My comments: I had major issues with this episode. My first issue was with Fin missing, which left a group of detectives who not only don’t get along, but who have zero screen chemistry together. Detective Bruno is the only likeable one in the group, but that is not enough. This brings me to Detective Muncy, who I like less and less with each episode. She’s immature and can’t control her emotions or her mouth. There are times a character can work on a show because people “love to hate” them, but I can’t even put Muncy in that category. Churlish bothers me a little less; she has the maturity but her issue with Velasco caused a huge rift in the group. At least she seems to be the only one with her mind on solving the case and the only one coming up with a workable solution.
The undercover portion of this episode was a mess. Churlish volunteered herself without Benson’s prior approval, certainly a mistake in understanding the chain of command. But had Churlish not done it, then who? Muncy? Some unknown detective? Sadly, the outcome would have been the same. I don’t blame Churlish for what happened to her, it would have happened to whatever woman they picked for the undercover operation. Benson’s team’s prep of the operation was horrible. First, why did they only assume the drug was only in the drink, and not in either the salt or the lime? If they knew exactly what the victim drank, they should have thought of ALL aspects of the drink, not just the liquid part! Second, if they knew the victim went into the restroom, why didn’t they find a way to get a female officer in there somehow in order to protect Churlish? Or even check out the rest room in advance and see that there was a back door out of the bar and have someone stationed to watch outside. Stupid, simply stupid. And why didn’t they have an officer stationed somehow in the hotel room or in the next room in order to assist immediately if/when Churlish was taken there? Muncy’s brother – who is not a trained police officer and seemed too familiar with how these crimes work – was not enough.
Benson also was not very likeable in this episode. Besides planning the undercover operation badly, she’s managing the team badly. Her answer to getting the team to play nice was to change their desk assignments? A "grade school" solution. Maybe resolving the issue with the team infighting would be Fin’s responsibility had he been there, but Benson as Captain needs to set the tone and outline her expectations more clearly to the group and individually. She’s treating her detectives more like petulant children, not adults that should be behaving as such. She says to Churlish that the detectives are dysfunctional and aren’t perfect but they can lead with empathy and compassion. Frankly, I don’t see that in any of them, except Fin. She’s put together a disconnected team and she likely has worsened that dysfunction. It’s too contrived that Muncy and Churlish seems to have magically bonded over this case.
I also don’t understand why Benson continues to expect Velasco to resolve that old murder case. I still think she should have never listened to the illegal recording that Churlish made several episodes back; she should have either refused the recording, or, taken it, not listened to it, and turned it in along with reporting Churlish for doing it. I don’t know how she expected that Velasco will be able to resolve the murder without his involvement coming out in the process, AND Benson’s prior knowledge of his involvement. I’m sure they will wrap it up before the season is done. At this point, I don’t care if Velasco still has a job after this is over. I don’t care if Muncy or Churlish make it past this season. Bruno on the other hand…I think he’d be a great permanent addition. But the current cast of detectives does not work for me at all.
