There Was "No Good Reason" For This!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                           This past Wednesday's 'SVU' episode, entitled "No Good Reason," had the potential to be something, and go places, but once again, the writers and Mariska did themselves in, again.  Thank God for that black humored, witty cameo of Brooke Shields, going into the courtroom.  In just a couple of seconds, she livened things up.

                              I haven't the slightest idea who Brighton Sharbino is, nor do I care, but she gave a moving performance as victim Mandy Fowler, who recounts her life and observations on video, as assiduously as I do mine on print here, but who goes to the dark place, when she reveals she is a rape victim.  I think on here somewhere, I have recounted my sexual molestation by a neighbor, six days before my sixteenth birthday, which would have been--I can never forget--November 12, 1970.

                              I certainly felt for Mandy.  Three boys are suspected, and I thought it would turn out to be one of the other two.  But it turns out to be Andrew, a predator in the making.  He and Mandy were friends, he wanted to go to the next level, she did not, so he stepped in and--sicko!!!!!--made the decision for her.  He was played by Colton Ryan, soon to understudy (or maybe doing so, now) "Dear Evan Hansen" on Broadway.  A good performance, the remorse seemed genuine, but he is still a sicko.  One problem I had with him is that I think the script did not give him enough of a comeuppance.  Though he appeared in court to allocute, the whole thing was treated like a slap on the wrists.

                             This was because everything was heading for the big, set piece scene, that turned my stomach.  Mandy invites Olivia Benson to her school, for an assembly, inviting an open discussion on her situation and bullying.  A good idea.  But it turns into a nonentity, when the scene is tossed to Olivia--of course, it is all about her!!!!!!!!--and Hargitay delivers what should be an impassioned monologue, and it is written as such, in the manner of someone in an acting class who knows they do not want to be there, and behave accordingly.  Undermining what the scene was trying to do.  Why couldn't Kelli Giddish, or Peter Scanavino have done this scene?  They could have handled it better; they are more skilled actors.  So is Sharbino, as Mandy.  But, no it is All About Olivia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             Bullying has been examined better on this show, in episodes like "Lost Traveler," "Mean," and, most recently "Bully," which has Kate Burton lashing out at everyone, including herself, as Annette Cole, that bitch, Corinne getting hers, and Justin having to shove wine bottles up his opera singer mother's ass, so she can preserve her voice.   Oh, boy!  Everyone was getting it from all sides!
Now, THAT was an episode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              I feel sorry for Kelli and Peter, who have to put up with what they must know is crap.  Why can't Dick Wolf and staff throw some acting bones to them?????????? Maybe things would improve.  Because it is clear now that Olivia has ceased to become a character.

                               Both she and Mariska have become the Office Dinosaur, who refuses to let go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!