Introverted, Asthmatic And Uncoordinated! Guess Who Was Always Picked Last For Team Sports. Especially

SVU dream

I had an SVU related dream last night!

It was really fun, I was invited to a big party at the senior Carisi house, either for baby Nicky’s christening and/or the big wedding celebration. My parents were also there, and told me to go and put my gifts on the gift table.

After doing that, I chatted to Serafina and Dominick Sr, they were so lovely, just like one of my sisters’ Italian parents-in-law. Dominick Sr gave me a big hug and Serafina called me “bellissima” ( very beautiful). I think I must have been a childhood friend of Sonny’s in my dream, as I really wanted to see and catch up with him!

Then I ended up holding baby Nicky ( he was very cute and cuddly) and had a chat with Chris Meloni ( 100% the actor and not in the role of Elliot Stabler). He complimented my childcare skills, and I told him how I thought Elliot was such a good dad on the show and asked him if he’d already had his kids by the time he started on the show. I also asked him if he and Isabel Gillies ( who played Kathy) had had any say in who got cast as their kids as they all realistically looked like they were a product of the two actors actually procreating. I can’t remember his answers, but he said he has a very close bond with the young man who plays Dickie ( and has done so since the pilot!). I work in childcare so we talked about raising kids, education, and, at one point, he took baby Nicky from me and was very cute.

Maybe I just felt like we should have got a proper big wedding for Carisi and Rollins, with the girls being flower girls, maybe Fin as best man and lots of good food, moving speeches and a first dance. And we never saw Amanda’s pregnancy with Nicky or his christening so my brain just created it and put me there too. 

I love these scenes, I adore how Stabler is physically affectionate towards his children, especially when they are crying/upset. 

Knowing what we know about his upbringing/childhood, I think it’s apparent that he is actively trying to parent differently from the way he was raised.

His mother was erratic, unreliable and unpredictable ( in Season 10, Swing, he mentions her trying to take him to Paris in the middle of the night, as she had decided she wanted to become a painter, as well as how she tried to shoot him and his dad during a manic episode, as well as driving too fast in ice and snow, which crashed the car and broke Elliot’s arm) and his father was physically and verbally abusive ( Season 7, episode 4, Ripped).

Stabler also mentions in another episode that his parents, like most Irish parents at the time, didn’t say I love you to him or give him praise.

So I think it is very telling that Stabler often apologises to his children when he overreacts, handles a situation badly which causes them pain. 

Once Maureen has apologised in Sophomore Jinx in Season 1, he says he is sorry too, he also apologises to her later in Season 1 when he reads her e-mails in Chat Room, then he also says sorry to Dickie in Season 11, when his interactions with Shane’s mum mean that Dickie can’t attend his best friend’s funeral, and I am sure there are more instances. 

Stabler is also very quick to hug his children when they show signs of emotional distress, even when they are older. Kathleen, who is late teens or early 20’s in the Season 12 episode Gray, gets upset thinking her dad would be angry with her for leaving her friend for 10 minutes at a party, who she was supposed to be a sober buddy for, and he notices her voice crack, and pulls her in for a hug, reassuring her that she didn’t screw up. 

Maureen gets upset in Sophomore Jinx when he tells her he doesn't want to pick up her body parts in Jersey, she lets out a shocked « Daddy! » and he opens his arms to provide her with physical affection, and he repeatedly hugs Kathleen after her various mishaps too.

I appreciate how freely he says « I love you » to his children. In Season 1, when Wanderlust, it seems like it is a tradition for him to kiss his kids goodbye and exchange I love yous before he leaves for work, as Kathy talks about knowing the drill, which makes sense, seeing as he could be injured or die on the job. 

 I was listening to a podcast about the show, which had Allison Siko ( who plays Kathleen from Season 3 onwards) on as a guest star, and she said Chris Meloni is an excellent hugger and she always looks forward to their scenes where they do so.

