Law & Order Franchise

That ending sucked. Par for the course.

I was going to do a bit of a longer review discussing Price's mistakes with the mother on the stand and Maroun's empowering discussion with Drea. But the ending sort of made all that pointless. As this show's unnecessarily bleak endings tend to do. 1 1/2 stars.

It was good but the crime was a little too horrific.

Muncie will be an interesting addition to the show. It's also encouraging Velasco is staying at SVU. Finn framing it as the more challenging job probably did the trick.

Good but the beginning was tough to watch. 3 1/2 stars.

I love Bell and Stabler in the squad car commiserating with each other about what crappy spouses they were. Here's the thing: Whether Ayanna thinks she was a crappy wife or not, the truth is I believe Denise was at fault in their break-up. Ayanna tried to warn her multiple times about who she was working for. Denise refusing to listen to her says she's getting a divorce because Ayanna committed the unforgivable sin of being right. That actually speaks very poorly of Denise.

Stabler dislikes Whelan right off the bat, until he tells him that he joined the Unit precisely because of Stabler fighting dirty cops. Realistic to real-world cops? Not even a little bit. But it's important for fiction to show the world it SHOULD be.

Stabler kind of immediately likes Reyes though. So do I.

I love that Jet seems a fangirl of the rat guys. She seems almost embarrassed Whelan threatens to arrest them.

Stabler: "You going in there?" Bell: "HELL no." I love that bit because it's SO far outside of how fictional TV cops are supposed to behave. I would expect a similar honest reaction from Finn on SVU.

This continues to be the best current Law & Order show. 4 stars.

Since Price was involved with the case of the week, I'm going to be spending a little more time than usual on the Order aspect of the show this review.

I'm going to address something that's always bugged me about lawyer shows that I could never complain about since I was always reviewing only genre stuff before this season. But I never understood how it is on this show a defendant could change their plea in the middle of the trial from straight up not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity. That strategy would make sense if the defense were allowed to replace the entire jury once they did that, but I never understood how lawyer shows expect me to believe a jury could possibly simply accept a defendant and their lawyer lying to them for the first half of the trial and expecting them to buy their sob story in the second half. I sincerely doubt this happens in real-life trials very often. All the prosecution has to do is point out the defense lied to you, and then cynically changed their story once they realized you weren't falling for it. Why should you trust a word they say about the situation now? They are known and admitted liars. If I were prosecutor I'd say to the jury, "Are you actually dumb enough to fall for this? The defense obviously thinks you are. Prove them wrong, ladies and gentlemen." And you never see the prosecution bring that up on these shows. Why? Because it's the only argument they'd need, and once they do that, not only is victory a given, but you expect them to ALWAYS do that every time this happens, which would take that shaky plot cliche off the table for this franchise entirely. Basically, the prosecution doesn't make the obvious, common-sense counterargument to that nonsense because that would mean more future work for the writers. They'd be force to write quality scripts instead of trying to feed this nonsense to US, the viewer. My question is something I will ask again (of myself this time). Am I dumb enough to fall for this? I'm not.

The only time in real life I can think of a lawyer attempting to change their defendants' story so radically in the middle of the trial was the Menendez brothers trial. And we all remember how that went. Mainly because there was a Law & Order show about it.

I always love how every show that has Camryn Manheim in it always finds a way to use the fact that she knows sign language to their advantage. I have to say I'm very glad her telling the other detectives what the mother was saying to her deaf daughter had nothing to do with the arrest of the suspect because doing that behind the glass is super shady. Granted, it's not a lawyer conversation, but still. But I wouldn't be surprised if this creates the problem I'm describing in a future episode.

Speaking of dishonesty, (which has been a major theme in this review) when McCoy tells Price he doesn't care about his word, it's ironic because Price himself gave the woman his word she wouldn't be named or be forced to testify. His word actually means nothing. And Jack knows it.

For the record, despite his personal objection to the death penalty, I don't object to Price doing his freaking job. His old colleague trying to shame him for it has no high ground as long as she switched pleas in the middle of the trial anyways.

The victim on the stand saying Price saved her life made me cringe. Price sort of moved her along, and made sure nobody really registered what she was saying, but if the defense had caught it, they'd realize she had a conflict of interest in being on the stand, and claim her testimony couldn't be trusted because she would be willing to lie for the guy who saved her life. For that reason I think Price was crazy to put her up there in the first place especially since her ID was hardly airtight. The idea that Price might have a conflict of interest since he was on the scene himself probably should have been brought up at some point anyways.

As far as the shaky relaunch goes, it was a solid episode, which is about the best I can hope from from the Rick Eid era. But it's still a far-cry from the cops and lawyers powerhouse the franchise used to be in the early 1990's. 3 1/2 stars.

I thought half of that was good, and half of it was bad. I am grateful for the good half because the bad half was the show at its worst. It's done cases like this before. But the trial drama was so over-the-top and ridiculous that I miss the days the franchise used to be considered the realistic lawyer show.

The mom on the stand was beyond ridiculous and appalling, and just the antics of the crowd made me cringe.

Before I talk about the successful stuff with Rollins, I'm going to say something a little controversial. I think Amber Heard got a raw deal in the press in Johnny Depp's defamation trial against her. The show is sort of showing that here and it's something I've thought for awhile. The show points out there is no such thing as a perfect victim. And Heard was about as imperfect a victim as you can imagine. The thing that always made me doubt her word was that the way she dressed in court seemed to be a mocking of Depp's outfits from the day before. And that's the kind of mind game and power move a sociopathic liar would try to pull. But the truth is Heard could potentially suck that much as a human being, but that doesn't automatically mean her claims of abuse are untrue. And as long as that fact is in doubt (and it is with me) the media bullying and unequivocal support of Depp by his fans, while Heard was vilified and ratioed is kind of sickening. People have said that Heard's supposedly untrue claims make a mockery of the MeToo movement. To me, what makes a mockery of the MeToo movement is the amount of abuse heaped upon Heard simply because they don't buy her story. Even if she were lying about Depp, that doesn't excuse the level of vitriol she got from anonymous trolls and people supposedly defending Depp's honor. And the fact that Depp himself never told that people himself to chill and realize it isn't about them, and sort of egged them on with his silence tells me that whatever Depp is, he is not innocent of abuse in that marriage. That specific thing IS a form of abuse whether people ragging on Heard are willing to admit it or not. Depp is NOT the poster boy for MeToo going too far. People who think he is need to step back a little.

