Wednesday, May 30, 2012

SVU “Valentine’s Day” & “Justice Denied” Interviews & Behind the Scenes Videos

From Wolf Films, here are several videos with cast members of Law & Order SVU "Valentine’s Day” and Law & Order SVU "Justice Denied.”  The videos feature Diane Neal, Shawn Hatosy, Ron Rifkin, Rich Sommer, Chloe Sevigny, Harry Connick, Jr., Guillermo Diaz, Mark Consuelos, and showrunner Warren Leight.



Valentine’s Day












Justice Denied










Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Law & Order SVU “Rhodium Nights” Recap & Review

The season 13 finale of Law & Order SVU, “Rhodium Nights” was probably the best season ending ever in SVU history. The episode had it all – sex, scandal, conspiracy, pimp wars, farm animals, and Dean Winters. It also had an intense cliffhanger involving an unlikely SVU character – Don Cragen – and hints of corruption that permeates all level of law enforcement and government.  Fin and Rollins appear to get through the episode unscathed, but the others face personal challenges: Benson finds that maybe Haden is not as trustworthy and genuine as he seems; Amaro’s marriage may face a further threat from his work on the current case; Cragen wakes up with a dead hooker in his bed, one who was ready to tell her story in exchange for protection. Who knows, Detective Brian Cassidy, who is now working undercover, may even have turned over to the dark side. Everyone with SVU may now be forced to work by the X-Files motto: TRUST NO ONE.

It was great to have Dean Winters back on the series. For the short time Winters was on SVU in the first season, he was one of my favorite characters and I always hoped one day he would return. When Cassidy started working for SVU years ago,  he was ill equipped to handle the nature of some of the SVU cases, and he eventually transferred to narcotics. Clearly his work subsequent to SVU has taken its toll and he is a more weary, jaded detective. Now that he is working undercover, his character could go in either direction – good or bad – but at least it brings hope that we could see him again in season 14, maybe bringing mayhem with him.

If I had to describe the episode in one word, it would be "perfection."



Here is the recap:

Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Detective Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Richard Belzer – Sergeant John Munch
Dann Florek – Captain Don Cragen
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino - Detective Nick Amaro

Guest stars:
Tamara Tunie = ME Melinda Warner
Dean Winters – Detective Brian Cassidy
Ron Rifkin – Marvin Exley
Peter Jacobson – Bart Ganzel
Laura Benanti – Maria Grazie
Pippa Black – Carissa Gibson
Brooke Smith = Delia Wilson
Reg E. Cathey – Defense lawyer
Eric Laden – Clayton Hannigan
Matt Burns – Will Brady
Amy Hargreaves - Iris Petersen
Tabitha Holbert – ADA Rose Caliay
Sam McMurry – Will’s lawyer
Gretchen Egolf – Kendra Gill
Royce Johnson – Uni cop 1
Joel Brady – Uni cop 2
Chris Stack – Wall Street Guy 1
Bjorn Thorstad – Wall Street Guy 2
Meg McCrossen – Maggie Murphy
Stephen Bradbury _ judge Colin McNamara
Sandra Landers – Heide
Pei Pei Lin - Yuko Sakura
Paul Borghese - Detective


A man is recording on video a private party with lots of scantily clad women, drugs, drinks, and cigars. A few guys are out on the rooftop with women, being serviced in various ways and one of the men is called away by the host, Clayton Hannigan, saying that they have a “situation”. He goes out of the room and they see two officers from the 3rd precinct saying they have complaints about the noise. Clayton tells the officer he is throwing bachelor party and promised to keep it down. The officers apologize for bothering them and leave. The party continues, and Clayton goes into a darkened room with another woman, Carissa. so she can “take care” of him. As they get into their sexual foreplay on the bed, the woman feels something underneath all the coats laying on the bed and removes one to see a woman staring back at them, dead.

Later, Benson and Amaro arrive on the scene and the two officers explain the penthouse belongs to Clayton Hannigan, who Benson knows is a cable news host. The officers state there was a bachelor party and there was a woman found in the rooftop pool. The guests were in such a hurry to get out that they overloaded the penthouse elevator and it has been stuck for over an hour. Benson tells them when they get them out, to bring them up.

