Here are the details for a new episode of Law & Order SVU, “Sunk Cost Fallacy”. Stephanie March will guest star.
Law & Order SVU “Sunk Cost Fallacy” Air Date April 18, 2018 (9 PM ET/8C Wednesday NBC)
The search for an abducted woman and her young daughter leads Lt. Benson (Mariska Hargitay) to cross paths with an old friend (guest star Stephanie March). Meanwhile, Stone (Philip Winchester) must make a tough decision on behalf of his sister. Also starring Kelli Giddish and Peter Scanavino. Also guest starring Amy Korb, Scott Porter, Sarah Wilson and Richard Kind.
Here are the details for a new episode of Law & Order SVU, “Service.” Law & Order SVU “Service” Air Date April 11, 2018 (9 PM ET/8C Wednesday NBC)
The SVU must break through military red tape when a soldier is suspected of sexual assault. Starring Mariska Hargitay, Ice T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino and Philip Winchester. Guest starring Christopher Wiehl, Marquise Vilson, Timothy Adams, Jack DiFalco, Morgan Taylor Campbell and Wayne Knight.
Here are advance photos for Law & Order SVU “Service” which will air on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 at 9PM ET on NBC. The photos feature Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino, Wayne Knight as Grigor, Marquise Vilson as Jim Preston, Morgan Taylor Campbell as Sandy "Sky" Ksenivch, and Jack DiFalco as William "Billy" Shaughnessy.
I swear that the only people that like clowns are…clowns. But “Send In The Clowns” focused more on family that it did on actual clowns. While I found most of the episode predictable, the fast pace and twist at the end made it a worthwhile watch.
This episode began with seizure-inducing scenes at a circus-themed dance club where 16-year-old Haley – a musical prodigy - parties with a guy in a clown mask and then she disappears. At first it seems her chaperone, James Turner, hasn’t done his job in keeping an eye on her. I immediately think he did the job TOO well; the minute I saw the chaperone, I felt he was behind her disappearance. My suspicions only grew when the detectives quickly nab a suspect - Vincent Drago, who worked for a butcher - early on and the evidence against him was too staged. Of course he denies killing her. After seeing Haley perform on the piano in a news story, Stone decides to arraign Vincent for murder 2 charges and before one could blink, we went from arraignment to Vincent on trial.
The biggest problem with Stone’s case: there is no body. I am fully aware of the compression of time in the SVU universe but in reality the timing of the murder trial is ridiculous. The detectives nabbed Vincent on March 14, Haley was missing 3 days when they searched the garbage dump on March 17, and by March 20, the trial was in progress and they were already on the trail to apprehend James Turner. I know Stone is supposed to be good but I would think he’d need more prep time and/or there would be more arguments from the defense about the “no body” issue. It would have made more sense to have the arraignment and delay Vincent’s trial and instead move on to investigating and finding James Turner. I suspect they wanted to give more screen time for Peter Stone, something to which I would not object!
Despite my gut feeling early on that James was behind Haley’s disappearance, this didn’t mean this episode had no surprises. With Haley’s father’s over-the-top reactions to his daughter’s disappearance, I felt strongly that Haley had left her smothering father Chris of her own free will. This was confirmed when the detectives catch up with James in an Oyster Bay house that belonged to a “colleague” and find Haley and James in bed together and she professes her love for him. The BIG surprise comes when they are all back at SVU when Haley is reunited with her parents, and Haley’s mom Anna is the one who has an over-the-top reaction. She quickly announces that 17 years ago she had sex – only once - with James, and Haley is HIS daughter. James had been sleeping with his own biological daughter and he didn’t know. Later, Benson has to explain to Stone about genetic sexual attraction: it can happen when a father and a daughter don’t grow up in the same household and they meet as adults. In a weird-feeling segue, Stone uses this father-daughter situation to bring up fathers and sons, mentioning that he wishes at times his father was someone else. Benson agrees – for reasons we all know regarding her own father.
