S20.E06: Exile

[dttruman]

From IMDb description of the episode. "A young woman wakes up in the hospital with no memory of her assault, and Carisi's investigation stalls when she disappears". Hope it's  a good episode.

[Xeliou66]

It sounds interesting, I hope Carisi gets more focus like it says in the description and it isn’t misleading, I’m glad that Stone is back for this one and it will be nice to have the psych expert Abernathy back.

[dttruman]

Another ominous beginning, Benson has to mention her trainer again. Please let it get better.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Stone is at it again, hopefully he declined and went home.

[dttruman]

9 minutes ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Stone is at it again, hopefully he declined and went home.

I think his ego busted Big Time when the girl call him old. I know my ego would have shattered.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

12 minutes ago, dttruman said:

I think his ego busted Big Time when the girl call him old. I know my ego would have shattered.

Yeah she looked quite young, early 20's.

 

I'd put Stone in his mid/late 30's.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Think I know where this is going.

Edited October 26, 2018 by MrsRafaelBarba

[MrsRafaelBarba]

RME..

[Gigglepuff]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Why didn't Sophie/Grace have a session with Doc?

 

Sandrine Holt was wasted tonight.

[SuzieQ]

What's with the openings of Stone's pick ups?  I laughed when she told him it was only 2 flights of stairs.

[dttruman]

It wasn't a bad episode. Nothing outrageously wrong or anything spectacularly exciting. The only thing I didn't like about it was when Benson decided to play shrink. I thought Martin and a social worker should have been the ones taking Sophie around to help her regain her memory. Why is a police officer put in this position. Is this another blatant attempt at making Benson look important?

[MrsRafaelBarba]

2 minutes ago, SuzieQ said:

What's with the openings of Stone's pick ups?  I laughed when she told him it was only 2 flights of stairs.

 Guess we'll see this every couple of episodes. 

[balmz]

ok episode, fin was great as usual, i thought they were going to do that sophie had brain cancer like her mother did, was surprised they did something different, liked that the therapist was shown, it would have made more sense that she went with sophie not just olivia, also they seem to miss an obvious thing to pint out to sophie, the man had a heart attack so with any luck he hopefully suffered a painful death and she could take comfort in that

[MrsRafaelBarba]

1 minute ago, dttruman said:

It wasn't a bad episode. Nothing outrageously wrong or anything spectacularly exciting. The only thing I didn't like about it was when Benson decided to play shrink. I thought Martin and a social worker should have been the ones taking Sophie around to help her regain her memory. Why is a police officer put in this position. Is this another blatant attempt at making Benson look important?

Notice how the last shot was Sophie clinging to Benson?

Instead of her umm, father?

[Gigglepuff]

Just now, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Notice how the last shot was Sophie clinging to Benson?

And Benson was doing that whispering thing again. Just. Stop. It. 

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Stone was triggered by this case and what Carisi let slip in the opening. 

[dttruman]

1 minute ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Notice how the last shot was Sophie clinging to Benson?

Instead of her umm, father?

Did anybody else think this was suppose to be an episode that Carisi was going to be more involved with the investigation? All it was to me was a PSA about the homeless and Benson pretending to be another Dr Joyce Brothers hoping to help someone confront their demons.

[dttruman]

15 hours ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Notice how the last shot was Sophie clinging to Benson?

Instead of her umm, father?

Another classic example of Benson hogging the camera time. It would have been more realistic if father and daughter reconciled with a major embrace signifying "all is forgiven, lets go home".

I also lost count for this episode, so could someone help me out here. Was it really Benson's turn to calm down Stone in the interrogation room? I thought it was Stone's job now to calm down Benson when she witnesses a injustice.

Edited October 26, 2018 by dttruman

[preeya]

. . . . and they lived happily ever after!

[MrsRafaelBarba]

42 minutes ago, dttruman said:

Did anybody else think this was suppose to be an episode that Carisi was going to be more involved with the investigation? All it was to me was a PSA about the homeless and Benson pretending to be another Dr Joyce Brothers hoping to help someone confront their demons.

Started out that way, then the bait and switch.

[incandescent]

I remember waaaaay back in season 5 or 6 there was an episode where Stabler drove a woman home from the hospital— despite it being against protocol— and she accused him of groping her. I knew that wasn't where this episode was going, but c'mon, show.

[ChristiKRN]

52 minutes ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Why didn't Sophie/Grace have a session with Doc?

 

Sandrine Holt was wasted tonight.

Exactly my thought.  She should have been an integral part of the episode from the discovery of what triggered her dissociative fugue state to the aftercare.  However, it was Benson and Benson only once again to the rescue.  Carisi seemed to be developing a rapport with Grace/Sophie, but only Benson can be allowed to really help her in a way  that was out of her scope. 

