He was convicted of raping the muslim woman, everything else was not allowed.

I agree they were both good episodes, but SVU was better.

It would have been great if Wong was there and if they brought J.K. back as Skoda instead of Olivet.

Yeah, and DA Carver isn't the focus on Law & Order: CI, but at least he isn't so outright boring and stiff as the one cop on TBJ, who, by the way, has gotten plenty of airtime.

Speaking of CI, it's feeling more and more like it's taking place in some alternate reality, completely unrelated to the other L&O shows.

Still not a big fan of TBJ. A couple decent episodes and this cross over was great. On a normal episode I feel I only get half the story with the police stuff missing. The crossover's give an hour to each the police side and the court side which is great.

Of course one could make the same argument about SVU, but I like the police side MUCH more than the court side so it doesn't bother me there.

The problem that I am starting to have with SVU is the direction that they are taking Stabler's character.

CI is such a waste of Courtney Vance's talent.

Why? I think that the character development on SVU is one of the reasons why it's better than the other L&O shows. The one earlier this season where Ice-T was the focus of the episode was fantastic. Now they need to delve into Benson's character a bit more.

There is no development for Stabler. He is a timebomb waiting to go off, and any show where he plays a main part shows this...over and over and over again. His own daughter was scared to call him, and not in the sense that she didn't want to disappoint him, but she seemed legitimately scared of him.

I just wish they would show more of his character than his anger.

But that is character development. His life is falling apart around him, and they are exploring that more and more.

Sort of parallels Vic Mackey on The Shield, but to a lesser extent.

I agree with movieking. I don't like the direction they have taken Stabler's character. A little development here and there (like they did with Ice-T and like the original did with Jamie, Lennie, Claire, etc in the past) is fine. No need to pound us over the head with it like they are doing with Stabler.

The Shield is a completely different kind of show. I expect it there. I don't expect it on a Law & Order - at least to anywhere near the same extent.

I wasn't comparing the show, simply the characters. Both have anger issues and both have skirted authority to get the job done. That was my point.

I like the character development. The main reason SVU is one of my faves when I was never much into plain L&O.

I agree. Sometimes I wish they'd show us the other side of Stabler - the side that fondles his sweaters and humps the fridge.

Yeah, I hope it's on his last episode on SVU, they bring in his personality from OZ ... Oh yeah, come here captain!

So Stabler has no qualms about crossing the line and bucking the rules last week but in last night's episode (with the kid needing the kidney transplant, who I found to be more a sympathetic figure than the old lady in last week's episode), he is entirely by the book? Whatever. One more reason why I think they need to stay away from deep personal storylines - it requires consistency.

Or smear mud on his ass.