Benson worries that this case will put Stone back on the next train to Chicago, but Stone explains that he made a promise to his sister Pamela, who has schizophrenia and lives in Bayview Mental Health Facility in South Salem, New York. He is handling the weekly visits there, now that his father is dead. At the end of the episode, he visits her but she doesn’t seem to know who he is, thinking he is her father. Stone gets the closing scene as he exits the building and appears to sadly reflect on this situation. Maybe because Peter Stone was an established character with Chicago Justice and his father was a member of the Law & Order universe, it seems that Stone is getting a faster, more detailed back story that Rafael Barba ever did. This was something I would have loved to see for Barba but I am glad that they are moving so quickly to give Peter Stone some depth.
Another plus is that Fin finally gets some much needed family attention. He gets a visit from his son Ken and Ken's spouse Alejandro, who bring a birthday cake for Fin decorated with a clown. Alejandro quickly blames Fin’s grandson Jaden for picking the cake.
The Benson/Stone dynamic continues to build, and hopefully soon Stone will realize that he shouldn’t be so quick to take Benson’s lead. I laughed when Stone asked Benson “Are you always this persistent?” to which Benson replies, “Wait ‘til you get to know me.” Later, Benson says to Stone “Well I hope you’re not sorry I talked you into taking this to trial” and he replies “Not yet.” My advice to Stone – run away from her as fast as you can or you WILL be sorry.
Cast:
Mariska Hargitay - Lieutenant Olivia Benson
Ice-T - Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, Jr.
Philip Winchester – ADA Peter Stone
Guest stars:
Will Sasso - Chris Sadler
Erik Jensen - James Turner
Wendy Hoopes - Anna Sadler
Ernest Waddell – Ken Randall
Migs Govea – Alejandro Pavel
Eric Tabach - Vincent Drago
Mallory Bechtel - Haley Sadler
Molly Brown - Jenni Hanson
Helmar Augustus Cooper - Judge Reginald Flowers
Don Stephenson – Alan Hubert
Jillian Louis - Charlotte Cooke,
Ernest Wadell - Ken Randall
Valeri Mudek – Did Turner
Jillina Louis – Charlotte Cooke
Cyndi Melendez – Gina Feliz
Amy Korb – Pamela Stone
Kendra Farm – Dateline Reporter
Michelle Won Park – Reporter # 1
Azia Celestino – Reporter # 2
Michael Dennis Hill – Reporter # 3
T.J. Meyers – Leo Trozze
Gordon Silba – Sal Balzarini
Max Mackenzie – Mike
Tyree Simpson – Sergeant
Here are preview clips from Law & Order SVU “Send In The Clowns” which will air on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 9PM ET on NBC. The videos feature Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, and Peter Scanavino.
Here are advance photos for Law & Order SVU “Send In The Clowns” which will air on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 9PM ET on NBC. The photos feature Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino, Philip Winchester, Molly Brown as Jenni Hanson, Wendy Hoopes as Anna Sadler, Jillian Louis as Charlotte Cooke, Eric Tabach as Vincent Drago, Ernest Wadell as Ken Randall, Miguel Govea as Alejandro Pavel, and Will Sasso as Chris Sadler.
(This is an abbreviated recap and review. I’ve peppered my comments within the recap.)
Law & Order SVU “Dare” was one of those episodes that was both enjoyable and irritating. I enjoyed the quick pacing and the interaction between the lead characters, but found the preaching off-putting, some of it coming from Olivia Benson herself. I have very strong opinions about organ donation: I believe that a person – or whoever that person designates as their next of kin – has the right to chose whether or not to donate their organs. Hospitals do not perform transplants out of altruism, they make a lot of money on these procedures but the families of the people who made that hard choice get ZERO. And when it comes to money, most hospitals will do all they can to squeeze every penny out of every patient, either through insurance bills or procedures like transplants. People are not cash machines for hospitals and as far as I am concerned, like the doctor in this episode, their decision making regarding transplantable body parts can be clouded by their desire to make money. A doctor or hospital should not be making that decision, unless the patient left no instructions and/or there is no next of kin.
