(S08E21) I hate it when the promos ruin an episode. It's hard to tell whether this episode of SVU was a good one because I knew from the promos that the girlfriend was a "black widow". It took a really, really long time for the story to unfold and I felt impatient because I wanted to see the evil side of this girl.The episode appeared to meander and not to have much of a direction for the first 30 minutes. We got through the murder investigation and the trial by 22 minutes into the episode and had not yet seen "Cassandra". When she did appear, we were taken on a little joyride as the detectives tried to fit her into the stereotype they thought she was. I was also impatient with this because I knew she was somehow bad.
The teen-age dialogue was pretty hard to believe. Those kids talked like they were reading from a novel. I believe that Cassandra may have rehearsed her speech to the detectives when she said, "I've been shuttled between foster homes my whole life." There were no "likes" or "ums" or "ya knows" when she and Scott spoke to detectives or during court. Her real age--28--may have factored into that dialogue but Scott's was terrible and there's no excuse since he really was 16.
All in all, I wasn't terribly thrilled with this episode. I did like the ending where it appeared that "Cassandra" wasn't evil, just flippin' nuts. And maybe a bit of a pedophile? That was kind-of left unanswered.
I'd be interested to know what you guys thought-- especially those of you who were able to dismiss the promos or didn't see them at all.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-16-2007 @ 11:48AM
Carmen said...
Thanks for ruining this episode for be before the jump. Good going.
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5-16-2007 @ 12:14PM
Rob said...
Carmen,.. you're kidding right? The promos spoiled their own show. That's the one thing I don't like about L&O. They keep revealing too much in the promos.
But in your defense, in this commercial skipping society, it probably would have been a good idea for Anna to wait for the jump to reveal the nutjob for this particular episode.
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5-16-2007 @ 12:41PM
Jeff said...
I never EVER watch commercials for shows I know I'm going to watch. And I don't mean I skip them, either. I mean, if they come on live, I cover my eyes and start screaming "LA! LA! LA!" until I think the commercial is over, occasionally sneaking a peak between cracked fingers to see if it looks like the commercial might be over. Everyone I know except my girlfriend makes fun of me. She, on the other hand, does the same thing. We take "maintaining the surprise" of our favorite shows very seriously.
And, yes, Law & Order is, hands down, the WORST when it comes to commercials which give stuff away. I don't know how many of you remember the season premier this season, but the SECOND before the show began, they ran a promo which gave out a critical piece of information not released into the story until 10 minutes before the end of the episode!! And, the promo was unavoidable, too. It just snuck up on you, and then BAM! Secret ending! Episode begins...
I still have not forgiven NBC for that, but I've certainly learned from it. If mysteries are your thing (this includes House, as far as we're concerned), you'd do well to learn from it as well. And, yes, shame on you for mentioning what you did as early as you did. You're as bad as the people you're shaming, and I'm pretty sure there's a word for that. It begins with an 'h', if I'm not mistaken.
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5-16-2007 @ 12:54PM
Televinita said...
I wouldn't call Cassandra a pedophile, really, if she still sincerely believes she's 16. More like a Peter Pan complex, albeit with a little sexuality thrown in.
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5-16-2007 @ 1:49PM
Justin said...
ok so im quite confused...wasnt the dead kid that lady's son? didnt she identify him as her son? i may have just missed it, but as far as i know, that never got cleared up....
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5-17-2007 @ 10:36AM
Alex said...
Hey Justin, I wondered about that to they totally just left that up in the air...
Also am I the only one that picked up on how much this was like a Law & Order episode a few years back??
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5-16-2007 @ 3:24PM
Kate said...
I'm all for seeing recurring characters on L&O shows, but does anyone remember when they had this exact same storyline (girl moves from foster family to foster family so she can stay in high school) from the original L&O back when Serena Southerlyn was there? Granted, the girl then knew exactly what she was doing, but that doesn't matter! As much as I blame the low ratings for L&O on lack of support by NBC, if L&O doesn't start coming up with some interesting, original plots (not ripped from the headlines), they're going to get themselves cancelled regardless of what night they're on. L&O is my favorite show and I just can't stand to see what's happening.
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5-16-2007 @ 4:07PM
sedated said...
Justin-
It wasn't her son. She hadn't seen her son for 10 years and she just wanted to feel some relief from not knowing what happened to him or where he was.
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5-16-2007 @ 4:08PM
sedated said...
I thought this episode was ok, but then again, I didn't watch the promos. I don't watch promos for any shows anymore, especially NBC promos which pretty much destroy any suprises or suspense in a show.
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5-18-2007 @ 3:19AM
trachein said...
The similar L & O is called Shangri-La except in that one the "girl" didn't "believe" that she was a kid, she was just trying to get away with something (like a criminal record or something). It's been a while since I saw the episode so my plot details aren't clear, but I think the "girl" was having an affair with a male teacher and a female teacher found them out so the "girl" killed the female teacher so her fakery would not be exposed.
Within the last several months, all three have done gay preacher stories. Maybe some Saturday night NBC will run them back to back.
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