S19.E15: In Loco Parentis

[The Wild Sow]

5 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Why did Mia accuse the guy of rape anyway. Because he was her roommate’s boyfriend, and she didn’t want to look bad?

Seems like it.  I kept waiting for her to pop out with "....and right in the middle of it he called me  Renata!"

And yes, how damn stupid was he to go to her room?  And how damn stupid was she to want to meet him, alone, to apologize?!

And she "voluntarily" withdrew from Hudson?  As soon as it came out that the first accusation was false, they should have kicked her right on outta there!

[wknt3]

10 hours ago, dttruman said:

I started to think that and then I thought, wait a minute here. Benson's little speech to Carisi about credibility and honesty was a little too hypocritical, since just last week she failed to disclose that she knowingly harbored a murder suspect (Cassidy).

 I agree that there was plenty of cognitive dissonance there, but at this point I'm just so desperate to see her behaving like a professional that I don't care how they get there and if she is being a massive hypocrite. It has been such a huge problem for the past couple years that whatever they do to fix it is OK with me. I'd rather see good writing than consistent writing in this area and if we can keep going in this direction with only occasional relapses I can live with it even if they don't acknowledge that she doesn't always practice what she preaches.

[MaryHedwig]

2 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

In the Cosby Show, Cliff Huxtable is a graduate of Hudson Medical School.

The main character in The Secret Life of the American Teenager abandoned her child and baby daddy to attend Hudson U in New York. I remember thinking that it this was her second bad decision she would pay for the rest of her life, the first being unprotected sex.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

In the Cosby Show, Cliff Huxtable is a graduate of Hudson Medical School.

Huh. Interesting. I'm old enough to remember listening to Cosby's early comedy album when I was a kid; it included a bit about Spanish Fly drinks, which were intended to make women "loose." I wonder if the L&O naming of Hudson U was derived from the Cosby show because of those connections and perhaps "common knowledge" of Cosby's real use of the Spanish Fly? Coincidence or commentary?

 

6 hours ago, Corvino said:

I didn't think Mia was a bad person, and I don't think she can accurately be described as deliberately and maliciously ruining a guy's life with a false rape accusation. What seems to have happened the first time is that she was brought up to please people and say what they wanted to hear; this guy was pressuring her to have sex and, indeed, lying on top of her (notice how small she was compared with him!); and she didn't want to have sex but said yes out of lifetime habit. He did, then, from her point of view, force sex on her when she didn't want it, so her emotional truth was that she had been raped. The only trouble was that he had no way of knowing that; his truth was that she had consented to what was in fact very aggressive pressure…

Editing post: 
@LittleIggy's quoted post just reminded me of the whole Renata subplot, which is what really destroys any concept of "emotional truth" for me.

Dear Writers,

P.S. Next episode don't throw in everything including the kitchen sink. You'll get more believable plots and characters. Like my mom would say about dessert: Save some for later.

Edited March 9, 2018 by shapeshifter

[SuzieQ]

Just watched this and I'm all over the place about it.

Good-

Wasn't Benson-centric and Carisi had  the spotlight on him for a change

Rollins being suspicious of Stone and Fin being blunt as usual

I actually liked that Stone went easy on Carisi.  Carisi did tell the truth and I like that Stone appreciated it. More on that below.

Liked the reference to Ben Stone

 

Bad-

 

After Stone put Benson in her place last week, now he seems to want to wine & dine her! WTF??  He was so charming and ass kissy, it immediately made me change my opinion on him.  Extra barfy that he told her to come in while he was changing his shirt.  Is Benson the only woman in New York??  Does every man who comes across her want to bang her? UGH!

While it was nice that Stone was decent to Carisi about telling the truth, he should have ripped him and Benson a new one for being anywhere near the case.  It's like he was a whole different character this week.

[txhorns79]

Quote

And she "voluntarily" withdrew from Hudson?  As soon as it came out that the first accusation was false, they should have kicked her right on outta there!

Seriously.  I'm pretty sure you get expelled from Hudson if you don't manage to rape or murder someone during your time there.  

