S19.E18: Service

[dttruman]

The SVU must break through military red tape when a soldier is suspected of sexual assault. (Taken from IMdB episode description)

[dttruman]

Advanced photos from this episode from a website

https://allthingslawandorder.blogspot.com/2018/03/law-order-svu-service-photos.html

[Xeliou66]

No Peter Stone photos which is disappointing, he will be in the episode but I hope he gets good screen time, the show has been much better since his addition. 

The episode sounds and looks pretty good, I just hope it doesn’t devolve into heavy handed Benson preachiness like many episodes have done, and please don’t let Benson start pushing Stone around like she did with Barba.

[QueenMab]

They did this before....recently.The little Coast Guard officer who was gang raped by her comrades and her Commander. AND...the female Army Ranger that was supposed to be a "Finn centric" episode. I wonder what branch of the military they're going to insult this time. Yawn.

[QueenMab]

Xeliou....I think your hoping against hope. Don't you know by now it's Benson's mission in life to bully every ADA into forgetting about the law and just doing what they FEEL is the right thing to do? To make every ADA an emotional trainwreck just like her? C'mon. Gonna happen.

[Xeliou66]

8 minutes ago, QueenMab said:

Xeliou....I think your hoping against hope. Don't you know by now it's Benson's mission in life to bully every ADA into forgetting about the law and just doing what they FEEL is the right thing to do? To make every ADA an emotional trainwreck just like her? C'mon. Gonna happen.

I sure hope Benson doesn’t ruin Stone’s judgment and objectivity the way she did Barba, so far Stone has been good at doing his own thing but I hope he doesn’t become a spineless puppet, and I hope he doesn’t start confiding in St Olivia and going to her apartment every episode the way Barba did. Barba became laughably pathetic, I don’t want Benson to ruin Peter Stone as well, the Barson relationship was unprofessional, unhealthy and dragged down the show, Stone needs to avoid getting tangled in Benson’s web or he will regret it.

Edited April 10, 2018 by Xeliou66

[dttruman]

6 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I don’t want Benson to ruin Peter Stone as well, the Barson relationship was unprofessional, unhealthy and dragged down the show, Stone needs to avoid getting tangled in Benson’s web or he will regret it.

I wonder if Stone will sit this one out, because the case will probably fall under the jurisdiction of the military. This may only be about the investigation of the crime.

Edited April 10, 2018 by dttruman

[Xeliou66]

4 hours ago, dttruman said:

I wonder if Stone will sit this one out, because the case will probably fall under the jurisdiction of the military. This may only be about the investigation of the crime.

No Stone is in the episode, the promos showed him. 

[dttruman]

I know I am being nit picky again, but in this promo, would the soldier (in the hospital) need permission from a superior to give Carisi and Fin the information they require? After all, it is the military. Wouldn't they go to the base commander, he makes the call to the base hospital and gives the soldier an order to release the information when the detectives arrive there. IMO, this whole confrontational scene is a little too contrived to make Carisi look tough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xix12wBdEeY

[wknt3]

13 hours ago, dttruman said:

I wonder if Stone will sit this one out, because the case will probably fall under the jurisdiction of the military. This may only be about the investigation of the crime.

In the Law & Order universe dating back to the early days of the mothership the NYPD and DA almost always end up asserting jurisdiction and winning after the brass obstructs and obfuscates every step of the way. No matter what the circumstances of the crime. It can be a bif confusing for the procedural fan since on NCIS the Navy has jurisdiction if the sailor from a Village People revivial band is killed, but it's just one of those things where you just have to roll with it.

[ForeverAlone]

Spoiler

 

 

 

When it comes to crimes involving military members, if the crime occurred off a military installation, it would typically fall to civilian law enforcement to investigate and prosecute. But civilian law enforcement would still likely play nice with military police and investigators.

[QueenMab]

According to US magazine, the Wed. April 11 (tonight) episode is "Sunk Cost Fallacy" and has Alex Cabot making a visit. WTF? I would much rather see Cabot in action than another tired story about rapists in our Armed Forces. I wonder if it will show tonite....last minute ( thank you) change?

