About Last Night… GREY’S ANATOMY, SVU, ORGANIZED CRIME, and More

Let’s talk about Thursday night’s TV!

MANIFEST: On a scale from 1-10, how worried should we be about Angelina? (I’m at like 47 right now.)

I also really don’t expect us to find out what happened to the 828ers, but…I’m still hoping it’s not death/resurrection.

MOM: Bonnie having to learn not to lie is hilarious. It’s odd, starting a business with a longtime friend should be a headache, but at the same time…the show is ending. There really isn’t time for prolonged messiness.

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Much like January’s trio of episodes were courtroom focused, it felt like the April installments were…outside of the SVU norm? (I can’t think of a catchy term, sorry.) We had, obviously, Elliot’s return which was an entirely non-SVU case, followed by two hate crimes (with SVU ties, but not the focus for most of the episode), and then we had last night, which was much more a character piece than anything else.

Peter Scanavino and Kelli Giddish, as well as Mariska Hargitay and Sarita Choudhury, were incredible in the hour, as it really was about their characters’ traumas. Rollins has been through….so much. And now her father is ill, she’s quasi-alone (and leaning on Carisi, who is her best friend, but also…complicated), and things are just tough. (And poor Carisi, who…is definitely going to sabotage his relationship.)

With the Vanessa storyline, it was incredible to watch Hargitay and Choudhury work, because for most of it, it was just them together. I’m glad Olivia got to acknowledge that—even pre-pandemic—she had a BAD year. The Tucker situation was obviously horrific and tragic, but I cannot imagine what the guilt of that voicemail to Simon prior to his death has done to her.

(For more on what’s next for Rollins/Carisi, here’s what Peter Scanavino had to say.)

GREY’S ANATOMY: Well, I can’t remember the last time I cried so much at GREY’S. What an absolutely gorgeous, earned hour of television.

I never needed Meredith and Derek to have more than a post-it wedding, but their, quick, impromptu dream situation—where he said he wanted her to torture herself less—was gorgeous. As was his smelling her hair when they embraced, like he used to do when he was alive…my heart.

I’m also glad Meredith and Derek talked about him “seeing” her relationships after his death, and he gave his blessing for lack of a better word. No, she does not need his permission; she should not be living her life alone just because he tragically died early. But I also understand why occasionally she might feel guilt or wonder what he would think. And the fact is, he loves her enough to want that for her. He wants her happy, with someone else, if that’s what she wants.

Which does bring us to an intriguing thing: Where the heck does the show go from here? As of now, we don’t know whether the show is returning next season. Do they say goodbye after this nostalgic season? Or do they keep going and try to top this, somehow, for an eventual final season.

I have no clue. I honestly don’t know what I want, either. (I feel both ways, most times. I don’t want the show to end after Meredith spent most of the season fighting off death. But I also don’t know how they top these returns.)

But, also, Zola forever.

LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME: If you guessed Elliot Stabler would tell Olivia Benson he loved her for the first time in the midst of an intervention, in front of his children…please go buy lottery tickets immediately.

Elliot…is in a bad way. And that’s obviously, but holy [your choice of curse here, because all of them work, frankly], he’s in a bad spot.

The intervention, frankly, was never going to go well, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been staged and it wasn’t what Elliot needed to hear. Heck, they didn’t even get to Eli seeing his father punch a hole in the wall (which, uh, is that just still there?) and Elliot putting both his and Eli’s lives at risk with this PTSD-impacted car crash.

Elliot was pulling away, but I do wonder what could/would have been said if he hadn’t accidentally told Olivia he loved her. The show played the entire sequence beautifully, and I’m not sure if Chris Meloni has ever been better on the LAW & ORDER franchise…the roller coaster of emotions that went through him in the 20+ seconds of silence as he realized he said the words out loud, in front of his kids, and went into panic and defensive mode was incredible. (I’m guessing ten different viewers would have ten different exact interpretations of what was going on, but I would guess everyone can agree he did not mean to say ILY.) But it also backed Elliot into a corner where it was clear he could not be there and was suffocating under the pressure.

But it also drove him to Angela, who…may be the season’s big bad? Maybe? Right now, I believe Richard is absolutely bad and evil, but he is way too clueless about too many important (and minor!) things to be the one pulling the strings.

The reveal that Kathy was intentionally targeted makes things complicated. Was she specifically targeted to get to Elliot? (Like, if it was Angela who did this, does she blame Elliot for her ex or her son dying?) And did the person who called him right before the bomb KNOW it was about to happen??

Or…was she up to things viewers simply had no clue about? I keep thinking about the Stabler family scene from the ORGANIZED CRIME premiere where Eli looked away when Elliot insisted Kathy wouldn’t lie. It read as suspicious then, it read as INSANELY sketchy now. Why was Rome Kathy’s place? Was she working there? (During her run on SVU, we don’t know if she worked, so it really is a blank canvas for them to play with.)

But there is a bit of an irony of Elliot now frantically trying to reach Olivia and her ignoring his calls. (Or, as Michael Scott might say, “Well, well, well. How the turn tables.”)

As far as the case, I love shadow trials (yes, I’m a nerd, why do you ask?), though, uh, their success in actually being pulled off without tipping off the real bad guy is limited. (Hi past SVU for that warning.) It was great having Carisi on the show for this, and I hope they bring him back. (Now, Izak, don’t mess this up.)

REBEL: I want to like Cass, but I find her actions SO BAD. And maybe it’s because we’re being ushered into this show with Rebel’s perspective, but it doesn’t feel like there’s a real doubt Cass is on the wrong side of things. There is no shame in wanting more power, but I was with Amir: I was waiting for her to find out she had been manipulated and go NOPE, I’m going back to the people who didn’t screw me over. Instead, it seems like she’s okay with it—and screwing with her mom and someone she considers family—as long as she keeps her seat at the table. Sigh.

Lana, meanwhile, is my favorite. Absolutely delighted by her, whether it’s her working with Rebel or giving her brother hell. More of her, please.

Which shows did you watch last night?

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