"Law & Order: SVU" mini-cap: "P.C."

There were quite a few hilarious moments (namely when Babs meets Alex- my obsession with her is finally justified). But I was very frustrated by the complete inability to leave the stereotypes alone.Also, of course the hardcore lesbian isn't even a lesbian. And of course the gay community in the show sees that as her betraying them and somehow being less gay because she's also into men.All in all, a very flip-floppy episode. But I enjoyed it mostly because it was Alex's first appearance in, like, a month!

I had typed out a more detailed reply but somehow it got erased.

Basically I think our community just got thrown under the bus by the writers and actors, except for BD Wong.

FAIL

Thank you for putting that image, along with the one of her and Alexandra Hedison, in my head.

I didn't catch the episode live, it's on the dvr. But it sucks that it seems to have been one stereotype after another, with no kissage. Le Sigh since I tend to enjoy SVU immensely.

Be Yourself, Loudly

The other day I read on an AE blog how people were mad that the kiss was included and now I'm reading on here that people are mad that the kiss wasn't included.

Not really understanding this too much.

That pretty much sums my feelings for this ep.

I tried to do a double face palm but I didn't want to overwhelm my face.

Was the exchange where she asks Elliot if he ever gets a gay vibe from her. His response was awesome. Since I can't pretend she's simply in the closet at work now, I'll pretend she's deeply in denial.

The over the top stereotypes were bad. I was cringing. SVU, you let me down.

I had to work last night so I didn't see the episode, and I can't imagine now a scenario where I ever would. But I wanted to thank Hornito for this brilliant piece. You made lemonade out of a fairly ugly situation, and it was nice to be able to chuckle at the idiocy of it all. On to the next.

That this episode wasn't going to include every lesbian stereotype ever...although to be fair..they did leave out the pregnant lesbian stereotype...

This episode was just plain horrible. The only parts I liked was when Kathy Griffin/Babs first meets Alex and when after the kiss (that they didn't show) Olivia says "That's not on the menu." Everything else was pretty much over/badly acted. I don't know who the hell came up with this idea for an episode, but whoever did...FAIL.

I thought this episode was terribly disappointing.  It was basically chock full of tired, old stereotypes.  The whole lesbian activist thing seemed more like 1970s lesbian feminism than modern day.  There obviously were no gay writers I would assume on this episode, otherwise, how could they have gotten it all so wrong?  They didn't even touch on what real lesbians are like.  I did like the woman they had as Sharon's(Mitch's) ex.  Cute and she seemed like a regular woman.

I think Kathy Griffin is very funny, but this part didn't do her justice.  And it was terrible that they left out the kiss.  Come on, that's why I was watching!!!

And then to end it all with Kathy kissing Stabler just didn't seem right.  Double standard.  She could kiss him, but not Benson??

Law and Order and NBC have a long way to go!

 

P.S. I'm from Canada and we don't talk like "Mitch".  I didn't even really notice her accent.  New York is a melting pot.  Not surprising that she might have come from elsewhere.

I caught an episode of SVU a few months ago after having not seen it for at least five years, and it was basically gibberish.  Make that over-the-top, overwrought gibberish. (don't remember the specifics... something about a pedophile)

I guess it's hard to keep a show going for a decade!

I looked forward to this epi for a long time and it was a total DUD!

Altho I also loved the moment when Babs met Alex...

 

I thought the character of Olivia was acting very lesbophobic...lol

 

Basically the entire epi had me cringing...it could have been done so much better and we were all pretty much given the finger by NBC and SVU's wrters/producers.

 

 

 

"...what goes 'round...comes 'round..."

Just like each of our readers is different, us writers are different too. We don't consult each other on our blogs, so if another writer didn't like the idea, that's their thing. Personally, I would've liked for it to be included. More than that I would've liked the main lesbian character to have stayed a lesbian.

That was a response for Raelynne. I've been drinking, obviously.

For a drama I was sure laughing a lot. Maybe that was because I was only catching bits and pieces when I was taking breaks from sheet-rocking my bathroom.

Like others have said, the episode was chock-full of bad stereotypes and even worse acting. I'm not a huge Kathy Griffin fan to begin with, but this made me even less of a fan. Even though she's not particularly funny to, she'd definitely a better commedian than drama actor.

After seeing the article about the "kiss" scene on afterellen last week, I was wholeheartedly hoping that the Benson comment to the other officer would be something less offensive in context. Well, that certainly didn't turn out. I had no problem with the kiss being included, but thought it was rididuclous to edit it out, especially given the double standard with the Stabler kiss in the end.