Up on the roof, Benson comments that the dead woman looks so young. Hannigan tells the detectives that his cater waiter found the body. He jumped in and pulled her out and did mouth to mouth but it was too late. He does not know the girl and thinks she was someone’s plus one. He has no invite list, the party was a word of mouth thing,. Benson tells him he is a journalist so do his best to reconstruct the list.

Fin and Rollins approach and Rollins says she thinks she found out why the local precinct didn’t touch this one. Benson asks who was in the elevator, and Fins says one former Yankee, two current major leaguers and one NHL, 2 hedge fund guys and two secret service agents. Rollins says there is also the bachelor, Will Brady, the police commissioners son.

Will Brady explains that he spoke with his dad who told him to cooperate completely. He doesn’t know who the girl was hired by or who she came to the party with, and tells Benson to ask Clayton, he doesn’t know if anyone was and that is not a crime. Benson says the problem is with all the guys crammed into the elevator, it looks like they were fleeing the scene., Cragen approaches as he listens to the questioning. Will says he gets that Benson is in a tough spot here. Benson says, “Excuse me?” and Cragen interjects that they appreciate the cooperation. Will says he should call his fiancée before this goes viral.

Clayton tells Amaro and Fin that he and Will were in college together and he is his best man. He says the dead girl is tragic but he does not know her. Amaro asks Clayton where he was when the body was discovered, and Clayton explains he was in the living room giving a toast will and all the guests were there. Fin asks if this includes call the girls he hired, and Clayton feigns surprise at the question. Fin presses about them coming from a strip club or escort service and Clayton counters that he can’t keep someone from bringing a date. Amaro ask how he is doing on the guest list.

Rollins shows another guy the photo of the girl and he says all he remembers is the top of her head and she could barely talk. Rollins asks if she was on something, and he says it was nothing that he gave her. He asks Rollins if she’s ever used her handcuffs in bed, and she asks him if he has even gotten laid without paying for it.

Back on the roof, Benson comments to Cragen that nine gentlemen stuck in the elevator are all deaf, dumb, and dumber. Rollins says one suit said the victim seemed woozy. Fin suggests they pull the security footage from the elevator and lobby cam. Amaro says this was a bachelor party, guys filmed the action and they should confiscate the cell phones. Cragen replies that with these people, not without a warrant, and urges them to slow down until they hear from the ME. As Cragen walks away, Benson follows and asks why they are treading so lightly. He explains that the harder they push, the quicker the men will lawyer up.
Amaro arrives home and his wife says she did not expect him. He says he spent the night talking to rich drunks. . He needed an hour break and figured he’d sleep. She looks at him silently and she asks what? She says it is nothing, it’s just he has been napping at the precinct lately. He says the break room stinks of dirty laundry and he wanted to see Zara. She says he knows they are going to have to talk about this at some point, and after a long pause, he says he knows. He nods off.

At the ME’s office, Warner says the girl did not drown, there is no water in her lungs. She died from a lethal dose of scopolamine. Rollins comments that is for seasickness, and Warner says it if for a few other medical conditions, none of which showed up on autopsy. Fin thinks it was a “mickey fin” that some girls slip to their johns. Rollins says someone turned the tables on the girl and this looks like a homicide. Warner says there is o sign of trauma except for abrasions on the knees. There is semen in her mouth and throat and two and half ounces in her stomach contents. Fin thinks there was more than one guy, and adds this girl was working hard. Warner says it was nothing inconsistent with consensual encounters. She says she is kicking the case back to them. Rollins feels it should be pending police investigation, that Warner told them she was dead when she went into that pool. Warner says someone moving the body does not prove homicide, that’s Rollin’s job. Rollin sarcastically says thanks a lot. Fin asks if there is anything she can do to help ID the girl. Warner informs them she had silicone breast implants and they are tracking the serial number.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Law & Order SVU “Rhodium Nights” Promo – Season 13 Finale

Here is the promo for the season 13 finale of Law & Order SVU “Rhodium Nights” which will air on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 10PM ET on NBC. The promo features Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Danny Pino, Dann Florek, Kelli Giddish, and guest star Dean Winters (reprising his role as Det. Brian Cassidy).


