LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
UNSTABLE
09-23-2009 9:00PM

http://nbcumv.com/listing_detail.nbc/nbc-20090923210000.html

OFFICER NATE KENDALL (GUEST STAR WENTWORTH MILLER) IS CALLED IN TO HELP DETECTIVES OLIVIA BENSON (MARISKA HARGITAY) AND ELLIOT STABLER (CHRIS MELONI) SOLVE A SERIES OF RAPE CASES ALONG WITH EXECUTIVE ADA SONYA PAXTON (GUEST STAR CHRISTINE LAHTI)

Officer Nate Kendall (guest star Wentworth Miller) aids a woman in trouble and becomes roped into solving a rape case. While Detectives Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) believe that Kendall is not right for the case due to his unstable personality, Executive ADA Sonya Paxton (guest star Christine Lahti) joins the team, bringing evidence of a common thread among three other rape cases. With Paxton’s help, the team might expose a serial rapist. Also starring: Richard Belzer (Detective John Much), Dann Florek (Captain Donald Cragen), Ice-T (Detective Odafin Tutuola), Tamara Tunie (Dr. Melinda Warner), and B.D. Wong (Dr. George Huang).

Neat. Thanks for the info. God, I can wait for the new season to start!

Thank you so much !

this sounds interesting and SVU-ish for once. I just hope it'll stay a sex crimes episode and not go all over the place.

Preview of UNSTABLE from NBC.

http://www.nbc.com/Law_and_Order_Special_V...review/1153193/

Unfortunately my computer is now deaf. My speakers no longer work
This stinks!

I didn't see 'Unstable' on the list. The last video was for 'Protecting Wednesdays.'

Oh that sucks! but dont feel bad my tv isnt working and theres a HUGE chance that it still wont be working on the premiere.

You can catch it online, though.

Thank you for posting. I can't wait to see the premiere!

This must be a bad year for electronic mishaps. In addition to my TV & computer biting the dust, so did my microwave. I had to replace all 3 of them!!

it wouldnt work if i got it online cause my computer is slow. and it would be freezing like every five seconds. but i'll try it anyway

Can you point me in the direction of watching it online please? It could be my only chance of seeing it before either Hallmark or channel 5 in the Uk show it.....dont want to wait forever

Thats a great idea never thought of watching it online,hated having to wait a few months before Hallmark showed it,so please tell us how to get online

You can watch virtually every episode of SVU on "Surf The Channel." They are usually available within a week after the original episode airs. Most of the time they are available in 2 or 3 days.

http://www.surfthechannel.com/show/380.html

Click on the episode you want to view. A page will come up with options for you to chose. If one doesn't work, try another.

Irish, Dob, Pinkie (sarah41), Blazer...are we still on for the chat session after SVU premiere airs? It's been a LONG time since the group of us chatted! I miss it...we aren't all on at the same time anymore

To everyone else: you are invitied to join us- if you have AOL/AIM just PM me or any others I mentioned here with your screen name so we can link you into the chat room. I already have svuswimmer's name (I just hope she's online at the same time!)

I'll be there. I'm grateful they didn't change my work schedule.

Oh you know I'm there! With bells on, wine, cake, and other assorted goodness

And YES! By all means, anyone who wasn't mentioned in Mad's post is MORE than welcome to join in on our chat. The more the merrier! All we ask is that there is no shipper bashing of any kind! I think I'm the only dual shipper in our group, and I'm fairly certain that they all respect that. So please, be nice to us - we'll be nice to you!

Alright, I'll have the computer ready for chat as soon as it goes off.

okay

So apparently i live under a rock because i had no idea SVU got changed to 8:00 my time!

I know i havent been keeping up with the board, but i knew the premiere was tonight from commercials on NBC.

I dont recall them saying the time had changed!

So tonight i turned my tv on at 9 to find Jay Leno! Then i sprinted to the computer to look at nbc.com, and find out i had missed the entire episode!

I havent missed a premiere of SVU in 6 years! Ever since i started watching the show!

I am now depressed, and i might go shed a tear........ or two!


Can someone please fill me in on what happend??

Well I thought it was a good episode. However I do have two issues:
1)That was a stupid move on Olivia's part, handling a young girl to Nate Kendall who just practically violently confronted the druggie mom. I agree Nate's point of view but not his actions. The little girl was used to seeing her mom smoke crack and she was hiding- I was suprised that Olivia would do that sort of thing.

2) Wentworth Miller's acting. I think he overacted in some scenes and I've seen that cop character before, the one from Baggage who likes working alone, etc.

