Law and Order: Special Ripoff Unit

[kellinator]

In the first season of Homicide: Life on the Street, there was an episode titled "Three Men and Adena." The premise of the episode is that Bayliss and Pembleton have twelve hours to interrogate the chief suspect in the rape and murder of 11-year-old Adena Watson and if they don't break him in that time, he's gone forever.

"Three Men and Adena" is widely considered one of the finest episodes of Homicide and some critics consider it one of the best hours ever aired on network television, period. I kid you not, a New York Times article reported that some police departments use it as a training video.

Last night's episode of Special Victims Unit was just like "Three Men and Adena", only without the brilliant writing and subtle acting.

Could they beat us over the head any more with the Tick-Tick Game? Good thing Michael (who, by the way, I showed "Three Men and Adena" this weekend -- he's turning into quite the Homicide fan) and I weren't watching together -- we would have spent the entire episode screaming "TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK" so loud we couldn't hear the TV, and that would have shot my concentration for sending snarky text-messages to scarcrest.

Personally, I think Olivia shot first so Stabler wouldn't have it on his head. After all, she wouldn't get in trouble for it. She's SuperOlivia the SuperCop. She's so super that she has her own fan club of creepy stalkers who clip all the article about her out of the newspaper. SooooperOlivia to the rescue!!

And how about Matthew Modine acting crazy? When are they going to run out of guest stars "like you've never seen them before"? It was old two seasons ago.

Best thing going for it: No Casey.

...Okay, I had much better snark on this last night. scarcrest has a better analysis if you're interested.

Comments

[chubbycore.livejournal.com]

I laughed throughout that entire episode. That was some dumb, dumb shit. "I'm a psycho killer!!!!!!! What are you gonna do about it??"

Man, Frank Pembleton was so gonna father my babies.

All through that episode I kept doing my Comic Book Guy imitation: "Worst. Episode. Ever."

WHATEVER!!!! and then there is this teaser they keep showing that says "SVU just keeps getting better."

Um, where?

[mfree.livejournal.com]

I think the Law and Order camp jumped the shark about halfway through SVU. There just are only so many plotlines...

[phinnia.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES on the SuperOlivia thing. (Chris, on Olivia being 'rescued' all the time: "Sorry Stabler - your Olivia is in another castle.")
How come she never gets the smackdown for running off by herself all the time? Seriously. (I realize I shouldn't expect realism from network TV ...)

[vikkilynn.livejournal.com]

All throughout last night's episode I was thinking "where have I seen this before?" I had forgotten that Homicide episode. My love affair with Detective Stabler is definitely getting a little strained. He's going to go nuts like Doc on Third Watch and then I'm going to have to take a restraining order out on him and that's just not the way I wanted the two of us to end up!

[luckychance.livejournal.com]

You too, hmm? I spent $130 on a shirt he wore. Last night, it almost crawled away.

[jerel.livejournal.com]

Matthew Modine was on? Man! I love Matthew Modine!!

::falls out laughing over "Sorry Stabler, your Olivia is in another castle."::

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

I was so thinking about you during this episode, and waiting all day to see what you had to say.

I'd been thinking Tick Tick might make a nifty drinking game if SVU wasn't on Tuesdays. But last night, everyone would have been passed out by the first commercial break.

Let's hope that Thursday's show has something going for it. Yes, I'm watching it. But really cause I want to see the last few shows Jerry Orbach did.

And don't forget, special guest star on SVU next week: Martin Short as a psychic. I think I need to change my armor.

[sertrel.livejournal.com]

Hee. I got your voicemail last night. (I was taking a nap during the show.)

I'm now convinced that SVU stands for "Stubborn Viewers Undeterred." Because despite all the crap episodes, people keep watching!

[tfcocs.livejournal.com]

I thought the exact same thing.

[wacko1138.livejournal.com]

I saw the commercial last night and saw Matthew Modine and was thinking about watching. Then the "psycho killer" line came up in the commercial and... I was sure I had seen it wrong. I couldn't imagine that was an actual line from the show.

I'm glad I started alphabetizing all of my books instead of watching.

[vertigomac.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, we had a good 2 minutes of Munch being the most Munch-like so far this year...

Sorry, that was really grasping for straws, huh?

Sigh.

*puts on coat, heads for bar*