It’s interesting that Benson, such a champion for rape victims, doesn’t see that stealing someone’s body parts without permission is a physical assault of the most heinous kind. If anything, this episode will give viewers something to talk about.
This episode begins with what first appears to be a kidnapped child. We quickly find that the young girl, Zoe, has not been kidnapped but is the victim of an accident that occurred while she and her friends were playing a game of dares called “Red Parrot.” Benson and the detectives make the assumption, based on what Zoe’s friends have told them, that Zoe has been taken off the school grounds, as a result much time is lost searching for her elsewhere when all this time, Zoe is found (by Benson, of course) laying injured on the floor of the gym by the bleachers. If the detectives would have had officers or school officials check the school buildings and the grounds simultaneous to the detectives’ investigation, maybe there would have been a better chance to save Zoe’s life.
Unfortunately, Zoe dies on the operating table, and operating doctor Lorraine Franchella takes Zoe’s organs to use for transplant, without the parent’s permission. This is only discovered when Zoe’s mother wants to see Zoe’s body and sees a massive scar on her torso (which was not the area of Zoe’s injury) and they find - to the parents’ horror - her organs have been harvested. All the organs are still inside the hospital except the heart, which is in a helicopter on the rooftop ready for takeoff to Buffalo for a transplant. Benson successfully stops the helicopter from leaving, but not without the helicopter pilot’s pleas and Benson’s long pause to think about the life that this heart could be saving.
While I do not fully understand the entire process of harvesting organs, the removal of the organs and sending the heart on its way seemed awfully quick to me. I know that time is crucial with transplants but the process of Zoe's surgery, matching the heart to the proper recipient, and prep work seemed unrealistic.
Benson does have the time to speak with the parents to give them the chance to make a choice. Zoe’s mother is dead set against it.
Benson questions the doctor at SVU, and when Benson reminds her what she did was against the law and it was not for her to decide, the doctor asks Benson if she would bend the law to save a life, adding that Benson doesn’t strike her as an absolutist.
The detectives later find that the doctor has forged signatures for 32 other patients, going counter to the parent’s wishes. Initially, the doctor doesn’t appear to be benefiting financially from these transplants. She is arrested. There seems to be disagreement with Carisi and Rollins regarding the doctor’s actions; Carisi thinks she is a saint, Rollins doesn’t think a hospital bureaucrat should decide. I’m with Rollins on this one.
Peter Stone pursues the multiple forgery case, and this is where the preaching gets thick. Zoe’s mother testifies about what happened, and the defense attorney Nikki Stains trots out the boy who was the heart transplant recipient to tug at the heartstrings. This clearly moves Zoe’s father, who, after the court session, apologizes to the boy and his parents.
Dr. Franchella testifies in her defense, and her words drip with sanctimony. Clearly she thinks that she is in a better position to decide.
In a discussion with Benson at a bar, Benson tells Stone she thinks she made a wrong call on the hospital rooftop with the helicopter. She thinks this was not police business. Stone explains that when he first came to New York, he spent every day with his father at the hospital but was getting coffee when his father died. When Benson said that was hard, Stone counters it would have been harder if the doctor had harvested his organs before he got back to his room. He thinks she did the right thing (by stopping the heart from going to Buffalo). I’m with Stone on this; in effect, the doctor stole Zoe’s organs and Benson’s actions stopped that theft, or at minimum, gave the parents a chance to make a choice.
The detectives then discover that the doctor has been making large donations to the Children’s Heart Procurement Fund and has dedicated those donations in memory of her son, coincidentally named Benjamin (the same as Stone’s father), who died from a congenital heart condition. Stone challenges that the doctor did not try hard enough to save Zoe, and if that was her son on the table, would she have done what she did? Of course, the doctor has no answer to that question.