She also told the listeners an anecdote about being at a writers’ strike/protest recently, and she spotted Chris Meloni from some way away, and instead of calling out his name, she said « Hi Dad! », to which he responded and came over to talk to her. I just thought that was very sweet and shows the great rapport between the cast. 

I got five kids. If it were me, I’d let the world burn to protect any one of ‘em.

Reposting for anyone who needs to hear this.

Thoughts on Law and Order Organised Crime, Seasons 3 and 4

I thought Season 3 was extremely boring, as I watch for the Stabler family interactions and Elliot and Olivia moments.

The scene between Eli and Elliot at the end of the episode with the Asian father searching for his son was sweet. Elliot teasing him about his clothes being all over the floor as well as providing a good home-cooked meal felt very true to the characters and their father-son dynamic, as well as Eli not being forthcoming about his girlfriend without some prodding. How is Eli old enough to be in college? The only explanation I can come up with is that Eli was so far ahead in his studies, having studied in Italy ( European curriculum is allegedly a couple of years ahead of the equivalent grade in the US, so US uni courses are equivalent to Junior or Senior Year courses in the UK). There were several other instances where I was very confused by the timeline, like Elliot’s dad being dead by 1993 as Elliot says he went to his dad’s grave with a sandwich and two beers when he made detective, aged about 25, yet had also been able to serve in the Marines on several missions... Honestly, I’ve given up trying to understand it! Also still trying to figure out the age order and age gap between the older Stabler siblings, which is also very confusing. Joe Jr’s year of birth is 1980-something ( based on the safe code in his hotel suite that Elliot and Randall figure out), which would mean Elliot was in his late teens/early. 20’s ( so already married with at least one kid) by the time Joe Jr came along. 

 The Season 3 episode ending establishes a pattern as Eli doesn't tell his dad he’s split from Rachel, but tells Randall. It kind of mirrors the Season 4 finale, with Elliot teasing Eli about being up early at first, then asking the probing/deeper questions. I wish Eli had just told him, but seeing as how his dad reacted to him joining the police force, I can understand why he didn’t want to. I love that he and Bernie both figured it out, albeit in very different ways that felt very true to their characters. 

The family dinner episode in Season 4 was very dramatic and the revelations were pretty shocking. I knew the truth about Joe Sr but to actually hear it and see all the characters deal with the aftermath was so impactful. Again, everyone reacting, talking over each other and wanting to leave both then and when Eli tells them he’s going to be a police officer. I really get why Elliot doesn’t want him to join up, with all the dangers he has faced and faces in the Season. 

The casting continues to be excellent, as Joe Jr looks just like the actor who played Joe Sr as they have a similar build, face/nose shape and colouring. Randall looks like a stockier version of Elliot. 

I think it’s sad that the Stabler kids have cousins they have never met/hung out with as Randall has been in Florida for about 40 years, and got married and had kids at some point. 

I enjoyed the little moments with Carisi and Rollins. It seems like Rollins and  Stabler have quite a close bond/an established friendship, so I would like to see Stabler have that bond with Carisi. They could have had a beer together after one of the cases and talked about their kids/families/whatever was going on. I think Carisi’s empathy and desire to look after people would be good for Stabler. 

I was much more interested in the Season 4 episode arc, I thought they packed a lot into 13 episodes. 

Sunrise on The Reaping thoughts ( tried to not spoil anything)

Well, I read it in 6 hours, give or take! 

It was really gripping, the characters were all really distinct and relatable in some way. Some of them were really surprising and there were some neat parallels to other Games and characters in them.

So much bird, flower and snake imagery, it was a bit much at times.

Haymitch’s Reaping ceremony was brutal, not at all what I expected, but very fitting for his character. 

All the nods to other characters throughout the series was fun, though maybe a little overdone.

I liked the full-circle aspect of the plot and the character connections.