Stone is a disappointment; I had high hopes for him.  The way he flew off the handle at the father for no reason was inappropriate and unprofessional.  Not a good sign when the ADA can't separate personal issues from his professional life. He's like the male Rollins. 

Fin swiping an edible marijuana was meant to be funny, but I'm pretty sure having marijuana in his system would be cause for termination if he was randomly drug-tested.  Is openly selling edibles even legal in NY?

The actress who played Grace/Sophie was good, and her performance was a highlight of the episode.  The investigation part of the episode was also well-done. But it derailed with the Benson takeover and just everything Stone-related. 

[Zoe]

1 hour ago, Gigglepuff said:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

Dammit, you stole my post.

[Fellaway]

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

Did anybody else think this was suppose to be an episode that Carisi was going to be more involved with the investigation? All it was to me was a PSA about the homeless and Benson pretending to be another Dr Joyce Brothers hoping to help someone confront their demons.

Yes!  As someone else said, this was a real bait and switch.  Carisi had one good scene, when he drove the girl home, then he was just relegated to background detective work again.  This was Benson's show, all the way.  It's such a shame, too.  PS is very good at playing the notes of connecting with a victim and would've been, too, at feeling guilty for "losing" her, etc.  Instead we get the same old, same old, with Benson saving the day.  I'm not even sure why they needed the psychologist, as Benson had the girl diagnosed and her treatment planned all on her own.  

I did enjoy the very brief scene of Carisi and Stone at the bar.  It's nice to see people on this squad bonding who aren't named Benson and Rollins.  Then, sadly, Carisi left and we return to the random sex adventures of Peter Stone.  Does anyone else find it weird his way of dealing with his grief and guilt over his sister is by picking up younger women to have sex with?  Because me?  I find it weird.

Overall, a so-so episode, with a plot reminiscent of old school SVU but hampered with mediocre writing, Bensonitis, and wasted Carisi potential.  He wasn't the focus, nothing was about him, and still no nooky for him.  But, he got a new car! 

[DangerousMinds]

Grace sure had expensive highlights in her hair for a homeless person.

[Fellaway]

2 minutes ago, DangerousMinds said:

Grace sure had expensive highlights in her hair for a homeless person.

I probably missed it, but was it mentioned where she got her leather jacket and Prada bag?

[Xeliou66]

A pretty good episode, the season’s second best effort IMO, it had some flaws but overall I enjoyed it. 

The case was good, it was an interesting story where it wasn’t obvious what was going on, I liked how it was something different from what the usual. 

Carisi and Fin were the highlight once again, they had a lot of good scenes and were entertaining as always, I love seeing them work together and I’m glad we are getting more scenes of them together with Rollins on desk duty, the less of Rollins the better, and it’s nice to see Fin and Carisi get focus. The scene where Tommy threw his tray and his food spilled on Fin made me laugh out loud. 

Stone was off tonight, he had little to do and him screaming at the father was highly unprofessional for someone who is usually so professional, very disappointing and just an opportunity for Benson to come to the rescue again. I did like the scene of Stone and Carisi at the start, it’s nice to see someone other than Benson and Rollins get a bit of focus and I would like to see more of the Carisi/Stone relationship. 

Nice to see the psych expert Dr Abernathy back, SVU needs a psych expert to talk to people like Sophie, and I liked how she was able to shed some light on her condition, it’s nice to have a recurring psych expert again, Huang is still missed, I wish that Abernathy had gone with Sophie to the college though, it would’ve made more sense for her to come along, but Benson had to get all the glory once again and play shrink, because Benson is the patron saint of everyone who’s been victimized. 

The final scene of Sophie yelling at the grave was comical IMO, it was supposed to be more empowerment crap but I just thought it was what tropers call narm.

No Noah and no Rollins pregnancy drama was nice. 

Overall an interesting story and the second best episode of the season, but it was taken down some by the St Olivia worship and the waste and unprofessional behavior of Stone.

[dttruman]

6 hours ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Started out that way, then the bait and switch.

So, well said! That is exactly what they did!

[dttruman]

5 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Nice to see the psych expert Dr Abernathy back, SVU needs a psych expert to talk to people like Sophie

 

8 hours ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Sandrine Holt was wasted tonight.

I am going to have my mental facilities checked today. For some reason I thought the new shrink assigned to SVU was named Lisa Martin, played by Sandrine Holt. I apologize, if I confused anybody out there.

[cfinboston]

I couldn't get past them all having umbrellas at the gravesite when it wasn't raining. I don't know why but that totally cracked me up. It's like they loved the idea of Liv holding an umbrella over the girl do much they didn't care that it wasn't fucking raining.

