Are We Dependent On Elliot's Rage To Make A Good Episode?

NBC Recap

It’s the episode that changed everything.

At least, if you’re Elliot. There’s no doubting that we’ve finally gotten back to the SVU type cases that we all know and love. Opening sequence shows us that we’re dealing with the attack of a defense attorney’s wife, suspicious in itself, of course. There’s almost an unlimited pool of suspects containing every person this guy ever failed to get acquitted. But we (as viewers) can quickly reason it down to a very small selection, based on the facts that we meet the boy that Stabler ends up “killing” very quickly, and the little boy who witnessed the entire ordeal flees when his sister enters the room. I’d say that’s pretty telling! Plus, Sidney confesses that he had seen his daughter in the house that night, though she claims to have been at her boyfriend Ryan’s house. Wasted, of course.

I love the irony in this episode. Olivia mentions right away that Sidney’s wife is a pharmaceutical sales person for, what other company is there, Tauscher Leto! (If you’re now looking at me like I have ten heads, Tauscher Leto was the pharmaceutical company featured in the episode “Manic” where a boy shot two classmates and himself, then claimed his anti-depressants made him do it. Turns out, he was actually right, and Alex kicked some serious butt in her third-to-last episode. You’ll remember this exchange:

Tauscher Leto Exec: Stop it, you’re hurting me.
Elliot: Take some Aptrol, that should make you feel better.
*Alex smirks.*

Even more ironic? The directors name is Peter Leto. But I digress.)

Which brings us to the pharm party. No, my spelling has not gone down the tubes. A pharm party is a party where each of the guests brings pharmaceuticals and they all get dumped in a bowl. Each guest can then take a handful of pills from the mixture… and I assume that’s where the fun is supposed to start. Ironic, of course, because of Charlotte’s mom’s job. We find out that Charlotte was so high and drunk the night of her mother’s murder that she could have raided her mom’s samples for more pills for the party. Elliot and Olivia (and probably most viewers) see this as an extensive lead pointing to Charlotte as her mother’s killer. Charlotte can’t remember anything, which leads to her suicide attempt. This scene was extremely well done, with exceptional acting by Emily VanCamp (formerly of Everwood).

I wasn’t convinced though, because of those previews that showed that Ryan was clearly more involved. In addition, in the very beginning of the episode, we see someone (who looks very much like a man, not a woman) dressed entirely in black, which is not what Charlotte was wearing.

The SVU detectives get their proof when Casey gets a call from M.E. Warner saying that their main evidence, the contents of the downstairs toilet, came from a man and not a woman.

Casey: That changes everything!

I felt like tracking down this newbie writer, Ken Storer, and giving him a piece of my mind. Three times! Three times this line was used, twice by Casey. Not only was it totally out of character, it was completely out of place in the SVU world, period. Everything changes so rapidly that if that line was used to describe the twists every time… well, several people would probably go crazy.

On to the major part of the episode: Elliot killing a guy! *Pauses while the audience collectively gasps.* However, it’s not as bad as you think. It’s actually made very obvious that Elliot could not have killed the man in the way that the whole encounter is shown. Elliot punches him then puts his knee on his back to keep him down while he restrains him. Not usually enough to kill a guy, at least with Elliot. He’s done worse.

I don’t understand how ten witnesses saw Elliot “beat” Ryan. I don’t know if this was a mistake on the writers’ part or if this was just an exaggerated account of the incident made to IAB agents who can’t count how many statements they received. When we see the encounter, there are clearly only five or so people watching. And I’m not sure how they define a beating, but in my book, a beating consists of several blows, not one mild punch. Later, when we see the cell phone video (which provokes another “This changes everything!” exclamation from Novak) it makes it look like there are a lot more people there, and somehow the encounter seems worse. Go figure.

Olivia climbing over that ten foot fence was definitely the best part of the scene, though.

Next, we see a random interlude of Elliot drinking something that looks very much like scotch. That’s great. It doesn’t have anything to do with the episode, though, and Olivia’s disposition is definitely more interesting. She tells IAB guy that Elliot is not a murderer (seen in the previews) and that he has always done only what is necessary to get the collar. At this point, it seems like Elliot might actually be a goner.

M.E. Warner: Well, that changes everything!

NO!!! WHY?!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that things were changed in this instance, but did we need the announcement? Not really.

Warner discovers that Elliot’s CPR efforts, not Elliot’s fist, caused Ryan’s ruptured spleen. She then pours over his medical records and discovers that Ryan had a heart condition but wasn’t taking his medicine. He died because of a heart arrhythmia… irony, again. The guy was taking every drug he could get his hands on except the ones that he actually needed to take to keep him alive. Yay for Melinda Warner, Elliot’s job is safe for another day.

Though, the scene at the courthouse where Warner, Casey, and Olivia all turn around to stare at Elliot after he’s cleared was so corny.

But, finally! The writers give me a chance to do my happy dance! My happy Elliot/Kathy dance, at that. Elliot goes to Kathy’s house wanting to reconcile, and “come home.” Finally! We all know that it won’t be easy, but if any OTP can endure, it’s Kathy and Elliot!

Next week: Ripped! A baby goes missing, and its mother is accused. It’s going to be tense, it’s going to be dramatic, so pass the remote!