I actually like Sonya Paxton, she did remind me of Greyleck with the giving an attitude towards the detectives but unlike Greyleck, she's being played by an experienced actress!

That's what I have for now.
Ah yes, Blaze, no mention of Ryan but we have 4 more episodes to go on

It's been noted here many times and all over the place otherwise (that "SVU" is now at 9:00 PM ET/PT, 8:00 CT), plus, NBC has been noting that as well. Jay Leno is on every weeknight at 10:00 PM ET/PT (9:00 CT) now, a move that is more about money than anything else since Leno is much cheaper to produce than an hour-long drama.



This episode will repeat Saturday (9/26) at 10:00 PM ET/PT (9:00 CT) on NBC, then (likely) late the following Saturday (10/3-early Sunday 10/4) at 12:01 AM ET/PT (11:00 PM CT) on USA Network. NBC is going to have repeats of "SVU" episodes the Saturday after they originally air on NBC that week (again at 10:00 PM ET/PT, the only night NBC has something other than Leno or sports at 10:00 in the eastern and pacific time zones).

[quote name='SVUlovesME' date='Sep 23 2009, 11:01 PM' post='1203026']
Well I thought it was a good episode. However I do have two issues:
1)That was a stupid move on Olivia's part, handling a young girl to Nate Kendall who just practically violently confronted the druggie mom. I agree Nate's point of view but not his actions. The little girl was used to seeing her mom smoke crack and she was hiding- I was suprised that Olivia would do that sort of thing.

2) Wentworth Miller's acting. I think he overacted in some scenes and I've seen that cop character before, the one from Baggage who likes working alone, etc.

I actually like Sonya Paxton, she did remind me of Greyleck with the giving an attitude towards the detectives but unlike Greyleck, she's being played by an experienced actress!


I could not agree with you more about Wentworth. I definitely think he overplayed his character for a first time appearance. I think it was a little much for a premiere of a character just being introduced to the audience. He is new, and the vet SVU fans need time to get used to new characters, and the way he overplayed his character was just too over the top for me. Too much bad cop in him, and I also did not like the way Cragen handled Liv and Elliot telling them that Wentworth was "getting the job done" when he was badmouthing the victim and basically telling her it was her fault she got raped. I know Cragen wanted to get the perp off the street, but since when is he all for blaming the victim and browbeating them??

I also do not think that little girl should have been handed off to Nate, but what I more had an issue with was Olivia saying to Nate right in front of the child to call Children's Services. That is something I expect to find in a fan fic written by someone who does not know Olivia Benson's character. So I had issues with that.

I also had issues with Nate revealing to Olivia, a detective he just met and does not know from a hole in the ground, that his wife left him with their daughter and met up with a meth dealer who blew them all up during a cook. Olivia and Elliot have been partners now for 11 years and they are still learning some pretty personal things about each other, so for him to reveal something that close to home with a detective that isnt even from his own squad, it just seemed a little too much for me.

I really do NOT like the new ADA and I am with Liv..."Where's Alex Cabot?" Get her the "f" out of Albany and bring her back to the city where she BELONGS!

Okay can we just talk about the ending??? Talk about wayyyyyy too much overkill for the premiere. I mean....drama, ok, but between the overacting of the ADA and Wentworth's character, to have him kill a suspect at the very end.....wayyyyyy too much overkill right there. There was no need for something like that, but at the same time I knew something was going to happen based on what we saw of Nate during the entire eppy plus the perp saying he needed to go to the bathroom. I knew it wasnt over, but to have him pushed out the window by Nate.....yeah overkill and way too much of it. At that point I was like, "Ok enough is enough. It's the premiere episode, can we just back off a little bit?"

Christina Lahti did redeem herself in my eyes just a little at the end of the episode where she wasnt such a witch with a capital "B" to Elliot who just totally lost the faith of that guy who has been in prison for the last 10 years on a charge that he is innocent of. I thought her understanding, I mean finally getting it, at the end of just how these detectives deal with victims on a day to day basis was a good ending for her character's first debut. She's no Alex Cabot, but she did gain some points with me at the end.

Liked Christine Lahti's character...clearly, a hard ass with a soul...she was visibly upset by the ending....I think she's a MUCH better fit than Greyleck ever was...

Liked that the present case was connected to one of Elliot's old cases. He's been in the unit so long...that's BOUND to happen...

The twist at the end was just heartbreaking...and I wonder if Elliot's crusade to free the man will continue later this season.