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, QueenMab said:

According to US magazine, the Wed. April 11 (tonight) episode is "Sunk Cost Fallacy" and has Alex Cabot making a visit. WTF? I would much rather see Cabot in action than another tired story about rapists in our Armed Forces. I wonder if it will show tonite....last minute ( thank you) change?

No, it will air next week, the magazine is obviously wrong since every other sight has Service airing tonight. 

[dttruman]

8 hours ago, ForeverAlone said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

When it comes to crimes involving military members, if the crime occurred off a military installation, it would typically fall to civilian law enforcement to investigate and prosecute. But civilian law enforcement would still likely play nice with military police and investigators.

I totally understand why certain law enforcement (civilian or military) get jurisdiction, it depends on the title of the TV series.

 

9 hours ago, wknt3 said:

In the Law & Order universe dating back to the early days of the mothership the NYPD and DA almost always end up asserting jurisdiction and winning after the brass obstructs and obfuscates every step of the way. No matter what the circumstances of the crime.

Remember the female jet pilot accused of murder on L & O. That one was well made with the classic line (or something like it) "Has the DA's Office decided to declare war on the Navy" at the bail hearing.

[dttruman]

Holy cow, when did Rollins become so cynical and callous concerning prostitutes? Last season when they investigated a rape against an "athlete / prostitute", she was all sympathetic. Now she takes major 180.

[MikeWhitf87]

This one wasn't so bad. I actually liked it. But next weeks episode , like everyone else, I'm anticipating! Can't wait to see Alex back.

[RedheadZombie]

I'll admit that I was playing solitaire during the episode, but I don't get the soldier's reluctance to testify.  If he was able to enlist and serve while hiding his secret, why was he certain that this secret would be exposed by testifying.  And rather than announcing to the courtroom he was transgender, why didn't he simply say he doesn't rape women??  Sky/Sandy already testified that she assumed he was going to rape her and she hit him with the lamp. 

[balmz]

mixed on this episode

 

rollins should have been reprimanded or taken off the case or suspended if she was acting like that, i don't care if she had a reason to be upset, you don't treat someone like that, if that's how she is is it really any wonder that the guy she was dating went elsewhere for his needs?

 

the trans soldier was interesting but him repeating his rank and stuff got annoying, i wanted someone to tell him to shut up about that, also they seemed to miss an obvious solution if he didn't want to be outed, when he was questioned he could have just said he wasn't interested in sky or that type of woman, it had nothing to do with sexuality or being trans or gay

 

liked that fin got something to do

 

liked that the whole team worked on the case

 

the ending with the unit was odd, i'm guessing olivia maybe talked to the people and changed their thinking, for once i don't mind the saint olivia thing if it helps people like him

The sergeant was one creepy guy, i thought it'd turn out he was a neo nazi or something evil like that

[HunterHunted]

5 minutes ago, RedheadZombie said:

And rather than announcing to the courtroom he was transgender, why didn't he simply say he doesn't rape women??

A much more rational solution that would never occur to this very dumb show. No defense attorney would have ever asked that question in that way because it had only downsides for his client. "Why didn't you want to have sex with her?" "Because I'm not turned on by dominating unwilling women unlike your client." Or "I'm not into rape like your client." Or "Forcing women to have sex isn't my thing, but seems to get the defendant going."

The only up side was that the jury would be so turned off by the witness being transgender that they'd discount his testimony. That's a really weak gambit because more than one person thought it was a sexual assault. This is why a defense attorney would try to avoid this line of questioning. It was dumb dumb dumb dumb.

