S20.E21: Exchange

[dttruman]

Episode description from Googling "Law and Order SVU season 20 episode 21"

Benson and the SVU team help a teenage exchange student from Italy after she's assaulted by a cab driver.

This description is from "All Things Law and Order, Exchange"

Benson (Mariska Hargitay) helps a teenaged exchange student after she's assaulted by a cab driver. Also starring Ice T, Kelli Giddish and Peter Scanavino. Guest starring Anna Van Patten (Emilia Barassi), Isabella Pisacane (Lara Barassi), Darren Goldstein (Richard Matthews) and Erin Dilly (Mary Matthews).

[Xeliou66]

I hope there’s more to this episode than St Olivia saving the world. No Stone sucks. The last 2 episodes have been bad, hopefully this will be better. 

[Fellaway]

Sounds like a good episode for Carisi's Italian lineage to bring him to the fore and give him a meaty role in the plot!  He might be able to connect with the victim, where others can't and...

Hahahahahaha!  I crack myself up.  Of course it will be the All Singing, All Dancing Olivia Benson Hour and featuring Amanda Rollins in a supporting role.

Carisi and Fin who?

Edited April 18, 2019 by Fellaway

[MrsRafaelBarba]

We won't see Stone again until the final two episodes of S20.

[Xeliou66]

1 hour ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

We won't see Stone again until the final two episodes of S20.

Stone will be in episode 22. 

[MrsRafaelBarba]

3 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Stone will be in episode 22. 

Okay, thanks! 

[dttruman]

On 4/18/2019 at 4:02 AM, Fellaway said:

Sounds like a good episode for Carisi's Italian lineage to bring him to the fore and give him a meaty role in the plot!  He might be able to connect with the victim, where others can't and...

I can't recollect if Carisi can speak Italian or not?

[Fellaway]

5 hours ago, dttruman said:

I can't recollect if Carisi can speak Italian or not?

I can't either, I'm afraid, but I like to think he can.  Let him speak Italian, Show!  You give him little else.  Of course, the girl may speak English, so they could relate on other terms, such as shared Italian culture or just plain connecting with each other.

Benson has spoken Italian in a previous episode.  How much you want to bet they leave that all to her?

Edited April 22, 2019 by Fellaway

[dttruman]

14 hours ago, Fellaway said:

Benson has spoken Italian in a previous episode.  How much you want to bet they leave that all to her?

I know she speaks Spanish, but I reluctantly agree. They will probably give it to Benson to connect with the girl.

[wknt3]

On 4/22/2019 at 2:06 AM, Fellaway said:

Benson has spoken Italian in a previous episode.  How much you want to bet they leave that all to her?

On 4/22/2019 at 4:10 PM, dttruman said:

I know she speaks Spanish, but I reluctantly agree. They will probably give it to Benson to connect with the girl.

English, Italian, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, Dothraki -  whatever language the victims speak only Benson can communicate with them through the universal language of support and understanding. And whispering of course...

[SarahPrtr]

On 4/24/2019 at 8:42 AM, wknt3 said:

English, Italian, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, Dothraki -  whatever language the victims speak only Benson can communicate with them through the universal language of support and understanding. And whispering of course...

Noooo!!!!  Not the whispering!!!!  Grrrr!!!!!  I'm amazed that Benson didn't whip out some Esperanto.

I've heard Dr. Huang speak Chinese and Munch speak some Russian, Romanian and Yiddish and Barba and Amaro speak Spanish, but Peter Scanavino the actor doesn't speak Italian, so unless he learns the Italian script for the episode, I don't think we'll be hearing him speak it beyond the usual ciao, grazie, etc.  But then again, Italian is phonetic and if he needed to, I'm sure he could learn a few lines.

[wknt3]

8 hours ago, SarahPrtr said:

But then again, Italian is phonetic and if he needed to, I'm sure he could learn a few lines.

It's a Romance language.

(I know, I know - different shows. But if it worked for Sorvino why not for Scanavino?)

