Svu Law and Order Episode Review for Season 19

Constabulary & Social club SVU closed the books on its teen years last night with the 2-hour season nineteen finale, "Remember Me / Remember Me Too." Allow me exist blunt: I didn't intendance for it. This was a 1-hour story stretched into 2 hours.  I found myself getting very angry in this episode; angry at Benson and at the victim. People may enquire how I can exist a fan of the bear witness and yet dislike an episode then much. It is considering I AM a fan and have put and then much energy into covering Law & Guild SVU over the years that allows me to dish out some tough love every now and so. It's tough love fourth dimension.

I'grand going to spend more fourth dimension on my review and less on the epitomize. To briefly summarize the episode: Lourdes Vega, who was a victim of human trafficking and rape, exacts revenge on her attacker, Miguel Lopez, and holds him earnest at gunpoint. She doesn't know that the apartment she is in has a camera which live streams the incident to Miguel'due south phone. When Miguel loses his phone at the club, someone finds information technology and brings it to SVU. They somewhen pinpoint the area where the apartment is located. Lourdes besides strikes Miguel'southward business partner when he arrives at the apartment; he later dies of the injuries.  While locating the bodily apartment, the officer Benson is with is held hostage then the aforementioned fate befalls Benson. Later a tense scene on the terrace where Lourdes is shut to killing Miguel or even Benson, Benson finally is able to convince Lourdes to surrender. Stone must charge Lourdes with murder.  Benson and Stone butt heads and she is a hostile witness during the trial. The case draws out the Mexican cartel and at i point, ane member makes a threat to Stone about Stone'south sis, Pamela. Despite the fact that Pamela is well guarded, she is taken hostage by a member of the cartel. Miguel eventually tells them the location of a warehouse where the trafficked girls had been held in the past. During the attempt to recover Pamela at this location, a shoot out ensues and Pamela is killed by Diego Diaz in the heavy gunfire. Lourdes is after told that when she testifies, she should get asylum and witness protection. Stone is devastated and later sobs in Benson'due south arms.

I have many issues with the flavour 19 finale.

I'm non a big fan of too many scenes where the lead characters are shown merely staring at a screen. I know the squad was looking at the live feed, merely staring at a monitor, or worse yet, showing the actors staring back at me, is not acting and information technology is certainly not drama. On that aforementioned line, I tend to mentally melody out when they spend too much time on characters who are not the leads (in this case, the victim and her hostage). I don't need constant repetition of the description of a concrete and sexual assault in gild to get the thought of what happened. It's bad enough that then much time was spent on this during the live feed scenes, but we had to hear about it over and over again every bit the story progresses. The first hour of the 2-hour finale felt like 75% filler.

Who was the victim in these episodes? Not Lourdes Vega. This may be a controversial opinion but I've got reason to feel this fashion. Had she been physically and sexually assaulted? Yes. This doesn't give her the right to take someone hostage, physically assault them, threaten them with death, hurt another person who dies soon after, and hold two more people earnest at gunpoint. Exercise victims of sexual assault deserve justice? Yes. Tin victims have justice into their ain hands? No. Lourdes tried to satisfy her own need for closure by hostage taking, physical assault, killing someone, which ultimately led to the death of a true innocent, Pamela Rock. After all this, Lourdes will find herself gratis, simply nevertheless lonely and likely traumatized. She gained aught and people were harmed in the process.

My biggest annoyance: Olivia Benson. I find I am growing tired of her singular focus. I understand that her job makes her a champion for justice for victims of sexual assault. But victims of sexual assault do not get a costless pass to dish out justice on their ain. Benson seems to call up it does. She forgets she must uphold the law for everyone, not plough a bullheaded eye when a victim commits a criminal offense to get their revenge. Benson'south ain personal experience with assail has blinded her and, in my opinion, she is becoming less effective in her job. Benson was all over Alex Cabot's case in "Sunk Cost Fallacy" just Benson cannot see that she herself has get a vigilante of sorts. Benson may not break the constabulary to get justice, but she does seem to forget that she has to become hard evidence to be able to get someone prosecuted.

I was glad to see Stone push back at Benson several times, yet it was clear that Benson doesn't become it. This was evident in a few scenes:

one. She has no testify that Miguel is a human being trafficker for a Mexican cartel. Even so she is upset at STONE because she's not done her job properly, which allows Miguel to go free and Lourdes to continue trial (she refused Stone'due south deal). Benson wants the charges dropped confronting Lourdes, but Stone won't drop the murder accuse. Benson thinks if Lourdes agrees to testify in a trafficking instance she will go asylum and go into witness protection as she was threatened by an inmate in Rikers. Rock agrees to protective custody just he must drib the charges confronting Miguel. When they argue if Miguel is who he says he is, Stone reminds Benson he needs EVIDENCE. It is pathetic that Rock must remind Benson so many times that he needs proof in order to have a instance. She should know better by now.