The thing I liked was exploring Rollins' PTSD. Her pulling the gun in her girls' room is refreshingly considered a big deal. Law & Order used to believe in the early 1990's that the cops should almost never draw their guns on suspects, much less ever shoot them. Things have entirely changed in the years since, and many of the cops since Briscoe and Logan are a half-step above Dirty Harry when it comes to gunplay. But her girls are freaked out, and she herself looks shocked, and Carisi appalled. And her level of shock and trauma as she enters the elevator after being barraged with verbal abuse by Austin's fans was similarly effecting. Rollins has long been my least favorite character on the show. But what I like is that they've taken pains to allow her to grow and change from the hot mess she used to be 10 years ago.

And my favorite part of the ending is her admitting to Olivia she pulled the gun in front of her girls to confront the monster in the closet. Olivia looks extremely disturbed and shaken to hear that. But she waits a beat and says wryly, "Did you get him?" And Amanda says "Not yet. But I will." And that's a perfect, well-written ending on a show not known for that at all. I loved that moment, as ludicrous as the trial was. 3 1/2 stars.

Neat the new detectives are now in the main title.

Reyes saying he was worse than divorced, he was married with three kids to Bell was funny.

I love the moment Whelan claims you can't be THAT close to a member of the opposite sex without having slept with them, and Stabler asking if he was sure about that. Whelan asks him what he means by that a couple of times, but a sly smirk is all Stabler is willing to give him about his complicated relationship to Olivia Benson.

Denise seems to have thawed a little at the end.

The D.A. was mad at Bell's on-air statement, but her saying it under the "Hero Cop" chyron on the news broadcast means she's gonna be hard-pressed to discipline her for it.

The lady snoop working for Silas Jr made me gulp. I am rarely surprised by this franchise anymore. That was a good one.

Here is an example of bad surprise. When Dee-Dee hears the two gunshots, when the doors opens, and it's a betrayed and distraught Kenny on the other side, it's a great, surprising, "Whuh oh" twist. That is not credible in the slightest. It's to the show's credit we didn't see how he did it, but I can't imagine a single scenario in which a person in that bad of medical shape could possibly take down two professional hitmen who should have been able to catch him entirely unawares. It's a good twist because it's a surprise. But it's a surprise only because it makes no sense, which actually makes it a bad twist overall.

Bell's scene with Kenny and the baby was pretty riveting. There's a reason I claim this is the best current Law & Order show. Him actually FEEDING the baby ear medicine shows he's not playing with a full deck. Lucky the kid didn't die from that.

The Rat Guy at the beginning blaming Stabler for being attacked was funny, because Stabler refuses to accept responsibility for it. Usually Law & Order cops get this huge amount of guilt when their talking to informants leads to them getting hurt or killed. But I love that Stabler is actually like "T.S." to Rat Guy. That's hilarious and on-brand for Stabler. And can you blame him for not bothering to shed a tear for a guy who sells of all things, poison rats? Didn't think so.

A rat in the building again freaks out Bell (AND Reyes this time) but because she has seniority she can actually force him to go in first.

That was pretty great. 4 stars.

This show has lost its way. Rick Eid was the worst thing to ever happen to it.

The bad search, the planted evidence, the ending where Cosgrove rejects his old partner wasn't enough. The guilty verdict was disgusting.

Do you know what kills me? If the search of the car had been done right, he would have been easily convicted on actual evidence.

SVU and Organized Crime take extra care in this day and age to show cops doing their jobs right, even if it means extra work on their end. The mothershow showing sloppy and illegal police work being rewarded with a guilty verdict proves it has gone off the rails since it came back. 0 stars.

I thought it was a decent enough episode most of the way through (and I'm relieved the entire Indian family at the beginning survived) but I don't feel like the conflict at the end was believable. The detectives COULD have closed the case and decided not to charge the little girl. That's how it works on this show. There's not a jury in the world that would convict her and her attorney would make "self-defense" stick in a hot minute. They're acting like the D.A. and the detectives need to keep this huge secret to protect this traumatized girl. The truth is they could close the case simply because she didn't actually do anything wrong.

I don't like it when Law & Order forgets its own rules established simply for false drama. SVU has been doing that less recently so I didn't like seeing it again. 2 1/2 stars.

I thought it was pretty solid. One thing I noticed is that the acting on this show is unusually great. Most of the acting on the other shows is filled with melodrama, but I find the way the characters talk to each other on this one understated and realistic. I feel like the writers and the actors have a better feel for how real people talk and act instead of just cop show archetypes. And Christopher Meloni IS also doing his best work ever.

So all around, this remains the best current Law & Order show. 4 stars.

Rick Eid is pushing a lot of buttons. And he's not doing a very good job of it.

Cosgrove suggesting that everybody makes mistakes in the things they say and this guy just happened to get caught on-camera is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. Believe it or not, some people do actually watch what they say to other people, even in private. The show acting like this is something everybody goes through is nonsense.

Equally stupid was Nichols claiming one verbal mistake will destroy a person forever. I see and hear people on the news saying far more horrible stuff than that, and they are forgiven. Cancel Culture is not a real thing. If it were, we wouldn't be in the toxic political situation we are. Rick Eid loves to press political buttons but always lands on the idea that the current toxicity is understandable and no-one's fault. He was the wrong showrunner to bring the Mothershow back from mothballs in the 2020's.