Edited April 25, 2019 by wknt3
provide some context for Mothership deep cut reference

[DesertCyclist]

On 4/23/2019 at 4:42 PM, wknt3 said:

English, Italian, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, Dothraki -  whatever language the victims speak only Benson can communicate with them through the universal language of support and understanding. And whispering of course...

"Khaleesi?!  Oh, I thought you said Carisi!"

[dttruman]

Well, I think the Italian question has been answered.

[dttruman]

This has some pretty good potential, but you guess it! Benson pulls her shrink act again. I thought in this episode she went a little too far by pressuring her. A licensed therapist should have been there while Benson questioned her. At least Benson asked her earlier if she would  like to talked to a psychiatrist.

Bottom line, another Benson episode to wind up things. Why can't they give a episode or two to some of the other members of the cast.

It seems like most of the episodes now are being made on a very low budget. A lot more dialogue than seems necessary, but it mostly seem to be around Benson.

Edited April 26, 2019 by dttruman

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Paging Dr. Abernathy!!!

[dttruman]

1 minute ago, MrsRafaelBarba said:

Paging Dr. Abernathy!!!

They must have drop her to save money, or her agent was asking for too much money.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

They really could used her for this one.

Richard was a special kind of piece of shit.

Don't get me started on the wife, whew boy! 

[rhys]

What a convoluted episode. Wow, excuse me while I go visit my chiropractor for help with my whiplash. Yowza.

I had to laugh at everyone pronouncing the word Italy with an Italian accent but no other words. Crikey that was dumb.

[tennisgurl]

This whole episode was like watching a game of late stage SVU Bingo.

We got the seemingly random crime that actually leads to something more personal and twisted. 

We got the stream of evil rich white guys in suites as the perverted creeps behind closed doors. Or doors off the hinges. 

We got the desperate older wife making excuses for why she allows her evil husband to continue being evil. 

We got the beautiful victimized white girls who are super easy marks for the evil older white guy, and are easily abused and manipulated by him into becoming his targets. 

We got St. Olivia running the show from the start, the amazing victim whisperer who speaks all languages in an empathetic whisper (well, a whisper) and her condescending slow talking to victims like they're particularly stupid and not traumatized. Extra points for calling them sweetheart or honey like they're her cat, and talking to children the same way she talks to grown ass adults. 

We have the convoluted as fuck plot with about forty different people that probably did it somehow. 

We get the version of New York that is filled with nothing but good looking but very easy to pray upon and kind of stupid (mostly) white, attractive middle or upper class crying women who are abused by a never ending parade of smug rich or middle class white men. The crying women might resist, but St. Olivia will say that it wasnt their fault, and they will fall crying into her arms, and the smug evil man will gasp in shock when St. Olivia reveals how she had caught them. 

We even got a cameo from that most retched hive of scum and villainy of higher education, Hudson University! Home of the Fightin GHBs!

BINGO!

[Xeliou66]

This episode was just average. Better than the last 2 episodes in that it wasn’t a total disaster, but not very good. 

It was very predictable, it was obvious from the start that Richard would be a bad guy. Yet another bland rich white perp and attractive young white victims, I have to admit, I was very surprised to see a black guy as the cabbie rapist since 99% percent of the perps are rich white guys who live in super fancy townhouses.

The St Olivia focus was heavy in this one, she wasn’t as unbearable as she was in the last 2 episodes but she was whispering constantly and reassuring the victims it was going to be alright. Those scenes are just excruciatingly painful to watch and this episode was heavy on them. 

It was nice to see Fin again, but Stone was MIA. It’s been forever since we’ve had all of the main characters in an episode. Fin and Carisi were the highlight once again, please give us more of that duo!! 

I agree that this episode needed a shrink, I guess they’ve ditched Dr Abernathy, the show sorely needs a psych expert. 

This episode just left me feeling nothing, unlike Dearly Beloved, which left me feeling disgusted and with an absolute hatred of the episode, or The Good Girl, which left me extremely confused, this episode left me with nothing. Just a bland outing with a heavy St Benson focus.

Edited April 26, 2019 by Xeliou66

[dttruman]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

We got the stream of evil rich white guys in suites as the perverted creeps behind closed doors.