The scene where they find her, the CSU tech says they "left the Prada". So yeah she somehow managed to live on the streets and keep a Prada bag and enough makeup to look that good.

IANAD but did it make sense how the "dissociative fugue" came and went? Like she did not know her real name yet she instantly recognized her parents. She remembered a water skiing lesson but not her assault. She wanted to stay on the streets despite remembering her family. Also the "dissociative fugue" was on Mothership. It was used in an episode where a shrink who provided expert testimony on the condition was attacked. On Mothership it was described as a state the criminal was in during a crime but subsequently had no memory of it.  

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, dttruman said:

 

I am going to have my mental facilities checked today. For some reason I thought the new shrink assigned to SVU was named Lisa Martin, played by Sandrine Holt. I apologize, if I confused anybody out there.

The characters name is Dr Lisa Abernathy, and yes she’s played by Sandrine Holt.

[dttruman]

35 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

2 hours ago, dttruman said:

 

I am going to have my mental facilities checked today. For some reason I thought the new shrink assigned to SVU was named Lisa Martin, played by Sandrine Holt. I apologize, if I confused anybody out there.

The characters name is Dr Lisa Abernathy, and yes she’s played by Sandrine Holt.

My shrink says I don't have to wear the straight-jacket today, because it's not my fault. Check out the actors and the characters they play. Please take notice of Sandrine Holt and her character

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8585606/?ref_=ttep_ep2

[Xeliou66]

9 minutes ago, dttruman said:

My shrink says I don't have to wear the straight-jacket today, because it's not my fault. Check out the actors and the characters they play. Please take notice of Sandrine Holt and her character

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8585606/?ref_=ttep_ep2

Go back and watch Man Down, she introduces herself as Dr Lisa Abernathy.

[dttruman]

4 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

Go back and watch Man Down, she introduces herself as Dr Lisa Abernathy.

Why do they have her listed as Lisa Martin? Anyway, I feel a little vindicated.

Edited October 26, 2018 by dttruman

[preeya]

18 minutes ago, dttruman said:

Why do they have her listed as Lisa Martin? Anyway, I feel a little vindicated.

 

 

18 minutes ago, dttruman said:

Why do they have her listed as Lisa Martin? Anyway, I feel a little vindicated.

 

IMDB likely has made an error. Everything I've seen related to Holt and SVU indicates her character is Dr. Lisa Abernathy.

[SarahPrtr]

Lately, after watching SVU, I've had to watch 10 episodes of Brooklyn99 to 'flush out' the bs parts of the show.  And there have been a LOTTTTTTT.

[Iguessnot]

2 hours ago, cfinboston said:

The scene where they find her, the CSU tech says they "left the Prada". So yeah she somehow managed to live on the streets and keep a Prada bag and enough makeup to look that good.

 

The tech actually mentioned the things by "the body". I had to rewind to see if I overlooked mention of a death. Sloppy writing.  

[Iguessnot]

Another thing. Grace/Sophie tells Carisi to drive past the bald doorman because he is nosy. So Carisi drive just a couple of yards past the dude and when she gets out, the doorman looks directly at her and Carisi because they are right there in his view. Even when they examine the security footage from the lobby, Grace/Sophie walks past the doorman and he turns his head slightly towards her. The bald doorman was so prominent in these scenes I can't figure out why he disappeared in the narrative. IIRC, they introduced the young black guy who provided the security video as the doorman, yet ignored the actual doorman.

[Xantar]

Spence College? What's that? I thought every college student in New York went to Hudson.

[Zoe]

47 minutes ago, Iguessnot said:

Another thing. Grace/Sophie tells Carisi to drive past the bald doorman because he is nosy. So Carisi drive just a couple of yards past the dude and when she gets out, the doorman looks directly at her and Carisi because they are right there in his view. Even when they examine the security footage from the lobby, Grace/Sophie walks past the doorman and he turns his head slightly towards her. The bald doorman was so prominent in these scenes I can't figure out why he disappeared in the narrative. IIRC, they introduced the young black guy who provided the security video as the doorman, yet ignored the actual doorman.

I figured that guy was the head of security for the building (is that a thing?).

[cfinboston]

49 minutes ago, Xantar said:

Spence College? What's that? I thought every college student in New York went to Hudson.

Hudson probably quit getting applications after most of the student body was raped and murdered. Plus they occasionally hired serial killers like Nicole Wallace as professors. 

[Iguessnot]

1 hour ago, Zoe said:

I figured that guy was the head of security for the building (is that a thing?).

