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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

S20.E20: The Good Girl

dttruman

By dttruman
in Law & Order: SVU

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dttruman

dttruman

Episode description from Googling "SVU  The Good Girl"

Benson and the team work to uncover a pregnant teenager's secret when she refuses to name the baby's father.

This description is from "All Things Law and Order, The Good Girl"

Benson (Mariska Hargitay) works to uncover a pregnant teenager's secret when she refuses to name the baby's father. Also starring Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino and Philip Winchester. Guest starring Derek Cecil (Garrett Howard), Eowyn Young (Mackenzie Tolliver), JD Taylor (Quentin Dreyfus), Richard Prioleau (John Woodward) and Pamela Mitchell (Penelope Archer).
 

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dttruman

dttruman

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(edited)

I wonder what kind of spin they will put on this (used before) story line? I got a feeling if it's bad, it is going to be really bad. Since Stone is back, we'll probably see some court action. Bad omen alert, no Fin.

Edited by dttruman
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Xeliou66

Xeliou66

It sounds like this will be another St Benson saves the world episode with the girl being reluctant and not wanting St Benson’s help at first but then at the end she accepts St Benson as her savior and thanks her for everything. I hope we get some legal stuff with Stone coming back, especially since we won’t be seeing him anymore soon, no Fin for the second week in a row isn’t good, it means a lot more of Benson/Rollins. 

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MrsRafaelBarba

MrsRafaelBarba

1 minute ago, Gigglepuff said:

Oh wow. Liv keeps getting worse and worse. 

You see that bullshit?

Okay so, two possibilities here.

Olivia let Rollins believe she aborted  child, to guilt her into having the 2nd baby.

Or

She had one and is trying walk back the confession.

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Gigglepuff

Gigglepuff

Just now, MrsRafaelBarba said:

You see that bullshit?

Okay so, two possibilities here.

Olivia let Rollins believe she aborted  child, to guilt her into having the 2nd baby.

Or

She had one and is trying walk back the confession.

Makes me believe your first statement is true, especially with her question, "how does a baby make someone's life worse?"

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Fellaway

Fellaway

I'm gonna guess stepkid set stepdad on the teacher intentionally. Seriously, kid, if you're worred about what dad is gonna do to the teacher, pick up a phone.  No need to waste time driving to the precinct.  The question is why?  Maybe the kid wants to get rid of stepdad?

Whatever, I think she's manipulative as all get out.

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dttruman

dttruman

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1 minute ago, Fellaway said:

OMG, yuck.  And too reminiscent of the ep, was it earlier this season, with the two sisters and the next door neighbor?

The writers didn't stray too far from home when it came to originality.

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dttruman

dttruman

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Another plot that had potential at the beginning, but then it became one of those St Benson involvements that takes up most of the episode. Benson never should have been this involved, there should have been a definite social worker presence here. This is one of the lowest valued episodes this season.

I thought it was going to be a scam against the school or Mackenzie was trying to set up her husband/father to get rid of him

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Xeliou66

Xeliou66

This episode was a jumbled mess, it had potential but it was botched. 

There was a glaring plot hole: why the fuck didn’t they do a DNA test to determine who the father was?!!!! That would’ve cleared the whole matter up. Just because the teacher was dead didn’t mean they couldn’t do a DNA test, that was downright false. Why didn’t they have ME Fitz take the DNA from the teachers body and run it against the DNA of the fetus inside McKenzie, and if that didn’t match run Garrett’s DNA?! Oh yeah, because had they taken that simple step there would’ve been no plot!! 

I take it Garrett was the actual father, but that leaves the question as to why he killed the teacher?! That made no sense. Did he do it because McKenzie told him the teacher raped her, but why would McKenzie tell him that if they both knew Garrett was the father? A boatload of plot holes in this one. 

It was nice to see Stone again, especially since we want see much more of him, so it was nice that he got some screen time. But Fin was MIA again, and Carisi disappeared for a large chunk of the episode. 

