LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
HAMMERED
10-14-2009 9:00PM

http://nbcumv.com/listing_detail.nbc/nbc-20091014210000.html

A WOMAN IS FOUND BRUTALLY MURDERED, AND THE MAIN SUSPECT IS A RECOVERING ALCOHOLIC WHO CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED.

After a night of heavy drinking, Dalton Rindell (guest star Scott Foley) wakes up to a bloody apartment, a terrible cut on his head and a dead woman in his bed. Unable to recall the night before, Rindell immediately calls the police. Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) suspect the crime is the result of a deadly love triangle; however Rindell does not recognize the victim. After questioning Rindell and the victim’s family and friends, Benson and Stabler are provided with leads in several different directions. Unsure which lead to follow, the two detectives decide to return to the bar where the night began in order to piece together the gruesome truth. Also starring: Richard Belzer (Detective John Munch), Dann Florek (Captain Donald Cragen), Ice-T (Detective Odafin Tutuola), Tamara Tunie (Dr. Melinda Warner), and B.D. Wong (Dr. George Huang).

Alriiiiight!!

Im totally liking this episode for some reason! Can't wait!
P.S i can totally think some EO things with this hahaha

Isn't this the episode where Olivia discovers a shocking secret about one of her collegues?
On the other hand, I'm sure this episode will go back home for Olivia about her own past with her alcoholic mother.

This one sounds really interesting, definately something that they haven't done before.

I thought Olivia had a secret.

2 previews of HAMMERED from NBC.

http://www.nbc.com/Law_and_Order_Special_V...mmered/1164556/

http://www.nbc.com/Law_and_Order_Special_V...mmered/1164453/

The day Liv lets go of some of those demons will be a very happy day for me. It's been what? 11 seasons! But does the first season count because Serena was a well adjusted woman who loved her daughter and enjoyed her company, and she also appeared to be a sophisticated social drinker. So I would say S1 does not count.


ANDREA

I am glad she is going to go to her mother's grave site. We have never seen her talk to her mother and let go. Perhaps this episode will show that. It looks really interesting. Cannot wait till next week!

Looking at the previews, I am reminded of "Hindsight" on the mothership. A cop wakes up and finds the dead body of a woman in his apartment with no memory of how she got dead.

I remember that one, Hisgirl. It was a good one. Fingers crossed that this one is just as good...the preview looks interesting.

I'm excited for this one...well actually I'm excited for every episode this season. It seems like it's going to have a big twist and I love those. I hope we see all the detectives work together in this one. I feel like we haven't seen that happen in forever.

If its me, this is the first time Olivia has gone to see her mother in the cementary. Actually this is the first time we get to see Olivia going to the cementary to see her mother.

You are correct. Olivia has talked about her mother but never visited her resting place. This should be interesting.

I didn't realize this was the first time she was going to visit her mother. So is this the episode Olivia finds something out about a co worker?

I can't wait to see this episode. I think the ADA is going to do something that she has no business doing. Judging by Neal Baers Twitter, something is about to go down.

And LOL @ the look on Elliot's and Olivia's faces when they were looking at whatever was on the laptop.

Okay anyone else not okay with the ending of this episode??

Paxton was amazing, definitely Lahti's BEST episode yet, so she did go out with a bang, but did anyone else have a problem with seeing Liv at her mother's gravesite at the end of the epi? To me it made no sense, didnt fit in with anything that was going on. Yes, her mother was a drunk and was talked about an awful lot in this episode, but....where was the connection and why the ending with her at the grave in the last 5 minutes of the show?

I just thought it was very out of place and senseless.

I didn't see a problem with it. It was actually nice to see her at her mothers gavesite...and I thought it was good for her personally to go visit. It seems to me it brought a sort of peace in the story...I don't know, but it was nice to see.

As for Paxton, great great story for her. I loved it...just wow. Good episode!

I haven't watched the epi yet (That's what living in the Pacific Time Zone does for ya) but I clicked on this thread on accident. BUT since it was shown in the preview her visiting her mom's grave fortunately I didn't see any spoilers.

Anywho, I don't see a problem with it either. The case doesn't have to have a connection with her mom in order for her to see her grave. The case was Alcohol related so maybe she started to think about her mother and wanted to pay her a visit at her gravesite.