[wknt3]

The Good:
The case. A nice straightforward hooker rape whodunnit proceeding in classic SVU style (the whole squad playing a role in the investigation, case progressing logically, DA's office separate yet equally important and making the legal decisions, no extraneous subplots) with a ripped from the headlines twist that was actually surprising.
Speaking of classic SVU style the scene in the no tell hotel was a nice effort at the kind of comedy that they used to do so well and I have sorely missed. If it wasn't quite as good as the classic years it is understandable as Belzer and Meloni are two of the most gifted comic actors around and Giddish just can't match that level (although Ice-T and Wayne Kinight were predictably great!)
I know I say this every week, but the guest cast was great. Especially this week when it seemed that it would be very easy to overact and ruin things.
Carisi, Not only did he get to show off his detective skills, but his scenes with Rollins were great. Hey show I know you're desperate to recreate Benson/Stabler with the ADAs and make Rollins and Benson BFFs since they are both single moms, but Rollisi is actually an organic thing and the Benson/Fin dynamic is a more interesting mentoring/friend relationship.
Fin. A little light on the snark and the screentime, but he had some really solid stuff this week.
Another outsider pointing out that Benson has a bit of a messiah complex. Of course she comes around eventually, but it felt a little more earned than usual and it's a hopeful sign that the writers are addressing it.
Good to see Stone making the legal decisions based on his legal judgement of what was best for getting a conviction and not by what Benson wanted.
No Benoah. No BenStone. No Olivia Batman avenging victims single handedly regardless of the law with her trusty sidekicks. Basically none of the stuff that has most annoyed me for the past couple years.
 

The Bad:
The Rollins subplot was more than a little uneven and the scene at the end wasn't enough of an explanation for me. It felt clumsy and overdone and about the only thing it had going for it was that it wasn't a clumsy and overdone Benson subplot.
The perp seemed underdeveloped. Some of the time spent on Rollins being an unprofessional bitch to the victim would have been better spent on him.
The arraignment.bail/hearing was a little weak like they were trying for the classic style, but didn't understand wit or sarcasm.
The confrontation at the end and the revelation that the Sgt. was transgendered could have been handled a lot better. Have it set up so that he has to reveal it because he is under oath with no obvious easy out such as him stating he simply does not believe in rape. It seems like something that could have been fixed fairly easily.

Overall the show continues to improve and while I'm sure that people will find plenty to complain about this was a solid episode that I wouldn't mind watching again. And the preview for next week looks promising too (although given past history with the NBC promo monkeys and the return of past cast members I'm not counting any chickens yet...)
 

Edited April 12, 2018 by wknt3
accidentally deleted line when originally posting

[Xeliou66]

This was another pretty good episode, the show is much better with Peter Stone than it was with Barba, Stone makes his own decisions without Benson’s approval and can stand up to her and say no. It’s nice to have some friction between Benson and the ADA instead of having them be unprofessionally close like was with Barba.

The case was strong, required investigation, all the characters got solid screen time, nice to see Fin more, Carisi was good, cops and DA’s did their own thing, and the case was interesting. The only flaw was that they would’ve gotten the blood results back before trial, they just wanted a shocking twist at the end.

I didn’t feel any sympathy for the transgender soldier, he stood by and did nothing while his friend raped a girl, he got off very easy. And I hope the other soldier who lied on the stand was charged with perjury. 

Rollins pissed me off badly tonight, she deserved to be suspended for what a bitch she was to the victim, and if she was male Benson would’ve fired her. She let her personal problems get in the way of doing her job and acted beyond unprofessional. I’m sick of having Rollins shoved down our throats, more Carisi and Fin please.

No Noah and no Benson tracking down Stone at a bar to harass him was very nice. 

Overall one of the seasons better episodes and the show has greatly improved with Stone.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Rollins should've been reprimanded and suspended.

 

That was many bridges too far.

 

The promo for next week, they're about to ruin Cabot permanently.

 

Like how Dana became Stephanie Lazarus a few seasons ago.

[ForeverAlone]

This episode just felt off to me. I mean, everyone was so freaking aggressive toward victims, witnesses and the like. Regardless of whatever drama may be going on in Amanda's life, she was so freaking deeply unprofessional with Sky. She should have been formally reprimanded. It takes a lot for me to prefer Olivia's interaction with victims (because I usually find her too schmaltzy for my taste), but she at least treated Sky with compassion and respect. Sky was under no obligation to talk to the police or file a report, and treating her like garbage like Amanda did was certainly not going to actually help them do their job.