I hated the ending scene, it seems like every episode ends with Benson talking to the victim and the victim coming to accept Benson as their savior. It’s tiresome and done just to boost Mariska’s ego and pile on the St Olivia worship. 

So did Olivia have an abortion or not? I wish the show would quit dodging around that if they are going to keep bringing it up. Either she let Rollins believe she had an abortion in order to try to convince her to not have one, which would make Benson a piece of shit and no better than the anti choice activists she claims to be against, or she had one but won’t say so, which doesn’t make her look good either. I didn’t like the whole conversation between Benson and Rollins, I’m sick of the constant scenes of them discussing issues.

Judge Horowitz was good, it was a pleasure to see him again.

Overall this episode had potential but devolved into a jumbled mess of plot holes with a heavy dose of St Olivia worship. At least it was better than last weeks shitfest, but it would be hard not to be better than that.

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tennisgurl

tennisgurl

So we get all the things that have made this era of SVU such garbage. We have St. Olivia, we have angry victim who just needs to accept Olivia as her lord and savior, some creepy middle aged guy, about a thousand plot holes, and babies. and Olivia lecturing women about babies and putting her hand on a woman's stomach to emphasis the importance of the baby. Excuse me while I gouge my own eyes out, will you?

So, did no one one ever get around to that DNA test? Wouldn't that have cleaned some things up? 

That girl was "13"? Really? Thirteen years old, and just declared a major. I think the drama and horror of a child marrying her step father was really hurt by the fact that the girl did not in any way look like an actual 13 year old. 

It was kind of funny when Rollins mentioned that Olivia was spending so much time on a case where it was starting to look like a crime might not have been committed, because when she was pestering Stone to somehow get a judge to look at this, I was thinking the same thing. I mean, yeah do your due diligence, but dont they probably have a massive stack of rape and abuse cases they could also be looking into? Where they know a crime was committed, and where the victim is looking for justice? But maybe those cases dont have pretty young middle class white women/girls involved as the victims, so who cares about them!?

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RedheadZombie

RedheadZombie

Ugh. Last week, a nutbag who calls her fetus “it” decides to keep her baby.  This week, a child who becomes violent when her phone is taken away decides to keep her statutory rape baby.  How obscene. 

Step-father married the wife to get to her daughter, groomed her, and then married her when the mother conveniently dies. 

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MerBearHou

MerBearHou

 This episode made me livid that a devoted teacher who was on the verge of getting married was savagely killed by a pervert stepdad because of a pathological lying 13-year-old.  Why wasn’t there more outrage and focus on the horrible, senseless MURDER??   Instead we had to spend time with Olivia and the crazy pregnant girl and the lectures.   It’s getting harder and harder for me to listen to Mariska and her weird way of speaking.

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mojito

mojito

Quote

There was a glaring plot hole: why the fuck didn’t they do a DNA test to determine who the father was?!!!! That would’ve cleared the whole matter up.

They probably did run a DNA test, but as you know, it takes forever to get the results.

Unless it's convenient to a TV plot.

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SarahPrtr

SarahPrtr

1 hour ago, RedheadZombie said:

Ugh. Last week, a nutbag who calls her fetus “it” decides to keep her baby.  This week, a child who becomes violent when her phone is taken away decides to keep her statutory rape baby.  How obscene. 

Step-father married the wife to get to her daughter, groomed her, and then married her when the mother conveniently dies. 

Wow, Humbert Humbert and Lolita much, writers???  They already did a Lolita-esque story in season ONE, with similar names from the novel.

Being New Yorkers, you see the same actors together a lot.  In this episode, it was Derek Cecil with Peter Scanavino who were in Mutual Friends together.

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Fellaway

Fellaway

(edited)
1 hour ago, Xeliou66 said:

I take it Garrett was the actual father, but that leaves the question as to why he killed the teacher?!

I think it was because the girl considered the teacher her friend and had apparently told him about the baby and/or her relationship with stepdad.  And stepdad wasn't onboard with the teacher knowing about their relationship.  At this point, it was a secret to everyone.

But, listen, Girl, if you don't want your stepdad/husband killing someone, call 911.  Don't take the time to grab a cab and head to the precinct instead.