At closing arguments, Stains argues that the law excuses a criminal act if it based on necessity. This is a legal argument I’ve never heard of before but it is legit but I question if one can use this to commit a crime multiple times. Stains thinks those 32 transplant recipients are the definition of necessity. Stone thinks that each person should make their own choice about their own body. He calls the doctor a zealot, motivated by her own personal tragedy. She broke the law and imposed her own morality. He describes what the doctor did and that she tried to hide it. She is playing god. (I’m with Stone.)
Credit Stone with another win, as the doctor is found guilty of forgery in the second degree on all 32 counts.
Later, Stone visits Benson in her office, he explains the sentencing, saying they need to set an example. Benson thinks the doctor is a progressive minded pediatric surgeon and that Stone is a bully as the doctor will lose her license, which Benson thinks is the worst punishment. In my opinion, Benson is wrong here; the doctor losing her license AND going to jail is the worst, which is what the doctor deserves for blatant theft. Stone does not want to look like a pushover but she thinks he is overcompensating for Stone note being there when his father died. LOW BLOW Olivia. When Rollins enters and tells them that the boy who was to receive the transplant has died, Stone looks at Benson and the episode ends with a look at her heartbroken face.
Cast:
Mariska Hargitay - Lieutenant Olivia Benson
Ice-T - Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, Jr.
Philip Winchester – ADA Peter Stone
Guest stars:
Janel Moloney - Dr. Lorraine Franchella
Callie Thorne - Nikki Staines
Jenn Gambatese - Meredith Bergkamp
Alfredo Narciso - Dylan Bergkamp
Tom Titone - Judge Joshua Goldfarb
Eloise Lushina - Lily Winterburn
Lillian Ellen Jones - Lisa Dixon
Nicollette Pierini – Zoe
Kittson O'Neill - Vivian Winterburn
James Mount - Neil Dixon
Harriet D. Foy – Gwen Jackson
Stacet Raymond – Coach Clare
Adit Dileep – David Gidumal
Allan Walker – Felix
Fisher Neal – Marc Salazar
Robin S. Walker – Callie Lydell
Vanessa Schanen – Foreperson
Joey Curtis-Green - Harry Lonegan
Matt Golden - Mr. Lonegan
Mary Theresa Archbold – Mrs. Lonegan
Mario Ficarra - Batender
Here are advance photos for Law & Order SVU “Dare” which will air on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 at 9PM ET on NBC. The photos features Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino, Philip Winchester, Jennifer Gambatese as Meredith Bergkamp, Alfredo Narciso as Dylan Bergkamp, Kittson O'Neill as Vivian Winterburn, Eloise Lushina as Lily Winterburn, and Janel Moloney as Dr. Lorraine Franchella.
Here are previews from Law & Order SVU “Dare” which will air on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 at 9PM ET on NBC. The videos feature Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, and Kelli Giddish.
Update March 14, 2018 - a deleted scene has been added at the end of the recap. Update March 18, 2018 - another deleted scene with Philip Winchester has been added below.
In Law & Order SVU “In Loco Parentis”, Detective Sonny Carisi screws things up, both officially and unofficially. The episode took the overused story line of a “he said/she said” sexual assault on a college campus (in the hotbed of crime – Hudson University) and made it personal when Sonny’s niece is the victim. Eventually we find this is a storm of her own making; the twist is revealed that she lied about being raped…but that’s not the end of it. This was a great feature role for Peter Scanavino. We also saw new ADA Peter Stone show that he doesn’t need a lecture from Olivia Benson to win a case. Benson was in full brainwashing mode on Stone in this episode and I found her comments not only wrong but cringe-worthy (more on this later). Despite some issues that I had with both Benson and Carisi in this episode, I really enjoyed the quality of the production, which gets better with every episode and is a huge improvement over prior seasons.