Quote

Mia’s rapist was an idiot. So was his attorney.

I didn't understand why he was even testifying.  The victim had no credibility.  The jury heard that she was a liar.  The DA's case was destroyed.  Why would his attorney ever put him on the stand after that?   

And seriously Parisi, you should feel guilty because you got away with telling your niece to lie about her first rape.  You deserved to be fired.  It's only because the episode exists in the SVU reality where everyone is given carte blanche to take things personally to the point of destroying their case that you are still employed.     

[wknt3]

4 hours ago, illdoc said:

At least the original L&O used to mix it up a little (they had *two* colleges where crimes happened--Hudson and Styveson (something like that)). SVU seems to only have the one.

The original used quite a few different college names (Manhattan University, Amsterdam College, Kensington, Hudson U, and Stuyvesant College are all ones I remember) although as the years went on they seemed to stick with Hudson more and more. I suspect that either way there is a problem or realism and suspension of disbelief. Either that so many high profile crimes take place at one or two schools or that there are so many institutions of higher learning in one precinct, or even in Manhattan given that they also mention a number of real world schools more positively (or at least relatively - they did pretty much slag off Columbia athletics). At this point I wonder if it hasn't become sort of an inside joke in the SVU writers room.

4 hours ago, JyDanzig said:

I also have to reminisce on my favorite detail of Hudson, which is that it is so elite and competitive that large numbers of wealthy mothers are sleeping with the staff to get their kids in (as we learned last season).  Imagine with the rape & murder rates are at all the other universities, if Hudson is the prize!

It's all about location and prestige. I mean the Barrington Hotel stays in business and they don't have any Nobel Prize winning professors!

3 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

In the Cosby Show, Cliff Huxtable is a graduate of Hudson Medical School.

I guess we should have heeded the obvious warning sign there...

[Xeliou66]

But remember, in SVU land being raped only makes you a holy figure if you are a woman. If you are a man who’s raped, not only are you are not a holy figure but you are responsible for your own assault. The double standards and heavy handed agendas in this show are nauseating. 

I am in complete agreement that this episode would’ve been much better if Carisi’s niece had never been raped at all or if the perp had been acquitted at the end, but I don’t know if we will ever see those things happen again on SVU because like I said before, the show has gone from crime procedural to the Mariska Hargitay fantasy world, where she alone is saving rape victims and putting perps away while everyone else watches in awe, and justice is always served, regardless of evidence, female victims are always saintly and everything turns out happily. Mariska’s influence has ruined SVU, notice how all this started in season 15 when she became an executive producer and got more influence and Benson took command of SVU and started dominating the screen time.

[txhorns79]

Quote

If you are a man who’s raped, not only are you are not a holy figure but you are responsible for your own assault.

I do remember that second or third season episode where Casey Novak and her friends raped a guy at their party, and Stabler was openly dubious of the idea that a man could be raped.

I was very surprised where the episode went.  I honestly thought once she admitted the first rape was a lie, we'd find out the guy killed himself and she would be put on trial. 

[dttruman]

10 hours ago, wknt3 said:

 I agree that there was plenty of cognitive dissonance there, but at this point I'm just so desperate to see her behaving like a professional that I don't care how they get there and if she is being a massive hypocrite. It has been such a huge problem for the past couple years that whatever they do to fix it is OK with me. I'd rather see good writing than consistent writing in this area and if we can keep going in this direction with only occasional relapses I can live with it even if they don't acknowledge that she doesn't always practice what she preaches.

I understand and agree, that this is a "standard operating  procedure in all cop dramas, where the show's "star" cop will investigates a friend's or relative's murder (for instance), but will lecture another cop not to do so because it is against police procedure. I guess what upsets me most, is that Benson's tongue lashing lecture of Carisi followed almost directly Benson's intentional "breaking of police protocol". They should have scheduled these episodes months apart.

[wknt3]

I can't believe in our discussion of fictional colleges and universities I forgot St Raymond's! Named after St, John's less prestigious, less morally upstanding, and handsier younger brother of course. Actually that's probably where they should have had Carisi's niece attending since it fits in with how his family has been presented as blue collar strivers and with the effort this season to take things back to basics and remind us of all the history.