I didn't see anything wrong with the ending scene either, the episode pretty much did lead up to it for Olivia. She spoke about her mother being drunk and her death of falling down the flight of stairs (although the grave had a goof- Serena died in September, not December) and she mentioned that Paxton reminded her a lot of her mother.
EDIT: about the grave...BELOVED MOTHER?????? Really? I would think after all of what Olivia went through with her mother she wouldn't have placed Beloved Mother on the grave...more like Rest in Peace or something but not that....

The episode did kinda hit close to home for me. My grandmother was an alcoholic but was 30 years sober before she died almost three years ago. I remember her being quite open about it (like Cragen) sharing in some of her nightmarish stories. I know one of the steps of AA is to make amends which Paxton did near the end of the episode which was a smart move.
Speaking of Paxton, I thought that was an excellent performance by Lahti! At first I wasn't too crazy about her but after watching her episodes again and again I realized that I did indeed like her; she reminds me of Tucker in many ways. One of those characters you just love to hate yet love as well. I laughed with Stabler near the beginning when she came in to the squad with his wisecracks directly to her saying that his day just got worst to her busting his balls around.
EDIT: I'm glad Cragen called out to Sonya about her coffee drinking! However I would think she would have spiked it with a couple of shots
I think Paxton will be returning next week's episode Hardwired (I remember someone from SVU staff posting a picture of Alex and Sonya together outside the courthouse) and episode 9's Turmoil.
I thought Scott Foley did a great job for his role as well- kudos to him.

Overall I really liked the episode, great performances by all, probably my favorite of the season so far. But I can't help but noticing that Scott Foley's character's last name Rindall was very familiar sounding to Wentworth Miller's character's last name Randell. I think the writers need to get access to some sort of a widespread phone book and come up with other last names, including first names as well (how often have we come across a little kid called Tommy?)

Still no Haung. It looks like he'll be in next week's episode though from the looks of the preview which didn't show Alex! I was expecting to see her but instead it was mostly focused on Rosie Perez.

I agree. Half of me was happy that she is going to be gone for a while but the other half wants her to stay because she adds something to the show and has great chemistry with the rest of the cast.

I LOVED tonight's episode. I had a little bit of trouble getting drawn into the first three as I thought they could of been better but this one had me on the edge of my seat. Especially when Olivia had to make Sonya blow on the breathalyzer in the court room. I too liked how Cragen called Sonya out about the coffee because it could of been two things. That he was trying to make a point about addiction thinking she was addicted to it OR that he knew with all the coffee she could of been trying to cover up something.

I think everyone did a great job. Scott Foley played his role well, but I think tonights MVP was Christine Lahti. Despite how much I wanted to slap Sonya during these first 4 episodes, I did kind of feel sorry for her when she announced she was leaving to court ordered rehab. Interested to see how everything plays out when she gets back.

I loved this episode so much that I'm actually watching it against right now lol.

LOL @ "What's your problem you tiny little man"

EDIT: And ditto on the "Beloved Mother" thing.

Here's another thing I'm having a bit of an issue where Olivia did the breathalyzer thing on Paxton and she said "I thought we were friends"...huh?????
Colleagues- fine.
Acquintances- okay.
Friends?
Ever since Paxton arrived to pretty much now, I don't consider her relationship with the detectives and Cragen as "friends". The detectives are friends, they are friends with Cragen, they are friends with Warner, Novak, Cabot, Haung, those I can see a friendship there. I didn't see a friendship between them and Paxton.

I don't think the writers wanted us to think that those two were friends. I think Sonya was drunk, rambling, and desperate to get out of the situation she's in. The day before she got in trouble for showing that tape and now going to court drunk she knew her career was possibly going to be over so she was going to say anything to save it. She even accused the Judge of trying to ruin her rep. It was one of those things that people you knew who treated you disrespectfully and then when they need help, they run to you and say "I thought we were friends". It's happened to me a couple of times.

What I would of had an issue with was if when Sonya said that, Olivia started to think about not got giving her the breathalyzer. But she didn't even hesitate.

I have no doubt that dispite what she went through, Olivia loved her mother very much...which is part of the reason she came to SVU. Besides "Beloved Mother", looks better that "Crazy bitch", lol! I thought the ending was good.

Speaking of Crazy bitches, I am going to miss Paxton, she was just a hot mess!!!! I loved her drunk in the court room,. I can't wait to see her in a few weeks...although I did not like the "Mommy likes her cocktails" remark...Where I come from someone talks about your mother, its an automatic beat down, evenif they are right.