All in all, bad move L&O. The only redeeming part of the show was B.D. Wong's description of "Aggressives." (although I was a little worried where he was going until he mentioned that Aggressives are not associated with violence).

I believe the episode was pretty good. I mean I get why people are mad about the kiss, even though there had to be something more there because even though it was Kathy Griffin, producers know 2 girls kissing = men excited(Especially since she confirmed she was straight, even though it did seem throughout the episode she was thinking about it). Then it's like if they would have made the girlfriend the killer, it would have been, "Oh here we go again with the lesbian being the killer." And I really just took the girlfriend as more complex, they had to add something to the episode to give it a bit more, it's a usual thing SVU does.  Then people get mad about the fact that Kathy Griffin ended up being bisexual, but I think it was good because it shined light on the difficult situation that I know some lesbians have had to go through.-Like a Rose by Any Other Name(I just thought it was weird to say she was bisexual when she only seemed to only like one man, but then again this is tv. Things must happen more rapidly) I mean technically they had a rally full of lesbians and they showed someone who really had to internally deal with a conflict that could totally change her life. It is understandable though why people may not have liked the episode, but sometimes I think people need to look at the positive instead of dwelling on the negative.  

 

p.s

I really do just enjoy seeing Hargitay(Olivia) and March(Alex) back together.

 

 

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

I'm reposting some of what I put on another thread, just because it's easier ...

Having seen it, I am offended.  Not by the comment by Olivia, but by the whole tone of the show.  I've never encountered any militant group like the one shown, and OF COURSE Babs is farkin' a man, because that's what we all want. Aggessives?  Um, yeah, never heard of them either.

As for Olivia ... I'll go with my earlier comment about how many of us reacted the same way.  "What?  Me?  Noooo, I'm SOOOO not like that.  Let me prove it to you with some homophobic comment."   Actually, the fact that DW pursued that, with Olivia asking Stabler if he had ever gotten a gay vibe from her ... and that Stabler admitted that he had, (in not so many words) ... that to me, really left the door open a little bit to Olivia comming out, not only to us, but to herself.  And then, she even goes so far to put her gay on, to excess, to get the perp to confess. 

Okay, so the door may not be open, but it is unlocked, and that's a start.  

Lisa

Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security -- B. Franklin

but did see both the before (kiss) and after (almost kiss) clips. And a thought came to me.

Now, not to get anyone riled up, or step on anyone's toes, but technically what Babs did could be construed as harassment. I wonder if Olivia's parting comment to the lady taking over her shift would have been the same if it had been a man that had kissed or almost kissed her without her permission. I have to say that it perhaps might have been if not the same, then a little more. Like actually explaining to the other woman why she said that.

Anyway, just thinking out loud.

...I kinda liked the gaping hole left by Benson's conversation with Stabler. And maybe I'm the only one - but did anybody else happen to pick up on Cabot's reaction to the once over Babs gave her. I basically picked up a fairly retro-twinge of subtext...

Course as an SVU fan I'm from the way-back old school-subtext that had Cabot and Benson admitting their chemistry and making a go of it! In a strange way I thought the eps opened a back door for this in some way. Of course I'm the eternal optomist for stuff like this... But without hope what's the point!

As for the actual storyline it was so demeening and steroetypical I thought I must be watching some kinda renaissance satire! As a lady loving lady I don't think I've been so horribly offended in my life. Dick Wolf what were you really thinking? NBC are you really trying to kill the only decent show you have left by making it a total farce?

Opinion voiced - moving on - sorta ;) !!

SMB

Sutton Foster!!! Yay!!!

this story was the most horrible thing i've ever seen on L&O. it was like a freaking lesbian mintrel show... blahhhhh.

I'm SO freaking happy they cut that horrific kiss! the ONLY woman Benson should be kissing is Alex Cabot! I love Kathy, but they really should have cast someone else for the role, who can take her seriously?! Not me. 

 

"One Heart Too Many by BurningEden....BEST CALLICA Fanfiction evah!" just wanted to tell the world.

I initially posted this message on NBC's community forum, but it was deleted by NBC's moderator!  I re-posted it, and it was deleted again!   NBC homophobic? 