[dttruman]

13 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

If you are a man who’s raped, not only are you are not a holy figure but you are responsible for your own assault. The double standards and heavy handed agendas in this show are nauseating. 

I seem to remember an episode where an ex-con was sexual assaulted along with a few other ex-cons by their parole officer. The one specific ex-con was the husband of a woman (I think) related to some member of the SVU. I didn't like that episode much because I think it was one of those "Benson" episodes.

[JyDanzig]

http://www.scoutingny.com/why-you-should-never-ever-go-to-new-york-citys-hudson-university/

I love this, about Hudson.  Let's bring back the Hudson University nuclear reactor!  Could cause some trouble with that...

[dttruman]

26 minutes ago, JyDanzig said:

http://www.scoutingny.com/why-you-should-never-ever-go-to-new-york-citys-hudson-university/

I love this, about Hudson.  Let's bring back the Hudson University nuclear reactor!  Could cause some trouble with that...

Yeah, and a crazed group of heavily armed sex-offenders have taken over the building (with hostages) the reactor is kept in. They are threatening to set off the reactor if the USA doesn't legalize rape. Olivia Benson and the rest of SVU are called in to alleviate the situation.

Maybe we need to take this to "Spoilers & Speculations"

[shapeshifter]

Regarding the title of the episode, Wikipedia explains:

Quote

The term in loco parentis, Latin for "in the place of a parent"[1] refers to the legal responsibility of a person or organization to take on some of the functions and responsibilities of a parent. Originally derived from English common law, it is applied in two separate areas of the law.

First, it allows institutions such as colleges and schools to act in the best interests of the students as they see fit, although not allowing what would be considered violations of the students' civil liberties.[1]

Second, this doctrine can provide a non-biological parent to be given the legal rights and responsibilities of a biological parent if they have held themselves out as the parent.[2]

As a high school and college librarian (as well as a biological parent of 3), I have been "in loco parentis" in my job for decades.
After watching the episode, I assumed the title was a double entendre for both the Latin and Spanish meanings of the word "loco," that is, those folks in the role of parents in this episode are crazy, and I mean totally bat shit, crazy pants, coo coo for Cocoa Puffs, crazy.

[Gigi43]

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

I seem to remember an episode where an ex-con was sexual assaulted along with a few other ex-cons by their parole officer. The one specific ex-con was the husband of a woman (I think) related to some member of the SVU. I didn't like that episode much because I think it was one of those "Benson" episodes.

That was another Family Carisi episode. The guy was going to marry one of his other sisters.

[slowpoked]

On 3/7/2018 at 9:49 PM, LittleIggy said:

Mia’s rapist was an idiot. So was his attorney.

Buchanan or Calhoun would not have made that mistake.

But good on Stone for picking up that the boy has a short fuse and using that to his advantage. 

[dttruman]

Just saw one of my all time favorite SVU episodes. It starred mostly Fin, Munch, and Novak. "Man Hunt" was just on the USA channel.

[MaggieG]

Was anyone else waiting for Larry David to stumble into the courtroom and the defense attorney (who plays Susie on Curb your Enthusiasm) would start yelling at him?

[TV Diva Queen]

21 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

Law & Order loves to take place names and elevate them. Along with Stuyvesant High School, which is very prestigious, there is a Stuyvesant Town housing complex; Stuyvesant Square park; the neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant in Brooklyn; and the hamlets of Stuyvesant and Stuyvesant Falls.

I don't recall Tompkins Square University, but there is a Tompkins Square Park. It wouldn't surprise me if they used it for another L&O university.

In the Cosby Show, Cliff Huxtable is a graduate of Hudson Medical School.

Hudson U has a wiki page.  it funny to see how long its been around and how many shows have used it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_University

Edited March 9, 2018 by TV Diva Queen

[Xeliou66]

7 hours ago, dttruman said:

I seem to remember an episode where an ex-con was sexual assaulted along with a few other ex-cons by their parole officer. The one specific ex-con was the husband of a woman (I think) related to some member of the SVU. I didn't like that episode much because I think it was one of those "Benson" episodes.

