Here is the discussion topic for Law & Order SVU “Extinguished ” which aired on Thursday, February 20, 2025. Please feel free to add any feedback you have about this episode in the comments!
Here is the discussion topic for Law & Order SVU “Extinguished ” which aired on Thursday, February 20, 2025. Please feel free to add any feedback you have about this episode in the comments!
3 comments:
SVU has been a dud all season (only a few good episodes -- like "Excavation"). I miss Warren Leight as showrunner!
It's official! Velasco is the male version of Muncy in terms of the person causing Benson the most ire for no good reason. And I say that despite that whiplash of an ending trying and failing to convince us she respects him and that all the undue pressure we saw earlier in the ep was for his own good. Velasco in that very last scene felt like he was an RA in a college dorm
Velasco is responsible for fixing his entire neighborhood?! Fin is offended he hasn't already taken up the mantle of Ambassador to Washington Heights?! The whole thing was making me mad. And towards the end w Sylva and Bruno being inspired to do more for their neighborhoods: what in the Full House is this? Cause it feels like how such an ep would end, just w brighter colors and sappy background music. But the remarks would hv been the same.
Fin's pt about everybody knowing Velasco's name also had me scratching my head. It wasn't the kind of moral victory the show was purporting it to be. So let's think of the reverse- Velasco continues to be a committed cop, stops a lot of 'bad guys' and saves a lot of people, but is not a household name in his community. Also can go home and focus on himself and recharging his batteries in order to be back at it the next day. Would that muddy his successes as a result? Because he didn't use his off-duty time walking around giving out his card? I just don't get what being a household name is proof of except maybe being a social butterfly.
The sequence of Liv telling V he had "command presence" followed by a couple scenes of different ppl basically saying he is famous now and offering him free beers made "command presence" sound synonymous w popularity. I don't think I agree
And funny enough, I was watching Atwater go undercover, again lol, on Chicago PD this week and was thinking, "how is he STILL able to do this and not be recognized?" Not being a household name is an advantage to his role in the community not an indictment of it.
In the words of guest character Moses, "Something is off." The entire ep the squad seems devoid of any personality and were just mechanically running thru their lines. Even Bruno seems off which is saying something cuz he has always had a presence. Harpo, who these people?
Liv's handling of the victims in this ep was cringe and felt out of character. Again, she gave 'exhaustion' and "I really don't care you were raped I'm just required to say that I do". She was giving "I am so fed up of having to care" which I actually wouldn't mind if it were being explored in a meaningful way. Her explanation of what undergoing a rape kit might be like felt like the same advice medical staff give when trying to draw blood from ppl afraid of needles. Just some "mild discomfort".
It was also unsettling how inconsequential the rape victims were to the story, dare I even say the squad, despite the lip-service stating otherwise. And that is different from me saying the focus was somewhere else. I think of a Yates or Lewis ep where the focus was on them or Benson but undoubtedly the seriousness and injustice of what happened to the victims still rang thru. I didn't get anything like that this ep. The vics might as well be complaining that their bus was late, not that they had been raped.
The team was going thru the motions of an investigation but it felt empty. The advocacy for victims, and even communities, fell flat. Everyone, including the virtuous ones like Liv and Fin, felt checked-out to me despite all their pontificating to each other to be more engaged. What came across to me was that this entire cast was over it. Elmo asking "how are you doing" would have been more impactful.
I can't really add much here than to what's already been said. I thought this episode was awful. The cast has no chemistry and I can't muster any feelings for any of them. The story line was dull and I couldn't muster any feelings for the victims either. They ran out of good stories and good writers a long time ago and the series is running on fumes. If it got canceled for next season I wouldn't be upset about it.
Post a Comment