Of course, stupidly....loved the little E/O moments...his smile at her being caught on the autistic guys cameras in the wee hours of the morning...him touching her to get her attention in the meat packing warehouse...him telling her to 'fall back' after they were doused with gasoline. I LIVE for those little moments....

And...though I will have to re-watch at some point (and I don't have TiVO)...did anyone else catch Mariska's limp?
It was in a scene about 1/2 way through. I swear it was there...just barely. OF course, we know about the 'umbrella incident' and know she really WAS limping partway through the shooting of the episode...so, maybe I'm imagining things!! They shot from the waist up, but you could still see her gait was off.

Sorry...not impressed by Wentworth Miller. Overplayed the character in some scenes...and just dull in others. Not sure what all the fuss was about...

For a premiere...not as good as "Trials", IMO...but still enjoyable.

I actually like this episode, did not like the Paxton character, but did liked the way she was played.

I have never seen priosn break so I am not familiar with Wenthwrth's acting, but it did seem over done to me, and his character was truely unstable.

I liked it was a true SVU case with no personal stuff, no shippyness, just a case. (although I do think the whole catching Olivia all decked out at 5 am, thought that was funny.)

I thougth the whole perp out the window was too much but understand why they did it, the thought of the innocent man staying in jail was so horrible., Elliot looked like he was kicked in the stomach.

All in all I liked it and an again hopeful for season 11, especial "Spooked".


(loved Mariska's new opening pic!)

missed the first fifteen minutes, but that's okay I'll watch it again on Saturday


I thought it was a very good episode, way better than Trails.

Love the new temp ADA. Can't wait to have Cabot back full time.


This is going to be a good season

just to make sure, it is on saturday right! and what time if it is? cause i went downstairs to my cousins house to watch it and the stupid jay leno show came on! i completely forgot the commercial- new day NEW TIME.

It'll repeat on Saturday (Sept. 26) at 10 PM eastern time on NBC

Felt weird watching it yesterday (Wednesday) rather on Tuesday.

One more thing I didnt like that I am wondering if anyone else noticed....the opening...right at the end, they have Olivia and Elliot turn around and the camera zooms in on them....the rest of the cast is shut out as if Olivia and Elliot are the only ones who matter on the show. I get that this season is all Liv and Elliot, but come on...have the episodes be about them, but include the rest of the cast in the opening screen shot at the end!!!

Yes, Munchhunchz...I didn't like that about the final 'cast shot' in the opening. I haven't liked the last two cast shots either, for much the same reason.

Plus, it's taken up WAY too close...compare it to the earlier seasons. (Seasons 5-6 were the best IMO.)
The last three have just been cheesy...

I am new here but love reading all the posts.

just wanted to say you can watch the episode on line as well here:

http://www.casttv.com/shows/law-order-svu

-Dix

I noticed that as well and thought it was wierd, especially since although I have a new TV it for some reason doesn't show the full widescreen effect and the people on the ends always seem to get lopped off.

Also, where did you hear/read that this will be an especially Olivia and Elliot centric season?

All I have to say is if this is how season 11 will be then bring it on! My favorite aspect of this episode was seeing all of the detectives working together to solve the crime. I also loved the character Wentworth brought to the show. His negativity and inability to connect to the victim made for something new. It's something we very rarely see on the show. The new ADA...I don't like her. Sure she is trying to whip the SVU squad into shape but I don't like her inability to connect with anyone. She didn't even try and give Elliot advice on what to do about the innocent man in prison. What a wench!

i completely agree with everything you just said. i wonder if we are gonna get to see if the guy ever gets out?

Knowing the way the "continuity" runs on the show, I doubt it, but it would be nice to see.
I liked this episode. It was a good opener and I am very excited for next Wednesday lol. Like Mary said, it was good to see everyone working together and I loved Wentworth's character. I thought he brought an awesome and different aspect to the show which we have never seen. I don't like the new ADA, but I thought it was good that they are bringing different emotions and different views to the show, instead of the same old stuff. I am really really excited for this season.

Just finished watching the first fifteen minutes that I missed.

Thanks Dixi for providing the link. Now my Saturday is free.


I actually liked the character Nate. He was the perfect contrast to El and Liv.

It would be cool to see him interact with Fin and Munch.



The opening credits: Loved Mariska's new photo. Ice T's last one was awful, so I'm glad they gave him a new one.

Anyone noticed that Paxton sure liked to drink her coffee mug? I mean yeah the others do drink it but not like her...