I liked that episode, it was Parole Violations from season 16, it was Carisi’s sister’s fiancé along with a few other who were raped at gunpoint by that creepy PO lady. That was about the last time they’ve had a male rape victim that wasn’t blamed for their own rape, and it wasn’t a Benson episode, it was Carisi centric and it had a lot of strong Barba in court. But think about episodes such as Branded and this season’s Contrapasso where male victims were blamed for their own assault and the females perps were portrayed as victims. Disgusting double standard, and it was seen again in this episode with how the show doesn’t give a fuck if someone’s life is ruined by a false accusation if the life ruined was that of a white male. 

4 hours ago, dttruman said:

Just saw one of my all time favorite SVU episodes. It starred mostly Fin, Munch, and Novak. "Man Hunt" was just on the USA channel.

I love Manhunt as well, one of SVU’s very best episode and a great showcase for Munch and Fin, it was Cabot not Novak though who was the ADA. Season 2 was awesome, season 1 had some great episodes but season 2 had Fin join and the show found its rhythm completely, almost every episode from that season is fantastic and worth rewatching many times over. Such a major difference from the shitty recent seasons, I miss when this show was SVU and not the Mariska Hargitay Hour.

[dttruman]

40 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

it was Cabot not Novak

My bad! Munch had the best line, "Welcome home Darryl".

Edited March 9, 2018 by dttruman

[Willowsmom]

If Carisi had suborned perjury in real life or even encouraged his niece to lie he would have had "early retirement" so fast.

[candall]

13 hours ago, Willowsmom said:

If Carisi had suborned perjury in real life or even encouraged his niece to lie he would have had "early retirement" so fast.

That's the thing.  He told her, "I don't want you to perjure yourself, but if the first rape doesn't come up when you're testifying, don't say anything."  That's ridiculous.  OF COURSE the earlier incident--same crime, same individuals--is going to be a huge part of the trial.

I'm tired of these experienced professionals losing their shit because "this is MY family."  Okay, that's why there's been a rule since the beginning of time that YOU don't work the case.

I think, realistically, there would have been consequences for Carisi and for Benson, for even allowing that mishigas to happen.

Since it's a tv show, I'll settle for throwing shade at the sloppy/lazy writing--quite a bit of that in this particular episode.

Hmmph.  : )

[augmentedfourth]

On 3/8/2018 at 1:55 PM, Corvino said:

I didn't think Mia was a bad person, and I don't think she can accurately be described as deliberately and maliciously ruining a guy's life with a false rape accusation. What seems to have happened the first time is that she was brought up to please people and say what they wanted to hear; this guy was pressuring her to have sex and, indeed, lying on top of her (notice how small she was compared with him!); and she didn't want to have sex but said yes out of lifetime habit. He did, then, from her point of view, force sex on her when she didn't want it, so her emotional truth was that she had been raped. The only trouble was that he had no way of knowing that; his truth was that she had consented to what was in fact very aggressive pressure, but, in the way of some college boys, especially when they've been drinking, he didn't realize how aggressive he was being and how reluctant she was. (His style of seduction kind of sets him up as having it in his character to proceed to what he knows is rape later.) She then, full of regret and disgust that she had been used for sex when she didn't want it, talked to that other guy and other people and expressed her emotional truth, which was not a legal truth. It got into the hands of the college anti-assault machinery, and, again wanting to please people, she went along with the process. Then when she fully realized that her story had ruined his college career and, he said, his life, she tried (idiotically, yes; invite him to a public forum with witnesses and apologize there, girl!) to make it up to him. I think this is a pretty good picture of a gray-toned accuser.

