shinebrighterxx

Hopefully they're going somewhere with the therapy

We need better writing for her

She probably doesn't know if she can get attached to people, which then leaves her stuck. She needs to experience life, but doesn't trust people to not leave her again. Then she's seeing all these people finding love & all she's got is Noah. A child is wonderful of course. But I think she wants more than that too.

lucyfur83

I feel like her therapist Dr Lindstrom has just gone missing. I hope he comes back.

shinebrighterxx

Yeah not sure what is happening there She had the woman instead so maybe they've had to recast & say she's seeing someone new? Or he just wasn't available for this season but will be back?


Were you trying to post a video from youtube? If so if you use the [yt][/yt] tags then post the numbers/letters at the end of the URL (the part after the v= bit) between those tags it should show up

So if I wanted to post this video I'd put:

[YT]Hh06dO1cslU[/YT]

Which would show up like this:

lucyfur83

Hey thanks so much that worked! I was using the 'share' details which for some reason do not work at all

This is a scene I love so much from Barba's SVU days.

Also, Liv has a therapy emergency, imo, they need a therapist for her yesterday. I get frustrated that they scrimp on money with the casting. Wish Amanda would come back full time too.

shinebrighterxx

I'm glad it is working for you . Unfortunately using the 'share' options doesn't transfer over to here so it can be hard to know what is needed to make things show up. This page can provide some help navigating & understanding the BBCode so you can share things . Feel free to ask for help if you need too

That scene It shows so much of what SVU is missing right now. It has so much family & friendship in a small moment. Now they've got themselves stuck in a situation where they need to ask Kelli Giddish back if they want to show anything other than Olivia & Noah. One more reason DW should never have let her go. They've lost so much of what they had in the Barba-era where they all were a close team, supportive of each other, & had those moments where someone would be happy to listen to whatever their friend wanted to talk about. Now all Olivia has is Fin. So the magic the show had before is lost - leaving Olivia stuck in this state where as you said she needed to see her therapist yesterday. Even if that therapist is just some good times with her family/friends like shown in that scene.

lucyfur83

Thanks so much- I was not sure what I was doing wrong and embarrassed to ask!

I have a hope that they are preparing to bring Amanda back- as you can tell she's not too happy with her teaching role, and then also that the new cast are not quite gelling.

It seems to me that they are working towards Olivia having some crisis or realisation about how she has let her relationships slide- even when they mentioned the months she has been out of touch with Amanda, it spoke to an increasing isolation. Then again, it might just be poor casting decisions and me reading into it. The shorter year for the show won't help them sort things out either.

Agree so much with all of this. I even think we have seen her be a little short with Fin too, a bit snippy. Part of this might be that they intended to do more Stabler/Benson crossovers pre-strike and they got cut so now it's like she has no life at all. It kind of depends if OC gets picked up now also what happens next. IMO they were unwise to hitch their wagon to OC, as it's very constraining now what they can say about Olivia, and after 25 years her story is the one people are most invested in. That's my view, I know some fans say there is too much of her, but they are forgetting key cast have been cut and that's more logistical thing for the stories.

shinebrighterxx

Understandable I'm here to help if you do have questions though

Yeah I did wonder if that was a hint that they were going to bring her back. Plus they've brought her back a couple of times now...

The only problem with things is that they probably don't want to progress Olivia's storyline as then they have to commit to either saying yes to Bensler or ruling it out for good. Which does nothing for her.

Completely agree



(Celebrating things is common on & I did want to mention that you're more than welcome to join our 10,000 posts celebration if you want & get a L&O-related special title to go under your username for a month )

lucyfur83

I think maybe the move of OC to Peacock is now forcing their hand one way or another with Bensler. They probably had an inkling that was coming and it's why they have been balking at progressing things or making a decision.

Thanks for the tip, I visited the celebration thread

At least, if Amanda comes back that's good for Olivia's character and she can talk through where she's at and either get the courage to give things a go with Elliot or the courage to let him know too much has happened and she's not willing/able to commit.

shinebrighterxx

Yeah that might be where they're heading with the current storyline... waiting to see what happens with OC & then deciding where to go next. In theory it may be harder for crossovers with the move. But the cast can still appear on both even with one being on Peacock so who knows

Olivia needs to have either Rollins or Barba to talk to asap


credit

lucyfur83

I have dipped in and out of OC (Mostly Olivia's episodes and a good bit of Season 1), but I think it's a bigger problem for their showrunners than it will be for SVU. When they killed off Kathy, they were likely thinking that leaves a lot of doors open for Stabler- e.g. the Benson relationship, or someone new/ new women in general for Stabler/ undercover relationships that don't seem as sleazy if he's a widower etc. Whereas if they now go with Benson, they will be limited how much they can do that doesn't throw off SVU and the 22-ish episode season. Stabler's personal life is more central to OC than Benson's is to SVU.