And what was up with SGT Preston acting like he was a POW when questioned by the police? He has every right to invoke his right to silence, but that whole charade was stupid and not the way a real military NCO would talk. Plus I have to think that the NYPD would involve these men's commander when questioning and arresting. Yes, NYPD has jurisdiction to arrest them, but I can't see them just waltzing in and not consulting any chain of command at all. Granted, I am always attuned to the ways SVU gets the military wrong in their episodes, so I am more likely to nit pick. And what the fuck was that late breaking twist about SGT Preston being a transgendered man, just to throw some in vogue military issue into the mix? This is something that would have been known, at least by SGT Preston's commander, which is why the commander should have been involved in this whole case from the start (even on an informational basis, because you would think the police would want to get a sense of these men by talking to their commander). And if they are trying to suggest that SGT Preston could be SECRETLY transgender in the military (and by that, I mean secretly transitioned into openly presenting as a different gender), that is just a complete load of bullshit. The Obama era policy about transgender in the military originally took effect in June 2016 (and now seems to be in a holding pattern in some ways), but that would have only applied to people already in the military. So that would mean that SGT Preston would have been female when he originally enlisted, so I don't see how he could have been hiding this big secret all this time, because at some point in the past 18 months, he would have had to transition to presenting as a male, and his commander would have been involved. Even if he was new to the unit, he would likely still be in the process of gender transitioning (which again, his commander would know about), and once he completely transitioned, his gender marker in his military record would be changed to male (which didn't sound like it had happened). And I agree with those who are saying, that SGT Preston's gender identity didn't need to be raised at trial at all (and did the defense attorney know about it, and if so, how?), because there are plenty of men who don't want to have sex with prostitutes or abused women, gender identity be damned. That is all he had to say on the stand, but this episode wanted to make a larger political point (though it missed some key realistic elements for transgender in the military). 

I would have liked to see this case tried by Rafael, only because I think it would have been a good counterpoint to the infamous prostitute rape case we heard about on his very first episode. I also would have loved to see Rafael's angry reaction and threats of perjury conviction after the lying private lied on the stand. I did appreciate Peter taking a hard line with Olivia when it came to the case regarding evidence, because corroboration was needed, because of all the conflicting stories in the beginning and the lack of forensic evidence. I also HIGHLY disagree with Peter's statement that the lying private would have been prosecuted in military court for making false official statements against a superior NCO. Even if the NCOs had been found not guilty, that doesn't mean that the one private lied on the stand. Yeah okay, he might have been at risk for retribution from the NCOs, but that is a different thing that his commander would have the obligation to protect him from. 

Overall, this episode go so much wrong about the military that it just made me want to scream. It just felt like one of those political episodes that was more about grandstanding and not about realism. 

Edited April 12, 2018 by ForeverAlone

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, wknt3 said:

The Bad:
…
The perp seemed underdeveloped

I could classify this as a "Good," especially if it was done on purpose to say that the rapist (or mass shooter, etc.) is a no-count nobody who isn't worth the brain cells or kilobytes to be remembered.

Anyway, this was a better written episode that wound up focusing on transgender issues in a surprisingly natural way.

 

ETA: 

16 minutes ago, ForeverAlone said:

And what was up with SGT Preston acting like he was a POW when questioned by the police?…Granted, I am always attuned to the ways SVU gets the military wrong in their episodes, so I am more likely to nit pick

This did strike me as a plot remnant that should have been cut—like maybe originally it was going to be about PTSD in the military instead of about being transgender in the military—but I figured maybe the name, rank, and serial number bit is used other than when captured by the enemy and that I just didn't know about it, but apparently not?

Edited April 12, 2018 by shapeshifter

[ForeverAlone]

1 hour ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

The promo for next week, they're about to ruin Cabot permanently.

 

Like how Dana became Stephanie Lazarus a few seasons ago.

And how Rafael is now a babykiller in canon (though not in my imagination, because I am doing my level best to block the travesty that is "The Undiscovered Country.") It's like this showrunner wants to turn all of the former SVU ADAs into criminals. Casey better duck and cover in a bunker, because they are coming for her next. 