I noticed that as well. It really played up the fact that Lahti is very expressive with her eyes as an actress-something I had never noticed before with her. In several of the key scenes in the episode her tone and what she was saying made her character come off as a *itch, but at the same time she had tears in her eyes, suggesting that she was really upset about the situation.

The first episode of Season Eleven is an somewhat of an improvement over the last few seasons. But it's nowhere near the quality of One through Five. That would be too much to ask.
There was no Munch. He needed to be the one who dealt with Spencer the autistic spymaster. Government surveillance is bad enough but a private person taping what goes on outside their building is creepy. But couldn't they have a picture of Olivia from two years ago?
There was no Huang. He was desperately needed in this episode. They have little forensic evidence and no idea who they are looking for beyond the witness description of an average black man. A profile of the attacker would have been a help.
Warner was in the episode but did we really need her picking up a dead child in the opening, especially when we don't hear about that case again? If we are going to get her instead of Huang, give her some more to do.
As has been mentioned earlier, readjust the group picture at the end of the credits. More than just Warner's hair should be in the picture.
Any episode that has Olivia bitch-slapped by a victim before the opening is off to a good start. Here it was deserved. Olivia was angry with Nat and she let that anger show when she approached Rita. Even if Rita hadn't bonded with Nat, why would she want to talk to anybody with that attitude? Olivia blew and she takes it out on Nat and Rita instead of admitting her mistake.
He did it for the wrong reason, but Nat was right to point out that Rita was thinking. Rita ignoring that little voice in her head contributed to Foster being able to rape her. That is a very different thing from saying the rape was her fault. She needed to have that difference explained to her instead of Olivia's standard “This was not your fault.”.
And Olivia's statement that they were victims' advocates should have gotten a response from Paxton along the lines of “ If you think of yourself as an advocate for victims, you don't belong in this unit.”. Paxton correctly stated that she works for the State. So does everyone in the NYPD, including the Special Victims Unit. The job of a detective is to solve crimes, apprehend the criminals and provide the DA's office with the evidence with which to prosecute them. There are other people in the system to help victims deal with what happened to them. It's time someone pointed out to Olivia that she has to decide what job she wants to do.
Except for the last five minutes, I approve of Paxton. There have been so many screw-ups, the squad needs someone to straighten them out. The DA's office has to be frustrated with having their convictions overturned on appeal because of the police not following the rules. I hope Harris is one of those convictions that gets overturned. Here Paxton was absolutely correct that Elliot and Olivia had to stop talking to Foster immediately when he asked for counsel.
Nat is a different story. I'm not sure how much of the problem was Wentworth Miller's acting or that the character was so one dimensional. There was nothing to the character except angry cop. There's only so much you can do with something that badly written. Even when he was telling about the death of his daughter and ex-wife, there was nothing. And he had no reason to tell that to Olivia.
When he was brought in for questioning, how did Foster know the rape victim was white?
If Foster's wife is a drug addict, why does she have custody of their daughter? All Foster had to do was call ACS and report her as an unfit mother. They would have taken her away. But Olivia telling Nat to take the little girl over to ASC was simply wrong. The right thing to do was call ACS to come to the apartment. They needed to see the state of things to keep the girl away from her mother. Nat taking her for food while her mother was questioned was a reasonable idea. But leaving the mother alone in the apartment was not.
There is another problem with Foster's wife being a drug addict. Foster's first two victims were black prostitutes. But then he switches to raping and cutting a white woman who appears to be of a higher social status. What made him change the type of victim? More importantly, what made him change back and kept him happy abusing his wife for 10 years? And after he loses his job and his wife, he goes back to raping white women? This doesn't make sense.

