S19.E17: Send in the Clowns 2018.03.21

[Iguessnot]

What got me though was the idiot planned to be a famous pianist overseas.  

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Iguessnot said:

What got me though was the idiot planned to be a famous pianist overseas.  

If by "idiot" you meant the 16-year-old girl, I thought that was a typical fantasy for her age and background. Her hours per day of practice probably robbed her of a lot of social and emotional development. When I was an 8-year-old girl, I thought I could be president. So she might be emotionally 13 and she did have the mad skilz on the piano.

Or, if you meant the idiot bio-dad/teacher, he too seemed to be on some spectrum that made him delusional.

[J-Man]

Didn't anyone wonder where the music teacher/chaperone was during the entire time after Haley first went missing? Like -- why wasn't he either (1) staying in the hotel with the parents or (2) back in Beaver Falls doing his job? Presumably some time elapsed between the time she went missing and the time they found the incestuous lovers on Long Island.

[Xeliou66]

Yeah I felt bad for the guy who thought he was the bio dad, he was the only sympathetic person in the episode really. I didn’t find the daughter remotely sympathetic, she was arrogant and felt superior to everyone and had no remorse for helping frame an innocent guy, I hope she got arrested as well. 

[ForeverAlone]

Hmmm...I think it would have been interesting if Hayley had been 17 (the age of consent in New York). Then once you take statutory rape charges off the table, the ADA would be forced to deal with the fact that they framed an innocent (though thoroughly creepy) man. Then they would have to grapple with the surprise incest that isn't actually statutory rape, but isn't really a crime in NY either, since neither of them knew they were related at the time of the sex. You know, just so there couldn't be any legal talk of Hayley being a victim (she already was an unsympathetic victim). And just because I like to mix things up for fun. 

Edited March 24, 2018 by ForeverAlone

[Iguessnot]

On 3/23/2018 at 10:40 PM, shapeshifter said:

If by "idiot" you meant the 16-year-old girl, I thought that was a typical fantasy for her age and background. Her hours per day of practice probably robbed her of a lot of social and emotional development. When I was an 8-year-old girl, I thought I could be president. So she might be emotionally 13 and she did have the mad skilz on the piano.

Or, if you meant the idiot bio-dad/teacher, he too seemed to be on some spectrum that made him delusional.

I meant the idiot 16 year old who thought she could be famous when she's playing dead. 

[Bostongirl]

I like how this episode was kind of old school, like back in the Amaro days

[dttruman]

On 3/23/2018 at 4:04 AM, GussieK said:

This always bothers me, but it was particularly silly here. How could he have stashed the girl in that house for so long without the house owner's eventually needing the house?  And the girl was just staying for weeks alone out on Long Island while piano teacher went back to Beaver Falls to cover up his involvement?  

This is usually a major problem I have with it also, but since it wasn't a major dramatic license "faux pas" . I let it slip. It's the outrageous ones that tick me off.

[dttruman]

On 3/23/2018 at 12:11 AM, CelticBlackCat said:

When no body was ever found before trial, I had a sneaking suspicion that Missing Teen Girl (sorry, forgot her name) was alive, and I was hoping for the best.  I thought Piano Teacher would have her tied up somewhere, and when the former partner (who was a hoot, I thought) gave them the Oyster Bay location info, I figured that was where she was stashed.  But as the team charged toward the bedroom door, I thought, I'll bet the Teen Girl and Piano Teacher are in there having a tryst!  I was excited I got that right!!

I thought Vinny was a little creepy, but I felt more sorry for him for having been framed.

That twist at the end was a surprise.  It goes to show how every father should have a DNA test done (on the sly, of course <wink>) when they "father" a child.  I can't believe the mother would let her daughter get lessons from the piano teacher.  She's probably the most twisted of them all.  (Except for the huge age difference teen/statutory rapey relationship.)

I thought it was going to be a routine kidnapping rape murder episode, but when they caught them in bed together, I thought there it is "ripped from the headlines". That teacher and that student running off together. But when they framed Drago, I thought that was a good unexpected twist and when they added that incest factor they twisted it a second time. Kudos to the guy (or girl) who came up with this story line.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 3/21/2018 at 10:24 PM, Maximum Taco said:

Yawn. 

If you couldn't see this one coming from a mile away you were just blind. 

The incest angle was something I guess, but it hardly had an impact on the story, except to squick everyone out at the end, and let Olivia Benson, PhD in Special Victims Studies do something other then force Stone to go to trial on a case he was going to either horribly lose, or send an innocent (albeit creepy) man to jail. 

They made it super obvious during the scene outside the courtroom where Stone spoke to the parents and the teacher.  They kept the camera on the teacher for a few seconds at the end of that and totally gave it away. The only way it would have been more obvious is if they did a tight close up on his shifty eyes. 

On 3/21/2018 at 10:27 PM, Fiero425 said:

I fault Benson for pushing to get Vinnie tried when they had little to nothing tying him to that girl! Like he would leave a bloody boas in his bathroom and her purse in a dumpster downstairs so anyone could find it! There's got to be a way to punish that girl setting him up like that! ;-(

One thing I didn't get was how did the locket end up in the trunk. Was one of his moves to show the girl he brings home his awesome trunk? 