Edited April 12, 2018 by ForeverAlone

[ForeverAlone]

No, the whole name, rank, serial number line is only used to withstand interrogation after being captured. That is not something that would have been used in a normal way of interacting with the police. All he had to do was invoke his right to an attorney and to silence, and that would have been the end of it (at least initially). 

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

 

The promo for next week, they're about to ruin Cabot permanently.

Nah, Conviction (2006) did that when she went from a crusading lawyer with a moral code to a politically connected and uber-ambitious social-climbing type all about optics and no professionalism (as she screwed a guy on her desk, no less). SVU is just dealing the final blow.

[Vicky8675309]

I'm not a fan of the ham fisted way the show ties politics (one-sided) into the episodes. Also they aren't very accurate when dealing with the military as illuminated by some of the posts above mine. Regardless, the show still entertains me even though it annoys me at times.

[MikeWhitf87]

3 hours ago, balmz said:

mixed on this episode

 

rollins should have been reprimanded or taken off the case or suspended if she was acting like that, i don't care if she had a reason to be upset, you don't treat someone like that, if that's how she is is it really any wonder that the guy she was dating went elsewhere for his needs?

 

the trans soldier was interesting but him repeating his rank and stuff got annoying, i wanted someone to tell him to shut up about that, also they seemed to miss an obvious solution if he didn't want to be outed, when he was questioned he could have just said he wasn't interested in sky or that type of woman, it had nothing to do with sexuality or being trans or gay

 

liked that fin got something to do

 

liked that the whole team worked on the case

 

the ending with the unit was odd, i'm guessing olivia maybe talked to the people and changed their thinking, for once i don't mind the saint olivia thing if it helps people like him

The sergeant was one creepy guy, i thought it'd turn out he was a neo nazi or something evil like that

I agree about Amanda. Olivia should have reprimanded her for that bs. She was so unprofessional and she needs to keep her personal life and professional one separate. But then again it's Amanda were talking about.

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, ForeverAlone said:

Overall, this episode go so much wrong about the military that it just made me want to scream. It just felt like one of those political episodes that was more about grandstanding and not about realism. 

You nailed it!

[dttruman]

5 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I could classify this as a "Good," especially if it was done on purpose to say that the rapist (or mass shooter, etc.) is a no-count nobody who isn't worth the brain cells or kilobytes to be remembered.

Anyway, this was a better written episode that wound up focusing on transgender issues in a surprisingly natural way.

I thought the investigation part of this episode was better, but the rapist character had no depth. I think the only reason why they picked this actor was when they put out the casting call, they were looking for a man with a great menacing sneer. I thought they went totally overboard at the end with the transgender conflict when they had a lot of army people in the court room and they saluted the guy. I will be honest here, I don't know too much about the military. But when they go off base, would they wear their fatigues in a courtroom during proceedings?

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

I don't know too much about the military. But when they go off base, would they wear their fatigues in a courtroom during proceedings?

FWIW, they wear fatigues in the grocery store, just like I see firefighters wearing gear while grabbing boxed sandwiches, but, yeah, they're probably not going to be able to catch a trial on a lunch break.

Were any of the saluting military in that scene women?

Edited April 12, 2018 by shapeshifter

[dttruman]

19 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

FWIW, they wear fatigues in the grocery store, just like I see firefighters wearing gear while grabbing boxed sandwiches, but, yeah, they're probably not going to be able to catch a trial on a lunch break.

Were any of the saluting military in that scene women?

I think I saw one, maybe two women. I am sorry, I should have clarified it better. I was emphasizing the court room, considering it's not actually a casual meeting place.

[wknt3]

16 hours ago, ForeverAlone said:

Overall, this episode go so much wrong about the military that it just made me want to scream. It just felt like one of those political episodes that was more about grandstanding and not about realism. 