Still think it would've been more interesting if the girl had wanted her stepdad/husband to kill the teacher and set them both up for... whatever reason.  This show just doesn't surprise anymore.

1 hour ago, Xeliou66 said:

I hated the ending scene, it seems like every episode ends with Benson talking to the victim and the victim coming to accept Benson as their savior. It’s tiresome and done just to boost Mariska’s ego and pile on the St Olivia worship. 

OMG, yes.  It's boring and predictable and irresponsible.  These kinds of cases can't be wrapped up with gift bows, Show.  They're making everything too simplistic, but, the least they could do, if they must have these moments, is spread the wealth sometimes and let Carisi or Rollins or Fin have them with the victim of the week.  They used to.

1 hour ago, Xeliou66 said:

So did Olivia have an abortion or not? I wish the show would quit dodging around that if they are going to keep bringing it up. Either she let Rollins believe she had an abortion in order to try to convince her to not have one, which would make Benson a piece of shit and no better than the anti choice activists she claims to be against, or she had one but won’t say so, which doesn’t make her look good either.

Yeah, what is up with this whole subplot?  You're right.  Their coyness on this is doing their Saint and Savior Olivia Benson no favors.  I can't fathom what their point with it is.  They just come across as too chicken to say, one way or another, in fear of alienating a good chunk of their audience whatever their answer is, so why bring it into play at all?

1 hour ago, MerBearHou said:

This episode made me livid that a devoted teacher who was on the verge of getting married was savagely killed by a pervert stepdad because of a pathological lying 13-year-old.  Why wasn’t there more outrage and focus on the horrible, senseless MURDER??

Yeah, they really fell down on this part of the story.  The statutory rape of this girl superseded everything for Olivia.  While definitely terrible, I dunno, I think murder is worse, but this is just where we're at on this show with Benson.

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

So we get all the things that have made this era of SVU such garbage. We have St. Olivia, we have angry victim who just needs to accept Olivia as her lord and savior, some creepy middle aged guy, about a thousand plot holes, and babies. and Olivia lecturing women about babies and putting her hand on a woman's stomach to emphasis the importance of the baby.

They should just put this into the tv guides as the summary of every episode.  If nothing else, this ep following right after another with a pregnant victim, and in the same season with the one with the two sisters and the neighbor, is redundancy at its worst on this show.

Edited by Fellaway
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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

2 hours ago, RedheadZombie said:

Step-father married the wife to get to her daughter, groomed her, and then married her when the mother conveniently dies. 

Now that you mention it, we never learned how the mother died? Poison maybe? 
  
  
  

1 hour ago, Fellaway said:

But, listen, Girl, if you don't want your stepdad/husband killing someone, call 911.  Don't take the time to grab a cab and head to the precinct instead.

I think this was the Chekov's plot point of having the stepdad take away the cellphone in the opening scene.

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Fellaway

Fellaway

(edited)
7 hours ago, incandescent said:

Please, SVU, less pregnancy discourse, more wackadoodle murder cases about, like, the anti-vax movement or lead poisoning or whatever.

There was a news story yesterday about Amazon employees listening to recordings of Alexa interactions to improve the system, with one apparently sounding like it was a recording of a sexual assault.  Of course, "SVU plot!" occurred to me.

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Now that you mention it, we never learned how the mother died? Poison maybe? 

Yes, I was wondering about that, too.  I thought that might play into the story more, that maybe one or both of them killed her.  Missed opportunity to make it a tad more interesting.

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I think this was the Chekov's plot point of having the stepdad take away the cellphone in the opening scene.

Well, it's not like she was the Final Girl, in the middle of nowheresville struggling to survive against the psycho slasher killer only to discover her cellphone battery died.  She was in NYC.  Just run into the street screaming bloody murder.  That should get some action.  Heck, she just could've had her cab driver call.  More like plot hole than plot point, but, I guess, they can't tell the difference on SVU these days.