Just watched it online. Anyway, Carisi didn't mention his title, but his uniform blazer was the same as the doorman. The guy spoke to Carisi in the middle of the lobby as though that was where he usually stands. He was watching the crowd just as much as the doorman. He also knew off the bat all the Tony's in the building and their professions. Security might know this, but doormen would know this too.  

The guy could be head of security but it wasn't clarified and there was no excuse for ignoring the doorman Carisi saw just 2 hours prior.

[incandescent]

2 hours ago, Xantar said:

Spence College? What's that? I thought every college student in New York went to Hudson.

They made a deliberate choice not to use Hudson this episode. I guess they realized the school has been the epicentre of enough rape and murder.

[illdoc]

BTW, instead of grilling the guy you've just accused of raping Grace for details of her life that she might have shared, wouldn't it have been easier to call hospitals asking if they had a thoracic surgeon named "Tom/Thomas/Tommy" on the staff? How many hospitals do they have in NY? They would have quickly discovered that there was no such person. Then they could have grilled the bar guy for details.

[dttruman]

4 hours ago, SarahPrtr said:

Lately, after watching SVU, I've had to watch 10 episodes of Brooklyn99 to 'flush out' the bs parts of the show.  And there have been a LOTTTTTTT.

Now that is a funny show! Brooklyn 99, not Law & Order SVU.

[wknt3]

(This is late as I was traveling for work with limited internet access and would rather watch a Season 18 marathon than try to write a long post on the mobile site on my phone's keyboard)

The Good:
Carisi. I liked him with Stone in the opener and working the case. Too bad he got shoved in the background when it became St. Benson saves the world at the end.
The case was pretty interesting and it was nice to see them not twisting the law into a pretzel to convict people for moral failings even if there was no evidence or relevant laws.
Fin, even if we could have used some more of him. Some decent snark and the great moment when he looks down at food thrown on his kicks.
They made up a new college name! That's probably the most innovation we've seen since they introduced Carisi.
It was nice to see them give Dr. Abernathy a little more to do this time. It is nice to the squad interacting with outside specialists again - we had a CSU tech, a psychologist, and a doctor in this episode!
No Rollins baby and no Benoah! Talk about addition by subtraction!

The Bad:
They couldn't manage a whole week without pointless personal life soapy subplot. While the Stone seeks solace with babes is probably the least offensive of the choices it doesn't add anything to the show.
They really missed an opportunity with the chase scene in the shelter - it was great when the old guy tripped the boyfriend with his cane and pinned him down. Really reminded me of old school SVU, but they would have had some sort of great one liner or back and forth to top it off. I know that losing Belzer and Meloni makes doing comedy harder, but you had the two actors who could pull it off in the scene so I have to think that it was a failure of imagination on the writers' part.
They devolved into St. Benson is the only one who get through to the victims by the end. Here's an idea - maybe the shrink character who you are trying to establish could be the one to have the brilliant psychological insight or have a therapy session with the victim? I know, I know that's crazy talk.
Mariska's performance also went downhill from decent to full blown anguished whispering, constipated face by the end.

Overall it was solid if unspectacular. The case kept me interested until it became all about yet another star turn by Mariska and it was pretty competently done especially in the first couple acts. There were quite a few missed opportunities and things that could have been done better, but it wasn't terrible by any means. I'd give it B- and unlike Sophie this show certainly has done worse before.

[sockii]

21 hours ago, ChristiKRN said:

Fin swiping an edible marijuana was meant to be funny, but I'm pretty sure having marijuana in his system would be cause for termination if he was randomly drug-tested.  Is openly selling edibles even legal in NY?

 

No, and that was one goof that really bugged me about this episode.

There are "Weed World" trucks in Manhattan promoting selling marijuana edibles, but they ONLY contain CBD/hemp oil (if that at all...) CBD is legal in New York but THC-containing products? For recreational use? No. These vans are a total con job floating around a number of cities. So I was really scratching my head when they were going on about the "Alcohol and THC" in Sophie's system when she wouldn't have gotten and THC from the edibles on the Weed van. Not unless the van guy was selling REAL THC-containing edibles on the side or she got high in some other fashion.

(And uh, yeah...this might be a subject I'm a bit too passionate/interested in myself. Carry on...)

[MrsRafaelBarba]

8 hours ago, cfinboston said:

Hudson probably quit getting applications after most of the student body was raped and murdered. Plus they occasionally hired serial killers like Nicole Wallace as professors. 

:DEAD: 

[howiveaddict]

When female professor walked in to the office, I at first thought she was the rapist. That would have been an interesting twist.   Lovely how Saint Benson was able to take the girl to the grave to vent, causing a miraculous recovery.

Edited October 27, 2018 by howiveaddict