It also could prevent the first victims from testifying under Molineux. The attack and the victim in the first crimes are different enough for the defense to argue for their exclusion if the case had ever gone to trial. There isn't enough of a pattern to allow the testimony.
Why is everyone so sure Tate is innocent before they investigate? How many vans have those green carpet fibers in them? It's not something unique. Yes, it's worth looking in but they shouldn't make any judgments before checking our the facts.
The victim from 10 years before doesn't need to redo her ID before everything else is checked. If they are going to say eyewitness accounts should be believed even they are fresh, what would be the point of checking someone's recollection after 10 years?
Elliot shouldn't be blaming himself because Tate went to jail. He did his job and handed the ADA the evidence to present to the jury. It's not like he coerced a confession like John Hawkins did in Redemption. He didn't railroad an innocent man. And it's Tate's lawyer's job to present any evidence that Elliot didn't do his job.
I am disturbed by Olivia tracking down Beverly Neel and trying to guilt her into testifying. Especially before checking with Paxton to see if her testimony would even be allowed.
The detectives were wrong to take it out on Paxton that Foster was released on bail. Remand is only given in murder cases,where there is evidence that the defendant will not show up again in court and in certain medical/mental illness situtations.
Finally they waited to get a search warrant until they had probable cause to search, but they never said what they were searching for. It does make a difference. Being allowed to search the van for fibers will allow them to just search the van, but it wouldn't let them search the house.
When they approached the van, why didn't Olivia hold her gun correctly as Elliot did?
Why would Foster confess to two women? He clearly hates women. So why would he explain himself to them? It doesn't fit. It should have been Fin getting Foster to talk.
When Rita comes to the squad room looking for Nat, Olivia is quite short with her. If someone wouldn't let Olivia be the hero, she doesn't seem to be able to take the rejection. Her behavior was just indefensible.
There is a question whether Foster jumped or was pushed. But Olivia is convinced Nat pushed him without any evidence. And she completely ignores what Foster said at the van. He wanted Nat to kill. So why would it be so surprising that Foster would kill himself rather than go to prison. Especially if he set a cop up to take a fall for murder when he did it. He said he got off on the fact that an innocent man sat in prison for his crimes. But I would wait for judgment until TARU gets there and takes their measurements to run the computer program Morales ran in Privilege. That might tell whether Foster jumped or was pushed.
We've been in the men's room many times over the years. The fixtures may move from time to time. But there has never been a window in there before. It isn't believable. Rooms with a window and a view are too valuable to be wasted on a men's room.
When did Olivia get chummy enough with Paxton to get on a first name basis?
The last five minutes were awful. This is the second time Judith McCready has made the same mistake with the rules of evidence. The first time was in Venom. Foster's confession would be admissible in every state. It is hearsay but it falls under an exception to the general admissibility of hearsay called “declaration against interest”. If TPTB really hired experts to help keep the writers honest, they would have caught that mistake.
Even if there was no confession, there was sufficient evidence (beyond the green fibers) previously unavailable at trial to request a new trial for Tate. Given the evidence now would raise reasonable doubt, the DA's office could decline to prosecute. Tate gets out of jail.
There is no excuse for the last five minutes to get things so wrong. It took all the steps that were taken in the right direction and tossed them aside.

I have a qiestion,

the guy who played Foster, was he on another episode of SVU? I watched it again and I have a feeling I saw himon the show before but I can't think of where.

I think we've seen him before on SVU, but I can't remember which episode or what season. I thought he looked familiar too. Sorry I'm not much help.

I checked. It is his first time on SVU.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0991810/

Good point on the lack of Munch--especially with it being the season opener, I wonder why they chose not to use his character at all. Very odd, and hopefully not the beginning of a trend for the season. I would have hoped S9 taught them that we want our dose of Munch.


I did not even consider this. Hair length is probably not so far off, but she should have had bangs in the photo which she did not.


I could be wrong, but wasn't she in 3-4 scenes? It seemed like her character played a fairly typical role in the case.



And the disagreements start...wow. Okay, that first statement doesn't even warrant a reply--it's just plain biased. But after that, I have to completely and utterly disagree with you (I know...shocker, right?). Okay, I don't know about anyone else, but I did NOT get the impression that Olivia was angry with Nate at that point. Like is often the case, he responded to the scene, called SVU in, and she was ready to do her job. She had no ill feelings toward him until she saw how he treated Rena. So there was no attitude and no anger for Rena to pick up on. But the important issue is Rena was NOT AT FAULT! It does not matter if she ignored the little voice in her head--Foster is the one who chose to rape her, and he is the ONLY one at fault here. I cannot repeat that enough. It's such an important thing that I hope you can start to realize this. It does not matter what any survior did or did not do--the rape is NEVER her fault. Olivia was absolutely correct in telling her that, and Nate should have never said what he did. And I understand when you say that it's not the same thing as blaming her, but it is. It absolutely is. You are saying that she had the responsibility to prevent Foster from raping her,and that is absolutely not true. Saying what Nate said accomplishes absolutely nothing but furthering the self-blame the survivor is already going through and further victimizing her over something that was never her fault.