All in all I really liked this one, best one so far in season 11....until Dean comes back.

I agree. Paxton was desperate and thought their working relationship was enough.

Ms. Lahti was fantastic in last night's eppy. Even though I figured out she was an alcoholic before the reveal, even before the scene at the bar, I was anxious to see what the character would do next. She was great.

Her first interaction with Elliot was hilarous.


ANDREA

Is it me or what Cragen out of line for bringing up Liv's mother that way? If he wants to talk about his own stupors and subsequent sobriety, that fine, but he should have left Liv out of it.

When Paxton chimed in, El watched closely because if appears that he was ready to step in if things got out of hand. Very protective man there.


ANDREA

I think what Craigen did was a bit of a cheap shot. I felt it so bad that I even said "oooooh" out loud. I really thought she was going to say something back to him.

Of course Elliot was going to be protective of her. He knows what she's been through with her mother's death and the whole thing with her brother. Plus add in the fact that Elliot doesn't even like Sonya so if she would of said something out of line then it would of gotten nasty up in there.

So I'm sitting in my dorm room watching SVU when this part comes up about Olivia's mother. But as soon as it happens, someones knocks on the door and I missed what Cragen, Elliot, Olivia, and Paxton says lol. Does anyone have a recap of what was said?

Sonya: Good New People, Judge isn't allowing Dalton's cock-a-maymee alcoholism is a disease offense.

Cragen: Well I'm familia with Dr. Sopher's work, the point of the research isn't to excuse criminal behavior it's to find a cure.

Sonya: Yeah well...good luck with that.

Elliot: If they could, crime would be down 50%.

Munch: More than that for sexual assault. Some of us might be out of a job.

Olivia: Please, people do bad things because they are bad people. Getting drunk to do it is just an excuse.

Sonya: Olivia finally, we agree on something.

Cragen: Liv if there had been a cure a decade ago your mom might still be alive.

Sonya: Wait, Mommy liked her cocktail?

Ouch...okay thank you! Did Elliot jump in at all?

No, but he was watching Liv to see where it was going - total Rottweiller mode.


ANDREA

I agree. I thought the ADA would have said something like that...not Cragen..

Yeah, that is kind of weird he brought that up. Maybe he rather talk about her mom than himself since they were talking about alcohol addiction.

From the moment Paxton entered that precinct she has gone out of her way to make the rest of the squad's lives hell. That is one of the main reason why I couldn't form a connection with her character. The comment, "I thought we were friends" threw me off a bit. I think it was her way to get out of the crap situation she found herself in. What creeped me out was when she put her hand on Elliot and Elliot freaked out. It was like he was trying to get awa from a sexual assault or something. Did he know that she was toasted or was he leaving with a quickness because he was afraid of incriminating himself? I'm just a little bit confussed...

Hammered was yet another misstep in a long list of SVU episodes. The writers moved like a water bug over the surface of the issues raised without ever going in for a deeper look. It is a systematic problem with the current SVU writers/Neil Baer. And the worst part is that this could have been a great episode had the focus been on Cragen. He should have been the one to recognize Dalton as an alcoholic who had a blackout. He should have been the one talking to Dalton as someone who understood hi problem. He should have been the one who picked up on Paxton's problem. And we should have seen Cragen still battling with his problem even after 20 years.

In the opening sequences, Dalton did not look like a man who was as drunk as it turns out he was. We find out he had 7 or 8 drinks at the bar. The bartender should have cut him off long before that happened. He would have been well over the legal limit. With that amount of alcohol in his system, Dalton should still have been drunk 6 ½ hours later.
Add to that, he said he was taking a benzodiazepine for anxiety. That class of medicine is not to be taken with alcohol. The combination of benzodiazepine and alcohol can be fatal. But most importantly, benzodiazepines has its won side effects. From the Academy of Family Physicians:
“Memory Impairment
Benzodiazepines induce anterograde amnesia, which accounts for the beneficial effects of benzodiazepines such as midazolam (Versed) for presurgical medication. These specific amnestic effects appear to be separate from sedation.11 Episodic memory (the remembering of recent events and the circumstances in which they occurred and their time sequences) is particularly impaired and more markedly so in heavy alcohol drinkers who also use benzodiazepines. Specific deficits in visuospatial ability and sustained attention have also been described in patients who have taken therapeutic doses of benzodiazepines regularly for longer than one year.
Paradoxical Disinhibition
Increased excitement, irritability, aggression, hostility and impulsivity may occur in some patients who take benzodiazepines. This paradoxical disinhibition may, in rare cases, result in attacks of rage or violence, or other indiscretionary or antisocial behaviors. Such reactions may be due to disinhibition of behavioral tendencies normally suppressed by social restraints (as can also be the case with alcohol). These reactions occur most commonly in children, in the elderly and in persons with developmental disabilities.”
Why didn't Dalton's lawyer ever bring this up? With Dalton's history of blackout and violent behavior while drinking, why was he prescribed this drug?

