19.14--Justice for Cassidy

The #42Minutes

Whoops...we forgot to tell ya about him, Stone.

Cassidy's "epic tantrum" causes a mistrial and sets a child molester free. The situation sucks all around--a new trial will traumatize victims all over again, Stone wonders what the hell he got himself into, and plucky, well-connected Detective Holiday stands her ground when SVU tries to wrest the case from homicide after Dr. West is found stabbed to death in his home. Several people and God had a motive to kill the doctor, but Cassidy is PoI #1. Benson's pretty much the only one not sold on Cassidy' guilt but she keeps that to herself at first and directs the squad to investigate even though it's not their case anymore. Thanks to fish DNA (or something like that) they are able to narrow the suspect pool fairly easily and in the course of a follow up interview with a victim's family, Benson notices the smoking gun, er, smoking fidget spinner.

These things have been trouble from the get.

Jury of One

My aversion to all things Cassidy certainly is not a state secret and I still hate him; however, good for the writers for creating a more layered and nuanced backstory for the character. It was evident Brian has come to the realization that the trauma from his abuse has infected his entire existence and prevented him from actually loving the "love of his life." No, Cassidy never was and never will be good enough for Olivia, but at least now we know there's more substance to the man and his jackassery had a lot, if not everything, to do with the devastating and enduring effects of the abuse he suffered as a child. Unfortunately, Cassidy's nightmare wasn't ameliorated by his father beating the shit out of the baseball coach. 

This week in OMB WTF faces

I may be a cold-hearted bitch, but I'm still not letting him off the hook for a couple of things. First of all, dude, man the fuck up and deal with your mistake (and good job, Rollins for demanding he do this and, on a side note, why does she have the key? Oh wait, she was running point on the mission to help Liv harbor a murder suspect and also provide a home for her child--Noah, the real child, not Cassidy). How dare he ask Liv to help him? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it--the two of them have a deep connection and history and they trust each other (once again, I share Rollins' incredulity)--but that was typical fucking Cassidy and epitomizes everything I loathe about him.

(second gripe in Quotable)
Oh, oh, oh, Kudos to the writers for tying up all the Cassidy loose ends in a neat little knot...they did their homework and hit a home run.

LOL poor Stone...he must've aged ten years during this one case, good luck pal. And good luck to viewers...I really hope the awkwardness was intended. Maybe I have a Barba hangover, but he already seems to be an ill-fitting member of the team (fictional and nonfictional). However, I think I ship Stoliday.

I L. O. V.  E. how Rollins and Benson are being written. Cassidy was absolutely spot-on with his skeletons-in-the-closet comment, but Amanda has proven herself and Liv has cut her some slack. After all, OMB hasn't exactly been a rigid adherent to policies and procedures either. Good for Rollins for simultaneously standing her ground with the boss and being loyal and also for verbally smacking Cassidy into reality.

Oh, Noah...

Damn observant kids...

Quotable:

"It's a little early in the morning for stick up your ass." The teased tension between Holiday and the squad did not disappoint. I hope this isn't the last we see of her. Could be an interesting arc--another new member with a powerful father? Then again if Mr. Holiday is anything like Dodds, never mind.

"I wear them to clean my toilet."
Burrrrrrrrrnnnnnn. But here are some frozen veggies for your head. Seriously, though...she kept the sweats? Also...that apartment sure as hell expanded in the past few years. Bri musta been amazed. 

"We're the ones who botched the trial." Come. On. Olivia. The Lieutenant was really starting to annoy me in the middle of this episode because  she was on the questionable side of rationality a couple of times. I don't often get frustrated with her, but when I do it's usually because her gigantic heart smothers her brain. She stuck her neck way, way out for this prick without knowing what we all sort of guessed. For the record, Tucker would've never asked her to do that. In fact, he demanded the opposite.

"...You were never gonna bare your soul to me..." And Liv is supposed to feel guilty about this? You can't accept this yet you also couldn't bare your soul to her? 
"I was trying to explain to Morrison what happened between you and I..." More like you were trying to explain it to yourself, dude. YOU TOLD A STRANGER ABOUT LEWIS AND DIDN'T THINK THAT WOULD HAVE ANY CONSEQUENCES? Unforgivable. Sorry.

Appearances:

Hell of a way to spend Valentine's Day.

Tracking Tucker

I need him in bed with her. It would've been so great if Tucker met Cassidy at the door with a gun.

Also this reminded me of Dr. Keppler and Lead and Tucker was in that episode.

That is all.

Head Scratchers:

What will arise from Stone's "something came up" comment and Carisi's closed dry cleaners???

Is It Next Wednesday Yet?

Puh-lease let this be the last of Cassidy. For his sake, disclosing to Stone, maybe, was a tiny step forward. I hope he finds peace, but Olivia has moved on. I haaaate that she was left in the dark because I feel like it leaves a door open for him to return, and I can't decide how OMB would have reacted if he'd revealed that deep, dark secret to her. Maybe Cassidy was being considerate and saving her from having another person to save...or maybe he saw no upside to telling her.

Surely he'll have to find a new job. I mean...really...how can he possibly have any more credibility in the courtroom? Oh! Also! I was irked by him telling Liv he was begging Stone for his job when he was really pleading for Reggie's fate. Anyone with a quarter of a heart and a modicum of common sense would agree Reggie deserved the lighter hand of the law. 

Anyway...I hope the message to Dean Winters was dig deep and go all in because this is your SVU swan song. He gave an impassioned performance and displayed a range I didn't realize he had. Well done, Dean, but...Bye.

This was beautiful and perfect. Olivia expecting to see him still there...but no. For once her being alone didn't tug at my heartstrings. She's better off without him.

I am soooooo excited for Carisi drama I'm almost willing to skip the weekend.