Again, I have to disagree with you here as well. I have worked with many sex crimes detectives. What they have told me (and I firmly believe is true) is that they are victims' advocates. Their job is to believe the victim and to look for evidence to support that story and find the perpetrator. Now that's not to say they don't have to ask tough questions that might make it appear they're not on the victim's side, but that is part of their job. It is the DA and the jury's jobs to prove whether or not a crime did in fact take place. And another thing that the best detectives I've ever worked with have said over and over again is that their job is also to do what the victim wants to do--whether that means pursuing the case or not. If the victim wants to drop it, they drop it. Making the decision to prosecute is a deeply personal one that has to be made by the survivor. One of my favorite detectives told me once that putting the perpetrator behind bars means nothing if the survivor is so traumatized by the process of putting him there that she can't move on with her life. So yes, Olivia's actions were very much a part of her job. There's no decision to make there.



It's possible I am wrong, but if I recall correctly, I believe that ACS is not actually the one in charge of removing minors. Technically, it's a misconception that ACS is the one to take away the child, and it is actually the police who are in charge of removing the minor from the home. Therefore, Olivia was correct in doing so. From this point, the report is filed with ACS who has I think it's 24-48 hours to respond during which time the child is held in foster care. However, with that being said (and I think someone else may have already said this), sending the child with Nate was a really bad idea. I was a little taken aback by that one. The child is coming from a home in which she has already witnessed domestic violence against her mother. Then a strange man (Nate) comes into her house and physically assualts her mother. The child would have been extremely frightened of Nate, and he's the last person who should have taken her. That does not promote a safe and supportive environment for the child. It's disrupting enough to remove the child from their home, but to send them with someone who just violently attacked their mother right in front of them was not healthy for the child.



Excellent observation. However, Foster was impulsive. He chose his victims based on opportunity, not race. With that profile, you are more likely to see victims with different races, ages, and socioeconomic class. The first 2 women we are aware of were both African American versus the last 2 were Caucasian. This could have more to do with the area in which he is living. If he was livng in a more diverse area of the city prior to his incarceration and then moved to a neightborhood that was predominantly Caucausian afterward, this could account for the racial differences.



I thought they did check out the facts. Didn't he confess prior to them making the final judgement that Tate was innocent?



Agreed. Elliot is definitely not the only one at fault here. Furthermore, based on the timeline given on the case, Elliot and Olivia would have been partners at the time which means that most likely, it would have also been her case too. So why didn't we see that?

Okay, the rest of my responses and a further analysis to follow tomorrow. I'm exhausted tonight and need a little sleep.

I completely agree with you here arabesque. I understood that scene in a sense to be similar to Ashley's response to Olivia in the ambulence in 'Undercover.' And while in that case it was because a cop had raped the victim, here I saw the situation as the victim having an intense panic-like reaction to her trauma where she was scared and unable to trust anyone (except her 'hero' Nate). Everyone acts differently to stress and trauma, and Rena's reaction of intense fear was what caused her to slap Olivia. JMHO.


BTW, arabesque I'm guessing from your screen name that you are/were a dancer. Me too! I haven't danced seriously in 5 years and I miss it so! What it is to grow old.

The slapped rocked, but it was not because Liv did something wrong. It was a reaction.

It's ludicrous to look at that scene and see wrong doing or frustration from Liv because she really didn't have time to do anything. She and El gave one another that look for Liv to proceed, but the victim was too freaked. Bottom Line!


ANDREA

Yes, I did used to be a dancer. I retired from my performing career just over 2 years ago. Now I'm working on my master's in dance therapy and interning at an inpatient psychiatric hospital where I'm working with patients with mental illnesses, substance abuse problems, and trauma. I'm also hoping to help them start up a women's trauma program using the creative arts therapies as the primary modality to help aid in healing. But to get back on topic, here's the rest of my analysis/response to hisgirl. BTW, I've missed the debates with you...



Okay, as far as Olivia tracking down Beverly and trying to guilt her into testifying--Olivia was merely doing what she was asked to do by Cragen. His orders to her were to track down the other 2 victims. With that being said, that scene was a huge internal struggle for Olivia that to me goes back to Undercover and Smut. Olivia obviously is looking at this in a different way from how she used to. Her initial conversation with Beverly appears to be hitting quite close to home. Whether she'll admit it or not, Beverly telling her "I've seen what goes on in rape cases" is a part of the reason Olivia is afraid of anyone finding out the truth of what happened at Sealview. She's trying to convince herself just as much as she is Beverly when she replies back that "There are laws to shield rape victims", but Beverly's response is a confirmation of her own fears about coming forward. Olivia needs to feel like those laws are enough—she needs to feel that they can save her, save her job should the truth ever come out. And Beverly’s response feels like a confirmation of why she never came forward.