My recap and review of Law & Order SVU "Rhodium Nights" can be found at this link.







Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Law & Order SVU “Strange Beauty” Recap & Review



Law & Order SVU “Strange Beauty” certainly did the “strange” part very well. This felt like a Law & Order Criminal Intent case, and like many of the Law & Order Criminal Intent cases I’ve seen over the years, it threatened to put me to sleep as it reached the end. The story begins with an abduction that Rollins witnesses outside the local bar, but soon descends into the creepy life of people who push the limits of body alterations in an attempt to be different.

The episode also gives some back story to Rollins’ transfer to New York City, and also hints at a potentially romantic relationship with her former Captain from Atlanta. All we know is that the deputy chief in Atlanta did something that was out of line, but they never explain exactly what. While I wasn’t thrilled at first with Kelli Giddish on SVU, I seem to be warming up to her character over the last few episodes, and Rollins seems to be fitting in much better with the SVU team.

But back to the story. While the issue of the kidnapping gets resolved promptly, it’s the issue of the victim’s missing leg that stumps the detectives. As they continue to investigate, they are led into a world where some people clearly have a different sense of beauty than the norm. Tattoos and odd body piercings have become mainstream; my personal opinion is that most people look much more attractive without them. Extreme body “art” really was best described in the episode as a “job stopper” as most employers don’t tolerate it, especially for jobs that deal face to face with the public. Needless to say, I am not sure if the public would ever except anyone that would perform amputations of healthy body parts in order for a person to look more attractive.

All in all, this was a decent episode. I must admit that the subject matter was a big turn off for me, so I put it at the bottom of my list for this season.


Here is the recap:

Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Detective Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Richard Belzer – Sergeant John Munch
Dann Florek – Captain Don Cragen
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino - Detective Nick Amaro

Guest stars:
Tamara Tunie – Dr. Melinda Warner
David Eigenberg - Dr. Hal Brightman
Patrick Fischler - Dr. Gene Brightman
Britt Lower – Jess Hardwick
Myk Watford – Sam Reynolds
Bridget Barkan – Lisa, the one legged prostitute
Ilana Levine – Shelly Raedo
Tony Campisi – Lawyer
Constantine Maroulis – Seth Morentz
Paul Whitty - J.C. Cassidy
Morgan Lynch - Nina Reedo
Ralph Lucarelli - Nikos Attellades
Nick Maccarone - Kenji Yashimi
Alex Hernandez - Pablo Desperon
Jennifer Onvie - Robin
Barrington Walters, Jr. - Joaquin
Yanelba Ferreira - Tiffany
Ross Brodas - Bouncer


A young girl races down the street while on the phone with her mother. She tells her she wants to come home and asks if her mother would pay for a car home. She runs into a building for a car service where a security camera records her entry and then being ordered out by a man at the front desk. The camera also sees a cab pull up and the hooded driver step out and grab the girl, pulling her into the cab. The man at the front desk isn’t paying attention.

Elsewhere in the local bar, Amaro and Fin are playing pool and Rollins and Sam Reynolds, her captain from Atlanta, enter. They make their introductions and Rollins says Sam helped  her transfer from Atlanta, Sam adding that he and Don Cragen go way back, Amaro and Fin decide to leave and pass the pool cues to Rollins and Sam, with Fin warning Sam that Rollins is a shark.

Sam asks her how she is doing in New York and she replies that New York was a fresh start and she needed it. He tells her she had to get out of Dodge, and drunk or not, the deputy chief was out of line. She says she shouldn’t have taken it personally – no lasting harm, no foul. He asks if she has made any friends and she reminds him he just met her partners. Sam says he means friends, and that anybody that calls her Rollins is a cop, not a friend. He explains that he worries about her as he knows how squirrelly she can get. She says she is fine, calling him “papa bear.” He moves in to kiss her but she pulls back, asking him if he forgot he is married. He sighs and holds up his left hand, which has no ring on it, and explains he is separated. He says she can’t say that they both haven’t thought about it. She says no, but he caught her by surprise right now. He nods and pulls back, saying he gets that. He suggests he get them another round, and then grabs her phone, saying she is going to take the call real quick. She steps outside and while standing there, sees a cab drive by with a woman in the back seat, screaming for someone to help her. Rollins chases after the car and calls for assistance, saying she has a possible taxi abduction in a cab with medallion 6209, and as she says where the cab is heading, the cab pulls away even faster, leaving Rollins standing in the middle of the street.