I'm going to use this specific review to talk about a failing of the series that also effects SVU. I feel comfortable bringing it up here because even by this show's standards, it's stupid. In the early years there were few to no cop chases with perps. Because the first few years trafficked in realism. And while the rednecks in COPS may be dumb enough to run from the police with their faces blurred, what was the point of this kid running? The cops knew where he was and where he lived. It's a stupid bit of writing done to briefly give the series an action sequence. It didn't used to need to do that. And I'm telling you, this runner was especially bad and stands in for all of the bad runners I've hated since I've been watching this franchise for 30 years and yet not reviewing it until now.

The opening credits fixed a mistake from the first few episodes of the season. But when Anthony Anderson left, Jeffrey Donovan was given top billing in the Law portion of the credits. Except, they simply swapped out his title card from last season so the show didn't say "Starring Jeffrey Donovon" the way it's always billed its lead actor over the decades. It just said "Jeffrey Donovan". But this episode put in the "Starring Jeffrey Donovan".

It's been awhile since we've seen Dave Seaver and he remains one of my very favorite defense lawyers. What I like about him is that he strikes me as utterly unethical. And yet, on some level, I'm always rooting for him and his clients. No exception this week.

The one part of the episode I liked and respected was Shaw insightfully pointing out that Nichols promoting an underachieving white student over a deserving student of color was outside of everything he professed to be about. I like that moment because Nichols has no good answer for it. Because none actually exists.

This show is working my last nerve. 2 stars.

That was a great premise for an episode. Everyone was acting so oddly in the teaser. But when Diego reveals Grekko raped him, everybody's off behavior suddenly made sense. That was genius.

I thought it was a great episode period. Grekko is one of those villains with no redeeming qualities. But considering how badly his ego would have played with a jury, were I Carisi, I wouldn't have offered him a plea. I'd let those jurors take ten minutes to find him guilty of ten counts of second degree murder. Grekko wanted to roll the dice. Were I Carisi, I would have let him. That guy getting 10 life sentences would be SUPER satisfying to me if I were him.

A nice, great episode to wash the taste of Rick Eid's awful relaunch of the Mothershow out of my mouth. SVU is still doing things right. 4 1/2 stars.

 

Powerful episode. The ending with Reyes was a punch in the gut.

"Look what you made me do!" We are dealing with some seriously bad people here.

The thing I love and appreciate about present day Stabler is that he is now smart enough to do a grandstanding monologue to explain his actions and proclaim his righteousness. I don't want to say that when he was on SVU the character was stupid, but actually, yes, I DO want to say that. And feels like credible character progression ten years later.

I am not not surprised Ainsley Seiger is hot. She's a television actress after all. What surprised me was how well Jett played and carried it. I get why Stabler's worried. But I also get why Bell isn't.

Sort of a break from the casino construction stuff and it was an interesting one. 4 stars.

Rick Eid is the worst thing to ever happen to Law & Order. 0.

 

It was good. The male bad guy for the episode was pretty creepy.

I found the ending unsatisfying which is unfortunately par for the course for this show's later years. But it was a mostly interesting story with a couple of great villains. The lady in particularly could wind up an interesting recurring one. 3 1/2 stars.

That was pretty excellent. Rick Gonzalez has been an fine addition to the show. Really brings some great pathos as Reyes.

Vaughn shooting the other guys in his crew shows what a sadistic sociopath he is.

Jett did great in the episode with retrieving the camera. Stabler tells her never to do anything like that again. She's just disappointed it looks like she risked her life for nothing.

I liked it a lot. 4 1/2 stars.

As far as this show goes, if I don't wind up appalled, I call that a victory. And I wasn't. And this wasn't written by Rick Eid. It was also directed by Elisabeth Rohm, who in addition to guest starring on Angel, used to play an A.D.A. on the old show.

I thought much of the plot, specifically the trial, was ridiculous. But the defendant was a truly hissable bad guy, and I thought the drama and pathos of the poor woman he was humiliated on the stand landed like gangbusters. And I appreciate Maroun telling Price and Jack that men may come back from scandal, but women do not. I never thought of it that way before, which might be a failing on my end. I guess I looked at it through a political lens, and while there are certain women who have been involved in embarrassing stuff in their lives that doesn't negatively effect their careers (looking directly at Sarah Palin) for a woman's rights activist, yeah, I could see that being so damaging. And yeah, it seems of the women who are not forgiven, they all seem to come from my side of the aisle. And that doesn't just piss me off. It confuses the hell out of me.

And I both like and dislike that the episode refused to give Price the satisfying wrap-up of him declaring victory on the woman's behalf. She holds up the trashy tabloid and basically proves her life is actually ruined. It's not a good place to leave things, but I think it's a realistic one at least.

I thought the judge was being taken for a ride by this guy representing himself and I was like, "No judge would be dumb enough to allow a sex tape into evidence". Especially since the woman in it wasn't on trial. And I could blame the show for being tawdry and badly-written. But considering the subject matter of the episode, it could also be argued this is the show demonstrating in such a clear-cut manner how stacked against women the entire system actually is. Is the judge stupid and unfair? Maybe the show is badly written. Or maybe that's the entire point. I am unsure of which it is after all that.

I'm giving this a positive review, which is nice, because it's unusual. People who read my reviews will not believe this, but I don't actually LIKE complaining about crappy stuff I watch. I would much prefer to deconstruct GOOD television. My best and most probing reviews tend to be positive ones. And I believe this specific review, is better than most of my other reviews for this show for that reason. 4 stars.

I feel like the episode was running a little short, which is why the epilogues were so long.

But as far as episodes go, it was average. For the record, I am sick to death of the current chief. I know they are eventually going to bring him down and he'll wind up a perp of the week himself (that's how this show deals with annoying recurring characters), but this is taking too damn long. I got my Stuckey catharsis in a single season. I can't stand that this guy is still on the show.