4 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I was very surprised to see a black guy as the cabbie rapist since 99% percent of the perps are rich white guys

I think these two were examples of taken from the head lines.  The lady who thought she was getting into her Uber or Lyft ride and was murdered. The other example is the very rich guy in the video with Emilia. I think that was a salute to Robert Kraft.

[wknt3]

The Good:
Fin! He was sorely missed.
Fin and Carisi. Whenever they are on screen it's like I'm watching an older SVU worthy of the name.
I thought Benson was marginally more tolerable than the last couple episodes (but see below)

The Bad:
No shrink. As everyone has mentioned it desperately needed a psych consult.
No Stone.
I thought it was rare bad week for the guest casr. Perhaps it was bad direction or perhaps it's just that given that they usually try to wait at least a season or two and there seems to be mandate that victims must appeal to the show's core audience (affluent white women 18-49 who lack the ability to empathize with people who aren't exactly like them) they've scraping the bottom of the casting pool?
Too much Benson Stuff yet again. It was another episode that felt like they took a Season 18 script and edited it until it reached the level of competence. And again with the whispering!

Overall it feels like the handwriting was on the wall at this point. Not sure exactly when it was filmed, but Chernuchin seems to have checked out. It was competent, but I'm not getting the feeling that they are trying for something more like I have for most of the last couple seasons. And this is the first long stretch where there hasn't been an effort to switch up the type of cases or give at least some focus to somebody other than Benson. On it's own it was meh, in context it was a relief at the slight improvement combined with disappointment with the trend.

[dttruman]

6 hours ago, rhys said:

I had to laugh at everyone pronouncing the word Italy with an Italian accent but no other words.

Agreed! Did they expect us to buy that they would lose their accents, just like that.

10 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

No Stone.

I thought this would have been a great episode for Stone. It would have been a good court battle between Alex Kay's group of lawyers and Stone.  The reliability of facial recognition software may come into question and something a little more controversial. If a guy meets a girl online, decide to hookup, she readily consents, and she looks at least 18 (but is really 15), how culpable is the guy? Granted, you'd expect the guy to have some kind of common sense, when it comes to a situation like that, but what should be a fair outcome. It could be about a streetwise minor who is out to blackmail rich johns or super sleezy rich men preying on desperate naive girls. Instead they overdue it again and focus entirely on Benson counseling the sisters.

[DesertCyclist]

I am so tired of the Mariska Fucking Hargitay Show.

[ams1001]

18 hours ago, rhys said:

I had to laugh at everyone pronouncing the word Italy with an Italian accent but no other words. Crikey that was dumb.

That was annoying. Also "lau-ra"…the character's name is spelled Lara so where did that "ow" sound come from?)

On a side note, the girl playing Lara looked like Emma Watson.

10 hours ago, dttruman said:

Agreed! Did they expect us to buy that they would lose their accents, just like that.

I was wondering if this was a different episode than the description listed at first. A 15-year-old exchange student from a tiny town in Ee-tah-lee with zero discernible accent whatsoever? Unlikely.

Edited April 26, 2019 by ams1001

[dttruman]

36 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

I was wondering if this was a different episode than the description listed at first. A 15-year-old exchange student from a tiny town in Ee-tah-lee with zero discernible accent whatsoever? Unlikely.

Does anyone else think they have been less than professional when it comes to making these episodes? The research has been less than stellar as it has been pointed out by so many and the quality of the story lines have had so many unanswered questions. The next episode we see will probably have a reflection of a cameraman in one of the mirrors.

Someone else, I can't think of right now has also mentioned (concerning previous episodes), the cheapness of Dick Wolf. I just want to make sure that person gets credit for that observation also.

Edited April 26, 2019 by dttruman

[SunnyBeBe]

OMG, that woman won't give it up.  SHAMELSS......Some things that I thought of were, 

Why did the girl's attacker give up confession so quick? 

Why did the evil sponsor go through such a convoluted scheme in another country when he was already getting what he wanted from young girls without such an extravagant measure? 

When older sister overdosed, wouldn't you call 911 and not a nonmedical person to aid person who overdosed?  Oh, that's right.  St. Olivia had to be there. 