The problem begins when Carisi’s niece, Mia, a student at Sex Crimes University Hudson University claims she was raped by fellow student Ethan. Ethan faces the university tribunal who suspends him for one year and he must vacate the school, effectively torpedoing his medical education. When Carisi’s sister Teresa tells Carisi about the rape, Carisi decides to pursue the matter criminally by opening a police investigation. Stone offers to get the school tribunal’s transcripts until enough evidence is found. Benson tells Carisi to stay off the case officially, and unofficially, not to screw it up.
Carisi screws it up.
It eventually is revealed that Mia lied about being raped. She told Ethan yes to sex but told her friend Renata she was raped to prevent Renata from getting mad at her; Renata got the school involved. Carisi – wrongly in my opinion – tells Mia that she should apologize to Ethan and tells her to make it right. With Carisi’s legal education and his experience with how special victims cases can go wrong, he shouldn’t have encouraged Mia to contact Ethan at all and instead should have suggested to her and his sister that they get legal advice before doing anything. He also should have clued in Benson and Stone. My thinking is that Ethan could have enough for a civil case against Mia and even the SVU. But no, Carisi lets this play out, and when Mia tries the apology route, Ethan decides he’ll make things even by raping her. Of course, when Mia spills this information to Carisi, he tells her they aren’t going to say anything about what really happened the first time. Nothing like compounding the mistake!
Things go from bad to worse at Ethan’s trial when the defense questions Carisi about the first rape claim. When Carisi balks at answering, the defense presses and Carisi is forced to admit that there was no first rape, that Mia lied to the school tribunal and to the SVU and the court. Welcome to “Sex Crimes” Peter Stone!
Of course, when back at SVU, Benson rips Carisi, telling him what matters in these cases is the credibility of the parties. I laughed at this, because Benson earlier lectured Stone on “no perfect witnesses” and the “less perfect they are, the harder we fight”. After her high-and-mighty routine with Stone, this has to be a huge embarrassment for her (I'll address this is detail below).
Stone later takes the high road with Carisi and lets the setback roll off him, telling Carisi that he told the truth and “only a irrational man acts rational when family is involved.” He adds they all have family secrets and Carisi told the truth when it counted. Carisi tells Stone he is not such a bad guy for a lawyer, and when Stone comments he heard Carisi had “the same disease,” Carisi admits he’s been cured. Is this a signal that Carisi’s legal aspirations will be dropped from now on? I hope so, because Carisi spouting legal advice to Barba was becoming annoying.
Back at court, Stone uses Ethan’s anger about how his life has been ruined by Mia’s first accusation which causes Ethan to implode on the stand and admits what he did to Mia. Later, he is found guilty of rape in the first degree. Stone gets a WIN – despite all that sage advice from Benson and the lies from Carisi and his niece.
After the trial, Benson visits Stone in his office – she finds him changing his shirt (shades of the scene with Jack McCoy changing his pants while Claire Kincaid is in his office, I think in the Law & Order episode “Second Opinion”). She thanks him for not “beheading” Carisi, to which he replies “what good would he be to anyone without a head?” She asks if that is his plan to “charm” his way into their hearts and he thinks it could work. She counters they are New York City police detectives and they can see through charming. He says it’s a shame. He comments he hear Noah is a ballplayer and offers to get him all the Mets tickets he wants, and Benson says “You are good”, obviously in the charm category. Peter Stone WILL be good if he continues to take this paced approach to his job and not letting himself be derailed by the SVU. Personally, I want to see more of the charming Peter Stone.
Mia decides to leave the university for a while. Had she not done that on her own, if I were Hudson, I would have thrown her out for lying to the tribunal. Of course, this is Hudson, where standards seem to be pretty low.
Now, onto Benson’s sanctimonious lecturing. When Stone admits to Benson he hasn’t prosecuted any college-age assaults, Benson says “It’s rarely a clean narrative, right? There could be alcohol involved, the victim can feel conflicted, there could be memory loss, there’s self-blame, it’s complicated.” What an insult to Peter Stone. He may not have prosecuted any college age assaults, but he’s not an idiot. Anyone in his position would surely be aware of what has happened on college campuses over the years – and decades – and Benson did not need to explain this to him. He was being more than kind to her when he told her he would follow their lead, a classy response in my opinion.
