TV review: Law & Order SVU: Season 12 Ep: 19-24

I can't begin to describe how much I love this show.. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it in consecutive order because TV1 would show one season then before the finale, it'll switch to an older season without telling me, haha.. However, I heard that before the 13th season started that there were talks that both leads will not be coming back.. Then I heard that Detective Stabler will no longer be returning.. *sniff*

'Smoked' was the final episode in season 12 and I don't know how they're going to start season 13 without Christopher Meloni's character.. It just doesn't feel right because it's alwasy been Elliot & Olivia.. :(

Sadness aside, I was lucky to catch the last 6 episodes of season 12 with Network 10 showing two episdoes per week.. Let's start with episode 19, Bombshell.

S12, E19: Bombshell: I was shocked to see Rose McGowan.. I must admit that I haven't seen her in a while and the last time I remember seeing her was in Charmed (which ended 5 yrs ago, I know). She was a bit different from how I remember her.. It wasn't because I was expecting the same Rose McGowan as the one I always watched in Charmed. but, well.. Anyway, this is not a discussion with how she looks, hehe..

The case, while interesting, was a bit predictable.. Rose's character, Cassandra, was working in a swingers' club where one of the patrons got a bit too attached to her so his wife stabbed him before he could transfer all of their family's life savings to Cassandra. He lived and was determined more than ever to "save" Cassandra from her jealous boyfriend. Doug,  who turns out was her twin brother.. Cassandra and Doug conned husbands of their money by pretending that Cassandra had a jealous "boyfriend"and therefore would need funds to escape from him. I really wasn't convinced of Cassandra's allure even when she turned it full on when she tried to sweet talk Stabler.. Anyway, stupid stabbed-husband killed Cassandra's "boyfriend" so they could live happily ever after.. The thing is, Cassandra had more than a brother-sister relationship with Doug which Stabler labelled her own version of 'bromance'..

This was the last episode I saw Dr Huang and later I found out that he's no longer with the show.. He was a minor character, yes, but he made an impact to the show and he will be missed..

S12, E20: Totem: Jeremy Irons! Now, there's a good-looking guy.. The detectives seem to know him from way back but this is the 1st time I saw him on the show so I'm guessing he's returned to guest star and I hope it won't be the last..

It was nice to see Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet in LOST) as well. She delivered on this episode and I was so pleased with this episode over-all.. This episode reminded me of House where he told his team that parents screw up their kids all the time.. It was true on this episode and while I know the characters were fictional, I sincerely hope that this doesn't happen in real life.. Too awful, just awful..

Cap (Jeremy Irons) took the place of the now-absent Dr Huang in helping the detectives figure out what made June (Elizabeth Mitchell) kill one of her piano students. They found out that she has been sexually molested by her dad and she's finally snapped when her attraction for her student became too much for her to fight. The twist is that June lied about her dad molesting her. It was her mom who did. The other twist? June has a stepsister who is still being abused by their mom and was the one who snapped. June was willing to take the fall for her half-sister because she felt guilty for leaving her alone with their mother.

What a story.. It was too awful to think about.. How can cops continue doing their work when they encounter/see humanity at their worst day after day after day? Stories like this, which may or may not happen in real is just too distressing..

S12, E21: Reparations: Welcome back ADA Casey Novak! I'm still torn which ADA I like more, her or Alex Cabot.. But because of the stunt she pulled that got her suspended, I'm now leaning more towards Alex.. Anyway, it was great to see her back with the team..

It was another distressing episode (I really should stop saying distressing because you can't really expect a happy episode with a show like SVU, eventhough they solve cases & catch the bad guys). The episode is about discrimination and how the children pay for their parent's sins..

There was one thing that confused me with this episode. If the victim knew her attacker and was told by her klan-member grandpa to scream 'rape' instead of B&E, why did she accuse her bestfriend's brother? She didn't know the connection between her grandpa & her attacker's mom, so why did she accuse somebody else?

Anyway, what distressed me was the klan-member grandpa.. I wanted to smack his smug face for having the gall to scream at the mother of her granddaughter's attacker!