Oh well. Maybe next week will be better. 3 stars.

 

I thought the last scene was very good. What happens next? We don't know. Which is why it's the right ending.

Jet's skills continue to be impressive. I like her conversation with Whelan where she admits she was briefly married when she was super young.

Reyes' empathy with the woman is why Rick Gonzalez is such a solid and important addition to this show.

Good week. 4 stars.

The Order part of the episode was more interesting than the Law part (which was filled with irrelevant red herrings).

The audience knew something the other characters didn't which is a rarity. We knew the victim had apologized even though the guy said on the stand he didn't. That made Price entering that bit of evidence into the record very satisfying.

Again, I have trouble accepting a jury being cool with pleas being switched mid-trial. It's always bugged the crap out of me.

Jack McCoy pulling rank. It's lucky Price found a different solution because in that rare instance, Jack was actually wrong.

I thought it was pretty good. 3 1/2 stars.

Man, great drama this episode. Greg Grunberg killed it.

I love that Benson mirrored his language to get him to stay and talk. And his mind eventually changes about his daughter, but it might not have if Benson hadn't accepted his erroneous phrasing and corrected him instead. Benson's empathy in the past few seasons has been off-the-charts awesome and it's a pleasure to see her work.

And I like that Cora's testimony ultimately gets McDaniels to see how wrong he was doing by Aida. Aida's friend lamenting that if he had known then what was gonna happen he would have bought her a beer is another similarly sad story. I'm glad her friends and family were able to support her after she died, but it's very sad to me they weren't able to listen to her while she alive.

SVU has great drama. But it had a moment of great comedy when Finn tells Muncie people from Harlem don't put fruit on their pizza. Excellent burn.

Amazing episode. 5 stars.

I thought the ending was pretty damn great.

I have to say I thought a LOT less of Bell after this episode. I love how calm and collected Stabler is, and when she asks him if he's okay with it, he's like, "Not by a longshot." She tries to accuse him of having an attitude problem and he just isn't having it. The Task Force was his life and she didn't even come to him. And her finding herself a pariah at work because everyone already knew is appropriate too.

I mean she was giving Jett an unnecessary amount of grief for having the temerity to worry about the job she was about to lose. And tells her instead not to spread rumors. Man, I LIKED Bell before this week! Why'd she have to go and do all that?

I like Stabler's Italian girlfriend. For reasons I can't explain I'm glad they didn't sleep together, but she was a fine addition to the show for two weeks. I hope she becomes a recurring character.

Solid, solid week, of a great show. 4 stars.

Based on both the evidence and jury make-up, the original show would have found Booker Not Guilty of Murder 2. Why Price didn't offer Man 1 up at trial is beyond reason and what the old show would have put up there. The old show would have been like "On the charge of Murder in the second degree? How do you find the defendant?" "We find the defendant Not Guilty." Gasp of relief from the defense. "On the secondary charge of Manslaughter in the first degree how do you find the defendant?" "We find the defendant Guilty." D'oh! The fact that the show had him found guilty of Murder 2 is why the relaunch is inferior under the stewardship of Rick Eid. There is nothing about the show that is plausible anymore.

For example, the relaunch LOVES its media circuses. It beggars belief Price wasn't getting pressure from protestors to lessen the charges. Eid is very selective about what outrageous things should outrage the public, I guess. It's why he's a bad showrunner and why the relaunch is a bad show.

The show wants credit for Shaw being unhappy with how things are turning out and blaming Price and calling him out on his crap. They don't get that credit so long as they send back that specific guilty verdict. Eid's version of the show enhances and praises white supremacy (I thought it was beyond ludicrous the show had Price "prove" Booker had not been threatened by a White Supremacist in prison) while paying lip service to people who say "Gosh, this isn't right!" As long as the show keeps having the charges and verdicts they do, that lip service is meaningless.

The defense also points out it was crappy care from the doctors that ultimately killed the guard, and I can't believe that wasn't hammered on more. And if he hadn't died it's almost certain Price wouldn't have charged Booker at all. Why should Booker have to be charged for Murder because of incompetent doctors?

Worst iteration of Law & Order ever in my book. Even Law & Order L.A. sucked less than Rick Eid's tenure here. 1 star.

I'm giving that a generous five stars but I am very aware it did showcase some of the series' inherent weaknesses. But it also showcased many of its strengths very well too.

As far as the trial goes, a hung jury was the right verdict after what Muncie did. I would not feel comfortable with either a guilty or not guilty verdict while the jury had listened to that crazy woman's rant. I never like Muncie, but it surprises me that she's so dumb it never occurred to her that was the reaction the defense attorney was trying to goad out of her, and she was giving him exactly what he wanted. She took a slam-dunk case and made it debatable, which is why I forgive some of the jurors for not getting it right. If they all had I would have thought less of the system.

Liv and Amanda's stuff was fun but if you ask me it was entrapment.

I liked and agreed with Olivia's perspective that it would have been better if Kathy Stabler hadn't died. She was the boundary, and she was a damn good one. I actually don't ship Benson and Stabler, which is why I am with Liv in wishing she was still alive too.

Why don't I ship Benson and Stabler? Believe it or not, it's mostly due to Olivia. Olivia has been in one or two happy relationships that she's sabotaged solely because she refuses to be happy. She essentially broke up with both Tucker and Cassidy, not because they did anything wrong, but because they wanted a firmer commitment from her. Her not understanding Barba's selling points as a significant other are another reason I don't think she's right for Elliot. She'd wreck things. It's what she does.

And I'll tell you why SVU drives me crazy and why I liked this episode. The "drama" with Noah is annoying. In most previous seasons the kid is always getting kidnapped or Olivia's parental rights are in jeopardy. Her distrusting this obviously nice family and waiting for the other shoe to drop sucks because for most adopted parents, most parents, and hell, most COP parents, crap like that isn't even an issue. And I thought it was nice this perfectly lovely family decided to drop their request to find out about their kid's sociopath father unless he asked them about it in the future. Because they ARE actually nice. Because nice people actually DO exist. Shocking, I know. Having a kid is not actually a life or death traumatic ordeal for most people.

