'SVU' Annihilates a Chance at a Good Episode

NBC Recap

By Trublu
PTR Staff Writer

Unfortunately, what seemed like a very well trained perp who was cleaning up after himself turned out to be the maid who accidentally cleaned up after a very messy perp. More interesting, however, is the fact that the fiancé of the victim is a CIA operative!


…


Did you catch it? Fiancé Stephen really isn’t in the CIA; too many people knew! An operative going on assignment in countries that are experiencing a lot of turmoil like Indonesia is would have never revealed their assignment, not even to their fiancée. This was good for the story, though, because what was blatantly obvious to us makes us think about what the people around him were thinking.

And of course, that means that Conspiracy!Munch was on the case! Munch takes the opportunity, yet again, to remind us that big brother is watching… in those exact same words. Couldn’t the writers find another phrase to use here? He is handy with the satellites, though, and ends up pinpointing Stephen’s location.

Before that though, there is a rather funny scene with Elliot talking to a CIA contact.

Elliot: You owe me… remember McFaddens, the blonde?

The comic relief continued in the next scene, with the unfortunate teen in the store:

Elliot: Do you know where this guy lives?
Clerk: No… wait, I know where Muffin (his dog) lives, does that help?

The kids running out of the door of “Muffin’s” house is a dead giveaway to the double life scenario that is about to unfold, if you are someone that maybe didn’t catch on to the CIA thing right away.

Elliot: Most exotic place he’s been is… Cater, Illinois?

Obviously, Stephen (whose real name is Malcolm) isn’t the most exciting guy in the world, made plain through that statement. The CIA operative story, the trip to Jakarta, the honeymoon in Hawaii, that was all carefully constructed by him to make himself look more interesting. Something to file away for later.

Elliot: (Asking Malcolm what he tells his wife) Can’t spend the night, honey, got to go make the world safe for democracy?

(Just a bit of historical context: the phrase played a major role on U.S. entry into WWI and WWII, when the country felt it needed to protect against newly Communist Russia during WWI, and then protect Great Britain, the last democratic stronghold in Europe during WWII. Doesn’t really have anything to do with the comment, I don’t think, but just so everyone knows that it isn’t a random statement. There is a chance that I just missed any meaning that the writers meant to convey. [/tangent])

Something that everyone could relate to, though:

Elliot: Have you ever tried to put three kids to bed hopped up on pizza and soda?
Cragen: Maybe Malcolm has the magic touch?
Elliot: Cannot be done, trust me.

Turns out it either can be done, or Malcolm just left his wife with the task. Sound like he leaves his wife to do everything all the time, but the way that she explodes after Olivia and Elliot interrogate her.

Lindsay: I bet you’re married. Did it ever occur to you that your wife might want to do more than make beds and cook dinner?
Elliot:…

Nailed it! This definitely is the first of the final jabs at Elliot’s confidence during this case. He’s so thrown that he has to leave the room and go outside for some fresh air. While he’s talking to one of the kids, he mentions that his mom was talking to their neighbor, telling her that Malcolm was sick because he had a “dirty little”… well, the rest is obvious. But, coming from a six year old! Censor please!

Upon returning to the house later that night, Elliot and Olivia find all the children and Lindsay dead, and Malcolm with a wound to the head. He claims that Lindsay went on a rampage to punish him, supported by the fact that the gun is on the floor by Lindsay. But, an inconsistency which I noticed (and one that never was resolved) was the open door. Olivia clearly stated at the beginning of the scene that the door was open when they got the house, but why?

Here we see the obvious Elliot portion of the episode. He’s been thinking about Dani ever since they found out that Malcolm was living a double life, and explained that he loved both his wife and Cynthia. While he didn’t love Dani, the fact that he was frolicking with her while he wasn’t technically divorced is bothering him. The scene where he “breaks” the news to Malcolm that his family his dead also makes Elliot go nuts, and he eventually has to go home to check on his kids.

Now, if the writers had just stopped at Kathy asking Elliot to spend the night, then all would have been well in the SVU world. But, of course, they couldn’t stop there, they had to do an almost sex scene, something I do not want to see on SVU. Ever. (Unless its Olivia and Casey, and then we can talk. I am a C/O shipper, after all…)

I did manage to find the pause button before I began to claw my eyes out at that scene. The following scene really wasn’t any better, with Kathleen telling her father that he shouldn’t be using them as a “booty call.” Uhm… remember who filed for divorce in the first place, yes?

The CSU tech finally finds evidence to support the obvious; Malcolm killed his family and shot himself where he knew it wouldn’t kill. Elliot is in interrogation with him when he’s called out by Cragen. They’ve found only his prints on the lockbox for the gun (disproving the Lindsay theory), they found that the trajectory angles don’t match, and to top it all off, have him for Cynthia’s murder too because he was stupid enough to leave a “murder via snapping necks, for dummies” book around.

But of course, Elliot has to do things his way, and gets Malcolm into a chokehold to make him confess. Another tactic (like in last week’s Olivia episode) that should never stand up in court, but is never addressed anyway. And, to add to things, why is Elliot the only one that’s called to work this case? How about calling in Fin or Munch, since they hardly get used during regular investigations?

To top it all off, the ending was just plain horrible. We got our obligatory scene with Malcolm going down for all the murders, but the shot of him ignoring everyone else and walking out of the squad room was cheesy.

SVU seems like it’s slipping again. Hopefully, they can regain their footing for the last two weeks of May sweeps.