At SVU, Cragen walks in and asks Rollins if she is fishing for overtime. She explains the possible cab abduction she saw. Benson explains it could tie into the yellow cab rape case, the Sikh, where they have two open cases from last year. Fin says the medallion number matches a cap stolen in Chelsea the day before but the drive says he was struck from behind and he never saw the assailant. Benson explains that the cab turned up about an hour ago by the Lincoln Tunnel and CSU is going over it now. Rollins submitted the description to missing persons but no matches yet, but Amaro gets off the phone and says they may have caught a break. A desperate mother has been calling the NYPD about her missing daughter, saying she got a panicked call from her around midnight and she never came home. The description matches Rollins’ girl. Cragen says Rollins saw the girl so she should talk to the mother.

Benson and Rollins visit Nina’s mother, Shelly Raedo, who says Nina is 19 and she has been in and out of the house for a year now. Rollins looks at photos of Nina. Shelly doesn’t know who her friends are but explains the scared call she got the night before asking if her mother would pay for a ride home and said she felt “out of control.” Shelly says Nina has been going through a phase with piercings and tattoos, and explains the octopus tattoo she got on her left ankle and the next thing she knew, she was covered with them. She doesn’t know her daughter anymore. Benson asks for some DNA samples and her mother gets tearful and asks if she is going to see her again.

Outside the home, Rollins tells Benson that is the girl she saw and Benson suggests their run her cell phone records.

Elsewhere, Fin and Amaro talks with Joaquin, who seems to know Amaro from his work in narcotics. They show him a photo of Nina and he says she used to be with Pablo, pointing to the roof of a nearby building. He says Pablo had some pigeons up there. He tells Amato to take is slow, Pablo is golden gloves. Amaro says he isn’t scared.

The get to the roof where there are a lot of pigeons but they also hear heavy breathing. Fin opens the door to the coop and announces they are NYPD and ask for Nina, breaking up Pablo’s playtime with another girl. Fin talks Pablo aside as the girl – Tiffany – asks who is Nina. Pablo says Tiffany is mad jealous, adding he broke up with Nina months ago as she was too wild for him. She used to cause trouble, she once came on to three dudes just to bait him into a fight with them. Last night she came over and wanted to hook up and said she was scared and only felt safe with him. He said no as Tiffany was on her way over, it was around midnight. He explains that Nina said she got home using a car service down the block, she used it before.

Fin and Amaro head to the car service and the man at the desk tells them if they want a car, they have to call. Fin shows his badge and Nina’s photo and the man said he told her the same thing last night when he ordered her out. He told her twice. She gave him attitude and said she was going to look for another car service but he knows there aren’t any others around there. He saw a cab pull up just as she went out and guesses she went in. Fin asks about the security cameras and says they will need to see his tapes.

Back at SVU, Rollins identifies Nina on one of the videotapes. The detectives see Nina being ordered out of the car service and another cab pull up with the same medallion number that Rollins saw. They see Nina attempt to run off and then be pulled into the cab. Amaro sees the driver is a white male, and not their Sikh. There have been no hits on her cell phone.  Cragen comments they know she has been abducted but when is she going to turn up?

Later, Benson and Rollins arrive at the morgue, Warner says she  had something come in an hour ago – a young woman’s leg, freshly severed. Benson sees an octopus tattoo on her ankle. Warner explains some guy fishing from a boat on the Gowanus Canal reeled in the leg. The description matched Nina’s tattoo and they are running the DNA. Rollins comments that it is a pretty clean cut, and Warner thinks it was done with a surgical saw. She adds there is evidence of living response to trauma in the boney tissues – Nina could have been alive when her leg was amputated. Warner says there was anesthetic in the marrow and asks why go through the trouble for a corpse? Benson states this was a healthy leg severed cleanly from a living person, and Warner nods her head. As they walk off, Rollins tells Benson she’s heard of that with drug wars but she does not think this is what that is. Benson adds there is something else – a fisherman reeled this in, questioning that no one fishes in the Gowanus Canal, it is so polluted it is a superfund site.