This is why I thought the portrayal of Mia (up until around the second/actual rape) was pretty well done and a better handling of gray areas than this show has been known for lately. The issue of consent is a hot topic, and rightfully so. Even though she eventually confessed that she said yes to Ethan, did she *really* want to have sex with him in that moment? Of course, since she did say yes, legally it wasn't rape, but then there's a whole other can of worms to be opened with societal pressures/expectations, some men's attitudes of entitlement due to the culture they grow up in, and so on and so forth. The show didn't go that far, and we as a society certainly haven't even come close to unpacking all of that, so I'm going to stop there.

 

However! All the "Oh, Mia, none of this is your fault!" and pats on the head did bug me after a while. Like Corvino said, I don't think Mia was a bad person who did something malicious, but she did do a very bad thing, and it would have been nice to see some acknowledgment of that on the parts of our protagonists. Even a simple "Yes, you made a serious mistake, but I love you anyway" from Carisi would have gone a long way. 

 

On to less serious business. My mother watches the show live (I catch up over the weekend) and she warned me about the Stone/Benson scenes. I don't even dislike Olivia as much as a lot of other people here, but when my mother speculated over whether they'll get together, my knee-jerk reaction was "Ugh, who HASN'T Olivia been with?" Bad, I know, but MamaFourth laughed and agreed.

[Medicine Crow]

What's with the color commentary by the silky-voiced woman???  I find it very irritating!!!

[Xeliou66]

24 minutes ago, Medicine Crow said:

What's with the color commentary by the silky-voiced woman???  I find it very irritating!!!

Sure you posted this on the right board? I’m not sure what you mean, unless you are talking about Benson’s constant PSA sermons, which are incredibly stupid and irritating, and done just to placate MH’s massive ego and allow her a personal pulpit.

[J-Man]

On 3/8/2018 at 1:53 AM, shapeshifter said:

—it seemed more like Stone was punishing Benson with sexual harassment, because that is what exposing yourself to your subordinates is, right? Well, maybe not on TV. Even if it is an SVU show. At least not if the supervisor has great abs?

Benson is not Stone's subordinate. They work for completely different and separate agencies.

[shksabelle]

3 hours ago, Medicine Crow said:

What's with the color commentary by the silky-voiced woman???  I find it very irritating!!!

 I got that when I was watching Blue Bloods. I guess it’s for the visually impaired. Are you on Comcast? They can’t do things right to save their lives. 

[wknt3]

8 hours ago, J-Man said:

Benson is not Stone's subordinate. They work for completely different and separate agencies.

Correct. Also despite what you may have seen last season Benson is not the ADA'a supervisor. Just as an FYI -  around here we prefer the phrasing "separate but equally important groups" when referring to the police (who investigate crime) and district attorneys (who prosecute the offenders)...

Edited March 11, 2018 by wknt3

[Medicine Crow]

10 hours ago, shksabelle said:

 I got that when I was watching Blue Bloods. I guess it’s for the visually impaired. Are you on Comcast? They can’t do things right to save their lives. 

No, I don't have Comcast, just regular cable.  My TV was "acting up" & when I went back to watching, I got this commentary.  I turned my TV off & on & it went away, so it might have been some default that I engaged while trying to turn my TV back on.  Who knows, but thanks for the input.

[Fiero425]

On ‎3‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 5:35 PM, dttruman said:

My bad! Munch had the best line, "Welcome home Darryl".

 

That guy was slime and trying to hide behind Canadian law against capital punishment after he had assaulted and killed so many people; including his partner in crime! Cabot was able to finagle extradition thru a minor felony and Darryl was shocked he was being turned over to the NYPD to face the consequence of his actions! That was a good "Manhunt" in more ways than one! None of the victims were necessaryly linked; so random! He deserved the death penalty; BIG TIME! There was a lot of Fin and Munch who were out in the field over Olivia who loves to lead the charge! ;-)

Edited March 12, 2018 by Fiero425

[TV Diva Queen]

On 3/11/2018 at 8:04 AM, wknt3 said:

Correct. Also despite what you may have seen last season Benson is not the ADA'a supervisor. Just as an FYI -  around here we prefer the phrasing "separate but equally important groups" when referring to the police (who investigate crime) and district attorneys (who prosecute the offenders)...