*breathe, Hermalyn, breathe* 

When grandpa was young, he and his buddies raped a young, black mother and made her son watch. They got away with it by saying she was a prostitute and they paid for her services.. Now older, he's still discriminating and was trying to pass it to his granddaughter.. Granddaughter was more open-minded because her bestfriend and roommate was black, but when she was attacked, she took her grandpa's advise to tell everybody that she was raped. Terrence Howard was the defendant's cousin and it was her aunt that was raped all those years ago. He wanted to give grandpa a piece of his mind but he can no longer bring him to court for rape because the statute of limitations have passed, or something like that.

Anyway, the defendant did attack the granddaughter to get back at her grandpa, so grandpa will know what it feels like to be helpless while an injustice was being done to somebody he cared for. He said he watched her mother got raped and wouldn't do that to the granddaughter. In the end both victim and defendent went to prison (she lied about the rape and perjured herself and he for attacking her). Son and granddaughter apologised to each other, for what it's worth..

S12, E22: Bang: John Stamos!!! I don't think I have ever gotten over my childhood crush over him (and Brett Hart) and it was a joy to see him in Glee (sadly, I see no reason for him to come back). So when I saw him on this episode, I was gleefully delighted!

I have to say, I didn't like his character in this episode, though.. I also didn't think it was a great episode..

Technically, Ken (John Stamos) was not doing something illegal but he's purposely caused most of, if not all, the ladies he's slept with to be pregnant by purposely poking holes on his protection. He says he takes care of all his kids and does good by them (by sending monthly cheques) but wouldn't let them live with him or really spend time with them.. The term Olivia used was 'reproductive abuser'.

Because Dr Huang is no longer their resident psychiatrist, Olivia called in an expert who presented a class that Olivia went to regarding the subject of reproductive abusers. Turns out this expert has a low tolerance for criminals and when Ken had the audacity to ask her out, she devised a plan to effectively cut off his womanising ways.. However, the knife she picked was one of those diving knives that injects something inside what it was struck and blows it inside out.

S12, E23: Delinquent: Again, an episode where a parent screws up her child..

Rita Wilson (who I think is aging really well!) is Bree, the mother of Hunter, ('Young Ben' in LOST) a 14-yr old boy who was sexually abused by his nanny. Bree did not send his son for counselling, thinking he will come to terms with what's happened to him on his own, so he became a serial rapist (at 14! goodness.. distressing!). The young man is smart and almost got Elliot in trouble when he pretended that Elliot copped (pun intended, hehe) a feel when he was locking him up.

Hunter was pretty chilling.. He tried to deal with what's happened to him by committing all those crimes but all he really wanted was to get back at his nanny. He then told his mom that he was going to do the police's job for them so he went and took care of his nanny.. After killing her, he seems to have come to terms with what was done to him and became a 14yr old hurting boy, instead of the uncaring & deceptive one that we saw earlier.. 

On a quick note, I don't like the current ADA.

On another note, another weak episode for me..

S12, E24: Smoked: Wow, what a season finale..

A rape victim who was set to go to court was killed in front of her daughter. The guy who killed her was hired by the rapist to scare her and intimidate her so much that she will no longer testify. However, the killer decided to kill her when she called him a coward over the phone. Olivia and Stabler then find that somebody bailed out the killer. The guy who bailed him out was an ATF agent who was using the killer as his "inside man" in a sting involving contraband cigarettes. The ATF agent had a hidden agenda in bailing out the killer - he gave the killer the gun that killed the rape victim. Finally, when all the guys that were responsible for the murder (the rapist, the killer and the ATF agent) were in the holding cell, the daughter came in and tried to kill all three.. When the smoke cleared, the killer was still alive and said that he should have killed her along with her mother. When the daughter was poised to start shooting again, Elliot had no choice but to shoot her because aside from shooting all three guys in the holding cell, she also accidentally shot and killed Sister Peg (who has always been a good source of info for the detectives). Before dying, the daughter told Elliot how easy it was for her to get access to a gun. In my opinion, she should have told Elliot how easy it was for her to bring a loaded firearm inside the police precinct!

I liked the episode. Knowing that it was Stabler's last episode might have added to it. The shock that Sister Peg died also added to it. But what got to me was the fact that Stabler had to shoot the daughter because he had to uphold the law and protect the rights of the people who took her mother's right to live. How can cops deal with things like this?

So there it is.. The final 6 episodes of season 12 and the last time we'll see Detective Elliot Stabler on the show.. :( How is Olivia going to deal with that? She is after all Elliot's work wife..

Can't wait for season 13 to be shown here..

Til then!