About Last Night…9-1-1, LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME, and More

Let’s talk about Thursday night’s TV!

9-1-1: Oh, Maddie.

I do appreciate the very, very, very, very delicate writing of the call with the abducted mother: Maddie knew enough to know something was wrong, but her history did make her lean into what she suspected versus hearing what was actually said. But the fact that the perp wasn’t her husband wasn’t an obvious, glaring error…and the real clue wasn’t something just anyone would have been able to pick up. They let her be slightly wrong, but in a completely understandable way. It was handled well to prolong the drama without sacrificing the characters’ intelligence.

I also appreciate that Mara got to see her baby brother again…I hope the families can be respectful and co-exist versus one suddenly trying to take both kids so they can stay together.

And, uh, Eddie is a MESS.

NEXT LEVEL CHEF: Ah, congrats to Gabi! A deserving winner. Thrilled for her, both with tonight’s menu and her season overall.



LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: On the bright side, Jordana Spiro and Mariska Hargitay were great, especially during their squadroom fight and the final scene as Sykes had to contend with the reality of her sister’s death. It was arguably the best acting by both in the entire season so far.

Outside of that…look, I love this show. It’s not a secret. It’s a series I’ve been watching for literal decades at this point. I spend countless—probably a truly alarming amount if I stopped and tried to calculate it—hours covering it every season. I’ve been reporting on the show off-on for almost my entire career. (And entirely on-again since I returned to GMMR in 2018.) There is a part of me that is deeply, desperately hoping some of what isn’t working will have some payoff in the finale and it’ll retroactively be revealed this was intentional, as part of a larger plot. (Not saying that would automatically make the previous issues better, but it would certainly help a lot.)

Because, frankly, Olivia has been consistently ignoring boundaries—both explicit, like last night, and implicit, in terms of what she should be doing as a captain in the NYPD (including basically every storyline her therapist has been tangentially involved in)—all season. In this case, yes, they solved things. That’s good! She was right this was bigger than just Sykes’ wishes. And, no, I’m not claiming this is the first season this has ever happened; it’s happened before, repeatedly. But it’s never been this consistent, especially while the show is canonically telling us time and time again that she is spiraling and not doing well…as she simultaneously claims to be doing fine. (Waking someone up to work in the middle of the night for a cold case? This is a thing that could have waited until the sun was up.)

Which brings us to Sykes calling out Olivia. She was right. She might have gone about it the wrong way—it certainly didn’t need to be that widely broadcast in front of their colleagues—but Olivia has been using work as a crutch. Olivia knew she was in the wrong here (Fin tried to warn her, she lied to her team, etc.), but she threw herself and the entire team into this anyway.

The problem the series has consistently found itself in this season is that when people who care (or even just know) Olivia try to comment on some of the harmful actions she’s making, the show almost immediately undercuts them by making Olivia correct. Because, yeah, again, Olivia crossed a line when Sykes made it clear she didn’t want Olivia poking around, but Olivia brought closure to Sykes’ family and a gaggle of others, so she was “right” to disobey her colleague’s wishes.

Olivia Benson is a hero. She has always given everything to the job. But there is also no shame in finding a better balance. She deserves to not be working in the middle of the night when it’s not an active emergency. The closest we’ve gotten this season to anyone caring about Olivia versus her bearing their burdens was the brief moment she and Fin had at the bar before she decided to seek out Maria. I so desperately wish we had more of that, especially in season 25. Especially in episode 550.

I’m so glad for Sykes that she got closure on this case, even if the resolution was heartbreaking. I’m glad the show came back to this storyline. I just wish it had been handled in a different manner, that Sykes had more agency in her own traumatic past.

A few other thoughts…

• The notion you wouldn’t be grieving your long-missing child at 70? That’s crazy.
• This is the silliest thing, but I laughed out loud at Carisi being “ADA Carisi” on Olivia’s phone.
• I get this was likely done so they didn’t have to showcase flashbacks again, but it’s very funny only Johnny D. and William Lewis are being mentioned as traumas Olivia has gone through. Lewis absolutely makes sense, no matter how Olivia’s history was looked up. But there’s been so many other more recent things Sykes could (and should!) have mentioned and/or cards she could have played instead of Johnny D.

GREY’S ANATOMY: The entire tone of this episode felt very season 2/3/4-ish, and I mean that in a good way. The secret affair between the patients, screaming actually making one of them feel better—it all felt very old-school.

It frequently feels like the writers don’t exactly know what to do with Teddy and Owen when there isn’t high-stakes drama in their path, but they handled their dynamic really well here. She did just almost die and, yeah, that was bound to mess him (and them) up a little bit. I’m glad they, um, resolved things by the end.

I had forgotten that Bailey didn’t know about Simone’s history with the hospital, but, man, that was an incredible scene as Simone talked about her own lingering trauma over her mother’s death. It absolutely wrecked me and was one of the most powerful scenes of the season.



LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again — apparently the Stabler family mantra for interventions.

You can argue maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing for the Stabler brothers to kidnap Joey, but, man, those scenes were a gut punch. (And thank God they thought to bring in Bernie’s nurse.) Christopher Meloni, Dean Norris, and Michael Trotter were excellent as the trio of characters went through basically every emotion possible. The writers beautifully blended so much in those scenes: history (Randall and Elliot didn’t go to their father’s wake?!), humor (debate over who Bernie’s favorite was), and, yes, even case insight (Elliot talking to Joe about Sam’s death). It was so well done.

And of course Joey was going to go rogue and try to be a double agent. He’s a Stabler. And we know he desperately wants to make Elliot proud. Am I filled with dread? Absolutely. Am I deeply hoping there are no more losses this season? Also absolutely. Please don’t get yourself—or anyone else—killed while trying to be a hero, Joe.

(Am I nervous about the torment in store for the finale? YEP. I also deeply don’t want this excellent season to be over.)

• Hey! We can just be happy about the show itself and not have to worry about its fate! A relief!
• I laughed so hard it hurt when Reyes and Jet came in giggling and the rest of the group just stared at them.
• I can’t believe Vargas said the word “quiet.” Of course everything went to hell after that.
• (It was very funny how excited he was to go out in the field, though.)
• Even knowing (okay, assuming) everyone was going to be fine in that server shootout…that was stressful. Everyone needs a week-long vacation. At least.
• “Feel like I got hit by a truck.” “That was your brother.” Oh, what a joy these Stabler brothers have been. I can’t believe we’ve only known them for a few months.
• I don’t know, suddenly moving to NYC with your girlfriend with no plan, after seemingly dropping out of school…Eli, you’re repeating history, aren’t you? (Is it an “Elliot Stabler” thing to accidentally knock up your girlfriend while still in school? If so, Eli, may I politely suggest not calling this (possible) child Elliot Stabler III.)
• Julian Emery might be ruining everything, but Tom Payne is still so much fun on this show.
• (Yes, I still laughed when they said “Krychek.” Yes, I thought of THE X-FILES’ Krycek again. Probably a good thing he will only be around a few episodes.)
• Man, this show is just gorgeous.

ELSBETH: Uh, maybe we don’t kill reporters? (Please, tech CEOs?) I do, however, reluctantly have to admit that giving yourself an alibi by pre-recording a Zoom meeting was pretty brilliant. (If it had worked.)

I’m glad Wagner seems to be caught up in a mess that wasn’t his doing—versus him being an intentionally bad guy—but…oy. The scene with him talking about how he and Claudia need to be perfect was fantastic and also so heartbreaking. It’s so much worse for him that he was betrayed by someone who was so close to him.

Which shows did you watch last night?

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