S20.E06: Exile

[Fellaway]

3 hours ago, wknt3 said:

No Rollins baby and no Benoah! Talk about addition by subtraction!

Hee!  That was definitely one of the good things about the ep.  (And I love the way you said that.)  How sad is it that I was waiting for yet another bratty Noah-long-suffering Olivia face time call at the end of the ep?

3 hours ago, wknt3 said:

While the Stone seeks solace with babes is probably the least offensive of the choices it doesn't add anything to the show.

Maybe they're setting things up for a Stone storyline later in the season, like finding a dead body in his bed, a la Cragen, or a false assault accusation?  (Because, I'd bet, he'll get an ep before Carisi.)  Or am I giving them too much credit?

[The Wild Sow]

1 hour ago, howiveaddict said:

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.

As soon as she said he was dead, we started yelling, "Great!  Now go pee on his grave!"  Close enough.

So what happened with the first non-rapist (Silas?)  Not only was it consensual sex, but  she tried to rob him!  Could HE press charges?  I assume his marriage is kaput, of course.

[cfinboston]

1 hour ago, howiveaddict said:

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.

I thought the same thing. Then I wondered why with all the money spent decorating those offices they never had the ink stain cleaned.

[dttruman]

13 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

As soon as she said he was dead, we started yelling, "Great!  Now go pee on his grave!"  Close enough.

So what happened with the first non-rapist (Silas?)  Not only was it consensual sex, but  she tried to rob him!  Could HE press charges?  I assume his marriage is kaput, of course.

This seems to be another annoying characteristic that has been popping up more and more in these episodes. When the premise of an episode changes in midstream, there doesn't seem to be any closure for the starting premise. IMO, the starting premise for a lot of these episodes seem to be more interesting, than the ending plot lines.

[atlantaloves]

Okay, they need to hang it up with this series. I have been loyal since day one, but my God, these stories totally suck.  This was the worst ever. 

[weaver]

The young actress, Aimée Spring Fortier, was so good she kept me watching.  She is 32 irl.

In upscale apartment buildings, you can’t just walk past the doorman.  If he doesn’t recognize you, he asks why you are there and checks with the person you are visiting.  

[Xeliou66]

40 minutes ago, atlantaloves said:

Okay, they need to hang it up with this series. I have been loyal since day one, but my God, these stories totally suck.  This was the worst ever. 

How was this episode the worst ever? It was nowhere near as bad as many other episodes SVU has churned out over the years, and it wasn’t the worst of this season, that would go to Zero Tolerance.

[Fellaway]

3 hours ago, dttruman said:

This seems to be another annoying characteristic that has been popping up more and more in these episodes. When the premise of an episode changes in midstream, there doesn't seem to be any closure for the starting premise. IMO, the starting premise for a lot of these episodes seem to be more interesting, than the ending plot lines.

That's always been a hallmark of the L&O franchise, though.  (The mothership and SVU, at least; I was never much of a watcher of the other incarnations.)  Very, very often, the beginning of the ep was just a stepping stone to the real and different story the ep would be about.  Somewhere along the way they got away from that on SVU, but this season they seem to be trying to go old school again on some things.

[dttruman]

3 hours ago, Fellaway said:

Very, very often, the beginning of the ep was just a stepping stone to the real and different story the ep would be about.

Unfortunately here with SVU, where it segues to, it becomes literally a Benson production.

3 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

it wasn’t the worst of this season, that would go to Zero Tolerance.

Ditto, because it was more propaganda than anything else and totally lack realism.

[Sake614]

On 10/26/2018 at 2:36 PM, illdoc said:

How many hospitals do they have in NY?

A lot actually. 

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/lists/62-acute-care-hospitals-in-new-york-city.html

[LizDC]

Does Lieutenant Benson not have any paperwork to do?  I don't remember Captain  Cragen or Lieutenant Van Buren out on cases as much as she is.  Or course, neither Florek nor Merkerson are Executive Producers and both of them were on ensemble shows. 

[Xeliou66]

5 hours ago, dttruman said:

Unfortunately here with SVU, where it segues to, it becomes literally a Benson production.

Ditto, because it was more propaganda than anything else and totally lack realism.

The last 15 minutes of the episode was nothing more than St Olivia saves the world bullshit, I really enjoyed the episode up until that point. Abernathy should’ve been the one to go with Sophie to the college, or at least go along with Benson, but Benson has to get all of the glory. And the ending scene was just ridiculous narm, screaming at a headstone isn’t going to help anyone. The episode would’ve been better if the incident that traumatized Sophie had been a sorority hazing incident, that happens all of the time in real life, and the perps had still been alive, but no we can’t make sororities look bad because Benson (and Mariska in real life) was in one.