I needed this laugh on this long ass daylight saving time Monday afternoon.  thank you.

[dttruman]

On 3/10/2018 at 8:51 AM, candall said:

I think, realistically, there would have been consequences for Carisi and for Benson, for even allowing that mishigas to happen.

Since it's a tv show, I'll settle for throwing shade at the sloppy/lazy writing--quite a bit of that in this particular episode.

Hmmph.  : )

This reminds me also of one of Benson's episodes where her step-brother (or some relative) was up on attempted kidnapping charges (I think) and she interfered in that case too. He was guilty of it, but Benson got him off, because of extenuating circumstances. I think the Benson character has had more of these type episodes than any other character in cop dramas.

[dttruman]

On 3/10/2018 at 7:01 PM, augmentedfourth said:

I thought the portrayal of Mia (up until around the second/actual rape) was pretty well done and a better handling of gray areas than this show has been known for lately.

I think all of that was probably ignored when they had the Mia character invite Ethan over to her dorm room to "explain things". I don't think too many watchers accepted that, except for the hardcore fans of the show.

[dttruman]

5 hours ago, TV Diva Queen said:

I needed this laugh on this long ass daylight saving time Monday afternoon.  thank you.

Don't laugh, Hargitay seems to have a lot of influence here. Since it is her show, Benson can be given whatever title Hargitay wants her to have no matter how unrealistic.

Edited March 12, 2018 by dttruman

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

This reminds me also of one of Benson's episodes where her step-brother (or some relative) was up on attempted kidnapping charges (I think) and she interfered in that case too. He was guilty of it, but Benson got him off, because of extenuating circumstances. I think the Benson character has had more of these type episodes than any other character in cop dramas.

Benson’s half brother didn’t get off on the kidnapping charges, Bayard Ellis was able to work out a deal to keep him out of prison because of the fact he had been denied visitation to his kids based on false accusations of abuse, and Benson didn’t do anything improper in that episode. The episode where she did do something improper was when she helped her half brother when he was on the run, she was assisting a fugitive and should’ve been fired even though her brother had been framed. 

Benson is such a massive hypocrite though, because she is quick to bash any of her detectives for the slightest infraction but she has broken the rules more than anyone, and while Carisi told the truth and didn’t commit perjury, Benson did perjure herself at the trial of William Lewis and she’s bent the rules many times when people she cares about are involved. 

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

I think all of that was probably ignored when they had the Mia character invite Ethan over to her dorm room to "explain things". I don't think too many watchers accepted that, except for the hardcore fans of the show.

That was the stupidest part of a stupid episode, it made no sense for her to meet with the guy she falsely accused of rape  in private with no one else around. There should’ve been several people there with them, Carisi, his sister, the boy’s parents and the school administrators.

This episode would’ve been a lot better had the whole story been Carisi’s niece falsely accusing the guy of rape and then Stone having to prosecute her to send a message that false rape allegations won’t be taken lightly, that would’ve been a different tone for the show and it would’ve kept up Stone’s more tense and separate relationship with Benson/SVU. 

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

Don't laugh, Hargitay seems to have a lot of influence here. Since it is her show, Benson can be given whatever title Hargitay wants her to have no matter how unrealistic.

Hargitay controls the show for the most part, and that’s why Benson dominates the screen time and gets to have a ton of PSA sermons and characters saying how wonderful she is, and it’s why the stories are the way they are, most of the victims are rich white women which is who Mariska can relate to and who her foundation is aimed at, all the rapists are found guilty with some of them even apologizing, which is absurd, and the whole show seems to be set in MH’s fantasy world where she is single handily bringing justice to rape victims and everyone is bowing at her feet. Apparently no one will tell her she’s ruining the show.

[dttruman]

9 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Bayard Ellis was able to work out a deal to keep him out of prison because of the fact he had been denied visitation to his kids based on false accusations of abuse, and Benson didn’t do anything improper in that episode. The episode where she did do something improper was when she helped her half brother when he was on the run, she was assisting a fugitive and should’ve been fired even though her brother had been framed. 