Warner's statement about time of death at the crime scene is a problem. She said she knew the time of death was due to the watch crystal being broken. But Olivia had to wipe blood off the crystal to read the time. So how did Warner know the time? More importantly, Warner is supposed to determine time and manner of death from the condition of the body. Just because the watch was broken doesn't mean that is when the victim died. Warner knows better than that.
A bathroom mirror that is over a sink is not going to be something that gets broken easily. It can be done but the sink tends to get in the way.
Asking Dalton for exampler prints is one thing. That would be normal. But asking for his DNA and to search his apartment is not, especially given Dalton's condition. The line about not wanting to have to bother a judge was just beyond belief. The DNA results should be inadmissible. Had they found anything incriminating in the search that went beyond the normal crime scene area search, that would also have been thrown out as well.
When Dalton was taken to the hospital,that would have been the time to do a blood test to check for drugs in his system.
Why did Cragen have such a problem with developers? He just automatically assumed they were trying to defraud their customers. There was no reason for that.
There was more Munch in this episode and he seems to be getting back into the spirit of old. But the exchanges between Munch and Fin have a nasty edge to them that goes beyond gallows humor.I t needs to be toned down.
A man as drunk as Dalton was thinks to pack up his victim's clothes in her (?) bag and throw it out the window. And he does it without getting blood on it. Sorry but that doesn't make any sense. But it also doesn't make much sense that he would take a shower and wash off the hammer.
The abortion clinic angle was such a red herring that they shouldn't have bothered. The entire sequence could have been removed with no loss in the story. The only information they needed to get was that Audrey went to dinner with a friend.
The scene outside the abortion clinic was horrid. The police are not going to stop and discuss their personal philosophies about abortion when investigating a case. We know Elliot is a staunch Catholic and doesn't agree with the idea of abortion, he has been good about keeping his opinion to himself. And Olivia was engaged in a shouting match on a public sidewalk while on duty. That is completely unprofessional behavior.
Olivia's statements are even worse because of the assumptions she makes. Abortions due to rape and incest are estimated to be 1% of the abortions performed in this county. That number does not account for abortions where the patient does not report she was pregnant because of a rape. Even before rapists started wearing condoms to avoid leaving DNA and the morning after pill was routinely offered to women who reported rapes, getting pregnant due to a rape was not common. There are very few studies on the effect on the mother who gives birth to a child of rape. But those that do exist do not support Olivia's claim that a mother will not love that child. I know Olivia wants to blame Serena and how she was conceived for her own emotional problems. But that claim doesn't hold up. And Mariska's over-emoting really flushes the scene.
Taking Dalton on a field trip to the bar was yet stupid move. You would think Elliot and Olivia learned that lesson after Choreographed. Cragen was right to yell at them afterwards. But there was no reason to do it. Munch and Fin should have taken the pictures to the bartender and if he identified Dalton as the man who left with Audry, they should have brought him to the station to do a lineup.
If Dalton was in AA for a year, why didn't he call his sponsor?
If Elliot's phone had enough signal to ring, why didn't he have enough signal to talk? That was the lamest excuse to get him away from the men's room to let Dalton escape.
The law in New York using intoxication as a defense is more complicated than Paxton said. Section 15.25 states: “Intoxication is not, as such, a defense to a criminal charge; but in any prosecution for an offense, evidence of intoxication of the defendant may be offered by the defendant whenever it is relevant to negative an element of the crime charged.". Translated from the legalese, what that means is that being intoxicated can prevent a defendant from forming intent which can be a required element of a crime. Intent is a required element for murder, so if a jury believes the defendant was unable to form the intent to murder due to intoxication, he will not be convicted of murder. He could however be found guilty of second degree manslaughter, a Class C felony with a sentence of 31/2 to 15 years in prison. This is the reason drunk drivers are charged with vehicular homicide instead of murder. So Moredock's ruling disallowing Dalton's defense is simply wrong.
Both the AMA and the ABA recognize that alcoholism is a disease for years. There was no need for a Frye hearing on that subject. Not everyone agrees but it is the prevailing opinion.