Just for the record, I don't believe Noah would have ever said "He's the only real family I have." I'm an adopted kid. I would never say a similar thing to my birth parents and I have never said a similar thing all throughout my childhood. I would never say "You aren't my real parents!" in a fit of anger. Because they are. I don't believe a kid like Noah would express a similar idea through pure thoughtlessness either.

Liv reacted badly and unfairly to Rollins' news. And I like that Liv isn't perfect after all, and is a freaking person. I especially like when she insists the footage taken of her in a state of undress be used to secure a conviction from the pervy hotel owners, because she asks victims to bare everything in their lives, and it's not fair for her to simply get a pass for that because of her position. And the cool thing about the show being on the air so long is I believe both that she'd say that now, and that she also would have said, "Thanks, I appreciate that," in the early years when she was on the streets with Stabler. And that one's of the good things about the show lasting so damn long and Olivia being there the entire time.

I was annoyed we were gonna see Rollins and Carisi's wedding but in hindsight I'm glad we did. Not just because it's clearly Rollins' last episode as a series regular, but also because Law & Order never seems to let us have nice things, and both this show and Organized Crime matter to me because as of recent seasons, they've ignored that memo. Does it interest me as a viewer? No. Is it important to see anyways? Definitely.

This show is messy and sometimes drives me crazy. But it is more dramatically truthful that Rick Eid's Law & Order tenure could ever hope to be. 5 stars.

I liked that the Task Force turned that into a win. Stabler throwing the phone off the roof was brilliant by the way and I am glad Silas was NOT aware Pearl was pregnant when he ordered the hit. I laughed that Whelan has a SpongeBob tattoo and Jet's reaction. "Don't ask." I don't need to do a super long review this week but that was excellent and so is the show. 4 stars.

This is why I hate Rick Eid's tenure on the show. Every single time, he shows the D.A.'s office using good people and throwing them away after the trial is over. The reason this isn't forgivable is because there is no narrative reason for it. Eid just loves using and punishing people of color. That's all it is. I believe Eid is a racist and demagogue and the worst possible person to be put in charge of the current iteration of the show. He needs to go. He is ruining the franchise's entire reputation in an era where people already distrust both police and district attorneys.

But Law & Order SVU and Organized Crime bent over backwards to make the franchise fit into the new landscape and portray cops and lawyers showing empathy and integrity in response to the George Floyd protests. And Eid comes in and takes a dump all over both of those shows' hard work in trying to rehabilitate the franchise in the minds of people who distrust the message it shows. Eid revels in the fact that cops and lawyers abuse both their powers and the good people of color who help them put away bad guys. It's disgusting and the worst thing about it is it's unnecessary. The episode wouldn't have been made worse by Maroun coming through for the witness as the end. But Eid believed she deserved to be punished for her helping the white characters so she was.

I'm sick of this crap. 1 star.

I love that Liv shot the kid in the knee. She had him dead to rights, he was gonna kill her if she didn't shoot him, but she lowered the gun from his head, and shot him in the leg, because she refused to shoot a kid. I freaking love that.

I love the millionaire detective bribing the guy to rush the DNA with an expensive watch. Liv's all "You can't do that!" And he's like, "Why? It worked." And her objection is him doing it in front of a Captain, but I'm thinking even if it's unethical, I don't see how it hurts their case. It just gets the guy caught quicker. And despite the fact that he's a whistleblower the fact that his squad was dirty probably told him a few tricks about how to grease the wheels. And I think it's interesting and not a black and white issue.

I love that McGrath and the other D.A.'s ream Liv for looking into that closed case, but as soon as a woman is killed they are all "Okay, maybe we were a little hasty..." While the Mothershow is celebrating cop and D.A. corruption, this show is cleaning it up.

And it was nice to use Camryn Manheim's sign language skills, but it's a bit jarring to see her in a Law & Order episode where the cops are FIGHTING corruption instead of engaging in it.

I love Finn's "DNA never lies." So obviously the wife did. And her reason for doing so was both mundane and understandable.

The killer's remorselessness was super chilling and scary. I'm glad he's going away.

And yeah, the guy in prison is gonna sue the city successfully, and at this rate the city will be broke. The idea that the cops gave him a fix to sign a confession shows how broken the Bronx SVU department actually was. It's frustrating.

Liv's "victim statement" was absolutely great. I love that character. She's pretty much the one Law & Order character in any franchise who is irreplaceable. I wouldn't want to see this show without Finn either, but when Mariska Hargitay decides to call it quits, I think the show should too.

Great episode. 4 1/2 stars.

It was an entertaining and engrossing episode, and then it's suddenly over before I know it, which is something I like, and the mark of good television.

Christopher Meloni brought the goods in the therapy session. One thing I like about this show's version of Stabler is that he's gained a degree of intelligence and insight, the SVU era of him simply did not possess. His bickering with Bell over it is also endearing and I like that he took her seriously.

I love the cop Whelan punched punching him back later on. Why not? Seriously. It was a brilliant tactic to get the crook to trust him but the the guy he punched WAS a cop. He had it coming.

Jet and Whelan came up with a brilliant last minute excuse for how Whelan was out of prison already. They navigated the phone call to his fake sister brilliantly.

This show continues to impress me. It wasn't the best episode of the night (SVU was slightly better) but stuff like this is why I think it's the best Law & Order show period. 4 stars.

As far as character drama goes, this was a rare good week. As far as a lawyer show goes, I didn't find much of it credible.

I actually agree with Maroun about the Murder 2 charge. Simply because the relaunch has been using that charge for other people of a similar mindset or level of guilt. I did feel like the kid was getting a LOT of leeway because he was rich and white. And yet when Maroun sits down after the cross and asks Price if she went too far, I agree with her too. The kid made a surprisingly sympathetic witness, and she came across as bullying him. She should have quit while she was ahead.