I bow to your knowledge.  I thought Benson knew about her step-brother abducting the kids, but didn't turn him in. Thank you for reminding me of that other incident, that one was more serious and obvious (just like Cassidy's).

It's funny how often Benson has broken the law, yet has managed to climb the ladder of success being a single parent. I wonder if they will write an episode where Benson receives a windfall of money and uses it to pay bills (to show she can relate to other single parents trying to make ends meet), yet we find out later that Benson knows it comes from someone with a shady past and she some how retains her job. Even though in many past episodes we have seen Benson condemning other cops for accepting money (for even better reasons than hers) from criminals.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 07/03/2018 at 10:31 PM, Fiero425 said:

Just ridiculous in so many ways! I still can't believe Carisi was on the witness stand! He shouldn't have been on the case and definitely shouldn't have been interviewing ANYONE concerning this case; including his niece! ;-)

What I can't believe is that Carisi's niece went to Hudson, and he didn't do everything in his power to stop that from happening.

[The Mighty Peanut]

“It’s not his fault Barba pulled the plug on that baby.” Marry me, Fin.

[WendyCR72]

I don't care if he came to the unit after Olivia. Fin should be the head of SVU. He has the temperament that Benson lacks.

[Xeliou66]

Fin was the only good part of this shitty episode and the only character who came out of this episode looking good. I was sick of SVU acting like Stone had some vendetta with them and I was glad that Fin was fair to him and said that it wasn’t his fault Barba pulled the plug, and I liked how Stone mentioned talking to Antonio also. Fin is awesome, and yeah he should be in charge of SVU, he’s much more professional than Benson and doesn’t have a personal bias that affects his ability to solve cases the way Benson does. I want more Fin in the remaining episodes, he’s been underused badly in most episodes.

[The Mighty Peanut]

On 3/8/2018 at 12:49 AM, LittleIggy said:

Mia’s rapist was an idiot. So was his attorney.

And even the idiot attorney knew Ethan was a bigger idiot. I know the second rape was real, but it was so terribly written and acted (“This is what it feels like........to be raped.”) I still didn’t buy it.

I did like Carisi when he sighed and said this was all very Italian.

[Fiero425]

29 minutes ago, The Mighty Peanut said:

And even the idiot attorney knew Ethan was a bigger idiot. I know the second rape was real, but it was so terribly written and acted (“This is what it feels like........to be raped.”) I still didn’t buy it.

I did like Carisi when he sighed and said this was all very Italian.

Carisi and I have gone thru so many different levels going back to him playing a bit of a psycho in a "Criminal Intent" episode called "Diamond Dogs!" Then he comes on board with SVU sporting a porn mustache from the 70's! He evolved into a alter boy being religious in "Lesson's Learned!" The evolutions continue ....

[Samurai X]

"Youse saying my niece has been raped?" Who talks like that? Especially to your sister, she knows that is your niece.

[12catcrazy]

Well, yet another hour of my life wasted watching this stupid crap.  I agree with others that it would have been a much better episode had Mia been prosecuted for making a false rape accusation against the guy  whose life was then totally ruined because of it.  Instead the show took the cheap shot and made the young guy an actual "revenge rapist".    Yup, leave it to L&O SVU to never have some nuance when cheap melodrama will do.

And in WHAT police dept would a cop whose niece was raped be allowed to be on the case?   Especially in a police dept the size of NYC's.  REALLY??? I've bitched about this before but I hate it when tv shows insult my intelligence.   Oh, and the actress who played Carisi's sister - I guess she went to the Cyndi Lauper School of Noo Yawk Accents.   I was born in the Bronx, mainly grew up on Long Island, and have friends and family from Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, AND Staten Island, and I can tell you that there is actually a range of Downstate NY Accents (yep, people from Nassau County have a somewhat different accent than Suffolk County, and if you ever run into some real East End Oldtimers - few left - you'll hear that they sound more like New Englanders), but NOBODY I've ever met speaks like that.  Frankly, I think that Cyndi Lauper even puts it on, because I've heard her speak in more of a "normal" NY accent rather than that cartoon 1930 squawk she famously speaks with. 