 

Once again, if you are looking for realism you are about 15 years too late. And even the greatest episodes tend to knowingly or unknowingly gloss over, ignore, or oversimplify a lot. I work for a bank. My father is a teacher. My SO is in the medical field. They get all of those just as wrong as they do with the military. Heck they take the same shortcuts with the lawyers and police. I would have dropped the Stone line about facing military charges and made it about loyalty and fear of retribution, had Fin expressing some reservations and perhaps comparing it to when he was in the service with don't ask, don't tell, and maybe even had a sympathetic CO instead of the Rollins thing, but I didn't see it as grandstanding or anti-military. Some issues don't have two equal sides, and when the headlines you are ripping from lack depth or subtlety it's bound to affect the plots. This show has unfairly maligned the military at times IMHO, but this episode presented it as reflecting society at large both good and bad. And the grandstanding was rather toned down and more about how great Liv is than anything else, which again is nothing new or special.

Edited April 12, 2018 by wknt3
Fin not Fun. Ficking autocorrect...

[gesundheit]

Well, that was about it for me and Rollins. That was so overwritten it's absurd. Her boyfriend cheated on her, so now she thinks it's pointless to bother with sex workers who are raped and assaulted and left for dead? Come on. Otherwise...pretty average episode. I'm glad for once they actually cast a trans actor as a trans character, though.

[marceline]

On 4/12/2018 at 2:04 AM, Vicky8675309 said:

I'm not a fan of the ham fisted way the show ties politics (one-sided) into the episodes. 

The funny thing is that even though I share those politics, I hate that too because I don't think the show's presentation helps. For example, everything Preston said about being afraid for his job and livelihood resonated with me but I just hated the in your faceness of it all. Also because having a straight, white ,cisgender woman tell a black trans man in the military what to risk was nauseating. I would've far preferred Fin trying that conversation because he would understand much better what's at stake. Liv was just doing her weekly browbeating of a witness.

I stopped watching this show after Barba left. Not because of that. Frankly, I was never all that attached to Barba but because I just can't stand it anymore. I literally only saw this episode because Hulu insists on autoplaying and I couldn't find the remote to shut it off.

Edited April 14, 2018 by marceline

[ForeverAlone]

This was an episode where Olivia was about the only one who looked good in this episode. Amanda was an unhinged, crazy, unprofessional bitch, because of ridiculous reasons that was basically character assassination. Dominic and Fin were fine (though I am growing weary of Dominic's increasing aggression toward witnesses), but I agree that it would have been a good opportunity for Fin to convince SGT Preston to testify, since he could likely relate to him better since they are both black men in the military. Olivia really has no idea of what it is like to be in the military, and would have been a nice chance to highlight someone else showing compassion and respect and not her singlehandedly saving the day like normal. I do like her interaction with Sky, but mainly because of the contrast to Amanda's horrible behavior.

[Xeliou66]

How was Olivia the only one who looked good? Fin was awesome as usual, Carisi was good and Stone didn’t let Benson push him around and did his job like he should, Barba would’ve folded instantly under Benson’s disapproving tone. The only one who looked bad was Rollins, and she was awful, she deserved a suspension, or at least being told by Benson to act professional or she would remove her from the case.

[ForeverAlone]

It took Rafael four years to fold to Olivia, so give it time, and that didn't start happening until season 18. Though since Peter is Michael's pet like Rafael was Warren's, it might not be anytime soon.

Olivia did the bulk of the emotional work, dealing with both Sky and SGT Preston. That could easily have been shared among the team. Dominic and Fin didn't do much besides their actual job. Fin would have been a better choice to interact with SGT Preston in my opinion, and could have been a good opportunity to show that his views have evolved, just like many current views in the military have evolved. There was no reason to write Amanda as an unhinged bitch, and the "explanation" for her egregious behavior was character assassination, because it was so unnecessary. It was a conscious storytelling choice to make Olivia the emotional hero of this episode and the savior of the case.

Edited April 12, 2018 by ForeverAlone

[Xeliou66]

Yeah Benson always has to be the front and center heroine that saves the day, it’s very tiresome and shows Mariska’s huge ego. 

I disagree with the statement about Barba not folding to Benson until season 18, yeah it got dramatically worse that season but it started happening all the way back in season 15, remember Comic Perversion? Either way, Stone has been a huge breath of fresh air. 