And I mentioned it's not credible. Not just because it's Law & Order succumbing to Reefer Madness type-scaremongering about pot. But the episode went out of its way to prove this was a good kid, he wasn't racist, he was looking towards helping people in the future, and his black guidance counselor asks why Maroun is trying to destroy his life. I'm sorry, that's not how the perpetrators of crimes that vicious work. There always IS an underlying reason. The show is suggesting there isn't to set up an internal conflict between Maroun and the trauma over her sister. But it's not remotely realistic.

And it IS this show so it had a particularly stupid suspect chase, and of course the culprit changes his plea midway through, and the jury is just supposed to accept that. What kills me is before he did that, his lawyer was dirtying up the victim's name, and casting aspersions on his reputation, and somehow the jury is supposed to forget he did that, and believe he now feels great remorse for the pain he caused his family. And I hate this show at times because it never occurs to it to explore that. Really Maroun was chomping at this bit over this kid. She could have actually done some legit damage to his case, and maybe even secured a conviction if she had pointed out the kid's lawyer had been sullying the victim's reputation before realizing that argument was a loser and changing their plea.

But the truth is it was a good episode for character drama, and a good episode to explore Maroun and Price's personal working relationship. I'll call that a win, especially considering what a mess the show usually is most weeks. 4 stars.

The series has never been serialized before, but this arc is pretty interesting and intense.

Liv's primal scream in the teaser bordered on comical for me, but it made great trailer-bait. The "rape-tree" is pretty chilling.

The actor they got to play Oscar Papi was SO good. Liv describes him as a psychopath, but I think his actual problem is that he seems both charming AND reasonable. It won't be an easy case against him next week.

This franchise being this franchise, I expect Witness Protection to bollocks things up next week, but so far they've done their jobs, which is unusual for Law & Order.

Pretty freaking melodramatic, but melodrama has its place. It was pretty GOOD melodrama for that. 3 1/2 stars.

I like that Whelan is offended at the end by the way Stabler took him out of the op. He thought dying on camera was embarrassing and Stabler enjoyed it too much. Stabler then says he didn't mean it like that, and maybe not consciously, but the scene WAS actually funny on some level, so he must have meant it like that on some level.

But yeah, I also agree with Stabler that the way Whelan played those Miami guys was pretty cool.

For the record, Stabler's face has been on the news WAY too frequently on this show to make a credible UC. The show needs to stop pretending it's okay to still use him that way.

The guy who took the job Bell rejected looks both like a druggie and like a potential leak. He strikes me as nothing but trouble.

It was pretty good. Very weird it seems the usually horrid Mothershow had the best week this time out. 3 1/2 stars.

Pretty good week. Aside from the runner. That always pisses me off.

Price did two really great things. Telling the dude if he didn't take the deal he was going to do everything he could to make him spend the rest of his life in prison. What's great is the jerk believed him. The other great thing he did was saying he was gonna prosecute Max for manslaughter. I don't care how young he is or how dumb his parents are. He made a bad choice and has to live with it. Good for Price for knowing that even after hooking the Big Fish.

I thought the judge was absolutely terrible. She made so many bad calls in both the courtroom and chambers I thought it was going to turn out she was on the take. In reality the show is badly written. No judge in real life would have allowed that awful lawyer to accuse the guy on the stand of being pedophile simply to score points. It was reprehensible and every "I'll allow it" told me that judge deserves to be thrown off the bench. Similarly appalling was her excluding the video because the awful lawyer convinces her the kid is "acting as an agent of the government". Honestly, I think the real problem is bad writing, and the writers simply don't know how to write credible judges. And this has been a big problem on the relaunch so I can't even call this misstep an outlier.

The acting coach at the beginning was a perfect red herring in the sense that everything the viewer saw him do made us think he was abusing that kid. It's a pretty sweet trick the writers had an explanation for everything, even the child porn charge (done as a highschooler from a topless pic from his girlfriend). Even the outcry the officers heard from the hallway and the scenes he was practicing made him sound entirely guilty.

Something bothers me a little, and it's a problem for all television, and not just this show. But I didn't believe the idea that somebody is putting kids under contract to do Jackass stunts and nobody is doing anything about it. It seems like a problem that doesn't exist that fogey writers believe does. The show isn't just old-fashioned because of the quips the detective do bemoaning social media and how they want nothing to do with it. It's because they are making it sound worse than it probably is. These are old people fears. Maybe the showrunners need to shut off Fox News for a hot minute.

Decent week. Outside of the crappy judge (and maybe the actual unbelievable premise) I didn't have too many other complaints. Well, the runner. Always the runner. 3 1/2 stars.

The rest of the episode wasn't bad but the ending shows why I believe Rick Eid runs the show entirely without a conscience.

It wasn't entirely "Not bad" however. The chase scenes continue to annoy and confound me. Do the producers actually think we find them exciting? This iteration of the show strikes me as a bit pathetic for always going back to them.

But the episode wasn't terrible. 3 stars.

They are NOT kidding about going there. That was the closest Stable and Benson EVER got.

Man, Valasco is slime. Really. But to be honest, Bruno bribing the victim for information is also problematic as hell.

Stabler and Benson COULD be a thing at some point. That actually blows my mind. SO close here. The show has taken over 20 years, but damn. 4 stars.

While it is true that when talking to suspects Valasco is a notorious liar, after hearing that recording, that isn't something I'd simply take for granted. It's actually concerning. Considering Valasco gave the dude drugs in the previous episode, it probably means he IS dirty.

Do I want him to be? The show used to walk that stuff back. God knows they did with Rollins enough times. But I think it would be interesting to do that with Velasco especially considering he's trying to play "Good cop" with Muncie at the same time.

And I love the advice to the wife talking to the guy holding the lady hostage: "Lie". Really. Duh. Some lies are all right.