2. At a bar, Benson belabors the bespeak with Stone and she says she won't make a very good witness. She grudgingly admits that Lourdes pointed a gun at her and prevented her  from leaving the apartment. She worries what will happen when the attorney Rojas asks what happened between Lourdes and Miguel, and Stone says legally it is irrelevant. Benson asks, "What about morally?" and Stone asks what does that fifty-fifty mean. Benson replies "Maybe it means that whoever'due south less guilty wins." Stone says she is correct to have ambivalent feelings near this instance, she gets upset. She argues, "No, no, you lot're incorrect, there is goose egg ambivalent most this." She insists Miguel is the guy and Stone asks if she was there and has any bear witness that he is the trafficker. She shakes her head and says "I don't know how to get through to you." This is where I become enraged. SHE STILL HAS NO Testify. Practise YOUR Task, OLIVIA! Stone says her finality is a good thing and may even be noble and when he starts talking about the police force, she tells him to stop, she's heard the lecture before. I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM HEARING THIS Come OUT OF HER Mouth. Benson has a lot of nerve saying that, as she's the one who is constantly lecturing. Rock suggests peradventure she should be listening, and she thinks possibly he should be. She says, "Lourdes was raped. Her entire being – her by, her nowadays, and well-nigh importantly, her future – negated." Honestly, I'grand not sure I know what THIS means. Is Benson proverb that sexual assail wipes a person's whole life away? I don't recall so. Stone angrily counters that doesn't entitle her to seek revenge. Benson says that "does entitle her to reclaim what was once hers. And if revenge is part of that, then…so and so be it." Acrimony rises in me again, and I say, out loud, NO. Benson thinks the incorrect person is on trial. I think the wrong person is leading the SVU.

3. Her bias was evident while she was testifying. She avoided telling the truth and forced Stone to ask that she be handled every bit a hostile witness. At 1 point, Stone must motility to strike her comment (the estimate agrees) and and so when Benson withal dances effectually a response, the guess must order her to only answer the question. She is forced to tell the truth that Lourdes said several times that she would shoot Miguel. Under cross, Benson helps Lourdes past saying she shows the signs of PTSD. I accept no legal experience only this even so isn't an excuse for what Lourdes did, but mayhap information technology would be a mitigating cistron at sentencing?

Despite all this, Benson thinks STONE is the trouble.

One scene that gave off a weird vibe was most the finish when Benson explains to Lourdes near what may happen for her later she testifies regarding asylum and witness protection. When Lourdes worries she volition be alone, Benson says, "No honey. You're going to exist gratis." Benson then touches Lourdes nearly her centre. I found this weird and inappropriate. I can understand peradventure touching Lourdes' hand or shoulder to provide comfort, but not on her breast. This is a adult female who was sexually assaulted and I would retrieve that Benson would not want to touch a victim anywhere too intimate.  I found it...creepy.  Lourdes nonetheless seems traumatized and information technology will be a long fourth dimension before Lourdes will truly feel costless. Benson should not be delivering empty platitudes here; instead she should be working to get Lourdes in counseling.

A Television receiver Guide article said show runner Michael Chernuchin said "something terrible happens to one of our characters." People were worried that something would happen to one of the leads. I idea maybe it would be a small graphic symbol, someone expendable like Dr. Olivet (sorry Dr. Olivet), but it turned out to be Rock'southward sister Pamela (clearly someone expendable). Information technology seems the sole purpose of bringing in a sister for Stone was to have someone that can be discarded easily and and then used for dramatic purpose adjacent flavor every bit Stone grieves. The "something terrible" tease is typical "take it with a behemothic grain of table salt" tease for SVU.

Why was SVU involved in this example? Why did the man bring the cell phone with the hostage live feed to the SVU and non showtime to law? He did mention he idea it was a sex game gone wrong or assault, but still, I would recall that the first thought would be to take the phone to the closest police station, non a special victims unit of measurement. Technically, this was a hostage situation, not a special victims situation.

I pains me to exist then negative about an episode on which and then many people put in their hearts and souls. Withal, I am finding Benson less suited for leading the SVU and less likeable in general. Her ane-sided mentality and over-the-top preaching is wearing on me. I want a leader more in the mold of Don Cragen; someone that I know tin can exist objective and balance the needs of the victim and make a potent legal case to get justice. I desire to meet more than investigative work on Benson's part and less knee joint-jerk emotional response. She'due south causing more than stress for everyone involved, including viewers like me.

Onward to flavor twenty!

Bandage:
Mariska Hargitay - Lieutenant Olivia Benson
Ice-T - Sergeant Odafin "Fin" Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr.
Philip Winchester – ADA Peter Stone

Guest stars:
Carolyn McCormick – Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
Benito Martinez - Santino Rojas
Genesis Rodriguez - Lourdes Vega
Carlos Miranda - Miguel Lopez
Chris Beetem - Alan Buckley
Gary Perez - Jorge Diaz
Roberto Sanchez - Diego Diaz
Michael Mastro – Judge Serani
Robert Turano – NYPD Command Center Leader
Eddie Hargitay - Officer Montero
Tom Titone - Approximate Goldfarb
Brian Keane – Pamela's Physician
Katya Stepanov - Ingrid
Graham Rowat – Everett Sinclair
Alexandra Cockrell – Anne Howell
George Gerard – Super
Justin Matthew Sargent – Mike
Garrett Richmond - Lenny
Jake Hart – Security Officer
Brian Linden - Perp
Gillian Glasco – Officer Dominique Rivers
Greg Schweers – Doorman #i
Marvin Johnson – Doorman #two
Ryan Buggle - Noah
Juliana Davies - Emma Buckley
John Mahanna - Harrison Buckley
The Junior Brothers - Themselves
Amy Korb - Pamela Stone
Raquel Dominguez - Maria Luna
Jackson Mercado - Efrain Hernandez
Will J. Jackson – Lieutenant Carter
Lauren Noble – Carmen
Shaun Rey - Thug #i

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Source: https://allthingslawandorder.blogspot.com/2018/05/law-order-svu-rememer-me-remember-me.html

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