[Irate Panda]

Why wasn’t the girl charged with filing a false police report or at the very least kicked out of the school? This whole episode was Incredibly stupid.  As others have said why was the defendant even on the stand?  My only law experience come from watching this show and even I know you wouldn’t put a loose cannon kid up there when the complaining witness is shown to be a liar by HER own relative, who’s a police officer and shows no ill will towards her.  Dumb all over the place.

[TheWiseOne.2018]

I have been a fan of SVU from the beginning, but I agree with others how moral ambiguous the show is getting. Maybe it's just a reflection of our culture, which is very ambiguous itself nowadays!

Mia made a mistake, and even if the second rape occurred how the show needed to show accountability was to have the university expel her for lying during the first tribunal. When Mia was walking out of the dorm at the end of the episode, I had hoped it was because she got expelled. I agree with the sentiments it was a way to happy ending. 

Shout out to Eli ! (Actor: Sam Vartholomeos from Star Trek Discovery) Eli was a college student with a bright future as a doctor, who now will be a drain on society in a prison and maybe never lead up to his full potential. First the college tribunal with unqualified college faculty finding Eli guilty, then SVU pushed criminal prosecution against Eli because of Mia who was lying in the first place. If this is what justice looks like nowadays from two sexual encounters from two sexually inexperienced college students then I cringe.....

Edited March 17, 2018 by TheWiseOne.2018

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; Carisi centric rather than Bensonian, also you really feel for the accused kid and his family, showing the damage even an unfounded allegation can do to people. And nice to have a he said, she said rather than a clear cut victim with severe/fatal injuries. Hope we see more of his family, nice to see the characters have some life outside the squadroom, I mean when is the last time we saw Finn's son or Olivia's brother?  

The Bad; For crying out loud Carisi should immediately recuse himself from the investigation and Stone should have made that clear from the start to Benson knowing her reputation, everything he touches in that investigation is automatically tainted. Stone sadly seems to be going the same way as Barba and joining the SVU groupthink/Benson worship. And of course we have to have our Perry Mason moment where he goads the suspect into confessing on the stand, we couldn't have him being found innocent could we? Because the SVU have to believe every accuser and in the current political climate you couldn't portray some as lying? The writers need to show a bit more courage. Realistically the moment the defence got the disclosure from Carisi on the witness stand she should have applied for all proceedings to be dropped and she would have got it. 

One question, Stone seems to be getting increasingly pally with Finn and now Carisi, are they setting up a story where the SVU members are forced to choose between him and Benson? 

 Reading through other's comments many have asked why Carisi was on the stand? Simple answer, the defence would have definitely put him there to (quite correctly) portray this prosecution as a family member abusing their authority. More troubling once his niece discloses to him about the first rape he has a duty of disclosure to the defence, he committed a blatant Brady violation.  

Edited March 19, 2018 by Joe Hellandback
Answering questions

[neptunewaves]

On 8/3/2018 at 3:55 PM, Corvino said:

I didn't think Mia was a bad person, and I don't think she can accurately be described as deliberately and maliciously ruining a guy's life with a false rape accusation. What seems to have happened the first time is that she was brought up to please people and say what they wanted to hear; this guy was pressuring her to have sex and, indeed, lying on top of her (notice how small she was compared with him!); and she didn't want to have sex but said yes out of lifetime habit. He did, then, from her point of view, force sex on her when she didn't want it, so her emotional truth was that she had been raped.

 

Thank goodness someone else saw it, I was starting to feel like I was taking crazy pills! It might not have fit the current legal definition of rape, but there were definitely some dubious consent issues at play there, nevermind the fact they were both highly intoxicated. His recounting of what went down that night was really sketchy, to top it off.

Having said that, no, "everything that happened" wasn't Mia's fault. You don't get a free pass for murder just because somebody wrongly incriminates you in the death of your neighbor. And, frankly? Comparing the fallout of a false accusation to what rape victims have to live with is insulting.