Initially, I was quite excited about tonight's episode.  Few shows incorporate lesbian characters and storylines, so I was encouraged when I learned tonight's episode would feature Kathy Griffin playing a lesbian activist.  Given Griffin's connections with the LGBT community, as well as the high quality of Law & Order: SVU as a show, I thought the subject matter would be dealt with in a respectful and responsible manner.  However, after viewing the episode, I was highly dissappointed, disheartened, and discouraged.  The epsiode did more harm than good.  It problematically reinforced outdated lesbian stereotypes by portraying lesbians as abbrasive and angry, as seperatists, man-haters, and straight-haters.  Perhaps even more troubling, it portrayed lesbian sexuality as changeable. Griffin's character, Babbs Duffy, an outspoken lesbian activist, ends up desiring men in the end-- she has a "secret" boyfriend and then she kisses Stabler.  This suggests that if a lesbian simply finds the "right" man she will no longer be a lesbian.  Thus, lesbian sexuality is again characterized as immature-- as a precursor to heterosexuality. 

 

Also frustrating was the cutting of the kiss between Olivia Benson (Hargitay) and Babbs Duffy (Griffin).  In Griffin's recent interviews on the talk show circuit to promote the episode, she talked about her character's attraction to Olivia and their onscreen kiss.  Unlike so many shows, which exploit female-female kisses for the titilation of a (presumably) male audience, this story line and the kiss between the characters could have come across as authentic.  Over the years, there has been much speculation about Olivia's sexuality, and the character and the show have a strong lesbian fanbase.  Thus, having a lesbian character come on to Olivia, and forcing Olivia to respond, could have been both relevant for the character and gratifying for the audience.  However, cutting the kiss at the last moment-- and instead hyping up the kiss between Babbs and Stabler--- felt both forced and frustrating.  Because the kiss was cut, the camera work in the Babbs/Olivia scene was choppy and unprofessional (we knew something was cut), and Olivia's reaction was overly dramatic.  We needed to see Olivia experience and react to the kiss.  And if it helped Olivia confirm that she is straight, that's great!  That is a legitimate (and predictable) response for the character.  But showing Babbs awkwardly reach for Olivia and--cut-- Olivia gasping "I'm straight" felt strange and unbelievable.  It then got worse when we learned that Babbs had been secretly dating a man the whole time.  And, as if things could not get worse, Babbs forcing a kiss on Stabler in the final scene was incredibly awkward and out of left field.  Not only does this reinforce the homophobic assumption that lesbians can be "made straight," but it leads viewers to question NBC's integrity.  Why did NBC go from promoting Babbs' relationship with Olivia, to her relationship with Stabler?  Why did NBC cut a lesbian kiss?  Why did it replace a lesbian kiss with a straight kiss?  Why did all of the previews for the show introduce Babbs Duffy as a lesbian character and then show her kissing Stabler, a man?  Are the executives at NBC homophobic?  Was the network pandering to the demands of anti-LGBT interest groups? 

 

I hope that NBC will respond to its cutting cutting of the Olivia/Babs kiss, as well as its stereotypical and homophobic portrayal of lesbians throughout the episode.

I won't get to see this episode for a few months (my country is incredibly slow with these things, unless it's American Idol), but I'm not so sure I want to watch it anymore.

I feel like the butt of a very bad joke.

On a different note though, I didn't know Alex was gonna be back. Since she is...? (wishful thinking, I guess. Lol. Or did she disappear again at the end of the episode?)

That's worth mentioning about this shocking episode is that, upon Babs Duffy talking to Benson about sexuality and how, you know, maybe you are gay, etc (Honestly I tuned out for most of this episode...) Olivia didn't actually say anything either for or against being gay. She didn't deny it. That stuck in my mind.

But then, at the end, when Olivia said to Alex she had a way to make the perp spill, I was totally lost. How did the episode actually end? Because in my mind, Alex and Olivia are still in the interrogation room...

too many boring cliched stereotypes to count+shitty acting= major serious lame-itude.

But watching chris meloni trying desperately not to laugh while Kathy Griffin did her thing, hilarious.

Like lots of others, I thought the episode was kind of blah, but loved that Babs/Alex moment. That's exactly how I would feel if I ran into Alex Cabot.

For some reason though, when Olivia said she had a way to make the perp talk, I thought for a split second that she was going to go in there and have Alex pretend to be her girlfriend. And I got really excited. Sadly, I was wrong.

There *is* a good portion of the LGBT community that distrusts bisexuals.  At my college, when the LGBT administrator mentioned she was bisexual a couple years back, it was taken as a huge betrayal by the community.

The episode did go overboard with the angry lesbian idea, but I was *glad* that the bisexual part was played more than just, "Oh, the LGBT community is completely accepting of all sexualities".