marny

I think the idea for the scented nose rings at hotels was to give that "spa" feeling at bedtime. Like, the scent of lavender is supposed to be relaxing and good for sleep, so putting a lavender ring may make things feel more luxe and relaxed. It would be all about the packaging and presentation to sell it as a treat rather than a "ugh, sorry things smell so bad."

The cat frame people kept saying how ugly cat trees are and how this was a great fancy alternative— except there are lots of aesthetically pleasing cat trees now that look like legit high-end furniture. If someone told me they paid $400 for a cat shelf with a frame around it, I’d laugh in their faces. Plus the side view of the frame looked ridiculous when it wasn’t occupied by a cat.

This was… fine? I mean, we’ve had plenty of episodes over the years of bad cops (or judges) taking advantage of marginalized women so the fact that it took Benson and co. so long to suspect the undercover guy is surprising, but I did enjoy how much Brady was irritated at Benson’s sanctimonious attitude. I didn’t need the random Stabler moment— I’ve never enjoyed his character. My nickname for him has always been Unstabler because he’s clearly too unstable and hot-tempered to be a police officer.

They explained why the alibi was meaningless though. And as for Shaw, he was just making a personal comment to a friend about race, not actually worrying— he’ll never trust Riley again as someone he can speak freely to. As for discrediting Riley, Shaw was simply saying he believes he saw something different. The cross examination was implying Shaw intentionally lied to help a black man. He didn’t think Riley was lying, just mistaken. The two are not the same.

I watched an old episode the other day where the actor who plays Bruno was the husband of a woman alleging ADA Stone raped her. He was really good in the role, of course. But it was funny to me to think, “Wow, Bruno has really moved up in the world from a guy holding an ADA hostage at gun point to an SVU detective. People really can change!” Anyway. I do really like him as an actor and he brings a good vibe to the show.

It sounded like there was at least some question about her manager. But it isn’t the defense’s job to solve the case. I think this is one that showed we do need more prosecutors like Maroun who question the strength of cases and whether to bring certain charges. Justice is convicting the person who is doubtlessly guilty for the offense they are doubtlessly guilty of. If the prosecutor has doubts, it’s unethical to go forward with the case. Period. You don’t just throw mediocre cases out there and say “Well, let’s let the jury decide.” That’s what prosecutorial discretion is all about, and prosecutors take a special oath about that. And I thought it was shitty of Riley to act as though Shaw’s comment about hoping the guy was innocent was evidence that Shaw would lie about what he saw. He was talking generally about the societal impact of the Black man being the perpetrator, not a plan to hide his guilt. Shaw has every right to be pissed that Riley would use that to discredit him and his reputation.

The Manhattan DA’s office would have had to recuse itself since their employee was a victim. This is a normal thing in real life— when there’s a conflict an interest, a prosecutor from another county is brought in to handle the case.

Not really, so long as he isn’t her guardian or something. But also, telling her he doesn’t want her to take them just isn’t obstruction. She’s a grown woman who can make decisions for herself. It’s not like he held her captive. Price’s back should be hurting from this enormous reach.

I thought the murder charge in this case was the usual overcharging that this show does. Despite the mother’s post-partum, she managed to get herself to a psychiatrist, so she knew she needed help. She absolutely could have just taken the prescribed meds secretly and helped herself, but instead apparently thought it was more important to appease the dad, which she consciously chose to do. While the shitty dad should have worried about his wife and supported her, there’s no evidence he knew the severity of danger she posed. His lawyer was right that the mother was responsible for the daughter’s death and she had enough moments of clarity and stability to override her husband’s wishes and take the meds. The proper outcome was a divorce, not murder charges against the husband. The husband sucked but that’s not a crime. Also this may be one of the first L&O episodes I’ve seen where they were like “oh, she’s insane? Ok.” Usually they try to argue with the psychiatrist way more in order to prosecute the bad guy. Particularly since mom knew right from wrong enough to lie to the police about her whereabouts. And kept lying until they confronted her with the video.

It would be nice if we’d heard any kind of mention of Carisi having gone to therapy after this incident. We’ve seen Olivia and Rollins got to therapists after either traumatic experiences or as part of a return-to-work requirement, but it would be nice to see a man seeking help for a change (and would be a good message to the audience generally that men don’t have to just suck it up and be manly). It’s clear he needs it after losing his shit on the defendant during that trial which could have resulted in a mistrial.

Exactly. Jury nullification is a real part of the system. The defense of “some people just need killing” has always been a part of the consideration and a part of this show. I’m not saying that’s necessarily the case in the scenario in this episode, but it’s definitely a topic that comes up in the jury room.

Olivia Benson taking a case personally? Who would have thunk? I love how Fin made it seem like that isn't a commonly occurring thing.

No, they cannot. They can appeal pre-trial evidentiary rulings and they can appeal a sentence, but not a verdict. The fact that Nolan seemed so baffled that people could side with fake-Luigi is the most unrealistic thing I've ever seen. Is he a robot who powers down when he isn't at work and thus doesn't know anything about the world? They need to write his character with some kind of actual thought process than just "Meep morp, must prosecute criminal." Jack McCoy did his job, but also recognized that not every criminal and not every crime is created equal. Discretion exists for a reason-- sometimes you use it because the facts call for it, sometimes you use it because you recognize you may have an uphill battle.

It made zero sense that the entire DA’s office wasn’t recused out of the case. Recusals like that happen for way lesser conflicts of interest. Not doing that would absolutely be scandalous in the press.

There was one line that made me so angry. During the investigation, Bruno said something about the 16-year old like, “He doesn’t think he’s a victim.” And Olivia responds, “Well he’s about to learn he is.” Yes, definitely make him feel victimized about something that he’s emotionally ok with. Like, I get that he’s technically too young to consent and there’s some question as to who initiated what, but please don’t force him into trauma if he isnt already there. I feel like this case shouldn’t have been prosecuted, honestly. Ethically, prosecutors are only supposed to proceed on cases where they believe the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s clear Carisi wasn’t even sure here and decided to pawn that question off on the jury. And even though stat rape is a strict liability offense, involuntary intoxication (which is what happened to the woman), is still a defense to a strict liability crime. If both parties are incapable of consenting, how do they choose who the criminal is? Are they going to prosecute the kid next for taking advantage of an intoxicated person? As much as I liked that they tried to present a unique issue, it was done so messily. And if the genders were switched, I’d feel the same way. And someone needs to fire that bartender for failing to do the minimal act of asking his customers for ID.