XX.II: "Just Don't Forget Me"

The #42 Minutes

The episode opens like so many SVU episodes have opened--dark night, unsuspecting cabbie, up-to-no-good white dude visiting from the midwest, and a drugged victim on a gurney. It doesn't take long for the squad to track down the driver, the perp, and the other perp who has in his possession at least half a dozen sex slaves including nine-year-old Gabriela who was separated from her mother when they crossed into Texas from Mexico. Maria, her mother, is in detention and Gabriela had been placed with an (interracial--that's very 2018 of you, show) couple in New Jersey but she ran away in hopes of returning to Texas. The squad's not sure where to house her. Rollins wants to take Gabriela home to which Benson says, no, no, I'm the only one who gets to do stuff like that (and also Stabler, too) and I'm not referring to Noah (remember Calvin and the little boy from "Paternity"? Oh and also the girl who set Beck's couch on fire but Benson wasn't there for that...anyway...why bring up Beck?).

Eventually a federal agent arrives to take Gabriela to kids-taken-from-their-parents lock-up and Benson has him arrested for kidnapping. We all know this is a legal long-shot, but that's not really the point, Benson's playing with her heart more than her head and Stone calls her out on it but then he meets Gabriela, she shows him a drawn picture of her house in Guatemala and Stone's like fiiiiine. After Judge Millbanks predictably sides with the federal government Stone hops on a plane to call in some favors from Jefferies, using some childhood sea turtle metaphor to seal the deal. Gabriela and her mother are reunited and welcomed to America by Benson who remains in the middle of the barracks for a moment staring in disbelief at the kids in cages and she just welcomed the Sosas to America but this can't really be America, right?

Verdict

Man Who? Someone please tell me why this wasn't episode one?

Truth be told, SVU has never made me reach for the tissues. But there I was yesterday afternoon jogging on the treadmill and struggling to breathe as Benson kept repeating "fuerte" to a crying Gabriela.

Benson's outburst was so poignant and brave and badass...you could tell Mariska wasn't merely playing a role in that scene. 

Lately I've been anti-ripped from the headlines episodes because they end up feeling preachy and cheesy and almost diminish the weight of the issue at hand. Zero Tolerance, however, was impeccably written and performed. The script laid bare how the current administration has unconscionably and recklessly abandoned all semblance of morality and humanity in the name of "rule of law", and it did so without over-politicizing debates over the border crisis.

The issues in 30 seconds...well done!

In less important news, Rollins tells Dr. Al she's pregnant (but, I must point out, she doesn't explicitly say he's the father and I'm still not convinced the kid isn't Carisi's) and his first impulse is to suggest abortion which appalls Rollins because...well...what an ass...then again, she's probably kicking herself for thinking a few sweet minutes of reading to Jesse equates to Dr. Al wanting to step up and be a family man.

Poor, left-out Carisi...the last to know.

 By the end of the ep, Rollins (thanks, in part, to Gabriela I suppose), decides she's having the baby and she tells Al to take a hike...hopefully for good because I'm not interested in season-long baby Daddy drama especially since we're not allowed to have #Tuckson drama. 

The Rollins-Gabriela scenes were all great, but this one was my fave. And maybe Jesse would like a little brother?

In the "Stone is Forever on My Nerves' Category..."

Okay, so Peter came through with the connection that eventually freed Maria and Gabriela but does he have to have that pitiful, pensive look on his face all the damn time?

This week in anguished OMB faces...

Oh, and, P.S.--A #Tuckson, at home, on the couch with a glass of wine debrief after that presser woulda been soooooo much better than Dr. Al and Rollins drama. And Benson choking back tears at the end...gawwwwwwwd....

Quotable:

"Stop treating me like a ride along."

(after Carisi suggests a non alcoholic beer) "What's the point?"

Oh, Rollins, I alternately love and hate you, but there was nothing but heart emojis for ya in this episode. 

"You know me, all work and no play." Yeah, right, Peter. 

"I promised Ken and Alejandro I'd babysit tonight." Fin, you are such a liar. 

"Why la Migra take her, Miss Amanda?" GABRIELAAAAAA, you're killing me!

"What are we doing here? The government ripped this little girl out of her mother's arms. Somebody...somewhere needs to stop this!" 

Is it Next Thursday, yet?

Petition to reduce all of Stone's wistful childhood stories that always miraculously dovetail with the case to deleted scenes clips on YouTube!

Other than that...I'm stocking up on salted caramel chocolate chip ice cream and looking forward to trying to stay up until 10 next week.