I'm glad the couple from the beginning made it through. They were really cute together.

Bruno spent the episode impressing me. He's still a little rough around the edges, but he had a better first day than either Muncie or Velasco did.

Solid week. 3 1/2 stars.

Not a very strong closing scene.

Jet is very good and I'm worried about her at the same time.

It's sort of fun to see the Task Force teaming up with Teddy Silas. It makes sense because of his deal, but he and his father were the Big Bads at the beginning of the season, and that sort of that petered out.

The good about Murphy: The scene in the confessional was chilling. The bad about him: I don't like the dog. As far as scary gimmicks and affectations go, it's kind of lame.

Decent week. 3 1/2 stars.

I didn't like it too much. That might surprise you. It seemed perfectly acceptable on the surface, didn't it? The reason I suspect most fans WILL accept and have no problems with it is that it is not outside of the way the rest of television treats drama. And regardless of whether viewers have been conditioned to accept the idea that people's careers are essentially ways for them to learned nursery-school level morality lessons about their interpersonal relationships with coworkers, that doesn't make it acceptable. It sucks when The Arrowverse does it. It sucks when THIS show does it.

Yes, it is very common to tie a character's emotional growth into really dumb mistakes on the job. It's also unprofessional. It also makes me think less of Jet. And her ending the episode in the trunk of a dude's car makes me think less of the show.

This is still the best Law & Order. But it's still JUST a TV show and episodes like this on THIS show (and pretty much every other show I watch and review) make me painfully aware of that fact. I never thank my TV for doing a TV thing. Because TV sucks. It always has. The best shows transcend the medium. The ones that fall into the common trappings of the medium really don't wind up impressing me that much. And the sad fact is I don't think there are too many TV shows that DON'T ever fall prey to that. What I won't do is praise episodes like this for it. 2 stars.

Rick Eid wrote it and it was surprisingly decent so I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. And yeah, the ending hits and ruins the entire episode. On-brand for Eid.

I think Riley did great on the stand which is why I'm so pissed Eid did wrong by him. Just like Eid does wrong by every single person who helps either the police or the prosecution. It's pathological at this point.

Let me clarify something regarding officer cowardice. I find unwillingness to engage in a dangerous situation due to fear a lot more forgivable than cops spraying bullets everywhere due to fear. I think the reason people were so upset about the cops sitting on their hands during that Texas school shooting is because of how free with their guns cops usually are when confronted by people they perceive to be threats. But really, I think a cop being human is understandable.

But the ending is why we can't have nice things, and why Rick Eid is the worst thing to happen to the franchise since D.A. Branch on the old show. And frankly Eid is MUCH worse for the health of the show than Fred Thompson ever was. 1 1/2 stars.

I have mentioned before that Liv's gift with victims is empathy but I am struck again by the fact that Fin is able to get victims to problem-solve using reason and a bit of common sense. The guy Dutch HATES him and blames him for what happened to him, but very quickly Finn gets him to believe he's on his side. And the honesty of Fin not remembering the guy at first is also kind of impressive when there's a gun being waved in his face. If he WANTS Fin to remember him Dutch is going to have to give him a few more details.

And I like SVU because Dutch is given a tentative reunion with his daughter at the end. If Rick Eid had written the episode, he would have wound up dead.

Sort of an off-camera update for Munch in the episode. He moved back to Baltimore and bought the cop bar he used to own on Homicide: Life On The Street again. Feels appropriate.

Solid week and a nice contrast to the trainwreck of the mothershow. 4 stars.

I'm having a hard time understanding how Murphy can be an FBI informant with all of the horrifying crimes he does. Yeah, that's part of the gag of Red Reddington on The Blacklist. But that works because the idea is portrayed as crazy and unprecedented. The guy goes around feeding live people to his dog and he's somehow untouchable. Not credible.

I'll tell you what I liked: Before they parted ways and he was killed, Seamus told Jet not to feel bad, and that she didn't do anything wrong, and that he did. He probably didn't know he was gonna die when he said it. But that has got to have been a posthumous load off of Jet's conscience anyways. It's probably why she's so upset.

I love the idea that he kept the pen gun in case he ever got into a jam. Stabler leans in close and tells him he's in a jam now.

I think the writers misread the audience in the scene where Stabler talks Bell into putting down the gun. I would not have faulted either her OR the show if she had actually just shot Murphy then and there and tried to cover it up. In fact, seeing that unraveling week by week could have been a cool arc. The writers believe I was relieved Bell didn't do an unforgivable thing. Not only do I think it would have been more dramatically interesting if she had done it, and something that could lead to a lot of great conflict down the road, but in that moment I wouldn't have found it remotely unforgivable. Part of me wanted her to simply because he deserved it. I don't think Bell pulling back is quite as righteous as the show is insisting it is. I would have been perfectly fine with the character had she pulled the trigger.

It was good, but unsatisfying. Of course, that was by design. But I don't have to like it. 3 1/2 stars.

For once the case went all right but I can't help feeling like the outcome of Shaw's story is nothing but a defense of the Blue Wall. If the lesson is you can't fight it, that means the writers are defending it. There's no other way to read that.

The thing that pisses me off the most is both Cosgrove and Dixon tell Shaw that no matter what he decides, they have his back. And then... They don't. It's infuriating.

This show has problems. 2 1/2 stars.

Richard Belzer died? I had no idea. Well, they certainly picked the right episode to pay tribute to him. There aren't many Law & Order episodes I'd call beautiful, but this definitely qualified. I'm amazed at the timing that they were able to pay tribute to Richard with this.

As for Valasco, I like that unlike the Mothershow, there is accountability for cops' bad actions. But let me blunt. Him sitting on Chili's name is a luxury he should not be afforded at all. If I were Carisi, until he came clean, I'd charge him with the murder himself. Why? Because if you commit a crime with somebody else, and they murder somebody, you get charged with murder too. That's how the law works. And the show acting like him not pulling the trigger exonerates him, is another troubling recent example of the franchise's writers no longer understanding the law.

