Chasing Theo

There is no sex crime here. No special victim. Just a kidnapped kid. Why is SVU in charge? Where is the fbi who handles kidnapping cases? Spending their time on this instead of helping sexual abuse victims. The writers do this on a regular basis.

Benson buries her foot in the doc mom instantly after meeting her. No compassion whatsoever for the other mother whose child is kidnapped. But treats the crazy party mom from the start with care. Party mom is withholding pertinent information constantly.

We also have poor benson in this episode as well, in the form of her failing love life. It's been awhile since the writers have made us feel sorry for her and that's a good thing. They just can't help themselves.

They find the kid and the reason for the kidnapping is becoming evident. I felt compassion for the kidnapper, the reason and the child. The two separated moms are going at it. Rightly so child services gets involved. Shame that the one mother has no rights, she's got the level head. The party mom has obviously got some issues. She loves the child but is not responsible.

Then the show just ends with no real solution. The two separated moms magically make up and one agrees to lie for the other. Double standard Benson just lets that slide. Boring unsatisfying episode.

Instead of giving us a real conclusion they focus the last minutes of the show on poor benson. More soap opera bs. She loves the guy but says so emotionally fake that she needs to give Noah all her love and attention. So what, now the almighty benson isn't strong enough to handle work, love and a kid? Oh no!! Poor benson has it so hard! Sacrificing her own happiness for her son? Poor benson.

A couple of fan favorites in this episode. Ian Armitage of Young Sheldon plays the young kidnap victim. Zoe McClellan did a fine job as the mom fighting for custody. She played Petty Officer Coates on JAG.

My thoughts on "Chasing Theo" on first watch when Season 18 first aired in my country was mostly positive. Wasn't wowed or in rapture with it but of my first time viewings of Season 18's episodes it was one of the better faring ones of a mixed to negative overall general reaction to the season overall. On rewatch, where my general reaction of the season was on the whole the same, there was the hope that it would continue the improvement that the previous episode showed after being so disappointed in the five ones prior to that.

"Chasing Theo" thankfully did continue the improvement seen with "Next Chapter" and not a regression in quality. My feelings for it are still positive and for pretty much the same reasons as before. As far as the mostly disappointing first half of Season 18 goes, it is one of the high middle episodes and close to being one of the better. With less of the major flaws that frequently plagued Season 18 and the best things being done very well indeed.

Am going to start with the good. The production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The direction is sympathetic but also alert. The script is taut and intelligent, with very little sense of melodrama or awkwardness.

The story on the whole compels and starts very intriguingly, the turns in the plot stopping things from being too predictable. The detective work is cohesive and intrigues and entertains, while the personal life stuff balances very well instead of being too dominant or soapy. The acting is very good and really appreciated Rollins' sympathetic attitude towards the mother.

For me, the whole Olivia seemingly not allowed to have a happy relationship is getting repetitive.

Did feel too that the case did get predictable later and that it ran out of gas a little before the end. What further stopped "Chasing Theo" from working perfectly was that to me the mothers were too self absorbed to root for their plight and while sort of understanding the perpetrators point of view the way they acted was too extreme.

Overall, good if not great. For Season 18 that is not too bad a position to be in at all. 7/10.

This story goes all over the place, constantly changing focus as often as the lead character played by Rachelle Lefevre changes her story, after her kid Theo goes missing after a wild party in her apartment.

The audience is supposed to wonder about a number of potentially interesting and topical issues -each thrown up against the wall to see if it'll stick. The case doesn'[t even make sense to be handled by Mariska's team; I would think one specializing in kidnapping (sounds like FBI) should have taken over. And of course, somehow parallels or at leas commentary on Mariska's private life have to pop up, no matter how artificially they are injected into the story at hand.

My interest waned early on, mainly due to the feeling of being manipulated by some desperate denizens from the show's Writers Room.

I lost interest as soon as it was obvious the writers did not allow the SVU team to be harsh towards Mommie #1 for her partying ways, drugs openly in the home with the child, and her self-absorption. Not once did anyone tell her what a bad mother she was.

I'm also sick of watching Benson act as if she has no time for a love life. Maybe all the men in her life is not what she's interested in. Please don't get hostile towards me with that remark, I'm just saying, if Benson had a live interest similar to the ones the ladies in the episode have, it could make for a more interesting season instead of watching her shun a wonderful guy like Tucker.