TVSquad

(S08E02) SVU is doing this funky editing thing this year that is annoying me. The characters will start a conversation in one place and then pick it up again in another place. Totally unrealistic and kind-of jarring because, instead of telling the story, it just tells me how clever some writer and/or editor thinks he/she is. For instance, Det. Tutuola is questioning Conner about Janey. The interview starts in the apartment and suddenly jumps to the interview room. It happened last week when Det. Benson was talking to Star about an FBI case.

Anyway, this week's episode was a real doozy. The case starts out as a missing student. But the girl, named Janey Speers, is no ordinary student. She has Turner Syndrome, which stunts her development. Essentially, Janey is a 17-year-old trapped in a 10-year-old's body. The detectives follow all sorts of leads: she hired a stranger to drive her across town, she had her mom bring baby pictures, she visited websites about sex and lingerie, she helped her friend Conner fake his own kidnapping and she's juiced up on testosterone.

All the red herrings lead them to Greg Hartley, the assistant to the girl's father. It turns out he's having a relationship with Janey and he "loves her". She feels the same way about him.

This is where Elliott's personal life collides with his professional life. All during the episode, we're seeing Elliott get bombarded by his daughter, who "hates" him and his wife, who wants him to sign the divorce papers already. Elliott projects his frustrations with lack of control over his family on to Janey. Despite the opinion of Dr. Wong that Janey knows what she wants, Elliott testifies to have her remain in her father's custody until she turns 18. Janey's lawyer points it all out for us in case we don't quite get it. In the end, Janey gets to live with Greg.

On a side note, Elliott's personal storyline has become pretty damn depressing. His partner leaves him, his family hates him... what else does the man have left? I'm hoping we'll see Elliott hit rock bottom and (hopefully) rise above it this season. It's about time that something good happens for him. Maybe Connie Nielsen, his new partner who was introduced in the very last scene of the episode, will be that good thing?

By the way, the L&O website says that full-length versions of SVU will be available online soon. There's also a bio for Connie Nielsen and some details about her character's six-episode arc.