TVSquad

Tonight on the show, Stabler and Benson are reviewing the new Cadillac Escalade. Oh, wait, this is Law & Order: SVU. I was thinking of Law & Order: SUV.

BWAH-HAHAhaha. . .hahaha. . .haha. . .Oh. forget it!

Come on, this is SVU! When is the last time you had a good guffaw at the expense of the police or the victims or the DA on this show? Sometimes you need a shower after the show airs because it feels icky (for lack of a better word). Not that this isn't a great show, because it is. And, it has the very beautiful Mariska Hargitay (who should be producing a beautiful baby soon). Is it me or do you think Mariska looks better with the longer hair she has now then the short bob she had a few years ago?

This season has been a bit different for SVU.  There have been a number of episodes focusing on just Detective Stabler or Detective Benson only. They've been very personal shows that shined a brighter light into their personalities. This week, they were definitely back to the basics of the show as Benson and Tutuola tried to determine who murdered a college student from Hudson University (is that next to New York University? I can't find it on the map).

 

Turns out the murder victim (Caroline) was not a prostitute or dealing drugs; she was dealing term papers to those students who didn't have time to read books and write reports. Benson and Tutuola speak to the students who bought the papers and it comes back to the Caroline's roommate. She has a huge diamond ring on her finger that, coincidentally, may have been owned by the dearly departed. Turns out that Caroline took the ring from another person. Suspect One is cleared.

The case now focuses on the ring, which is a custom job worth 100 G's (that's $100,000 dollars to the unknowing). The ring belongs to a professional football player, Rodney Franklin, who bet it at a blackjack game Atlantic City. It seems that Caroline was a big gambler at the Hotel Del Mar (Darn it! I can't find this hotel on a map of Atlantic City! Is it next to the Borgata?) and was the person who won the ring. Franklin informs the detectives that he knows who did it. Suspect Two cleared.

Back to the Big Apple, and the discovery of an illegal gaming club where Caroline lost some big dough. The club owner gets arrested and turns out to be an undercover Secret Service agent. He passes along information about her online gambling addiction. Whoa, this girl travels around! She had a silent partner, who turns out to be one of the people Benson and Tutuola interviewed back at the University. The circle completes.

But Stabler sees something else in the kid. He has a soft spot for him because he sees something in his own past in the kid's eyes. This is another small insight that adds to the depth of Christopher Meloni's character.

As the suspect is put on the stand it comes out that his girlfriend was Caroline's roommate. A circle within a circle. This is what SVU does really well; when you think they've come to the end there is another twist.

All in all this was a satisfying episode. There were enough twists and turns to keep me interested throughout the entire episode. Mariska Hargitay's character was barely in this episode due to the pregnancy (it seems the beginning scene was filmed before she started showing), but it was good to see Benson and Tutuola work together. Where the heck has Richard Belzer been this season? In the end, it was a Stabler piece as he tried to figure out what went on in the murderer's head. I'm looking forward to see what they do with rapper Ludacris next episode.

Now, does someone have the web site for the Hotel Del Mar in Atlantic City?