They spent half an hour on the crime and then the last half on an incredibly manipulative drama. When did this become a soap opera?

We have all the hallmarks of a bunch of lazy writers who are plum out of ideas.

**spoiler alert**

1) We have the Instantaneous Hollywood Birth, where a woman goes from water breaking to baby in ten minutes. Uh, you've never had kids, have you? Try ten hours.

2) The added false drama of the car wreck plus Stabler's wife crashing in the van only to be miraculously fine in the final scene.

3) A rather interesting SVU case (for once!) that is wrapped up in about ten minutes.

This show has truly jumped the rails. The only reason it even got to a 6 is because of the effort the actors are putting in this increasingly sensationalist show.

Sheesh

The issue of torture of terror suspects is a very serious debate going on this country. It's something that both sides are passionate about and it gets to the heart of who we are as a nation.

So what the heck is this debate doing masquerading as an episode of SVU?

Ignore the issue of torture of the moment. Even if you agree with the points the episode makes -- and I probably do -- this was just embarassing. SVU is supposed to be a TV show. If the writers and actors want to speak out on torture, fine. If they wanted to make a "ripped from the headline" episode about torture, fine. But it still has to be good television and there's an obligation to make points with some degree of subtlety. The idea is to make people think, not tell them what to think.

Patching together a bunch of monologues doesn't constitute an entertaining hour of television. There was no real investigation or courtroom drama -- just two sides of a political debate spouting cliches until their 45 minute was used up. There wasn't even a good reason for SVU to have the case.

I used to know a good show called Law and Order Special Victims Unit. It dealt with sex crimes. It was disturbing in many ways but always compelling and had great characters to support it. Occasionally, it would rip a case from the headlines, but would usually make it original and interesting.

I wonder what happened to that show. Maybe it's on TNT or something...

Michael Piller, a Writer: Hi there. I've got a great idea for STNG.

Ronald Moore: Pitch it.

Hock: Well, several of the crew revert to children, so we get lots of touching insights into childhood.

Moore: That's stupid.

Brannon Braga: No, we'll just have DNA rewrite itself. That works all the time.

Ward Bostford, a writer: We'll have to spice it up. How about aliens take over the Enterprise and the children have to take it back.

Moore: Didn't the old series do that with "And the Children Shall Lead"

Piller: Well, yeah, but this may not be as terrible. Let's see, the aliens will have to be really stupid to be taken out by some kids.

Diana Dru Bostford, a writer: How about the Romulans? Remember in Unification when Sela left Spock and Data alone in a room with a computer that could control the entire planet?

Moore: Nah, the Romulans would just shoot everyone and ask questions later. Even they're not that dumb.

Piller: How about the Ferengi? They are the dumbest aliens we've ever had.

Moore: OK. Now they'll need to take over the Enterprise, somehow. That won't be easy as she's the most powerful starship in the Federation. How about the old reliable -- a malfunctioning holodeck?

Piller: Nah, the next episode has that. Um, we'll have the Ferengi steal two extremely powerful Klingon warships. You know how the Klingons just leave their warships lying around. And we'll have Riker just stand there like a dope while the Bird of Prey pound them until their shields drop. Then we'll have a single guy beam onto the bridge and take over the ship. 'Cuz no one can fight against a single guy.

Bostford and Bostford: Brilliant!

Moore: What about long term stuff? Won't the Federation by angry about the hijacking? How do we get them back from being kids?

Piller: Oh, we'll just say they're an independent Ferengi group that somehow have the resources to steal two Klingon warships.

Braga: Besides, DNA rewriting itself is easily cured once you realize what the problem is. Now I'll go back on work this script called "Threshold"

----

That kids, is how this got written. The Ro-Guinan storyline is nice. And Picard Jr. has some funny lines. But the premise was so silly, it could have come out of an episode of SNL.

This episode has its share of flaws, no question. We get possibly the worst instance of the Magical Air Duct Escape ever. Dr. Adams' motives are never really gotten into. And so on.

Still, this is one my favorites. The Kirk torture scenes are effective and Dr. Adams makes a good villain. The first mind meld is pulled off quite well -- more effectively than it would be used later in the series.

Of course, my favorite aspect of this episode is the lovely Dr. Noel. Marianne Hill's luminous guest performance makes the episode. You really see how Kirk could fall for her. All in all, a classic example of why the series was so wonderful in its first season.

It was bad enough that the episode was afflicted a silly surplus plot thread that went nowhere (the election stealing). it was bad enough that whole plot threads -- the Chief's problems, the Cylon peace offer, Boomer's baby -- were just completely dropped. There were still sparks of good stuff, still indications that they were building to something.

But this one year later thing looks like a shark jump to me. Absolutely absurd. All the conflict disappears. All the plot threads are dropped. We have no idea of what Roslin and Adama have been doing to oppose Baltar (nothing by the look of it).

We get these goofy flash-forwards that make "Galactic-can-do-wrong" devotees go "cool". We see Kara with long hair and maried, Chief married, Baltar descended into debauchery. A fat Lee and and an Admiral with the *worst* fake moustache ever accepting their fate. That's stuff that supposed to *happen* people. You're supposed to see things change, not just skip way ahead in the story. I mean, for Chrissake, last time Adama broke up the fleet and tried to have Roslin arrested because she over-rode his orders. Now, knowing that Baltar is a traitor, knowing that part of the fleet was blown up with the nuke *Baltar had*, he just meekly accepts their fate? And Roslin just decides to be a teacher? And none of the religious zealots press for Earht once they see how bad it is? Come on!

I don't oppose a sea change in the nature of the Series. That can be good. But you build up to this. You don't just suddenly reboot and kick things over.

Over and over again, i've seen this series push the characters out of character for plot twists. You can't define a series by plot twists. You have to define it by characters acting in a manner conistent with who they are.

I'm in the vast minority, I know. Right now, this episode is rating perfect 10's. Maybe it's because you saw Tricia Helfer half-naked. But I'm afraid the series may have lost me.