I didn't feel bad for that guy especially since thanks to the news show a lot of people will probably think he is a murderer.  Would he be able to sue the nypd and the da? What does that do to Jack McCoy's approval rating? 

[Xeliou66]

I don’t think he could sue the DA’s since he wasn’t wrongfully convicted, the police maybe for false arrest but they did have plenty of evidence against him, the ones he should sue are the 2 who framed him. I was a bit unsure of how the locket got in the trunk, I guess she took the guys keys and planted it there when he was asleep before she left. 

I think everyone would realize that the guy did nothing when the story came out about the teacher and student framing him, he could probably get a major book deal to tell his story. I don’t think McCoy’s approval rating would take that much a hit, because they were able to correct their mistake and get the right people in the end I don’t think it would be a big issue.

[LaraCroftEyes1]

Finally episode where I like Olivia Benson again and didn't see the end coming and the only character I felt bad for was non-bio father of Haley and couldn't stand Haley mom I knew she was up to something

 

 

I do hope Will Sasso lose weight I have always like him

[Maximum Taco]

On 3/30/2018 at 7:54 AM, Kel Varnsen said:

They made it super obvious during the scene outside the courtroom where Stone spoke to the parents and the teacher.  They kept the camera on the teacher for a few seconds at the end of that and totally gave it away. The only way it would have been more obvious is if they did a tight close up on his shifty eyes. 

One thing I didn't get was how did the locket end up in the trunk. Was one of his moves to show the girl he brings home his awesome trunk? 

I didn't feel bad for that guy especially since thanks to the news show a lot of people will probably think he is a murderer.  Would he be able to sue the nypd and the da? What does that do to Jack McCoy's approval rating? 

Didn't he have a van? So his trunk would've been an open area, and she could've easily tossed the locket back there. 

No, you can't sue the NYPD for investigating you, and you can't sue the DA for prosecuting you as long as they go about it in a typical manner. Well, that's not true, you can sue anybody for anything as long as you have the cash to pay for it, but you would have a hard time winning. 

In order to win such a case, you would need to prove that the NYPD and the DA specifically had it out for you and went above and beyond to get you wrongly convicted when they knew you were innocent (or at least had a strong reason to presume your innocence.) Or they were grossly negligent in their investigation. 

In this case the NYPD was well within its duty for investigating the guy. He doesn't deny he was with the girl the night before she disappeared, and the NYPD legitimately found suspicious material involving him (video of the girl scared, locket in his trunk, blood stained boa in his bathroom, video of him dumping suspicious luggage on the night she disappeared etc.) And while the DA had a weak case, they didn't concoct evidence, or withhold anything in order to try and pervert the course of justice. In fact, if the DA had gone for a lesser charge than out and out murder (kidnapping, assault, attempted murder etc.) I wouldn't be surprised if the jury returned a guilty verdict based on the evidence she planted. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Maximum Taco

[MamaMax]

So help me out with this genetic attraction thing. The last time SUV featured it, the young girl in question THOUGHT the dude was her bio-dad \donor dad..but he was not --  and she felt this irresistible attraction, which would indicate its a psychological thing. But in this on, the girl DIDN'T know the dude was her bio-dad.... indicating that it was some physiological response. I don't get it.

Edited April 3, 2018 by MamaMax

[CelticBlackCat]

2 hours ago, MamaMax said:

So help me out with this genetic attraction thing. The last time SUV featured it, the young girl in question THOUGHT the dude was her bio-dad \donor dad..but he was not --  and she felt this irresistible attraction, which would indicate its a psychological thing. But in this on, the girl DIDN'T know the dude was her bio-dad.... indicating that it was some physiological response. I don't get it.

I don't know that I completely buy this genetic attraction thing.  Even if it is in psychological literature, has it been irrefutably proven or is it just a theory?  Mother nature wouldn't want anything to do with this because she abhors instances where genetic problems could arise.  There must be something genetic about sexual attractions being psychologically cut-off and the incest is an aberration.

[MamaMax]

13 hours ago, CelticBlackCat said:

I don't know that I completely buy this genetic attraction thing.  Even if it is in psychological literature, has it been irrefutably proven or is it just a theory?  Mother nature wouldn't want anything to do with this because she abhors instances where genetic problems could arise.  There must be something genetic about sexual attractions being psychologically cut-off and the incest is an aberration.

I did google it and it seems the theory is that  we choose mates who mirror us in some ways, so someone related to us who we haven't been socialized OUT of being sexually attracted to is appealing.  My confusion lies with the writers using it both ways --

[SunnyBeBe]

I just watched this episode and wondered if they might should have waited a little longer for a story ripped from the headlines. This one is TRUE and hard to believe. 

This bio father/daughter (adopted at birth, then reunited as a teen) charged with Incest AFTER they marry and have baby together, (Yes, they both know and her adoptive parents attend wedding!)  Father then murders their baby (his grandchild/child), his wife/daughter and the adoptive father of his bio daughter, then commits suicide.  I'm not making this up.  The baby's murder occurred in my community. He drove up North to kill the others and himself. 

https://www.thecut.com/2018/04/father-daughter-incest-case-murder-suicide-steven-pladl.html

Edited May 11, 2018 by SunnyBeBe