About Last Night…LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, FOUND, SNL50: BEYOND SATURDAY NIGHT, and More

Let’s talk about Thursday night’s TV!

LAW & ORDER: It’s interesting, when Brady was disciplined in the fall finale, it felt like it was setting it up so she would be MIA for an episode or two. Instead, she was back instantly. (Not a complaint, just a surprise.)

But, uh, how did Baxter think he’d make it through the entire trial without Sam or Nolan figuring out his role in the lure and trap program…?

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES: Perfectly serviceable. Some questionable guests in the first hour, but the gameplay was fine. Not sure I’ll follow it when TV gets a bit crazier, but it was a fine enough reboot.



LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: There were some positives in the hour: The cold open was brief and to the point without being gratuitously violent. Peter Scanavino was good. There were good guest stars. (Even if they had memorable roles in other episodes of the show.)

That being said: Personally, I was very uncomfortable with the decision to do a “ripped from the headlines” story about Gisèle Pelicot this soon to the actual case being in the news. I understand the nature of the show, and absolutely understand this is one of the more high-profile assault cases in the past few years; the real-life ordeal Pelicot went through is unspeakably awful.

But this is a situation where the trial was actively going on while this episode was filmed. The convictions came in less than a month ago. (At the bare minimum, if you’re going to take inspiration from a real story, it should be done well after the trial/verdict. This was an international case, so it likely wouldn’t apply as much, but the show’s fictionalized take on a case should never be something that could jeopardize a survivor getting justice/impact a trial.) While there obviously would always be an element of fiction to however the show told this story, rushing this—while also shoehorning in a (very uncomfortable attempt to) parallel with Carisi’s PTSD—felt gimmicky and like the intention was to be first versus to actually tell this story best/in a respectful manner.

I’m glad the show didn’t just brush aside Carisi’s grief and PTSD, but it also felt like this was not the best approach either. Carisi was not fine! We knew that. The people who care about him knew that. But insisting he work this case when he wanted to go home (on the weekend!) was odd and felt disrespectful to him and the case. (We see, constantly, that a single wrong move in the investigation could jeopardize justice for survivors. With Carisi not at his top form, one wrong move early on could have made the entire thing fall apart. In some ways he’s “lucky” he had his breakdown when he did.) The people around him kept treating him like a child. And, look, maybe it was justified because we missed the last two months of their lives and haven’t seen how bad he got, but it largely didn’t work for me, despite great work from Scanavino.

It’s a small thing, but it also just feels big given her importance in the show: I was incredibly disheartened by how cold Olivia was at key points in the episode. Katharine was grieving her marriage (and the huge betrayal of discovering her husband had violated her in such a horrific way) and Olivia’s response was that her marriage had been over for a while and she was “just finding out now”…WHAT?! My jaw actually dropped. This reveal would have always been horrific, no matter when Katharine found out, but was the fact her husband deceived her for an extended time supposed to be better? Was she supposed to get over her life being turned upside down faster because she found out belatedly?

And then Olivia tried to tough love Carisi out of his PTSD by telling him to wake up? That’s not how mental health works; it’s akin to people thinking those afflicted with depression can just snap out of it. (Which is a horrible, harmful misconception.) It’s a shame, because part of that scene could have really worked (her pointing out his anger was a feeling, something Carisi couldn’t see), but the “wake up” just seemed really out of touch. (Especially since Olivia has undergone so much of her own trauma.)

FOUND: Okay, it’s really, really, really unnerving to see Sir trying to protect Gabi. Like, we know he thinks he’s doing that, but he’s also not well in the head. In this case, someone in his orbit really does want to hurt her. (And did.) It’s so fascinating to see Sir so desperate in a new way. (Also: So, Sir is going to be how we find out what happened to Jamie?!)

We also need, like, so much less danger for our guys, please and thanks!!!! Multiple M&A members in the hospital, a gunshot cliffhanger…they need a break. But how the heck are Trent and Sir going to get out of that mess? Sir threatened him, but Trent’s not just going to let him leave his home, I assume, so…

In the middle of all of this, there was some brightness: Lacey’s going back to law school!! So happy for her; she deserves this.

SNL50: BEYOND SATURDAY NIGHT: It should probably be no surprise, but I absolutely loved this. It’s hard to cover something that has been on for a billion years—it’s difficult to find a new angle and not easy to find something that is accessible to people who know a lot or who are casual fans. But the hyper-focus element of this docuseries was brilliant. You could be an absolute fanatic of SNL or a casual viewer and appreciate something like the audition episode. I know this was done specifically for the 50th anniversary, but I would watch 20 episodes of this show. (Hey, maybe they can make another docuseries if it gets to 55.)

Which shows did you watch last night?

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