But this isn’t the end of it from Benson. The Benson attempt at brainwashing continues when she meets up with Stone at Forlini’s restaurant for a drink (she can’t stay for dinner). Here’s the dialog, with my comments inserted:
STONE – Look, what you do, working full time as a Lieutenant and being a single mother, that must take more energy than I can imagine. And you, what I mean is, you make it look effortless. [I groan loudly here. I know he’s trying to charm her, but it sounds like just another instance where we have to hear about the superwoman that is Olivia Benson]
BENSON – Okay, you don’t have to flatter me.
STONE – I’m just telling you how I see it.
BENSON – Okay. Carisi’s niece is telling the truth. She may have been unclear the first time, but the second time, I believe her.
STONE – I do too. But she’s still an imperfect witness. [Just wait Stone, you haven’t heard the half of it]
BENSON – Welcome to Sex Crimes. [Sex Crimes? Really? I thought that term went out many seasons ago. Special victims are not all sex crime victims.] Look Stone, there are no perfect witnesses. They leave out part of the story, they can’t remember, they feel guilty, change their minds, they blame themself, they think it’s their fault. But that’s why we’re here. To fight FOR them and the less perfect they are, the harder we fight. Look, nobody asks a robbery or a homicide victim if she wanted it. Nobody says “hey, why was she walking down the dark alley, why was she wearing a dark skirt, nobody implies that the crime was somehow her fault. [Her comments regarding robberies or homicides are off the mark. People who are robbed have been challenged about their judgment and whereabouts or actions at the time of the robbery, and homicide victims can’t be asked anything because they are DEAD. That said, the whereabouts and actions of homicide victims at the time of death can also be brought into question. Benson’s gender bias is showing as she refers to all victims of sexual assault, robbery, or homicide as female-specific.]
STONE – [with a look on his face that Benson doesn’t understand that a prosecutor needs some semblance of evidence to go to trial] I’m just used to having more evidence before I go to trial.
BENSON – You have the victim’s word. We go to trial so the victim, the survivor, can look her rapist in the eye and tell the world her truth. We go to trial so she can be heard. The truth. That’s what heals. If you’re going to trial because you want to win, you’re in the wrong place. [Oh pul-leeze! No prosecutor goes to trial to simply to give the victim a voice and to look the attacker in the eye. They want JUSTICE. Trials are traumatizing for the victim. Has Benson forgot how many cases were lost and the victims were devastated? Sure, the truth can come out but if the evidence is bad, the case is lost and the victim never gets the satisfaction of seeing justice served, causing further trauma to the victim. A good prosecutor goes to trial to WIN, not to simply make a point. Benson needs to get off her high horse and deliver Stone better cases that helps the victims get justice.]
My advice for Peter Stone: Stay charming and tune out Benson’s emotional pontificating. Listen to what she says but take it with a grain of salt. Don’t get stuck in Benson’s web…look what happened with Barba.
Cast:
Mariska Hargitay - Lieutenant Olivia Benson
Ice-T - Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, Jr.
Philip Winchester – ADA Peter Stone
Guest stars:
Rachel Bay Jones - Teresa Carisi
Ryann Shane - Mia Toscano
Sam Vartholomeos - Eli Hartley
Tijuana Ricks – Dean Lisa Baldwin
John Rothman - Judge
Susie Essman - Arlene Heller
Dominic Comperatore – Steven Hartley
Barbra Wengerd – Jane Hartley
Rachel Finninger – Renata Schaeffer
Amanda Debraux – Hillary Baker
Bjorn Thorstad – Mitch Jackson
Zeus Taylor – Andy Rayburn
Jason Liebman – Stuart Green
Jennice Fuentes – Susan Trask
Steve Boghossian – Foreman
Deleted scene with Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino, and Philip Winchester:
