful etc, leaving Kelli out.  Generally speaking if Rollins' wants to hook up on a business trip that's fine with me and in character. Yet it bugs me that we're getting Benson Greatest Mom Ever and when we finally get something with Rollins' she's hooking up with a stranger and being all "Sometimes I have sex" with Carisi... I don't think that makes her inferior to Benson but it comes off as the show wanting me to think that. Again, I could be letting other things influence my take.

 

Fin being allergic to WV! Finally an episode with him having great lines again.

 

I like we saw a good amount of everyone and it was not just a he said/she said. However I have trouble with the idea that people really do not say anything to confirm once meeting said person face to face. What was Barba smoking that that girl is sympathetic for being pathetic. It's not pathetic to spend your time arranging rapes of famous people, it's sick and disgusting. If being from a small town and having a sick mom is up there as a defense to harm people that don't even have to do with creating the situation then where does the line get drawn? More people than not have hard times in life. If that starts becoming an excuse the system will be really jammed up.

 

I hope Lucy got sick of being "on call" and just took Noah for good.

Two thumbs up!  That could be the ending that would blindside everyone.  Maybe Lucy has a place in Cuba in mind...

[FozzyBear]

Can someone who knows more about the law explain why the DA couldn’t offer The Monster immunity in exchange for testifying? Is there a reason or was the whole thing a plot devise to build drama.

Are we supposed to believe that Olivia hasn’t told Noah anything about his background? That’s kind of crazy. All due respect to all the adopted families out there and how you all handle your business, but...wtf? Noah is 5, not 2. That’s plenty old enough to start asking questions about who his Dad is and why did Grandma Shiela just showed up one day out of the blue and how come Grandma and Mommy are the same age and how come Mommy never told him the story about the day he was born and a million other questions. Have the writers on this show ever met a 5 year old? They ask everything! When Olivia was scolding Shiela with her “what was your plan?” nonsense, I was shouting “What is YOUR plan? Hope Noah doesn’t ask any questions and then let Uncle Sunny explain things when he takes him out for his first legal drink at 21?”

Edited December 8, 2017 by FozzyBear

[catrice2]

I didn't see the episode but the thought of Rollins and Carlisi, Carisi, or whatever his name is confirms why I am not watching.  I may be in the minority, but I have never liked her as a character. 

 

I pretty much stopped watching last season I only come to the comments to confirm that I made the right decision and to assure that nothing has changed for the better.  I cannot subject myself to another season of Olivia woe ...my god between her mother, her brother (wasn't there a sister or possible sister?) failed relationships, rapes, attempted rapes, unrequited love...I am through.  She was never the most interesting character on the show to me...although they have tried hard.  I always watched this out of loyalty to the mothership, but honestly the idea that this would last longer than Law and Order or Criminal Intent leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

[auntiemel]

Good point about the episode - kudos to the actor playing the West Virginia cop. I used to work in a job where I sometimes had to sit in on meetings or interviews where a person was taken into custody as a result of the conversation. The low-key, conversational, simple and informative way he said, "Heather, I'm placing you under arrest, OK? And we're gonna be confiscating the computer, too," was probably the most realistic arrest I've ever seen on television!

[MaggieG]

16 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

*There was no real reason for doing this in the real case either. She lived in the middle of nowhere, cared for her sick mom, and thought it would be entertaining to fuck up the lives of two strangers.

"It's not fair! It's not fair that they get to live their amazing lives while I had to change Mama's poopbag." That's pretty much what I got.

I didn't mind this episode. It wasn't awesome but it was miles better than last week. I liked that it wasn't a clear cut rape case and I also like that they made the tough guy MMA fighter named Monster kind of a sweet guy (although he should have asked if she was sure about the rape fantasy before going through with it).

@catrice2 I believe the possible sister was Maria Bello but I'm wracking my brain to remember if she actually was Benson's sister or if Benson just suspected it but never could prove it. Didn't her son live with Benson for a while? Or am I mixing stuff up?

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Carisi hasn't seemed to have had an issue when Rollins was busy banging all of the losers that she hooks up with, but this mostly polite bartender who sends them drinks sets his teeth on edge?

Carisi's sudden jealousy led me to think he's been trying to establish himself as her knight in shining armor, a standup guy who was willing to help her with her kid and overlook her sketchy past and other "issues." Then when he drunkenly made his move she blew him off to screw a virtual stranger. How dare she be so ungrateful!