At the houseboat of J.C. Cassidy on the Gowanus Canal, Fin and Rollins speak with Cassidy who uses the scrap from the canal for his inventions and eats the fish for dinner. He explains he found the leg and when Fin asks him what he does with the band saw, Cassidy says he did not use it to cut anybody’s leg off, and gets upset, saying this is why he doesn’t trust the cops. Rollins says they would appreciate his cooperation, but Fin says maybe they should just tear up his workshop looking for evidence. Cassidy tells him to look around and bring the Luminal and UV lights. They won’t find blood; he was just trying to do the right thing, same as he did 11 years ago when he found the other leg. He thinks that is why they are here. He explains he notified the police but there wasn’t much follow through; it was 3 days before the planes hit the towers.

At the morgue, Warner shows Benson and Amaro the stored leg, saying Cassidy told them the truth. This leg and the others were both removed by surgical saw which makes a different kind of scoring on the bone. Both limbs were healthy and removed professionally, and both had the same traces of anesthetic – propofol. Warner thinks this victim was also alive when the leg was removed. As Warner walks off, Amaro asks Benson what they think they are looking at, and she has no idea. Amaro gets a message and says it just got weirder; the crime lab got a DNA hit on the first leg and the woman it belongs to, and she is still alive.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Ice-T, Pino & Florek Discuss Season Finale “Cliffhanger”

Here’s a video taken at the NBC upfront where Ice-T, Dann Florek, and Danny Pino talk about the Law & Order SVU season 13 finale "cliffhanger" and “the doink doink.”





Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Law & Order SVU “Strange Beauty” Sneak Peek

Here are two sneek peeks at tonight’s Law & Order SVU “Strange Beauty”. The clips features Mariska Hargitay, Kelli Giddish, Danny Pino, and Tamara Tunie.


My recap and review of Law & Order SVU "Strange Beauty" can be found at this link.








Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

SVU, Law & Order Stars at NBC Upfront (Videos)

Stars from Law & Order SVU and former Law & Orders stars (appearing in new NBC shows) walked the red carpet for the 2012-2013 NBC Upfront Presentation, held at Radio City Music Hall on May 14, 2012 in New York City. Here are a few videos featuring Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, Danny Pino, Anthony Anderson, and Alana De La Garza. (Don’t blink during some of the red carpet videos or you may miss a few of them.)












Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Ice-T, Danny Pino, and Kelli Giddish Thank The SVU Fans

Here’s a video from Wolf Films with Law & Order SVU’s Ice-T. Danny Pino, and Kelli Giddish thanking the fans for season 13.



Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Mariska Hargitay, Kelli Giddish, Dann Florek, Ice-T, Danny Pino, Dick Wolf, Anthony Anderson Attend NBC Upfront

Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Dann Florek, Kelli Giddish, Danny Pino, Dick Wolf, and Anthony Anderson are attending the NBC Upfront Presentation, being held today in New York City, representing Law & Order SVU. Here are some photos from the red carpet.














Photos by Charles Sykes/NBC & Francine Daveta/NBC © NBCUniversal, Inc 












Photos by Getty Images North America


Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Law & Order SVU Fall Schedule Change

Variety – and various other media sources – reports that Law & Order SVU will move to the Wednesday, 9PM ET time slot in the fall. Dick Wolf’s new series “Chicago Fire” will take the Wednesday 10PM ET time slot.

The full NBC 2012-13 schedule can be found here:
I Like To Watch TV: NBC Releases 2012-13 Prime Time Schedule


Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Law & Order SVU “Strange Beauty” Promo

Here’s the NBC promo for Law & Order SVU “Strange Beauty” which will air on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 10PM ET on NBC.