The mentor situation played out in the opposite way that I thought it would, and I thought it was a bit unlikely/unrealistic, but maybe it was just because it was a Quarter Quell that it happened like it did.

It was interesting to see the evolution of the Games since TBOSAS, and I felt some of the events from that were mirrored/echoed in this book. 

I will elaborate more once more people have finished it and don’t want to avoid spoilers. 

But overall, it was a great read and I think it will make a fantastic film.

Finally, a good shot of Stabler's desk and as suspected, it is his personal family images on the desk with Chris' wife Sherman and kids Sophia and Dante.

Also, looks like a picture from a magazine of Meloni & Hargitay going in for a kiss while filming, like they mess about and do often. lol!

SVU Season 6 episode thoughts

Since Netflix will be removing Law and Order SVU in a couple of week, I decided to have a rewatch. The only Seasons available are 6,7,9,10 and 11, so I started with S6 and it is still one of my favourites to date!

In one of the episodes, there are a couple of junkies, who I think are married. The husband’s mum lived with them, she is called Jenny, and is seemingly being abused by her son and his wife. 

Stabler is the only one who seems to pick up on this and gets really protective of her, more so than he would normally, at least to my eyes.

We know Joe St was physically and verbally abusive to his kids ( multiple examples in OC and in S7 Ripped) and, in OC, it is revealed that he physically and verbally abused Bernie every single day they were married. This comes as a surprise to Elliot, but I think that this episode shows that he subconsciously knew his mother was being abused by his father, although maybe not the full extent of it .

I think this is one of the main reasons he wants to be a cop: so he can help/save people ( especially women and kids) from abusers like his dad.

Season 6 is so hard-hitting for Elliot, as the brilliant @ocstabler worked out, a lot of the really bad cases this Season have a lot of overlap: the one with Abraham the cult leader, who is marrying pre-teens and getting them pregnant, Contagious with Holly who has been sexually abused by someone in the community, then I think there is a missing child case too. This is when Kathy leaves Elliot too, so I think he is thinking about his family a lot, even more than usual. 

Into The Gotchaverse! Rejig

I’ve been thinking about getting Penelope and Hotch together sooner, rather than post Season 15.

I figure, in Season 5, she convinces him to go to therapy/grief counselling sessions ( obviously not the one she runs), and one day, they finish at the same time, and end up going for coffee/a meal/ to one of their places to cook for both of them. They subsequently spend more and more time together and eventually get together around JJ and Will’s wedding ( sorry to any Beth fans, but she’s out of the picture!), as they go as friends, Penelope having just broken up with Kevin. Sometime after Route 66, Aaron proposes ( Haley shows him lots of little moments of him and Penelope/her and Jack/the three of them spending time together, and she is obviously there when he wakes up, but he asks her later-I have a super romantic proposal planned out!) and they have the triplets around the same time JJ has Michael ( S 10, if I recall correctly).

The show would end when Season 11 finishes, except the unsub ( Mr Scratch?) has successfully been captured and stays in prison/is executed.  Rossi could remarry Hadyn in Season 10/11, there’s no appalling prison arc for Reid, no Linda Barnes, Hotch doesn’t leave, and most characters are fulfilled/happy at that point.

Hotch ends up being offered an early retirement package and then everything happens as I explained in my earlier post. 

I have tried to keep it as different as possible from A Joyful Future ( @winterscaptain ‘s amazing fic) and anything else I have seen with a Reader insert/a romantic relationship between two BAU-ers. If there are similarities/elements I have unknowingly stolen, please let me know, and I will fix it! I might expand on some scenes on the show and change a few details here and there from certain episodes, but don’t plan on fully re-writing any.

This is the Hotchner brothers ( with bonus background very jealous Spencer!) from Criminal Minds, but in themetaphorgirl’s amazing AU boarding school story, Patron Saint of Lost Causes, as it is her birthday soon! 

Bernie's not the only one with magical powers..... well, I guess he's just a Detective through and through.