Edited by Fellaway
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Laurie4H

Laurie4H

And they had to throw in there that they were Catholic in a Catholic school and the teacher wouldn’t have been accepted as gay....and then add in the LGBTQ bowling trophy....it wouldn’t bother me if I knew it wasn’t all in there for political reasons.  Knocking religion.  And I’m not even religious or a Christian.  It’s just so cliche now.  

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wknt3

wknt3

(edited)

The Good:
It was better than last week?
The opener - it was classic L&Overse with the NYC stereotype comedy leading into the crime.
Carisi. It was good to see at least one cop acting like a professional throughout and they avoided the temptation of having his Catholicism take over. Not trying to sound like @Fellaway here, but there should have been more of him this week.
Stone. He wasn't taking orders from Benson and the writing for the legal side was solid.

The Bad:
No Fin. I know that Ice-T is recording his album and has his other projects and most likely asked to have multiple shows in a row off, but the show really suffers from his absence.
As many have already mentioned the original "victim" did not look 13 at all and didn't really pull off the acting like a 13 year old part either.
Can we have a moratorium on pregnancy/abortion plots? They've gotten almost as bad as the affluent white people he said, she said stoies at this point. It's time for a good old fashioned rape murder.
Rollins/Benson BFF drama in the squad room - now they sounded like 13 year olds.
This was another episode that really could have benefited from psych consult - it would have been much more interesting than the personal angst and helped move the plot forward organically.
Again way too much Benson Stuff this week. Why was she at the hospital in the beginning? Why couldn't we have Carisi there with Rollins? Do they really think we will forget who the star is if she isn't there at all times? What the hell was up with her touching the girls belly uninvited? You'd think she'd learn something from her close personal friend Joe Biden's issues and stop invading everyone's personal space. And another episode ending with St. Benson blessing and absolving the hurt woman - yuck. Hey Mariska - enough with the whispered words of wisdom. Let it be.

Overall this was better than last week, but still pretty bad. I think it would probably be a meh, with a side of ugh for Benson's motherhood issues if it didn't follow last week, but it did. And it makes me worried that Mariska cannot be contained anymore, even by a strong showrunner and Season 21 will be a repeat of Season 18, only with competent scripts. Yuck.

Edited by wknt3
Forgot to mention the lack of pysch consult
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Fellaway

Fellaway

40 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

Carisi. It was good to see at least one cop acting like a professional throughout and they avoided the temptation of having his Catholicism take over. Not trying to sound like @Fellaway here, but there should have been more of him this week.

Why, whatever do you mean?  

::more Carisi more Carisi more Carisi::

Are you saying I'm not subtle?  ☺️

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EtheltoTillie

EtheltoTillie

(edited)
10 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

There was a glaring plot hole: why the fuck didn’t they do a DNA test to determine who the father was?!!!! That would’ve cleared the whole matter up. Just because the teacher was dead didn’t mean they couldn’t do a DNA test, that w

10 hours ago, mojito said:

They probably did run a DNA test, but as you know, it takes forever to get the results.

Unless it's convenient to a TV plot.

I think they covered this.  They did not DNA test the fetus.  She could not be forced to take the DNA test on the fetus to solve a crime because they were not sure a crime was committed.  It might not have been a crime, because if she'd had sex with another middle schooler, it would not have been statutory rape because of the Romeo and Juliet laws--they don't criminalize sex between two minors of a certain age. (Also, they probably could not force someone to take a DNA test on a fetus.  They'd have to wait till the baby was born.)

Edited by GussieK
forgot the word "if."
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dttruman

dttruman

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2 hours ago, Laurie4H said:

And they had to throw in there that they were Catholic in a Catholic school and the teacher wouldn’t have been accepted as gay....and then add in the LGBTQ bowling trophy....it wouldn’t bother me if I knew it wasn’t all in there for political reasons.  Knocking religion.  And I’m not even religious or a Christian.  It’s just so cliche now.  

Just one of their skewed political views, they like to throw in every now and then.

35 minutes ago, GussieK said:

But really wasn't this an awful episode!

It's really going to be tough to choose the worst episode of the season, if we are allowed to pick one.

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