SVU "Clocks" In A Great Episode

Episode Synopsis: At the start of the episode, we are thrown in the middle of an investigation. Two kids have gone missing from a school field trip to the local museum. The “kidnapping” itself turns out to be fake, but the girl who had been “abducted” was actually missing. A few leads and a couple of confusing pieces of evidence later, the detectives discover that the girl (Janey) has planned most of this out, but find her hurt in a hotel. It turns out that she was trying to self-administer a fertility drug, and that no rape took place. SVU need not be involved further. Does that stop the detectives? Not a chance.

Vital info: The name of the missing girl is Janey, and she has Turner’s Syndrome, which will be an extremely important fact and the driving force behind this entire episode. (Turner’s Syndrome, as described in the episode, is a condition in which a female is missing an X chromosome, and so she does not fully develop in the same way as other females. She’s physically smaller, looks like a child, but is extremely intelligent.)

One thing that we haven’t seen for a long while is almost everyone on screen at the beginning of an episode. Elliot, Munch, Fin and Cragen were on immediately, followed by Huang and Warner soon after. (No Casey until 10:34, which was highly disappointing.)

Extra exciting was the Munch and Cragen dynamic at the very beginning of the episode, in the car. I’d like to see them work a case together…perhaps “Uncle” in a couple of weeks?

First UnStabler family sighting of the season! *Twirls noisemaker* Elliot has a run-in with Kathleen (who looks much more different than when we saw her last!) outside the squad room. She complains that Daddy UnStabler is too overprotective and overbearing. We find out (later in more detail) that Elliot has done something to scare off Kathleen’s boyfriend. This really jumpstarts the central theme of the episode: young love. Kathleen claims to love her boyfriend; Daddy UnStabler says that she doesn’t know what love is. But how can he know? This will come back to haunt Elliot later.

Cragen makes the first mention of a new partner in this episode, and Elliot is not buying it at all. He says that he is fine working with Munch and Fin, an idea that the viewers certainly don’t have a problem with! Hey! Thought. Maybe the writers could even have Munch and Fin do an entire episode. Together. As partners. Without Elliot. At all. *Gasp!* ::Faint:: I know. It’s crazy. But just enough to work.

You know that it’s going to be a cut-throat family episode of SVU when the family is blaming each other for all sorts of things, and there is someone stuck in the middle. Especially when the family is still busy playing the blame game while said someone is missing. My bet is that the family problems are going to get in the way later.

Sex drive pills, online sex site searching, who is this girl?! Oh! A teenager. Right, I’m sorry. Totally slipped my mind. It’s an interesting, and somewhat questionable study for a 17 year old to be allowed into, yes. Is it surprising that a teenager that has been deprived of a substantial sex drive wants to try this study in the hopes of being normal? No. The first instance of over reaction by the detectives. This girl, whoever she really is, is not at all who they expected. Her looks are deceiving, and the detectives are stupefied. Not a good state of mind for a detective to be in!

Huang plays the angry parent card! I love when he plays cards… he is almost always right. The quarrel gives Casey (!) just enough insight to Nathan’s lawyer to uncover the real plot. Yeah. 10:34. Boo. They have to give all the credit to Casey on that one though. Without here, there is no boyfriend, no tickets to Canada, no finding of Janey.

I noticed, at this point, that Munch is doing quite a bit of the researching in this episode. I’d rather see him doing this than not at all, but this is still a bit far from what we really want to see: Munch in the field. Not too farfetched. However, Munch doesn’t seem bothered by his lack of field time. Maybe lately his amount of time spent on the police force has caught up with him?

Second UnStabler family sighting of the season! This time is Mummy UnStabler herself… and she’s not very happy. She – as well as the entire viewing population- are wondering why Elliot hasn’t signed the papers yet! He did get them last season, in “Raw” (too bad we didn’t get a time-table from Star last week), but they’ve apparently been collecting dust since then. My theory is (get ready for this): He’s still in love with his wife. (Yes, I know, I’m writing all sorts of crazy theories tonight. Munch would be on me like a wizard on a Firebolt.)

“Call your daughter.” – Kathy Stabler

Elliot hasn’t been maintaining very close family ties lately. I wouldn’t be surprised if he works right through some of his visitation periods.

Notice that the entire squad has had problems with family… but only Elliot and Olivia’s problems seem to manifest into multi-episode crises. Give Munch and Fin something to deal with in their life! Heck, make it a case related issue!

The thing that the writers have been doing well is that the family issues are usually somewhat related to the case. They are, for the most part, not out in SVU space looking for a place in the universe. In this regard, I tip my hats to the writers.

I’m also very impressed that Elliot managed to not lose his temper in the episode. He’s still very UnStabler, but better at controlling the violent tendencies. Which brings me to the parents in Janey’s hospital room. Even I would have delighted in getting a little rough wit them, but Elliot kept his cool and eventually coaxed them out of the room and was able to conduct his interview.

Janey is also no doubt a very intelligent person. She planned her moves very carefully throughout the episode (even though some of them were dangerous), and she has intelligent based arguments ready to back herself up. Kudos for being the most intelligent young ’un we’ve seen on SVU for a while.

Huang hits the nail on the head yet again! This guy is on a roll tonight. The detectives would do well to listen when he tells them that they have no right to make any decisions for Janey. Her boyfriend may be 30, but 17 is the age of consent in New York. Since there was no illegal activity going on, just a very dysfunctional and hateful family, then SVU has no more business in her affairs. But then again, they are the SVU, so they make some trouble.

Here are Elliot’s personal actions coming back to haunt him. He joined the SVU primarily to protect his family, and as a side affect he cannot help but to treat every girl as if they need to be protected from the world. For some of the girls, this is true, but for Janey, there is no need, nor does Elliot have any right, to butt in.

Janey wins the court case and is allowed to live with her boyfriend. One more tornado blows in, this one named Detective Dani Beck.

At this point in the review, I must take a minute of your time to squee.

*Squee*

Though she didn’t make the best SVU entrance ever, neither did Star Morrison/Dana Lewis, and her character ended up making the episode both times. I’m very optimistic about this character for two reasons.

One, she made her entrance in a very take charge, outgoing way, which seems to be the perk to her character, I’m predicting that her character works overtime for the victims and has no patience for criminals in general, but especially rapists and pedophiles, as seen in her dramatic entry. This also hints that she has some sort of history with the SVU.

Two, Connie Neilsen has a Danish accent. This may seem insignificant to you right now, but trust me, you will love it by the end of her tenure, and you will miss it when Dani Beck moves on!

“Welcome to the world of gray.” – Elliot Stabler

Possibly the most accurate SVU quote ever. While Detective Beck seems to be a very enthusiastic new recruit, I would love to see her reaction to the real SVU world. Perps, victims, and blends of the two. It’s never easy for the newbie, and that’s something we haven’t seen since season five “Serendipity”, with the introduction of Casey.

This episode most likely produced mixed personal reactions from viewers about consent laws, young love, and the like. It proved, however, that the detectives’ ability to remain objective is in serious danger and will most likely affect future cases.

Preview for next week: It’s going to be all about Elliot… again. But, we’re going to get some real Dani Beck quality time in, and we’re finally getting a return to the SVU cases we all know and love! I’m staying tuned, so pass the remote!