Law & Order Franchise

I don't know if I'll miss Velasco, but this was a nice goodbye episode.

Pretty good. 4 stars.

One of the biggest problems of the case is that the defendant comes across as very credible. Whether that “Aw-shucks” demeanor is false or not (and I believe it DOES genuinely exist) when he says if somebody creates an offensive painting, you don’t arrest the paintbrush, it is not lost on me that Carisi had no response to that. He couldn’t even muster, “That’s completely different!” for the sole reason that it actually wasn’t, and A Damn Good Point instead.

I do believe whatever Boone says about safeguards and the admen responsible for that gross ad being fired, his old partner’s testimony proves he knew this was the most likely outcome, and whether the law agrees or not (and I lean with the judge’s take) that makes him morally responsible at least. Carisi asks the other guy why he didn’t delete the emails and his response was amusing, bitter, and totally depressing: “Because I knew someday we’d be here.”

Current Law & Order seems to have good writing rather infrequently. That line is a refreshing example of it.

Couple of extra notes. That kid Bryce is SO fucking punchable, I love that his mother was SO fed up with his sociopathy she’s like, “Take him. Here’s his phone and the password.” I fucking love a mother who does something like that. Blood may be thicker than water, but the truth is there need to be a freaking limits. You have your kid act like Patrick Bateman (along with the sociopath haircut) you are allowed to decide to instantly disown him.

The second notable thing is my earlier disdain of the new character Griff was justified. He is legit bad at this. I loved Bruno (who is legit good at this, and one of the few detectives who always was, with no learning curve whatsoever) reading him the riot act for blowing it with the first suspect. The other reason Griff sucks is him blowing up at the music teacher. Curry and Bruno had the presence of mind to actually gauge his reaction to the fake photos. He was clearly horrified. That was the single most important part of the interview and Griff misses it entirely. It doesn’t even occur to him that is actually something to watch for. And whether he’s new to SVU or not, he’s still been a cop awhile, and he sucks that he still doesn’t know a good detective needs to read suspects’ initial reactions during important moments.

I feel bad for the music teacher losing his job, but not TOO badly. He is going to make a literal fortune in the civil suit, which the conviction makes impossible for the guy Boone to win, whether the verdict was set aside or not. I picture this poor shmuck retiring to the Bahamas where he won’t have to see dumb high school girls prettier than they deserve to be whine as they are put into the squad car “But I apologized!” Mojitos, little sun and surf, and nobody who knows him, he’s looking at a good future.

I found very little to criticize in the episode itself. Griff himself is poorly written, but that might not simply be a script failing, and him sucking that much is the actual point. Tough, interesting case with a fair verdict and outcome. 4 1/2 stars.

Yeah, that was messed up. 3 1/2 stars.