The New "Law & Order: SVU" (not old reruns)

Cafe Society
#1

I accept the fact that I may be the only person in the world watching the new episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I acknowledge that I have A Condition that makes me hang on to shows like The Mentalist and *NCIS *long after others have fled to safety.

But come on. The guy who kidnapped Olivia and held her hostage for four days while he murdered other people and made her watch is claiming that the spree was consensual, that he is the victim, and, acting as his own defense attorney, HE gets to grill Benson mercilessly on the stand in front of a jury???

Has there ever been a real-life case where a particularly loathsome defendant acted as his own counsel and thus got to cross-examine and terrorize his victims in court? I’m guessing that this probably *has *happened IRL.

Just when Olivia thought it was safe to go home, looks like the bad guy is going to escape from prison by faking a heart attack.

#2

Mrs FtG and I were practically screaming at the TV set during the trial scenes.

Never, ever would most of that be allowed. He was testifying while questioning! The DA would be non-stop objecting.

Plus it would be easy to counter the doctor’s testimony. E.g., “How would Det. Benson know she burst his spleen in the few short moments of the fight given she has no medical training or equipment?” Ditto ear nerve, collapsed lung, fractured knee, etc. So beating him until he stopped resisting is a valid goal. Beating him until he suffered only 1 verifiable disabling injury, not so much.

And on and on.

Yeah. The show is sinking. The two new people are weak, especially the woman. This is a show where they should just stick to the procedural side. Forget the personal lives of the squad.

And bring back Munch. Full time, not half time.

What’s worse, they are going to bring the guy back! Enough already.

#3

Can I come to your house to watch next Wednesday… puh-leeeese. I was scaring my dogs (and the neighbors’ dogs) with my ranting.

I don’t mind this ensemble (don’t miss Stabler one bit), if only they would stick to procedural! Just solve a crime every week and I will be contented. No marital, addiction, family problems, please. I loved Munch. He was always my favorite. I do like this DA (or ADA, if that’s what he is). I like his flashing eyes.

Olivia did that thing that she’s known for that I HATE with the passion of a thousand suns: she whispered while she was testifying. No one else in the cast whispers.

I guess this guy is going to be the Red John of this show.

Thank you so much for replying… I was getting worried that I really ***was ***the only one watching.

#4

Whenever she first appears in an episode, I cry out “Applejack!”

#5

I always watch this show and was glad to when I saw my DVR had recorded a new episode, but as soon as I saw it was going to involve the same character that abducted Olivia, I deleted it without watching. I thought he had been killed in his last episode and we were finally rid of him, but clearly I was misremembering. I have zero interest in seeing one more scene with that character, and I am a viewer who has IIRC never missed an episode.

#6

Okay, what happened at the end of tonight’s episode-- the phone call to Olivia from Maria?

I’m guessing he showed up and Maria wasn’t expecting him and has no interest in getting back together?

#7

I knew I was the only one watching…

#8

No, I saw it last night, but I haven’t seen any of the episodes leading up to it for weeks (if not months).

My best guess was that Detective Amaro was just blowing smoke about going to D.C., and Maria (whoever that is) just happened to call so that Olivia would find out.

Don’t put too much stock in that, though. Who thought Fin would turn out to be the boring, reliable one; and where’s Cragen?

#9

Maria is Amaro’s ex-wife. Prolly what happened is that Amaro either called Maria in D.C. or actually showed up on her doorstep and she wouldn’t see/talk to him, and that’s why she called Olivia, to check up on his mental state.

Cragen retired.

SOOOO true about Fin! He used to be the one you could count on to be a bad-ass, and now he’s the only solid citizen since Amanda has gone back to gambling, Amaro is headed for the edge of a cliff, and Olivia is hitting the bottle.

I HATEHATEHATE it when their personal lives take over too much of the show. But still I keep watching. Yes, I have A Condition.

#10

Well that sucks. And Munch, too. At least, I know Richard Belzer has left the show, but not how the character was written out. Did aliens finally beam him home? Black helicopters? Was there a grassy knoll involved? If you think you’re being watched, just smile knowingly.

#11

I love that Munch isn’t actually a Law and Order SVU character, or even a Law and Order character at all. He’s from Homicide, Life on the Street. He (the Character) met the NY cops from Law and Order on a crossover episode.

#12

I just looked the character up on Wikipedia to make sure I had my facts straight. Saw this interesting tidbit:

#13

The Evil Bad Guy “cross-examining” her by screaming and pounding on the rail? :rolleyes: And now he’s Hannibal effing Lecter and he’s going to escape and terrify Olivia again. I wonder if she is going to wind up shooting him. :wink:

Haven’t seen the show in first run episodes for a while. And I probably won’t bother after this.

Regards,
Shodan

#14

I don’t follow L&O:SVU, and didn’t see the episode in question.

But I can answer this question: “Has there ever been a real-life case where a particularly loathsome defendant acted as his own counsel and thus got to cross-examine and terrorize his victims in court?”

Yes.

On December 7, 1993, Colin Ferguson was aboard the Long Island Rail Road commuter train from Penn Station, stood up, and opened fire apparently at random. He killed six people and injured 19 others.

At his trial, Ferguson represented himself. He questioned the surviving victims that he had shot, while referring to himself in the third person and asking them legally pointless questions that forced them to relive the shooting.

He was convicted.

#15

That episode was probably based on that.

#16

Interesting tidbit - in the Canadian Armed Forces, we have the Court Martial, and the level below that is a Summary Trial (usually overseen by a Commanding Officer) - the accused represents themselves.

I was questioned by the man I was accusing (since it was a sexual-related offence it was a little uncomfortable), I don’t recall him yelling or showboating.

#17

IIRC Munch is supposedly some kind of consultant now and so might turn up in an episode. He was always my favorite. But then I have a weakness for uptight Jewish guys.

#18

This may be the season I finally give up on L&O. It’s become a drama instead of a police procedural, and I’m not into it. I have a pretty good ability to suspend disbelief, but too much shit happens to these people. And I cannot stand Amaro.

It’s time to bring out the Homicide DVDs. That show never lost its awesome.

#19

I’m going to hell for this, but I kinda almost like it more without Stabler. He’s just so macho alpha male. I like Rawlins (Rollins?) and enjoy Amaro’s unfortunate life. I need to go back to last season though because I missed when Olivia broke up with ADA dude and hooked up with Cassidy (who I just realized isn’t Michael Madsen!).

#20

We’re running a week behind. Just not much interest watching episodes ASAP anymore.

So the kid shooting episode.

There was essentially no police work in the entire episode! Good grief. Once it was stated that the other cop was shot with her own ricochet, the cop stuff basically stopped. I kept waiting for someone to do some police work. Nada.

What a waste of time.

Have someone talk to Munch on the phone? Gimme a break.

How long does it usually take to make sergeant in the NYPD anyway? Mariska just turned 50 yesterday, Olivia’s presumably the same age.

Note that it’s common in a long running show for regulars to move on. The ratings that sustained high salaries aren’t there anymore and cutbacks happen. The contract offers for the big stars decline (or someone gets cut to maintain the salaries of the remaining stars). Screen time for secondary people get cut. Etc. Rarely are the new cast members any good.

Time to end this thing.