I’ve never been a fan of Rollins so I don’t care as much about her but she was a massive bitch in this episode and I agree it seemed OOC, I’m just sick of her being shoved down our throats, period. 

I thought Fin got more screen time, and I thought Carisi did a good job as well.

I wished we had seen more of the hotel manager Grigor, Wayne Knight was seriously underused! 

[wknt3]

5 hours ago, ForeverAlone said:

This was an episode where Olivia was about the only one who looked good in this episode. Amanda was an unhinged, crazy, unprofessional bitch, because of ridiculous reasons that was basically character assassination. Dominic and Fin were fine (though I am growing weary of Dominic's increasing aggression toward witnesses), but I agree that it would have been a good opportunity for Fin to convince SGT Preston to testify, since he could likely relate to him better since they are both black men in the military. Olivia really has no idea of what it is like to be in the military, and would have been a nice chance to highlight someone else showing compassion and respect and not her singlehandedly saving the day like normal. I do like her interaction with Sky, but mainly because of the contrast to Amanda's horrible behavior.

Yeah it would have been nice to see them doing more with Fin and his history. Although they did do a better job with it here than they did last season in the episode that was supposed to be all about Fin and his Ranger service so there is that. I think there has definitely been some progress with Benson as the end all and be all of policing, but until Mariska gets on board it's not going to be consistent or complete.
 

2 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I wished we had seen more of the hotel manager Grigor, Wayne Knight was seriously underused! 

Yeah if this was the later Baer years he would have gotten at least twice the material and turned out to be part of the conspiracy in the fourth shocking twist of the episode! Although as I said in my review I think they lacked the cast and writers to really let him shine. I would have loved to see him and Fin with Munch instead of Rollins.

[ChristiKRN]

Well, SVU made an unlikeable character even more unlikeable, if at all possible.  Rollins was so over-the-line once again; I can't find enough deplorable adjectives to describe her behavior in last night's episode.  Unprofessional, crude, insensitive, inhumane just don't cut it.  All because her boyfriend cheated on her with prostitutes? How is she still even on this squad with all her transgressions over the years?  It's also a prime example of Benson's lack of leadership; she should have tossed her after the 1st interview with Sandy/Sky and then suspended her or worse after Rollins threw money at her.  

I was able to tolerate Benson coming in to save the day with Sandy; it was almost necessary after Rollins' treatment of her. 

I'm not sure why it was necessary for the African-American sergeant to be transgender as the reason he didn't rape Sandy.  Just seemed to be a plot device or an afterthought to appease the LGBTQ+ fans, who have been vocal about SVU's lack of diversity.  If they wanted to focus on this issue, they could have done a whole storyline about people who are transgender in the military.

There's never enough Fin, but glad to see he had more to do in last night's episode.  

[Everleigh]

So any man who won’t rape an attractive woman must be gay? The judge really allowed that question. 

Rollins was borderline abusive to a rape victim because her boyfriend cheated on her. Amanda's always been kind of a trainwreck but that's certainly a new low for her character. 

Edited April 13, 2018 by Everleigh

[Xeliou66]

I agree the transgender military stuff is complex enough to take up its own episode and the twist was pointless, just an excuse for Benson to speak to him and to try to appease the rabid SJW fans bitching about the show not having enough LGBT characters, and interestingly enough they still aren’t satisfied, and the twist didn’t make sense as they would’ve gotten the blood results back before they went to trial. 

Rollins should’ve been suspended for her unprofessional and heartless behavior, she’s always been someone who lets her personal crap get in the way of her job but yeah this was a new low. I want less Rollins and more of Fin, Stone and Carisi, I’m sick of the Rollins and Benson show. 

[ForeverAlone]

28 minutes ago, Everleigh said:

So any man who won’t rape an attractive woman must be gay? The judge really allowed that question. 