My favorite bit was him asking who they were interrogating and Fin's all, "You." Really, this specific revelation seems so huge it's kind of weird that the show has been sitting on it for a couple weeks.

Was this the first episode of Law & Order EVER to use heavy visual effects? Damn, it actually might have been. There might have been some CGI explosions here and there before this, but this was legit sci-fi effects, even if they weren't obviously big budgeted.

Another difference between this and the awful Mothershow. Carisi declining to charge Pence because he believed he was innocent is not something Price would ever do. Price has noted more than once that finding out how and why the crime occurred doesn't matter, which is the stupidest thing ever for a prosecutor to believe, and is totally on-brand what a turd of a person and writer Rick Eid is. Olivia says Carisi is using his cop instincts. But really, getting to the truth of the crime is what EVERY part of the law should actually be about.

And truly, the stuff with Bradley Whitford as Pence was by turns heartbreaking and wonderful. I don't how and why God decided to take Richard last week, so THIS perfect, tear-jerker of an episode carried his dedication card. But damn it, it nearly makes me sob even before finding out the guy who played Munch died. 5 stars.

I thought that was great.

The thing I really responded to was how on the level both Stabler and Carver were with each other. Stabler lets him know after this is all over, he's going to jail. And Carver understands it and accepts his help to get his daughter back anyways.

But as much honor as Carver clearly has is as morally bankrupt as the other two gang factions seem. This is supposed to be organized crime? Pure chaos!

I love Stabler and Bell's scene at the end. What I hope Stabler can appreciate (and it is left unsaid) is that no matter how guilty he feels about the last time he saw him before this, because of what happened in this episode their relationship was STILL left off on a much healthier place, cop and criminal or not. That's not nothing.

I find the fact that Bruce is routinely mortified by his obvious crush on Jet all kinds of adorable. If he were a creep, the crush wouldn't be cute. Because every true feeling that spills out of him is accidental instead, it's a bit endearing instead. Think Felicity Smoak. Which is a tough dynamic to pull off with Bruce a dude and Jet a woman, but I buy it.

Great episode. 4 1/2 stars.

It was all right. I didn't have too many objections. Other than the runner. ALWAYS the runner.

Could have been worse. But whatever. I'm not giving the series a cookie every time I don't want to punch out my television. That's not the actual bar. 2 1/2 stars.

Kudos to the show for actually coming up with an original, super-weird premise they hadn't done yet. Special props from me for the episode being entirely unpredictable. Now that's never been a stickler for me enjoying television, but the truth is Law & Order is a VERY predictable franchise, especially at this point. I thought Carisi's trick with the lights in the courtroom at the end was brilliant, especially having the mystery person turning out to be the suspect's husband, undercutting her entire defense. That poor bastard. He got very little screen-time, but him being The Good Husband probably had to sting on every level after that.

I do disagree with both the show and Carisi about something: I don't think them being lovers in college mattered. If I was on that jury it sure as hell would have zero bearing to me as to the facts of the case. And I'd also understand why she wouldn't have brought it up, wouldn't think her especially dishonest for it, or penalize her for it. And I get as far as people go, I am unusually empathetic about things like this. But I sure as hell couldn't be the only juror to see it that way.

I found the suspect's entire crime pure lunacy. She really had no defense for trying to impregnate her friend without even talking about it with her first. Even if you were to believe her crazy story that she knew it was her the entire time, the fact that she did that specific crazy thing means it's HER version of events that can't be trusted. Not the person understandably embarrassed of a college tryst. Frankly, I think it's actually far-fetched the jury came back Not Guilty on the first degree abuse charge. Trying to deliberately impregnate a person without talking to them about it first is pretty much the definition of "intent", don't you think?

Another thing Carisi should have brought up is the fact that if the defendant truly believed she was being helpful, she wouldn't feign ignorance when the police were targeting the victim's nephew because of the DNA match. She would have owned up to it then and there and call the thing a huge misunderstanding THEN. Instead, she's still trying to get away with it. It's a good episode, but I'm thinking perhaps the writers were a little "sloppy" about that one thing, because once it would be pointed out, they'd basically have her to dead to rights. I'm not gonna talk TOO much crap about the episode for it, but a LOT of times TV does bad writing it hopes you don't notice it to service an otherwise decent story. I'll forgive it since I am aware of that fact.

I read "I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy this week, and she guest starred on SVU as a little kid. And her description of the episode she was in made the show, and pretty much every other adult-oriented show she starred on sound as worthless, pathetic, and ridiculous as iCarly. And whether or not I enjoyed the episode, that specific observation stuck with me, and if McCurdy auditioned for this episode and described the plot in horrified tones to her readers, I'd think it sounded as stupid as the humiliating stuff she was forced to do on Sam And Kat. And I said in my review of the book that I was gonna be a LOT tougher on television after having read it. And I guess this is the first review that is true.

I liked the episode, and am giving it a gentleman's four stars for its entertainment value. But "I'm Glad My Mom Died" led me to believe ALL of television is trashy and stupid, even the award-winning stuff, and the plot of this episode, as inventive and unpredictable as it is, totally fed into that. 4 stars.

SO good.

Family Guy rules for Law & Order: The killer is always the biggest name in the guest star credits. Now Lost's Francois Chau is hardly Jimmy Smits. But he is also the only guy in the guest star credits I know by name. Of course it's him. The detectives could have looked into the camera and knowingly smiled and nodded at the viewer and it would not have been any less obvious.

Stabler's heat-to-heart and promise at the end was purely awesome and why I love this show.

Solid all around. Jennette McCurdy weighs heavily on me, but I think this is the Law & Order episode of the night she'd probably be least embarrassed of were she in it. Of course knowing her, she'd still be plenty embarrassed. 5 stars.