there’s a debate going on right now. i watched 5 minutes of it and realized I’ve heard it all before. so, pass.
Instead, I’m going to gush about SVU. Had to sit on this overnight because I didn’t want to sound like I’m a fangirl. I really am not. In fact, I’m probably one of the show’s harshest critic in its current form. We shan’t get into the whys (ALEXCABOT!).
So Tuesday night’s episode was written like it was supposed to play out during sweeps month. Sweeps months are Nov and Feb.
Anyway, I just want to say that Amanda Green deserves an Emmy for writing an episode of SVU that had no sex crime but was still 40-something minutes of solid, riveting drama. Ms Green, you are certainly ballsy to imagine a whole fourth of an episode consisting of one (plus one) scene; from one commercial break to the next it was just Elliot Stabler and his mom. Even if I can’t stand to watch the entire episode again, I’d watch that 10 minutes over and over.
Ellen Burstyn is of such remarkable talent she makes any actor sharing a scene with her automatically competent. That is to say, she brung her A-game and everyone else gets to bask in the reflected glory. Don’t care who does what from here on out - Burstyn should get Emmy for guest star. Best pathos invoking line of the show: “I am what I am, I accept myself. And I live life on my own terms. I won’t go parading in front of some court and announce to the world that I’m crazy!” Mama Stabler, you see, is an untreated bipolar.
Oh - and on a slight tangent - the best smirk-inducing line is when Mrs. Stabler, finally meeting Olivia Benson in person, says, “I can see why you scare the pants off Kathy.” Yea. Amanda Green, you rock. Yea. Anyway.
Chris Meloni. I love you so much but you’ve never really had a story in the last 9.5 years that was deserving of the statue. Please submit this episode with markers and arrows pointing to the scene of you and Ellen Burstyn. You should at least to be a finalist next time round.
Two things before I quit squee’ing… one, you’ll notice that there’s not one mention of Mariska. That’s how good this episode was. And two, death to Kim Greyleck. That is all.