SVU: "Debt" (9/28) Episode Discussion
 

DETECTIVES STUMPED BY CULTURE BARRIER WHEN SMUGGLERS HOLD ILLEGAL CHINESE IMMIGRANT CAPTIVE; MING-NA ('ER') GUEST-STARS -- After Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) find two small Chinese children mysteriously abandoned by their missing mother, they soon discover that the mother is an illegal immigrant whose older daughter is being held against her will until the mother can pay off the smugglers’ fee for bringing the family to America. The police use the missing woman's sister, Li Mei (guest star Ming-Na from NBC's "ER"), to penetrate the secretive society and find out what happened to her -- but their plan backfires when Li Mei is found severely beaten while bearing an ominous message from the kidnappers. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Diane Neal, B.D. Wong and Ice-T also star. TV-14

Cant wait 2 watch.

(My first post on this forum!)

This seemed llike a very weird episode for B.D. Wong's character. (I can never remember the character's name! I remember the actor's name because the first tiem I saw him, I thought, "That there's a guy who goes by initials," and then I was really surprised to find out I was actually right.) He kept giving us these meaningful looks, but never really doing anything. What was up with that?

I'm still watching it. I will give you an opinion when I'm done watching it.

I like the episode. It was sad that her sister was killed. However, I'm glad that Stabler was able to save Li's niece. I wonder if things will be brought up with him shooting that guy. Seems that Stabler is always getting into some trouble. He almost bends those rules, he may actual bend them but not to the point where it is really troublesome in my eyes.

Where was Munch? The loss of him in this episode showed. I needed his sense of humor in some situations or even his police skills. I did like how Wong played more of a role. Of course it had to be because of China town and the race card. It's the same thing they do to Finn when there is something going on in the more black neighborhoods. :look:

(The character's name is Huang.) I don't know - it seemed to me all he did was translate. Which struck me as a little unrealistic, actually. In my T'ai-chi class, we had three people from China, and they all spoke Mandarin, but they couldn't talk to each other in Mandarin because their dialects were so different. They had to talk to each other in English to communicate. It seemed weird to me that Huang could understand all those people so easily.

Yes, but the actors name is B.D. Wong. It's a rare thing to see an asain actor/actress shine on television. They usually play their roles only when refering to other asain groups. Which is why I said they played the race card. :)

Also, I found this site which might shed some light on the language issue. :look:



The Chinese languages

I have to disagree regarding Dr. Huang’s role in this episode. Yes, he translated for the two little girls, however, he was probably evaluating their mental state at the same time. He also caught Li Mei in a lie (more than just a translation IMO), was knee-deep in the discussion of Stabler’s plan to use Li Mei to get information about her missing sister, and actively participated in the stakeout and capture of Ricky Yow (sp?). I think there may have been more, but that’s all I got off the top of my head right now.

As for the race card, yes and no. They’ve got an actor who can speak Chinese fluently, why not rip an accommodating headline and give the guy an episode to use that skill? It’s not like this is the only episode in which he’s been featured heavily. Dr. Huang also plays prominent roles in episodes involving profiling (part of his F.B.I background) and suspects or victims with possible or confirmed mental illness.

As much as I want to say Stabler’s shooting was justified, I can’t get behind it 100%. Yes, Ping was probably in mortal danger and in the end the results may have been the same, however, he simply burst through the second door and shot the guy. No attempt to diffuse the situation; no attempt to do anything other than kill the guy. As much as I like the character of Stabler, he does let his personal feelings override his police training a little more than he should. Of course, that human fallibility is what makes him a more believable character. I don't know if he'll receive any punishment for his actions, although by the looks on Benson's and Fin's faces, they also thought he stepped a bit over the line.

I finally watched the episode yesterday. It was a very sad one, but everyone on there did a great job.

Well, he sure didn't do or say anything about it.

Which is what I think we should see more of. As a forensic psychiatrist, that's what his job is supposed to be. One of my favorite scenes of his was when they had a woman pretending to have MPD and he nailed it.

Welcome to the board Crossbow . :D

Ugh. My cable went out for a couple days so I'll have to wait for the repeat on USA to see it. :(

I like Stabler, and one of my favorite things about him is that he is human and the cases hit him so hard, but I think the things he gets away with are crazy. There would be serious repercussions for officers who man-handle suspects during interrogations, but Stabler seems to be able to get away with it when ever he gets pissed off. I'm hoping he gets into some kind of trouble for shooting that guy, not because I really want him to get in trouble, just because it's realistic.

The episode was pretty good. I liked that Huang had a larger part in it, but I agree with Crossbow that it was strange that he could understand everyone.

Actually, I suspect that happens a lot. I think showing him getting away with it IS pretty realistic.

I don't think he'll be in trouble for shooting that guy, though, because the guy was about to kill someone else. But after a cop shoots someone, they always have to turn over their weapon, and all the bullets have to be accounted for; that's just standard procedure.

What he should get in trouble for is physically threatening suspects during interrogation.

You think police officers get away with things like that? No offense meant, but I disagree. Maybe in some places they can get away with it, but not most; officers get in trouble for a lot more minor stuff than smacking around witnesses. Cops can't go around shooting people because they might do something.

Sorry if this sounds bitchy. My dad's a cop, I'm kinda touchy about it. ;)