Olivia feels like she never got closure with Harris. She feels like somehow if she can help Beverly or Rena come forward, that she will be giving them a sense of closure that she never got for herself. She thinks that she's helping them by encouraging them to do this because she knows firsthand what it feels like to not do that. She feels a huge amount of guilt, and in a way, she is trying to spare them from feeling what she herself is going through. Olivia is responsible for putting Harris behind bars--she's the one who questioned him. She's the one who convinced Ashley to remember the mole. That was her way of finding control again, but Sonya's presence in the squad room and her talks about overturned convictions (as well as the fact that this is an issue being brought up in the case) are very real concerns that are now haunting her. She's starting to wonder and question what will happen if that wasn't enough, if Harris is somehow released. Because in her head, she thinks that if that happens, it will be all her fault.

When Nate says, "Women are being raped. Do we have to subpoena you?” Olivia is very visibly shaken. A part of her is blaming herself for the fact that if Harris' conviction is overturned, she may be responsible for him raping other women because she didn't have the strength to come forward. And a part of her is realizing that as much as she is trying to control the situation by making the decision not to talk, that control could be pulled away from her at any moment. When Nate says, "You don't know cops if you think that's an empty threat", watch Olivia’s reaction. She unconsciously pulls her jacket closer to her. The muscles in her face, which up until this point were very tense, all of a sudden relax into a sense of helplessness. She has dropped all of her defenses and has this defeated look to her, thus the reason for her to try to pull her “armor” closer to her. She thinks if she can control who knows what happened to her, she can control what happened to her. Nate is pulling that away from her and confronting her with the reality that she may not be able to control that anymore. That realization is something that really shakes here and would have brought up a lot of emotions after her assault. That’s the point where she stops pushing. She can’t push further after that.



While of course, they want remand, I think that the main reason they were upset was that Paxton never told them that Foster was out on bail. They couldn’t watch out for him, and when a new case came in, they would have started working at case under the assumption that Foster was innocent had Paxton not been there to tell them he had been released. I got the sense it was more the lack of teamwork that got to them there.



I was under the impression the warrant was to search both the house and the van. They were looking for the knife and the fibers—the knife most likely in the home, and the fibers in the van (although both ended up being in the van).



Olivia often holds her Glock out with just one arm. This is not unusual for her. Fault is the perfect example. As for the specific reasoning behind it, I don’t know enough about firearms and proper handling to know what kind of difference there is. It may have something to do with the fact that she needed to have her other hand free to communicate with Elliot, to grab her cuffs, to radio for help, etc.



Excellent observation, however, here’s my take on it. Yes, Foster hates women, but he does enjoy controlling them. That’s what his confession was all about. To him it was all a game. He felt like he had complete control over Olivia and Paxton’s reaction to what he said. His confession was all about degrading the victims, emphasizing his control over them, and he was playing off of Olivia and Paxton’s reaction to that. There was no remorse whatsoever. Watch the sense of satisfaction he derived from the moment Olivia swallows and intentionally stays quiet. Watch the change in Paxton’s demeanor. In his sick, twisted mind he was controlling them, deriving a pleasure from them that he would have never gotten had it been Fin or another male detective interrogating him. He knew he was going down, and he wanted and needed to indulge in that one last power struggle before he did.

Okay, so apparently twitter is not the only place with restrictions. I had to split this up in a separate post so here's the rest..



Wow, okay. First of all, this had nothing to do with some proposed hero complex. Olivia’s behavior in this scene is exactly what she needed to do. It was all about helping Rena. I take a similar approach with every sexual assault survivor I’ve ever worked with. I am always there to help, but there comes a point in their recovery where (when I feel they are ready for this) I start to change my approach to helping them. I start to step back a little, make myself less available to them. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s not that I’m not there to help because I do. But I recognize what they can’t always see. If I make myself too available to them, they start to rely on me and not themselves. That is not the way to help someone recover. It’s my job to empower them. If I let them lean on me too much, I am not doing that. I’m teaching them to rely on me, and not themselves which means they will never be able to cope on their own. In order to help them move forward, they have to learn to find ways of solving problems themselves. That does not mean I’m not going to help give them the resources to do that, but I’m not going to do that for them. Otherwise, I’m helping myself, not them. It’s about caring for their future instead of caring about how helping them makes me feel. Hopefully that makes sense.