My recap and review of Law & Order SVU "Strange Beauty" can be found at this link.






Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.


Thursday, May 10, 2012

New Mariska Hargitay Gallery Photo

NBC has added a new official photo of Mariska Hargitay to their SVU gallery. Here it is – she looks fantastic!

Photo by: Art Streiber/NBC © NBCUniversal, Inc.


Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Law & Order SVU “Learning Curve” Recap & Review


All photos © NBCUniversal

Law & Order SVU “Learning Curve” had a lot of twists and turns, beginning with a gay bashing which morphed into a story about a naughty teacher who later becomes a naughty, dead teacher.

Fin’s son Ken, who is being cautious about telling his father he is getting married to another man, gets thrust into it when his fiancé is badly beaten and sexually assaulted. This case gets resolved relatively quickly. The reason for the gay bashing seemed lost when the SVU team gets distracted with what looks like another gay bashing. It’s this secondary case which takes the detectives down the twisty path. They are forced to sift through what seems like a mountain of lies in order to find the real sex pervert - a teacher who destroys several lives and who ultimately loses her own in the process of covering her lying tracks.

There was a lot packed into this episode – maybe too much. This could have easily been split into two separate stories. There was no hard connection between both cases; they both began as beatings but the similarities ended there. Still, it was another great episode and in my opinion, SVU season 13 seems to have the best stories in many years.


Here is the recap:
Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Detective Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Richard Belzer – Sergeant John Munch
Dann Florek – Captain Don Cragen
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino - Detective Nick Amaro

Guest stars:
Stephanie March - ADA Alex Cabot
Ernest Waddell - Ken Randall
Dylan Minnette - Luca
Tony Hale – Rick Sims
Betty Gilpin – Natalie
Jane Adams – Joanne Parsons
Martha Stewart – Eleanor Hastings
Miguel Govea – Alejandro
Justin Gregory Lopez - Cesar
Lenny Venito - Ray Gabardelli


Munch is at a restaurant with Fin’s son Ken, and Ken informs him he is getting married. Ken explains he has not told his father yet and is hoping that once Munch meets his fiancé Alejandro – who will be arriving in 5 minutes – that Munch can help him break the news.

Elsewhere, Cesar, whose girlfriend Marisol is very pregnant, tells her how hard he is working. He opens the door and lets in a few other guys and kisses his wife goodbye.

Back at the restaurant, Alejandro has arrived and introduces Munch as his father’ partner. Munch smiles and says he prefers long-time companion. They talk about how to inform Fin. After dinner, Munch advises Alejandro to just be himself, that Fin may seem imposing but there is a lot of depth there and a heart. It appears that someone is watching them from a parked car. After Alejandro leaves, Munch tells Ken that his dad is proud of him and he says it all the time. He wishes Ken good luck.

Meanwhile, as Alejandro is walking down the street, a group of men including Cesar jump out of a van and pull a hood over his head and force him into the van. They take him to an empty apartment and throw him to the floor. One of the men hands Cesar a bat and tells him to teach this pretty boy.

Later, Ken races in to SVU and rushes to his father and hugs him. Fin looks mystified at this behavior.

At Mercy Hospital, a badly beaten Alejandro explains to Benson and Amaro that he was taken to an empty apartment and beaten and sodomized and then left for dead on the sidewalk. He thinks there were four men who were speaking “Spanglish” and they may be Dominican, and they knew his name. It was a dark van. He says he listed Ken as his next of kin and not to tell his family that he is there.

Meanwhile, Ken speaks with Fin and he knows Alejandro is his boyfriend, but Munch adds they are getting married. Fin pauses and then says OK, and says he is in good hands here and they will find who did this. Benson enters and tells Ken that Alejandro is asking for him, and Ken races off. Amaro explains what happened to Alejandro and Munch says hate crimes is on their way, but Fin says they are not giving this to hate crimes and he walks off.