[RedheadZombie]

On 10/26/2018 at 1:23 AM, Fellaway said:

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

I’m sure it was stolen. I actually thought it was weird that it never came out that she carries her life around in a bag, and revealed it all to the bathroom attendant.  That’s something I expected the bartender to mention. 

[HunterHunted]

On 10/26/2018 at 1:36 PM, illdoc said:

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?

On 10/27/2018 at 7:55 PM, Sake614 said:

A lot actually. 

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/lists/62-acute-care-hospitals-in-new-york-city.html

 

They could have limited their search to Level I trauma centers and maybe Level II. You'll only find a thoracic surgeon at certain types of hospitals. They could have also checked with the medical board because they have keep track of licensees and their specialties.

[TV Diva Queen]

On 10/26/2018 at 12:19 AM, DangerousMinds said:

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

and perfect eyebrows too.  dare I say microbladed?  

[TV Diva Queen]

On 10/27/2018 at 4:08 PM, Fellaway said:

That's always been a hallmark of the L&O franchise, though.  (The mothership and SVU, at least; I was never much of a watcher of the other incarnations.)  Very, very often, the beginning of the ep was just a stepping stone to the real and different story the ep would be about.  Somewhere along the way they got away from that on SVU, but this season they seem to be trying to go old school again on some things.

exactly, in the early seasons of the original recipe, the opening crime RARELY had anything to do with the episode, it was simply a vehicle for a Briscoe quip.  

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, TV Diva Queen said:

exactly, in the early seasons of the original recipe, the opening crime RARELY had anything to do with the episode, it was simply a vehicle for a Briscoe quip.  

Which are sorely missed!  Ice-T is our resident quipper now, but Lenny's one-liners were pure gold!

[atlantaloves]

Oh man do I miss Lenny.  Jerry O. was the MAN. 

[Xeliou66]

6 hours ago, TV Diva Queen said:

exactly, in the early seasons of the original recipe, the opening crime RARELY had anything to do with the episode, it was simply a vehicle for a Briscoe quip.  

That’s not accurate. How much of the Mothership have you watched? Almost always the case at the start would be the case for the whole episode, sometimes the second half would turn into a different issue/case but that was not the norm.

The only time in the franchise that it was frequent was in the final Stabler seasons of SVU, those episodes would have an insane amount of twists with what happened at the start frequently having absolutely nothing to do with what happened at the end of the episode. This was not the case on the Mothership, or on the other seasons of SVU, it happened occasionally on CI but it wasn’t the norm there either. 

[TV Diva Queen]

8 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

That’s not accurate. How much of the Mothership have you watched? Almost always the case at the start would be the case for the whole episode, sometimes the second half would turn into a different issue/case but that was not the norm.

The only time in the franchise that it was frequent was in the final Stabler seasons of SVU, those episodes would have an insane amount of twists with what happened at the start frequently having absolutely nothing to do with what happened at the end of the episode. This was not the case on the Mothership, or on the other seasons of SVU, it happened occasionally on CI but it wasn’t the norm there either. 

I watched it in its first run and continue to watch pretty much daily.  

15 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Which are sorely missed!  Ice-T is our resident quipper now, but Lenny's one-liners were pure gold!

Did you ever hear John Mulaney's stand up of Law and Order (John also wrote for Stefon on SNL)?  He has a couple of them and they're all gold, but the Ice T one is magical.  

[cfinboston]

On 10/30/2018 at 5:46 PM, atlantaloves said:

Oh man do I miss Lenny.  Jerry O. was the MAN. 

One of my favorite opening quips was from Rebels when the man is murdered at the biker bar. Curtis says "I guess he wanted to see how the other half lives" and Briscoe says "it doesn't live very long."

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎26‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 3:13 AM, MrsRafaelBarba said:

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

Are you crazy? She was GORGEOUS!

On ‎26‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 3:23 AM, dttruman said:

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

But you still would have...?

On ‎26‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 5:13 AM, ChristiKRN said:

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. 

Not a problem, he could just say he was exposed to it in the course of the investigation. 

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 1:26 AM, wknt3 said:

(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.

Yeah, I thought that, something like 'You know the rules, no running in the cafeteria!"

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 3:47 AM, howiveaddict said:

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.

You mean that the victim was wrong about the suspect's sex or that the Professor had transitioned?

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 5:03 AM, Fellaway said:

Hee!  That was definitely one of the good things about the ep.  (And I love the way you said that.)  How sad is it that I was waiting for yet another bratty Noah-long-suffering Olivia face time call at the end of the ep?

Maybe they're setting things up for a Stone storyline later in the season, like finding a dead body in his bed, a la Cragen, or a false assault accusation?  (Because, I'd bet, he'll get an ep before Carisi.)  Or am I giving them too much credit?

