I watch terrible television so you don’t have to.
New This Week
FBI (Wednesday, Paramount+)
We put Maggie’s (Missy Peregrym) new family situation and OA’s (Zeeko Zaki) Random Girlfriend who may or may not do drugs on the back burner to turn back to Tiff’s (Katherine Renee Kane) struggles with Hobbs’ death. The case of the week has potential ties back to Al-Shabaab, the terrorist group that killed Hobbs back in the season premiere. This causes Tiff to first go off script and then go rogue. The team is concerned, but they back her up.
Unfortunately, their suspect is killed without revealing the big boss’s whereabouts. Fortunately, for Tiff, her behavior only gets a slap on the wrist because said big bad is in the country.
The episode ends with Tiff visiting Hobbs’ widow, whom she has been calling and texting and generally bothering since his death. The poor woman wants to get over her husband’s violent death and Tiff’s guilt and desire for justice is very much not appreciated. She tells Tiff to go away and leaver her alone. It’s rough.
FBI: Most Wanted (Wednesday, Paramount+)
It’s a story of two moms. The case of the week is a mother (Alana O’Brien) whose son died of an overdose so she’s determined to kill the whole supply chain. This is another sympathetic motive, and the dealers accidentally drug six preschoolers, killing one, so no one’s super sad about their fate. The dealers end up kidnapping the mom and Remy (Dylan McDermott) pretends to be her husband with a ransom payment to take them out. Then he chats to the mom about her sorrow and need to do something and brings up his brother again like it’s in his contract to be mentioned every week.
The second mom is Nina (Shantel VanSanten), who is struggling with feelings of inadequacy and ignorance because her mom wasn’t around when she was a kid. She overcompensates by buying out Costco in diapers and driving Scola (John Boyd) crazy with redundancies. Barnes (Roxy Sternberg) talks her down while on the road and in the coda she opens up to Scola and they are adorable. It’s very sweet.
In my other favorite moment, Barnes has to drive the husband and his would-be captors off the road, and when she succeeds Remy says Nina’s crazy driving skills are rubbing off on her and she looks disturbed. Nina’s driving is the best runner.
Alert Missing Persons Unit (Wednesday, Hulu)
The case of the week is a young Amish woman (Emily Tennant) who goes missing after Mike (Ryan Broussard) and Jay (Scott Caan) visit to tell her they found her husband’s remains. The husband was Mike’s first case with MPU and he feels badly that it took this long to bring them closure, and that it ended it death. He’s even more guilt ridden when Lucy ends up missing.
Turns out she went to visit her husband’s ex-Amish brother— who is also the murderer. It was one of those love triangles that led to fratricide. Oops. But Mike and Jay save Lucy and the brother is arrested for murder, bringing closure to Mike, Lucy, and her family.
Mike remains upset about the close relationship between Nik (Dania Ramirez) and Jay. Nik says that’s not a thing and absolutely no one believes her, but Mike comes around somewhat by the end of the episode. Jay is his normal impossible but impossibly charming self, which includes being loose and brash with women. I think it’s clear that’s because his heart belongs to Nik but Mike seems calmed a bit by it so.
Finally, after Jay is reprimanded for looking into the man who confessed to the car bomb in the premiere, Kemi (Adeola Role) is dragged into the cover-up investigation and the result is her being reprimanded, too. They have a serious conversation about it in front of a giant clock face and I love, love, love the new set. Kemi tells Jay he better be right or they’re all going down and I love that, too.
Law & Order (Friday, Peacock)
A Ukrainian woman, Darina (Sabrina Schlegel-Mejia), was hired to be a surrogate for one couple but then found another couple to sell the baby to for more money. The first couple caught her moving out of their home and she attacked them, murdering the woman and putting the man into a coma. When she’s arrested she goes into labor and the baby lives with her in prison. She ultimately pleads Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity claiming her PTS from living through a bombing in Ukraine that killed her husband and child in front of her led to the murder. She’s willing to give the baby to the father if she gets a deal for 5 years prison time and help with immigration. That’s too sweet a deal for Nolan (Hugh Dancey) and Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) so they move forward with the trial and force Sam (Odelya Halevi) to cross examine Darina because her family fled Lebanon just as Darina did Ukraine. Darina is found guilty but what will happen with the baby is up in the air.
So the episode was once again centered on the tension between Nolan’s moral big-picture stubbornness and Sam’s desire to contextualize. And briefly, Baxter was on Sam’s side, which was very interesting to me. But Baxter didn’t like Darina using her baby as a bargaining chip so he jumped back to Nolan’s side and then ordered Sam to not just go against her instincts but use her family history and personal vulnerability to do it. Which is YIKES if still also interesting. She struggled until Nolan told her suck it up and do her job like he does every week, which is rich since he gets his way 90% of the time, but I did like him at least acknowledging that this was a messed up thing they were requiring of her. Maybe Nolan’s stubbornness is his own version of PTS.