Back at SVU, Rollins informs them that she knows there has been an increase in gay bashing and recalls an incident from 2 weeks ago with the same MO. Barry Flaco from the Brown, was jumped outside a gay bar. He is Dominican. Amaro wonders if it is a gang initiation rite. Flaco also was covered with a hood and he told hate crime he did not remember a thing. Munch tells Benson and Rollins to re-interview Flaco and tells Amaro to check the gang unit. Fin says he can check the local precincts. Benson explains that the Captain called from his conference and doesn’t want Fin anywhere near this. When Fin objects, Munch reminds him he is personally involved. Benson tells him to go be with his son, they have this.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Law & Order SVU Renewed for Season 14

Great news SVU fans! Variety – and various other sources – report that Law & Order SVU has been renewed for a 14th season. Variety also reports that NBC has picked up the new Wolf Films drama “Chicago Fire”.

Read the story here: Variety: NBC renews 'SVU,' orders 'Fire'



Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Monday, May 7, 2012

Law & Order SVU “Rhodium Nights” Episode Information

Here are the details for the season 13 finale of Law & Orde4r SVU, “Rhodium Nights”:

Law & Order SVU “Rhodium Nights” Air Date May 23, 2012 (10 PM ET/9C Wednesday NBC) SEASON 13 FINALE


A HIGH-SOCIETY BACHELOR PARTY ENDS IN TRAGEDY WHEN AN ESCORT IS FOUND DEAD, AND THE SVU SQUAD MUST PROCEED WITH CAUTION AS INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE TRY TO BURY TO THE TRUTH. DEAN WINTERS RETURNS AS DETECTIVE BRIAN CASSIDY.

An underage escort is found dead at a wild bachelor party, and Captain Cragen (Dann Florek) cautions his team to investigate with discretion, as there were several high-profile people at the scene. In their efforts to question a well-known leader in the New York escort world (guest star Peter Jacobson), Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Amaro (Danny Pino) encounter former SVU detective Brian Cassidy (Winters), who's been working undercover. With his help, the detectives dig deeper into a vicious power struggle between the two top escort businesses, but before the case is cracked, a shocking event threatens to destroy the life of one SVU squad member. Also starring Ice-T (Detective Odafin Tutuola) and Kelli Giddish (Detective Amanda Rollins.)



My recap and review of Law & Order SVU "Rhodium Nights" can be found at this link.










Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Law & Order SVU “Father Dearest” Recap & Review



Law & Order SVU “Father Dearest” was one of those cases where the Special Victims Unit was called in to investigate but exactly who was  the special victim at that time was questionable. The detectives respond to a  911 call  from a young boy who says his mother is injured and unconscious - a call that I would think the police,  not SVU,  would initially respond. The young boy tells them that his sister had an argument with their mother before the injury, and we soon find that the mother’s injury and the argument are unrelated. But, as the daughter is thought to be missing, the detectives work to track her down, and in doing so, uncover what seems like a sperm donor trying to reconnect in a not-so-innocent way with his progeny.

While the sperm donor – Colin Barnes, a respected doctor with a God complex – seems to be the pervert of the week, we soon find that the real pervert is the former boyfriend of Colin’s wife, Anne. It’s that ex- boyfriend that is chasing down Colin’s biological children and pretending to be their father, in some twisted need for payback/revenge. He then plays on the girl’s perceived biological “chemistry” between them to initiate physical relationships with the girls, in one case, producing a child.

The episode brings back Dr. George Huang for a quick consult. Huang explains he’s in town for a convention, and is a “single, gay, Chinese-American man living in Oklahoma City, opposed to the death penalty – it’s heaven” He does provide some superficial input on the case. It was good to see BD Wong back on the show.

I haven’t made up my mind whether I liked or disliked the episode. It was hard to relate to any individual victim or realistic issue. The scene where the pervert of the week dances with his ex-girlfriend in the interrogation room while her husband watches from the observation area seemed an odd way to question a suspect. Yes, I know that they allowed it in order to help find Barnes' missing daughter, but that still didn’t make the scene work for me. When dancing, and he whispers into her ear that he killed her daughter, it seemed too predictable that she was not really dead and he just wanted to hurt his ex-girlfriend. I can’t quite put my finger on it as to why, but this episode just left me with nothing.

By the way, the song "My One and Only Love" sounds like the 1960s version sung by Johnny Hartman (with John Coltrane on sax).