Quote

The woman is a bad judgment machine. He should be using her as a bellweather. If she's sexually interested in him, then he needs to reevaluate his choices because he's probably fucking something up.

I wouldn't go this far. Rollins is a grown woman who deserves to love and be loved however she sees fit. But Carisi has seen her have a baby with a co-worker after a string of hookups with other fellow NYPD cops--including one guy right in the SVU squad. (Carisi does know about Amaro, right?) Maybe he needs to accept that her lack of sufficient boundaries with her co-workers precludes her from having some kind of fairy tale romance with him as yet another co-worker. However, I think casting Rollins as a relationship Typhoid Mary largely blames her for being the main victim of her own compulsive behavior. (Such as her gambling addiction.)

Edited December 9, 2017 by Joimiaroxeu

[shapeshifter]

On December 7, 2017 at 0:20 AM, CelticBlackCat said:

The best part of the episode was Barba grilling Heather and getting her to break, a la Perry Mason.  Good job Rafael!

Can we get this as a back door pilot to a reimagined Perry Mason, please?

 

On December 7, 2017 at 5:40 PM, cometcupid said:

Benson pressuring the guy into confessing to rape when he could have easily fought it was ridiculous. There must have been a different way to prosecute the catfisher. I know Benson & co wanted to charge the catfisher with accessory to rape, but there must have been a computer-crime related charge they could have used to prosecute her.

This is could be a gold mine of ethics and law on a real legal drama. If they had found the hacker/catfisher first, they could have told her The Monster was willing to sacrifice his career to send her to prison and offered her psychiatric institutionalization in exchange for confessing to cybercrime etc. Or it could have gone down the way it did with just more focus on cause and effect. I dunno. Would it be too awful for Monster to join the #metoo campaign? Yeah. 
As it was, it all seemed a little too easy that the local cop was going to find someone to take care of the perp's mother's poop.

 

On December 7, 2017 at 0:21 AM, ForeverAlone said:

(it's not like the show is going to kill off Noah or anything),

And why the blazes not? Child actors need breaks and naps; they grow when they shouldn't; they turn out to be terrible actors at least half the time. And having Noah killed off would give Olivia all kinds of reasons to act dramatically.
But I do have to complement the Show on having the good sense to replace the Noah actor when it was necessary. Like Darren on Bewitched.

 

On December 7, 2017 at 0:21 AM, ForeverAlone said:

Of course, if they were going to pair Dominic up with another character, I wish it would be Rafael,

That actually sounds like a good idea. Or:

On December 7, 2017 at 6:33 AM, wknt3 said:

given the way they decided to go Full Southern Stereotype we probably could have gotten some great GIFs out of a Fin and Carisi roadtrip. And I think I would enjoy Farisi relationship drama a lot more than Rollisi at this point.

 

 

On December 7, 2017 at 0:21 AM, ForeverAlone said:

And it also felt like it wasn't Olivia saving the day on the case, so I am pleased about that choice.

Finn and I say: True dat.

 

On December 7, 2017 at 9:14 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

I don't have a problem with Rollins hooking up with the WV bartender but hasn't she already been with half the NYPD? Why would Carisi even want to go there? As far as potential boyfriends go, I think Carisi is a prize and could do so much better than Rollins and all her largely self-created drama.

Seriously. I guess Carisi and the audience really dodged that soapy bullet.

 

 

On December 7, 2017 at 0:26 PM, farmerbud52 said:

What was the reason the girl was doing this, I must have missed it?

Same reason a lot crimes. Poverty + Bad luck + Despair + Envy + Resentment.

Edited December 9, 2017 by shapeshifter

[augmentedfourth]

I was literally laughing out loud during the bar fight scene due to how over-the-top and unrealistic it was, and questioning my decision to keep watching this show because of how ridiculous it's become. That said, I would take a hundred of those scenes over one more about Sheila and her dead sister and Arizona and the like. WHO THE FUCK CARES.

 

All that aside, I actually kind of liked the main plot this week, though I agree with everyone who's said there's no way in hell the Monster would be legally admitting to rape and taking a plea deal. Even if he was the nicest guy in the world, all Katy would be getting is a heartfelt apology. Considering how fast and loose this show has played with the law before, I refuse to believe there wasn't some way they couldn't go after Heather without the rape plea on the record.