Gone Baby Gone

Brook Shields absolutely jumps off the screen reminding us what an AWESOME and sadly underrated actress she has always been. What I liked about these episodes is how it highlights the tendency adults have in making a child nothing more than a cookie. Both Sheila and Olivia were more concerned with possession than they were with welfare. Olivia was initially completely dismissive of the fact that despite what she thought, Noah had biological family (something she probably would have discovered had she not used her job connections to circumvent the adoption process and basically get an immediate adoption). Sheila was completely dismissive of the fact that Noah's norm was Olivia as his mother. Is Olivia protective of Noah because she loves Noah or because she just wants a child so bad (which would explain why she wouldn't have done like a normal citizen and gone through the formal adoption process)? Is Sheila just trying to keep her lone family member in her family or is she trying to use Noah to right her wrongs with Ellie? Both of these adults had ulterior motives. That's what made the episodes so intriguing. Both exhibited genuine love for Noah; but he comes off as nothing but a prize to both. GREAT WRITING IN THESE!!! Only reason a 9 instead of 10...It was too obvious who was behind the kidnapping.

This SVU episode marks the last appearance of the Blue Lagoon girl Brooke Shields on SVU. She came into the squad's lives and particularly Mariska Hargitay's life as the blood grandmother of baby Noah who Olivia Benson adopted after her mother died.

Baby Noah is snatched out of a department store and the squad goes on high alert as they would do if the case involved one of their own.

I agree sadly that it's obvious from the gitgo who snatched Noah. Still the tension is kept at a most high pace.

This episode has it all -- overacting, bad writing, cardboard characters. I mean, seriously, just so bad. SVU really started scraping the bottom of the barrel when it rolled out all the fawning, soap opera Olivia Benson episodes. Talk about narcissism. They built terrible plots around flimsy Lifetime movie set ups.

But what really takes the cake here is just how quickly all the nauseating preachiness of the always pontificating Benson go out the window when something is personal. I mean, we get her barking orders at store security she never would if it was somebody else's child, Carisi and the blond alien getting all butch and slapping around suspects (and violating their Fourth Amendment rights) when next week you know they'll go off on others wanting to do the same thing.

And this all really highlights just how bad Hargitay and Brooke Shields are as actors. I mean, I get it, battle of the Amazons, but they're so, so melodramatic and clumsy. Some people should only be filmed from the neck up, and their lines should never be any more complicated than "What is that?" and "Right away!"

There's NO chemistry between Hargitay and the awful chlid actor playing her son.

It's hard to believe SVU was once a fairly tense and gripping show.

Following on from where the previous episode "Intent" left off, "Gone Baby Gone" did sound tense and was very hyped up. From the looks of how it was hyped, it did look good and had the makings of a great episode if done well. Did have a little bit of doubt though, as any plotline surrounding Olivia and Noah has never entirely worked and Olivia's personal life generally in Season 19 was rather soapy (though to a varying degree). Did like the episode a lot on first watch.

"Gone Baby Gone" was a very good, in fact nearly great, episode on rewatch as well. To me, it's among the best episodes of Season 19, being one of the few to be above good (as well as the first above good one of the season) and definitely the best of the nine up to this point of the season. Not a show high point, but did find myself liking it a lot on both watches when rewatching the whole season recently and seeing many great aspects that helped make it a nearly great episode.

There are a couple of things that stopped "Gone Baby Gone" from being great. The person behind the abduction was too obvious too early, suspected them straightaway actually.

Did think that the way Noah was found was too easy.

However, there is a lot to recommend. Immediately standing out is the uniformly strong acting. Brooke Shields does panicked and obsessive so well and Mariska Hargitay excels brilliantly at being steely and vulnerable that is reminiscent of early seasons Olivia. The case is exciting, with gripping twists and turns that aren't too obvious and a tight pace. Nothing is too dull or too relentless and there is a lot of nice suspense early on.

As well as some striking character moments and interaction. Loved seeing Barba so sympathetic and he and Olivia interact so well together. Fin is amusing, the exchange between him and Dodds and the insult he says after made me smile. The production values are solid and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting. The direction is accomodating yet also alert and here the writing is concise and has enough meat while not having too much fat.

In summary, very good. 8/10.

You'd guess from the first minute who took noah, nevertheless, it's a good episode