All Things Law And Order: September 2017

Special note: I’ve been under the weather for the last few weeks, so this is an abbreviated recap and review.

Law & Order SVU “Gone Fishin’” was a great start to season 19. Everybody had their hands in this well-constructed story. It featured both the (unconventional) apprehension of a rapist and the ensuing legal battle, and some personal strife for Benson that is only just beginning. While I am not a fan of the focus on Benson and Noah, I have resigned myself that it won’t be going away any time soon. That said, I think that this story arc may actually pose some interesting challenges for Benson.

Fin starts the ball rolling by making a trip to Cuba under the guise of a vacation in order to apprehend a serial rapist, Byron Marks. Unfortunately, his methods don’t quite follow the rule of law. This means Barba is faced with a legal battle with the annoying Randy Dworkin, a wonderful character - played perfectly by Peter Jacobson - who comes from the Law & Order series. (He is not to be confused with his creepy SVU character Bart Ganzel.) Dworkin makes it sound like Fin tortured Marks when Fin “kidnapped” him in Cuba. Dworkin also brings in Mr. Formosa, from the Cuba permanent mission at the U.N. , who objects to agents of the U.S. violating their borders and laws, and he wants Marks turned over to them to be returned to Cuba.

Meanwhile, Benson, Rollins, and Carisi have been working to line up Marks’ victims in order to get them to testify. Only one of them, Karla Wyatt, steps forward, despite her oppressive husbands’ wishes.

After Marks’ wife Elana testifies in his behalf, Marks is released into the custody of Dworkin. Despite Rollins and Carisi tailing him, they lose him while Marks is in a diner with his wife and Dworkin.

Marks has decided to visit Karla, saying he didn’t want to hurt her. Benson realizes this is where Marks has gone, and makes a possible error by going the Karla’s home alone. (I would think by now Benson would have the smarts not to walk into a potentially dangerous situation without proper backup.) Of course, Marks is there and Karla has a gun drawn on him, ready to shoot at a moment’s notice. Benson manages to diffuse the situation.

Later, Benson gets Karla and Elana, along with Barba, Dworkin, and Formosa, in the SVU interview room. After Karla’s story is told, and Benson gives even more details of what Bryon Marks’ has done to his victims, both Elana and Formosa back off, sealing Byron Marks’ fate.

The big story in this episode – one which sets up an ongoing arc for Benson – is her possible fitness as a parent to Noah (who has been re-cast). While Benson is walking Noah to school (Noah says Lucy wouldn’t make him go and wishes Lucy was his mommy - OUCH), Benson is distracted with a phone call and doesn’t see Noah step into the street. She quickly pulls him from danger, unknowingly causing a bruise. This bruise later makes a teacher question Benson, making it sound like Benson is abusing him. This rattles Benson’s world, and she worries that Noah is lying. But when she discusses it with him later, Noah reminds her of when she pulled him from traffic, and she realizes that is where the bruise came from. Sadly, the damage has been done. At the end of the episode, we see that Brian Cassidy has returned from Florida (saying retirement was not his thing) to New York City. The DA’s office was looking for an investigator and he has been on that job for six weeks. He caught a child abuse case, and SVU had to recuse themselves. Benson thinks this is odd, but Cassidy says not really; he is there to investigate Benson.

The promo for the next episode, “Mood”, clearly shows that this matter isn’t going away soon – stay tuned!

Note: deleted scenes have been added below

Cast:
Mariska Hargitay - Lieutenant Olivia Benson
Ice-T - Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Raúl Esparza - ADA Rafael Barba
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, Jr.

Guest stars:
Dean Winters - Brian Cassidy
Amy Smart - Karla Wyatt
Peter Jacobson - Randolph "Randy" J. Dworkin, Esq.
Mariela Garriga - Elana Marks
Will Chase - Byron T. Marks.
Vincent Curatola - Judge Al Bertuccio
Syndee Winters – Ms. Smiley
Mariah Lee – Joyce Peterson
DeShawn White – Keesha Johnson
Andrew Kaempfer – Frank Wyatt
Barbara Miluski – Judge Lisa Peck
Frank Rodriguez – Pedro Formosa
J.B. Alexander – Account Clerk
Ryan Buggle – Noah Porter Benson
Darrien Bowman – Khalil

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