Okay, suicide versus murder. While I would defer to forensics for their assessment, my initial reaction is murder. I don’t base that off of the dialogue we have been given because in all honesty, it could go either way. I’m basing that off of the behavior of both men. If Foster planned on killing himself, my first thought would be to determine whether or not he had a plan to carry this out. For someone who does not have a plan, behavior prior to the act would be erratic, disorganized, anxious. We didn’t see any of that. His behavior was calm, collected, relaxed. That’s the sign of someone who plans on killing themselves, but has a plan in place for how to do that. Foster would have no way of doing that. He had no way of knowing when he asked to go to the bathroom that there was a window. In fact, it’s possible that New York state may even mandate the use of window gates/guards in a unit working with children which would make such an act too time consuming to carry out with Nate being right there. His behavior simply does not support suicide.

Nate, on the other hand, was far too shaken up when Elliot and Olivia arrived in the bathroom. This to me is unusual for a homicide detective who is in no way attached to the victim. Nate’s behavior if he were innocent should have been more like what we saw outside on the sidewalk. I would have to say that his reaction supports it being a homicide. Additionally, we have seen that he is not stable. We have seen he has a propensity toward violence, is depressed, and probably looks at his job for being the main reason he lost his family—all in all, a combination of factors that lead me to think Nate did in fact push Foster.



I would be interested in looking at the other scenes shot in the men’s room. My recollection is that most of the scenes shot have been around the door area as opposed to the far end where the window was shown, but it is certainly possible and would not surprise me in the least bit if that is true. As far as rooms with a window and view, maybe that’s a NY thing. I have seen many restrooms with windows since moving here, many of which do have a view.



Well, I’m not sure chummy would be the word I would use, but I am not at all surprised with the use of Sonya’s first name here. Paxton was clearly very upset and shaken. Olivia’s natural tendency when working with someone like that is to meet them at eye level, soften her voice, and use terms of endearment or a nickname. Obviously terms of endearment would not have gone over well, so she used Sonya’s first name instead.



I was interested in hearing your thoughts on this because I have to say I had my doubts on the validity of Paxton’s argument here. It would have certainly been an interesting avenue to explore and I enjoyed the ending because of the ethical dilemna it brought up and can't help wondering if there's a way they could have achieved that and stayed true to the legal side as well (for example, would it have made a difference if the confession had not been recorded, etc.). WIth that being said, I have 2 theories to support how it did play out—one of which I am not going to say because I don’t think this is the thread for a spoiler, but for those of you who know about episode 4, you should be able to figure it out. My other reason which I will say is that perhaps this was intentional to bring up other issues. A big difference between Sonya’s character and Alex Cabot is Sonya would do exactly what we saw and Alex would fight tooth and nail until Tate was out of jail. This could be highlighting this difference. I think there is already a lot of tension and resentment over the fact that Paxton is taking Alex’s place. There is also a lot beneath this that I would love to see explored, especially in regard to Olivia’s character. Olivia has struggled with attachment problems with Casey, with Kim, and now we see Paxton stepping in. She perceives all of them to be taking Alex’s place and has not responded well to that.

Olivia has been extremely guarded since Alex came back, afraid to let their friendship be what it once was out of fear of losing that again. While they may have “connected” again as colleagues, they have obviously not done so on a personal level, or chances are Olivia would have already known that Alex was in Albany. This could bring up additional fears where Olivia could now wonder if keeping that emotional distance may be the one thing that pushes Alex away again and is ultimately responsible for her losing the one thing she feels like she hasn’t had since Loss. This entire dilemma gives an entirely different dimension to the relationship between Paxton and Olivia. Paxton’s approach to the job and her competency in the job are big issues in how that all plays out.

I agree with everything you had to say so I am going to try and give a broader reasoning to this response. Just because Olivia and Elliot have been partners for 10+ years doesn't mean they work every single case together. They work cases separately all the time. Perhaps Olivia was still in training or had seminars or court appearances. Elliot could have very easily worked this case on his own or had assistance from other detectives no longer in the picture. That may be why Elliot was the primary.

Okay, I just re-watched this scene. The problem is actually with Fin's line. He's the one who says a 10 year old case, but immediately after the commercial break, El says the case was in 1998. Liv didn't joint the unit until around May of that year so it would make sense if it was a case from early in 1998 which would make it almost an 11 1/2 year old case. If it was later in the year, it's possible she was in training like you had suggested. It would probably be to early for her to have a court appearance unless it was related to her work prior to coming to SVU.