I thought it was to set up a comparison with the suspect, that Stone was thinking this could easily have been him? Put they didn't push that idea. 

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 5:06 AM, The Wild Sow said:

As soon as she said he was dead, we started yelling, "Great!  Now go pee on his grave!"  Close enough.

So what happened with the first non-rapist (Silas?)  Not only was it consensual sex, but  she tried to rob him!  Could HE press charges?  I assume his marriage is kaput, of course.

Thought exactly the same but on close re-watching it was probably to save his marriage, hence why he was conveniently married.  

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 9:05 PM, atlantaloves said:

Okay, they need to hang it up with this series. I have been loyal since day one, but my God, these stories totally suck.  This was the worst ever. 

I agree but I'd like them to make it to 21 seasons, go for the record. 

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 6:27 PM, dttruman said:

This seems to be another annoying characteristic that has been popping up more and more in these episodes. When the premise of an episode changes in midstream, there doesn't seem to be any closure for the starting premise. IMO, the starting premise for a lot of these episodes seem to be more interesting, than the ending plot lines.

God knows we could never see the SVU apologise to the person they falsely arrested? Who actually turned out to be the victim of a violent robbery? 

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 5:35 AM, cfinboston said:

I thought the same thing. Then I wondered why with all the money spent decorating those offices they never had the ink stain cleaned.

That's one of the reasons I stopped watching Cold Case, everything stayed the same, no one ever threw anything away and no one ever moved out of Philly. But that's TV for you. 

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 9:34 PM, weaver said:

The young actress, Aimée Spring Fortier, was so good she kept me watching.  She is 32 irl.

In upscale apartment buildings, you can’t just walk past the doorman.  If he doesn’t recognize you, he asks why you are there and checks with the person you are visiting.  

Yes, she was good. I figure she told him she wanted to speak to the desk clerk?

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎28‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 2:05 AM, LizDC said:

Does Lieutenant Benson not have any paperwork to do?  I don't remember Captain  Cragen or Lieutenant Van Buren out on cases as much as she is.  Or course, neither Florek nor Merkerson are Executive Producers and both of them were on ensemble shows. 

Welcome to the world of TV policing. 

On ‎30‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 7:53 PM, TV Diva Queen said:

and perfect eyebrows too.  dare I say microbladed?  

She was hooking so I suspect she made a big effort with her appearance?

[Joe Hellandback]

1. Ok this is TV where Buffy the Vampire Slayer can only get a job serving fast food but if a girl that pretty was hooking she didn't need to be living on the street. But I guess we can put that down to her mental illness?

2. Not to stereotype but Carisi doesn't really strike me as a truck kind of guy?

3. I thought Stone picking up the hottie in a bar was going to be a parallel story, that he identified with the suspect because the same could have happened to him.? Guess not?

4. The whole scatological joke was just too disgusting. The assault scene by Tommy was genuinely shocking, I actually looked away. 

5. Wow, check out Benson's cleavage in her sports gear.

6. Just because she had sex and has no underwear is that a reason to automatically assume rape? Plenty of people don't wear any, Stringfellow Hawk for one. At least Benson tells her that she MAY have been sexually assaulted this time rather than outright tell her she was raped when she doesn't remember anything and is still drunk/high.  

7.  Suspect; "I was stupid ok, it's not a crime'

Amanda; "But horny might be"

Eh? Excuse me Miss Double Unwed Mother by 2 different fathers?  Do we suddenly live in Iran or something? 

8. Personally I thought it was going to be the sorority sister who was the guilty party but I guess not. And of course the suspect has to be married to give him a reason to not press charges? 

9. Once again Benson makes impossible promises. The only way you'd ever have got a conviction was if the Professor confessed, beyond that you have NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER, certainly not the testimony of the victim which was worthless. 

10. The Harvey line was interesting, was Finn serious with his sympathetic line or mocking him? I'm sure SVU will tackle this story at some point although it's interesting that we've already had a couple of accusers discredited and the lead detective under investigation for malpractice in his zealousness to pursue this ultra-high profile (and career making) case, could so see THAT happening on SVU!

11.  Million dollar question, do we believe this alleged rape ever actually happened? In SVU everything always seems to be traced back to some sexual assault. But do we believe this actually happened? Or is this a mentally ill girl (through drugs she was given at a Sorority party? By the remorseful sorority sister?) who finds an excuse for her behaviour? Or was ashamed she was failing at college, dropped out and was too ashamed to admit the truth? I know with MH in charge we always 'believe the victim' but I'd have liked a scene where Finn, Carisi, Stone and Rollins are sitting around whilst Benson is at the graveyard just tossing these ideas around? 

12. I did like Stone's anger at the dad, that was well done but all you had to say was 'She's a victim not a suspect, we had no power to hold her'. It was a good scene though, you could understand both sides.