There is a need for a Frye hearing on the admissibility of the scan station results. While the scan itself records information, it is the reaction and how it is formed that is of questionable accuracy. Even if it were found to be reliable as defined by law, there is the question of whether admitting it would be too prejudicial.
It was nice to Dr Sofer again. It would have be better if Huang had been back as well.
The scene in the squad room after the hearing was bizarre and inappropriate. Cragen bringing up Olivia's mother was out of character. There was no reason to bring up something that personal in a work discussion. Paxton's catty comments I expected but no the set-up from Cragen.
Munch's statement that Serena started drinking after she was raped in order to cope was also out of line but for a different reason. As far as we know Munch never met Serena and has no idea when or why she started drinking. His major contact with her was from the police report about her rape. There was nothing there to indicate Serena was drinking before the rape or started to drink after to cope. So he is making an assumption based on the stories Olivia has told about her mother. Munch is a better detective than that.
Elliot was not protective of Olivia at all during that scene. He stood back and just watched as Olivia and Paxton went at each other. A smart move on his part.
But Olivia's line “People do bad things because they are bad people” has to be one of the stupidest things she has ever said. This from someone who supported a woman beating a murder conviction because she claimed was a battered wife when she killed her husband. She can't have it both ways.
I have known a lot of lawyers over the years, but I have never seen anybody do their trial prep in a bar. You might bring papers to be signed by a client over dinner and drinks. But working in public with a drink in her hand is not something Paxton would do. In her office, I could believe. But not in a bar.
Paxton was touchy-feely with Elliot again. This time he seemed to notice and made sure to get out of reach.
Olivia is left at the bar with Paxton. Does she just leave her when they are done over her testimony? She doesn't get the bartender to call Paxton a cab to take her home when it's clear she's had too many? They may not be friends but at least for the sake of the trial, I would expect more from Olivia than to just walk away from a drunken ADA.
The ADA is 45 minutes late to trial and nobody has contacted her office or her home or her cell phone. Again we have stepped out of the realm of reality. Judges are not that patient with lawyers.
The claim of a car accident was interesting. The problem is that it would be so easy to on it. And it wouldn't explain why the police didn't contact the court when they found out who Paxton was. Not the best choice for an excuse.
Going after Paxton in the court room would be wrong. Court would be adjourned and everything would have been done in the judge's chambers. It's a matter of preserving the decorum of the court not to expose a lawyer coming to court drunk or even hungover.
There was no reason to have Olivia bring a Breathalyzer. If there was one in the courthouse, the bailiff could have gotten it himself. You don't need a detective to do that test.
Paxton referring to Olivia as her friend doesn't seem out of place. She has been trying to get Olivia on her side of things as another woman since she arrived.
Declaring a mistrial because of the wrong tape makes sense because the jury is not going to forget or overlook the image of the defendant on the tape. But dismissing the case because of it is another matter. It is up to the discretion of the court. But here there is no evidence the ADA acted in bad faith or violation of her duties as Casey did in Cold.
Why was Olivia so convinced that Dalton was lying about his blackout? He had said he didn't remember what happened through the entire episode, even before he was a suspect. It is unlikely he will ever know what he did. Why does she need to make it harder for him? She has never gotten on Cragen's case for things he did before he was stopped drinking. Is she trying to punish her mother through Dalton?
Paxton's coming back to the squad room to apologize should have waited until after she went through rehab. It didn't fit the character or the siutation. It was too big of a change from her behavior before.
Court ordered rehab doesn't make sense. Suspension from her job or from the Bar until she gets help would have been the right way to go. But the judge ordering it himself is outside his scope of authority.
The last scene with Olivia at Serena's grave was also wrong for the same reason as Paxton's apology. There was no sense that Olivia had gone through the process of forgiving Serena, anymore than Paxton had had time to accept her problem. It would have made more sense to hear Olivia talk about her mother in therapy. Then there would be a basis to think that Olivia was dealing with her problem with Serena. But there wasn't any of that.

What could have been a good episode was undermined by the lack of research and understanding of the law, failure to focus the right characters for the story and not taking time to really do character development.