When they mentioned that the DA's office was in talks with Italian officials about getting the sister's dad released, for a moment, I could envision Olivia going over to Italy to handle it herself.  Of course, she would fly the plane too.   AS WELL as work as interpreter. lol 

[dttruman]

4 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Why did the girl's attacker give up confession so quick? 

Why did the evil sponsor go through such a convoluted scheme in another country when he was already getting what he wanted from young girls without such an extravagant measure? 

All this was done (no matter how illogical), just so Benson can appear sympathetic and heroic.

[dttruman]

6 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

When older sister overdosed, wouldn't you call 911 and not a nonmedical person to aid person who overdosed?  Oh, that's right.  St. Olivia had to be there. 

How many times has this been done before. Someone brought up this same point in another episode and that wasn't too long ago. It's as you put it "shameless" that they rely on these gimmicks

[MaryHedwig]

58 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Why did the girl's attacker give up confession so quick? 

Because he was a red herring and not what the show was focused on. The cab driver knew his place and did his duty.

Are we to assume that the wife will serve time for this?

[SunnyBeBe]

2 minutes ago, MaryHedwig said:

Because he was a red herring and not what the show was focused on. The cab driver knew his place and did his duty.

Are we to assume that the wife will serve time for this?

For a second, I thought that the evil sponsor guy had set up the cab driver to do that, because, it looked like the guy was sitting there just waiting for her to come out and then she did.  

[dttruman]

2 hours ago, MaryHedwig said:

Are we to assume that the wife will serve time for this?

With the way things turned out, she can blame everything on her husband. She can claim she is a victim too, then Benson can respond in her whisper voice, "It's not your fault".

2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I thought that the evil sponsor guy had set up the cab driver to do that, because, it looked like the guy was sitting there just waiting for her to come out and then she did. 

That would have been an interesting subplot, but since it was more about Benson, we'll never know.

Edited April 27, 2019 by dttruman

[preeya]

4 hours ago, DesertCyclist said:

I am so tired of the Mariska Fucking Hargitay Show.

↑↑ In spades.↑↑ 

This over the hill cow should just turn over the reins to someone else. She has gotten unbearable.

[dttruman]

4 minutes ago, preeya said:

4 hours ago, DesertCyclist said:

I am so tired of the Mariska Fucking Hargitay Show.

↑↑ In spades.↑↑ 

This over the hill cow should just turn over the reins to someone else. She has gotten unbearable.

If she has such a great following (or fan club), I wonder why she didn't just have a show of her own (or a spinoff) and let SVU revert back to it's original format

[preeya]

2 minutes ago, dttruman said:

If she has such a great following (or fan club), I wonder why she didn't just have a show of her own (or a spinoff) and let SVU revert back to it's original format

Her "fan club" has been diminished to hate-watchers. There are quite a few of them on this forum.

[Fellaway]

On 4/25/2019 at 10:05 PM, dttruman said:

Well, I think the Italian question has been answered.

Well.  I see Benson is solving crimes for other countries now, too.  Without even going there, she's just that good.  But, hey!  At least we now know Carisi can speak Italian (as well as Spanish).  Even if he's not allowed to, y'know, because Benson.  I'm sure his Italian is not as good as hers anyway.  RME.

23 hours ago, dttruman said:

This has some pretty good potential, but you guess it! Benson pulls her shrink act again. I thought in this episode she went a little too far by pressuring her.

OMG, the legal issues of inviting that girl to her apartment to interview her - And alone! - that could arise, from defense lawyers making hay with it to Benson having to answer to some very serious questions from IAB and many thorny scenarios in between...  Good glory, Show, do you even talk to your legal advisers anymore, if you even have them still?

22 hours ago, rhys said:

I had to laugh at everyone pronouncing the word Italy with an Italian accent but no other words. Crikey that was dumb.