Law & Order: SVU (Friday, Peacock)
It was heavily promoted that this episode was directed by Mariska Hargitay so I feel obligated to start with that. As such it was a Very Special Episode about Olivia (Mariska Hargitay), or at least it was Personal.
Noah (Ryan Buggle) googled his mom and learned about William Lewis (the psychotic serial rapist-murderer who kidnapped her a decade ago) and Johnny D (the rapist-trafficker who impregnated Noah’s teen prostitute mother). Olivia is blindsided and upset, and reacts with both fight and flight by accusing Noah of snooping and trying to better hide her box of scary personal things (I want to see in it so bad).
The Noah situation also colors her reaction to the case of the week, a horrific gang rape and kidnapping. The perpetrators are all teens and Olivia is able to talk one into standing down and letting the kidnapped girl go, but the other victim dies, which sends Olivia into a violent spiral. She takes the perp to the scene of the crime and crosses some lines, though she ultimately pulls back and returns him to prison to stand trial.
There are parallels throughout the episode— and a Little Red Riding Hood theme that sort of works. There’s the missing girl relating to both Maddy’s and Olivia’s kidnappings, as well as being around the same age as Noah’s mom. The missing girl is being raised by her stepmother, which parallels Noah being adopted. And Carisi (Peter Scanavino) reminds Olivia that she’s the best person to help Noah through his questions and feelings about being a rapist’s son because she lived it, too. The Benson and Carisi relationship is beautiful throughout this episode.
Olivia’s violent reaction to the perp is also a callback to the Lewis arc. And the way I read it Liv chooses to bring Velasco (Octavio Pisano) because he is someone who pushes the boundaries unlike Bruno (Kevin Kane), who turned in his peers for being bad police, and Curry (Aime Donna Kelly), formerly IAB. When Curry later calls Olivia out for her behavior, Liv YOLOs right out of the conversation and the squad room. She is still very much stuck in Badass Bitch Leadership Mode and I remain incredibly curious where it’s leading. But incredibly worried it’s not leading anywhere.
Maddie Watch: We’re back! For reasons. Very unclear reasons but whatever. Noah starts the difficult conversation by asking how Maddie is, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me because I’m pretty sure her multi-state, multi-agency rescue would be at the top of that google search but whatever! Olivia then asks Carisi how the case is going and he reveals they’ve lost a witness and his worries that Maddie will be made to look unreliable. Olivia responds ‘put me in coach, I’ll destroy him’ so I expect to see that and maybe Lewis will come up again? Because she’s on the record as having perjured herself in his regards— it was swept under the rug by the police and she was exonerated but it’s definitely out there to be googled by the defense as easily as Noah or Stabler I’m so tired. Again, as per usual so many breadcrumbs and so little understanding of if I should be paying attention to them. They are spending so much time promoting this as a landmark season and not enough time at all making the actual stories hit.
Law & Order: Organized Crime (Friday, Peacock)
Randall (Dean Norris) and Elliot (Christopher Meloni) try to help Joe Jr. (Michael Trotter) with his addiction but he’s having none of it. They break into his hotel room— delightfully, Elliot acts like he’s an upstanding cop who definitely never pushes the boundaries of the law for his family and Randall is as persuaded as the rest of us which is to say not at all. They find his stash, and decide to try an intervention. Joe bolts, and with no drugs and no money tries to borrow from their mom but she doesn’t have any cash available. So Joe steals her signed baseball. Bernie (Ellen Burstyn) accuses Randall of turning her precious good son Joey into the type of person who yells at his mother and steals her property, which is hard to watch. I really feel for Randall, he’s carrying a lot.
So Elliot brings the drug case to OCCB— the drugs came from overseas so it counts as organized crime —and their investigation leads to veterans. That sends Elliot undercover as a vet looking to score and he uses his own backstory. I love all of this quite a lot. I do a lot of research with veterans’ mental health and addiction and the portrayal of said in media so this whole plot line is important to me. I love this show for continuing to delve into threads of Elliot’s life that SVU barely glanced at. And they cast real disabled vets.
Anyway, the vets see the drugs as a lifeline in a world they can’t handle anymore, which is heartbreaking, but he’s able to get one to give up the supplier, an operation being run from within a honey farm. While all this is going on Sam (Abubakr Ali) disappears and it is also tied to the drugs and the vets and the bees. We end with Elliot refusing to be pulled out and getting dragged deeper into the group, which is very clearly very dangerous.
So not to be a broken record but Christopher Meloni is a master and the things he does with his body, his voice, and his choices are incredible throughout. Some of my favorites: the way Elliot stands at ease-attention during the intervention. The quiet politeness of “Hank”. The look on his face when a gun is pulled on him and it again leads to him slamming the guy to the ground. He’s upset and a little bit afraid of himself and it is a beautiful reference to the buried traumas he and the vets share. The line “I’ve been harboring this anger for way too long; I want to feel whole again.” Everything he says as Hank is both in character undercover and a clear reference to himself and it’s heartbreaking.