Here is the recap:

Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Detective Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Richard Belzer – Sergeant John Munch
Dann Florek – Captain Don Cragen
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino - Detective Nick Amaro


Guest Stars:
Eric Close – Colin Barnes
BD Wong – Dr. George Huang
James Van Der Beek – Sean
Sonya Walger – Anne Barnes
Clarke Thorell – Geoff Avery
Tina Benko – Grace Avery
Ryann Shane – Ashley Riggs
Shannon Maree Walsh - Cate Avery
Kathryn Rossetter - Ashley’s mom
Gretchen Egolf – Colin’s lawyer

At a 911 dispatch center, a call comes in from a young boy, Sam, who says his mommy is asleep and she won’t wake up. He is home alone as his big sister left and he says his big sister was mad. He doesn’t know his exact address so the 911 dispatcher tries to get details to help locate him.

Detectives Benson and Amaro arrive at the apartment and Sam opens the door. His mother is laying on the floor, unconscious and there is some blood. As Amaro gets EMS, Sam explains to Benson his mother and sister were fighting about a bad man taking his sister away.

At the hospital, Amaro tells Benson he reached the father and he is on the way. They are doing an MRI on the mother as she has a gash on her head. The neighbors heard raised voices. Benson informs him that Sam heard his mother and sister fighting about a bad man. Jeff Avery, Grace’s husband races in and is relieved Sam is OK. He wonders where his daughter Cate, who is 16, is. He can’t reach her by cell phone as she was texting at breakfast and he took her cell phone away. Jeff was at his sisters clearing out his mom’s apartment as she passed away last week. He wants an amber alert issued for Cate but Benson advises him no one saw her be abducted so they can’t issue one. There are signs his wife fell and that she had been drinking. Jeff doesn’t know much about Cate’s personal life and suggests they check with Angela Riva, his best friend from kindergarten. As they walk off Amaro asks Benson what’s her gut say, and she doesn’t want to take a chance this is a homicide and wants to keep going.

At Angela Riva’s apartment, Angela tells Fin and Rollins that she and Cate have not been friends since the fifth grade. Angela’s mother wonders what kind of trouble Cate is in, and she says she was Cate surrogate mother as she spent a lot of time there. She didn’t want Angela hanging out with her because Cate hangs out with a bad crowd. Angela says Cate has been different and has seen her a lot at the library on the computer and has been trying to turn her grades around. As Fin and Rollins leave, they suspect she doesn’t want her parents to know who she is chatting with on line.

At the library, Fin and Rollins ask for the books that Angela checked out, and the librarian gets prickly and tells them they need a warrant. But the detectives explain the situation and after the librarian gives them a short lecture on civil liberties, she gives them the info. Two of the books Cate checked out were about children born through sperm donation. The librarian points them to the computer Cate used.

Back at SVU, Munch gets an update from Benson and Amaro. There are no hits on the ATM and no contacts added on her cell phone. Fin and Rollins approach with Dr. George Wang in tow. Huang is in town for a convention, and thought he could help with the case. He says he’s a “single, gay, Chinese-American man living in Oklahoma City, opposed to the death penalty – it’s heaven.” Benson asks what he knows about the psychology of donor children. Huang informs them that sperm banks have always protected the identity of donors until recently nobody thought about how that affected offspring. Rollins says they have a missing girl who is researching this and just joined a web site “meet your donor children.” Munch makes a comment about “turkey baster children” -  Huang dryly corrects him to refer to it as artificial insemination -  and Huang says it is not uncommon for kids to try to find the donors. Huang thinks the girl searching for her roots could cause some tension. Amaro gets a message saying Grave Avery has been released from the hospital.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Dean Winters Returns to SVU for Season 13 Finale

Great news, especially for long time Law & Order SVU fans! Matt Mitovich of TVLine.com reports that Dean Winters will be returning to Law & Order SVU for the season 13 finale, “Rhodium Nights.” Winters will reprise his role of Detective Brian Cassidy.

Read the full story here:
Exclusive: SVU Books House Vet, Grey's Alumna and Season 1 Alum Dean Winters for Finale









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