Crikey is right.  That was very off-putting, and the idea that both of these girls had already lost their accents was absolutely ridiculous.  When we first saw Emilia, I thought they'd switched out the ep with the Italian girl for another one, she sounded completely American.  And what was the point of it anyway?  Casting couldn't find two pretty Italian girls in NY for the roles?  Or two pretty American actresses who could, I don't know, pretend?  My eyes are going to roll out of my head at this rate.

4 hours ago, dttruman said:

Does anyone else think they have been less than professional when it comes to making these episodes? The research has been less than stellar as it has been pointed out by so many and the quality of the story lines have had so many unanswered questions. The next episode we see will probably have a reflection of a cameraman in one of the mirrors.

LOL!  Well, that might make an otherwise boring episode entertaining for a moment!  But, yes, I do agree.  It's one of the reasons I don't miss courtroom scenes, they have become so poorly written.  And, yes, too, on unanswered questions.  Maybe I was zoning out, but I still don't get who filmed the video on the girl's phone and why, and why was she even having sex with those two guys, and did SVU ever even try to track down the second guy and...

4 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Why did the evil sponsor go through such a convoluted scheme in another country when he was already getting what he wanted from young girls without such an extravagant measure? 

Yes!  Why why why?  I guess we were to think it made the girls more susceptible to him... I guess...  But, geeze, it seems like there'd be easier, faster ways to get those girls into bed with him than the time and effort it'd take to make them believe their father molested them.

Quote

When older sister overdosed, wouldn't you call 911 and not a nonmedical person to aid person who overdosed?

16 hours ago, wknt3 said:

On it's own it was meh, in context it was a relief at the slight improvement combined with disappointment with the trend.

Okay, I don't know how to get those two quote boxes separated.  To the first, yes!  I thought the same thing a couple weeks ago when the girl hailed a taxi and drove to the precinct, rather than call 911 to stop her stepdad/husband from killing the teacher.  I dunno, but I thought teenage girls were pretty good with cellphones, but, maybe not.  There go my eyes...

To the second box, that's pretty much it in a nutshell.  I found this ep marginally better than the last few.  I enjoyed the interactions between Fin and Carisi, Carisi and Rollins, Rollins and Fin, and, of course, the tiny character moments for Carisi, learning of someone in his family and about his speaking Italian (nowhere near as good as Benson, natch).  It all felt like a callback to the Leight years, but, then, we have the bad, Benson the Victim Whisperer and her utter unprofessionalism.  Ye, gads.

5 hours ago, DesertCyclist said:

I am so tired of the Mariska Fucking Hargitay Show.

Agreed.  I do like MH and Olivia Benson, but good golly Miss Molly, the last three seasons are making it harder.  I'm living for Leight coming back and bringing some balance back to the show.  I want a show about Benson and Carisi and Fin and Rollins.  Maybe the show is blessedly aware they have some things that need fixin'.

[tennisgurl]

I just get this mental imagine of piles and piles of cases where the victim isn’t a traditionally attractive, able bodied, heterosexual, middle or upper class white woman, I open and unsolved, because they all get shoved in the back because St. Olivia isn’t interested in them. Victims are so important...just the “right” kind of victim, huh Liv? 

[deirdra]

I'm sick of Rollins too.  During which season did she last comb her hair?

[wknt3]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I just get this mental imagine of piles and piles of cases where the victim isn’t a traditionally attractive, able bodied, heterosexual, middle or upper class white woman, I open and unsolved, because they all get shoved in the back because St. Olivia isn’t interested in them. Victims are so important...just the “right” kind of victim, huh Liv? 

I'm sure that Mariska would tell us that all crimes matter and they all get solved off camera. You just need to figure out how you want to fanwank it:

1. Lucy solves those cases when Liv is home with Noah.
2. All those detectives who used to be in the background when they bothered to spend money on extras are out in the field investigating those cases with victims that don't match the target demo. For example all those episodes when the desk sergeant is conveniently absent and anyone can just walk off the street and into the squad room? He's out at a crime scene where an old Latina woman has been brutally raped and murdered.
3. Those weeks that Fin isn't there with no real explanation? That's what he's doing.