Then again, if they put them in a steady relationship, they can just show small snippets on either side and it could work okay. It depends how much drama they want to get from the whole thing. I kind of think they have milked it for all they can honestly.



I miss their talks- over coffee, drinks, dinner. And then especially when he was the one to help reinforce her confidence, like in the above. The higher she has climbed career wise, the fewer people she has that she can be vulnerable with like this.

- eternal sunshine -

The whole idea of having characters on different shows dating is a huge risk and requires the shows to be on the same timeline and in the know of what is happening in each show. Other franchises may do it, but that does not mean that all franchises should try it. OC has had a lot of changeover in their crew and does not flow and run in the same manner that SVU does. Elliot would be forever out of reach or disappearing on Olivia which would only put her in more of a confused and backwards state. And in desperate need for the friendships and moments from previous seasons when Barba and Amanda were on the show. It is unlikely that they will bring either back, and if they do it would be for short moments. Amanda seems more likely than Barba at this point, but it could be nice if Carisi went back to being a cop and Barba returned as the ADA. But that feels like a step backwards for Carisi's character.

Olivia had a unique friendship with Barba. She could trust him and his judgement and they need to bring that element back in for her. She needs someone in her life that can be that person. I feel like Amanda is being that in her brief appearances but they would need to bring her back fulltime for it to be more beneficial.

lucyfur83

It would be so great to see Amanda back full-time. The brief stints we do see, they are only able to scratch the surface of what is going on with Olivia. And I just miss her energy on the show, she was matter of fact, funny and down to earth. I think things have gotten a bit too earnest, and a show this dark needs at least moments of levity.

I would love to see Carisi back as a cop, but I wouldn't personally put Barba back as ADA. I think they would be doing well to get Raul Esparza for a few episodes. I would really like to see them delve into mending the friendship with Olivia, whether through working together on one case, or even just through them somehow reconnecting or her just deciding to forgive him because she realises life is too short to hold the grudge. I would also be interested in hearing more about how Barba is in his life now- is he still a defence attorney, would he plan to go elsewhere in terms of his career... I just wonder what has been happening with him and how he is. It's weird to me he was so close to the core group on the show and now we don't hear anything about him.

SVU is so focused on the cases that Olivia's personal life doesn't have to be in every episode. However, that side of her feels very under-written this season. Partly caused by the strike maybe, partly the limits with Organised Crime, hugely Amanda being missing. We haven't even got any sense of anything fun she might do with Noah. They are writing her like a lone wolf who gets obsessed with cases like Maddie- but there ought to be so much more to her than that.

I think regardless of the ship you prefer for her, most fans want to see her happy. Even if they wrote in a new boyfriend for her- he wouldn't have to be in the show much for people to know she has someone to come home to as well as Noah. Of course she doesn't need a guy, but a long time ago she spoke to Brian about having someone to get old with. She really deserves it. It could be good for her to be with someone she doesn't work with, even for a while, because it would help her compartmentalise and have an escape from the darkness of work.

shinebrighterxx

Putting them together will result in drama or Olivia just ignoring or oblivious to whatever trouble he's gotten himself into this time

I miss their talks too. Along with the lightness/light that they brought to the show. They've completely lost all of that now. Olivia & Fin just don't have the same energy

They really need him to come back & continue the mending journey. Even have Olivia mention him even if we don't see him . Surely these characters don't actually disappear from everyone's lives completely when they leave the show? Understandable right now to not have Olivia mentioning Barba but bring him in for a few episodes to mend things then they can name drop from time to time...

lucyfur83

I would bet money Carisi stays in touch with Barba, maybe even meets him for a drink or lunch ocassionally to run cases by him or catch up.

He learned a lot from Barba, and you could tell he thought Liv was being unfair to him, and that Barba pulled his punches to protect her in the Wheatley trial.

Maybe Carisi can do some type of Parent Trap scenario to bring them back together.

I am so glad he got away from working for Wheatley though, that was a recipe for disaster, I was concerned they might even kill him off, such a dangerous job.

shinebrighterxx

They really should have Carisi push the pair back together