Yeah, that was the same thought that went through my head. Since when do men have to justify why they don't want to sexually abuse women? Are they trying to imply that if a man doesn't want to rape a woman or have sex with a prostitute, he must be gay or transgender? I assume NO that is not the point they were trying to make, but the whole situation was oddly handled. I guess it was the only setup the writers could think of that would allow SGT Preston to make his big, inspiring speech in court (which was the true point of this episode), that they needed such a clumsy setup. From that, I assume the defense attorney knew SGT Preston was transgender (and if so, how? I guess he got the same medical report that identified SGT Preston's blood as female, but other than that, I have no clue) and was trying to use that as some sort of weapon that if he was lying about his gender identity, he was lying about SSG Rapist (I don't remember his name). Of course that would just allow Peter to redirect SGT Preston and get him to affirm that he didn't want to harm Sky, because he has no interest in sexually abusing women, gender identity be damned. That statement would have had more power to implicate SSG Rapist rather than saying that he didn't harm Sky, because he is a transgender man.

Even though this took a different turn than "Military Justice", it is still interesting that the successful convictions in both cases rested on a male sexual minority in the military outing themselves in court. 

Edited April 13, 2018 by ForeverAlone

[Bexx88]

Well that was self congratulatory, even more so on twitter where Mariska is “America’s conscience”, apparently. I think they should have spent more time working on the story instead of starting with the big speech they wanted to make and trying to write backwards from there, because it required too many illogical leaps. Dealing with transgender issues is admirable, but using them for a dramatic twist is distasteful.

Stone is a non-entity, but it was nice to get through an episode without being reminded that his dad didn’t read to him as a child. It gives me hope that the finale won’t actually be Stone’s sister kidnapping Noah in an all out Personal Issues No One Cares About-athon.

The current characterisation of Rollins is bizarre, but at least there are traumatized rape victims out there to help trained police officers deal with their dating problems.

Edited April 13, 2018 by Bexx88

[dttruman]

27 minutes ago, Bexx88 said:

Well that was self congratulatory, even more so on twitter where Mariska is “America’s conscience”, apparently. I think they should have spent more time working on the story instead of starting with the big speech they wanted to make and trying to write backwards from there, because it required too many illogical leaps. Dealing with transgender issues is admirable, but using them for a dramatic twist is distasteful.

Totally agree! It's like they have a template they follow.

1. What social issue or injustice should we spotlight?

   A. Main subject of the episode or

   B. Use as a surprise twist

2. Reserve so many minutes of dialogue and face time (visual presence) of Benson character

   A. Professional Life

   B. Personal Life

3. Insert other characters w/o going over budget.

4. So on...

[CelticBlackCat]

At first I thought Amanda's performance with the rape victim was some kind of good cop/bad cop act to try to get more info out of her via Saint Olivia.  Amanda taking her personal problems into the precinct is very unprofessional and she should be taken to task for it.  Let's hope the next special victim she has to deal with isn't a cardiologist.

[ForeverAlone]

I really do wonder what the writers were thinking when they wrote Amanda so OOC and bitchy this episode, because it was obviously a deliberate choice on their part. I mean, it was completely unnecessary to further the story or add to her character development. Did they think they needed some contrast to her horrible behavior to Sky to drive home the point that sex workers deserve respect (something anyone working in SVU would already know)? It's weird. Dominic got an entire relationship and breakup in one episode in the deleted scenes and now the writers trot out some never mentioned cardiologist boyfriend that cheated on Amanda with prostitutes. Contrast that to the Benoah overdose (though thankfully they pulled back from that after the ridiculousness that was the first half of this season).  It just reinforces some fans' belief that the writers really only care about Olivia and all other characters are simply props to further whatever agenda the writers/producers want to bring forth each week. 

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, ForeverAlone said:

really do wonder what the writers were thinking when they wrote Amanda so OOC and bitchy this episode, because it was obviously a deliberate choice on their part. I mean, it was completely unnecessary to further the story or add to her character development. Did they think they needed some contrast to her horrible behavior to Sky to drive home the point that sex workers deserve respect (something anyone working in SVU would already know)?

That must have been the point, but, wow, I could not figure out where that plot was going until reading your post, @ForeverAlone. I thought for sure this was the beginning of another Amanda And Her Issues arc.