Edited April 27, 2019 by wknt3
fixed typos and cleaned up phrasing

[MaryHedwig]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I just get this mental imagine of piles and piles of cases where the victim isn’t a traditionally attractive, able bodied, heterosexual, middle or upper class white woman, I open and unsolved, because they all get shoved in the back because St. Olivia isn’t interested in them. Victims are so important...just the “right” kind of victim, huh Liv? 

God looks after the pretty ones.

[kicotan]

WTF....

Did St. Olivia just now NOT believe a victim after inviting her to her apartment for a chat?  Not just NOT believe her, but amazingly convince her to accept she’s been deluding herself to advance the storyline?

Jump the shark, anyone?

[dttruman]

Did anyone else find appalling that Benson let Lara off the hook for pimping out Emilia, her little sister to the two guys on the video. Apparently, if Benson thinks you're a victim, then you're not responsible for other crimes. For example, in "Remember Me", Lourdes a sex trafficking victim kidnaps and tortures her alleged abuser, and kills another person who most likely had nothing to do with her problem. Benson argued with Stone, that she wasn't responsible even though she had planned everything in advance. IMO, Benson has lost all prospective for being an objective police officer.

[Fellaway]

2 hours ago, MaryHedwig said:

God looks after the pretty ones.

But, it's a real shame when one dies.  "She was so pretty..."

So... it's not a shame when a non-pretty girl dies?

[atlantaloves]

God I can't believe this, but I have become a 'hate watcher" too...and all my gal pals as well...we are so fed up with herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  

[Xeliou66]

30 minutes ago, atlantaloves said:

God I can't believe this, but I have become a 'hate watcher" too...and all my gal pals as well...we are so fed up with herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  

I’m only still watching because it’s the last remaining L&O show, and I’m a die hard fan of the franchise, so I will watch until the end. It’s makes me sick that this is what the once great L&O franchise has been reduced to and I loathe Benson.

[dttruman]

14 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I’m only still watching because it’s the last remaining L&O show, and I’m a die hard fan of the franchise, so I will watch until the end. It’s makes me sick that this is what the once great L&O franchise has been reduced to and I loathe Benson

I believe if Benson would just revert back to her old self, everything will be forgiven. It was such a great show with Benson and Stabler and that is why I'm still stuck on the show. I am hoping to see new episodes that are just like the old ones. When I don't, some may think I am lashing out at the show because I am a "hater". I may lash out, but it's out of disappointment and it's with objective criticism with a touch of sarcasm.

[ChristiKRN]

17 hours ago, kicotan said:

WTF....

Did St. Olivia just now NOT believe a victim after inviting her to her apartment for a chat?  Not just NOT believe her, but amazingly convince her to accept she’s been deluding herself to advance the storyline?

Jump the shark, anyone?

I thought it was appalling that she would invite a victim to her apartment.  How unprofessional & lacking in judgement.  This was a girl who was brainwashed in an apparently very short period of time into believing that her father molested her .  How easily could she have been twisted into thinking Benson did something to her also? 

[dttruman]

30 minutes ago, ChristiKRN said:

I thought it was appalling that she would invite a victim to her apartment.  How unprofessional & lacking in judgement.

Will the writers ever address this so obvious and apparent  improper and unbecoming behavior? I wonder if they are setting her up for a two part episode where a hearing is called to question violations of the code of conduct for police officers?

Edited April 28, 2019 by dttruman

[Sake614]

On 4/26/2019 at 6:44 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

When older sister overdosed, wouldn't you call 911 and not a nonmedical person to aid person who overdosed?

No answer to why she called Liv but she did say she called 911. And the ambulance showed up shortly after Liv got there. Other than that I got nothing. And like others I was appalled that Olivia invited this young girl to her home. And that even after giving the girl the name of a therapist (please tell me it was not Olivia’s shrink!), she still continued to counsel Amelia as though she was a doctor. 

Oh and of course Olivia speaks Italian. I give her a pass on Spanish because she’s a NYC cop and it certainly comes in handy. But where and when did she become fluent in Italian?

and why did neither girl have an Italian accent? Minor point but they were born and raised in Italy. You don’t lose that overnight. I’ve known people who lived in this country for 50 years and still had thick Italian accents.