And broken record again but there’s excellent team stuff. Vargas (Tate Ellington) remains hilariously awkward but now we love him for it. Elliot trusts Ayanna (Danielle Moné Truitt) with the truth about his brother and she takes it and holds it and offers support without judgement and their partnership is so beautiful. The return of Bobby (Rick Gonzalez) and Jet (Ainsley Sieger) undercover as a kooky couple is brilliantly funny and weirdly poignant. Elliot worrying and asking about Stacey as well as Sam is so pure. And then Elliot goes rogue (shocking I know) and Bobby says “don’t do this to me” with just the right resignation, I love this team! Plus the guest cast is brilliant— Aunt Meg from Twister (Lois Smith) as Mama the terrifying leader of the bee/drug operation that gives off neo-Nazi militia vibes is incredible casting.
There’s a rumor OC could move from broadcast to Peacock, which might actually be good for it. But my vote remains to keep it however you have to.
9-1-1 (Friday, Hulu)
Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen (Tracie Thoms) planned to foster/adopt a new baby girl, but it fell through at the last minute so the social worker asks them to consider a nine-year-old orphan instead. The little girl is traumatized and doesn’t speak, and she gives off a lot of creepy vibes and attacks their son, though he takes responsibility for spooking her. At first they think they have to prioritize their kid’s safety and opt out of the situation, but after Hen saves a rescue dog who was also sometimes violent due to trauma, they decide to try and figure out a better way to handle the girl. This leads to learning her horrible backstory of finding her parents dead of an overdose. SO, they give her a monitor to watch them sleep so she knows they’re alive and she starts to talk.
Meanwhile, Buck (Oliver Stark) goes on his first date with Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr.) and crashes and burns when Eddie (Ryan Guzman) and Marisol (Edy Ganem) show up and he babbles about all the hot chicks they’re gonna find because they were definitely straight and not on a date. Buck feels awful about lying and opens up to Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) who is supportive and helpful and finally Eddie who is also supportive. And then Buck— and earlier Bobby (Peter Krause) —helps Eddie realize some things about his relationship with Marisol, too. Eddie and Marisol talk, Buck and Tommy talk, and everybody’s relationship ends up stronger than it started.
We end at Maddie and Chimney’s (Kevin Choi) wedding but Buck and Eddie look like they fell out of The Hangover (I haven’t actually seen those films but I assume) and Chimney is missing so, we’ll see what’s up with that next time.
So Help Me Todd (Friday, Paramount+)
We meet Lyle’s (Tristan J. Winger) mom which adds a new layer to the Lyle v Todd (Skylar Astin) dynamic because Todd has such a supportive mom and Lyle . . . does not. Beverly (Leslie Silva) continues to manipulate Susan (Inga Sclingmann) but at least Margaret (Marcia Gay Harden) has started to notice. Margaret and Francey (Rosa Arredondo) continue to deal with the firm’s financial woes. This week they cut a check for bagels that they think was already paid, which I think means the financials are hinky. Is the culprit Beverly or their third partner who we only ever hear on the speaker phone? I think the second, and I think/hope it will lead to a Beverly-Margaret team up. Finally, Alison (Madeline Wise) turns a corner in her self-actualization journey and realizes it is time to take stock and make a plan for her recovery.
Also Watching
Top Chef Wisconsin and it sometimes makes me miss when I recapped these types of competitive shows weekly but not enough to start doing it again. Star Trek: Discovery and you can find my thoughts about it at Antimatter Pod. And the anime Black Butler returned yesterday with an episode that gives us new British boarding school houses to sort ourselves into now that the most mainstream ones are tainted.
Mental Illness Sidebar
Kemi holds a version of (pre)marriage counseling for Mike and Nik. Kemi is a super interesting character for a copaganda procedural. She’s spiritual, she believes in past lives, and she’s good at cutting through bullshit. Mike walks out on the therapy session the same way Barnes did on FBI Most Wanted a couple weeks ago, but I think Mike and Nik are more on the same page because they do at least have the same career.
Elliot attends a vet therapy/twelve-step-type group (like what Sam Wilson runs), specifically to find drug dealers but he is also a vet who definitely needs therapy. In his introduction he says “I’m not ready to talk” and isn’t that the Elliot Stabler Story!
There is also the intervention that none of the Stabler brothers are really prepared for— Randall’s had to do it before with his daughter, which I’m sure brings up stuff, and Elliot’s last experience with an intervention had him blurt out his love for Olivia in front of all his kids mere weeks after his wife’s death and then he punched a wall and ran away sooooo. Anyway, Randall and Elliot struggle and Joe takes it very poorly, and it’s realistic and sad. The whole addiction story line they are doing, with Joe, with the vets, with Ayanna’s wisdom, with Elliot’s and Randall’s need to fix things even though they are also broken, all of it is very messy and really well done.
Ship of the Week
Nina and Stuart. They bookend the episode so we get to watch them fail to communicate and then have a meaningful conversation. And they are so cute. See, it’s totally possible to build on a relationship across series. ANYWAY.
Song of the Week
Show of the Week
Organized Crime. It is solid, tight storytelling about mess with a cast that shines.
What are YOU watching?