About Last Night…GHOSTS, LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME, LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION, and More

Let’s talk about Thursday night’s TV!

NEXT LEVEL CHEF: On the one hand, Megan was smart to keep the extra time for herself. On the other, she still landed in the bottom 2, so…

It’s so funny that Brandon has consistently been doing well in the basement. I wonder why that keeps happening…is it something about the pressure that fires him up? It’s good he has a sense of humor about it, though.

It’s really also nice that Gordon says he’s going to help Ryan beyond the show; I hope he does/did.

GHOSTS: This was one of my favorite episodes of the season. GHOSTS and SUPERSTORE have always felt like spiritual siblings (or cousins, maybe, since there isn’t a direct connection), and it was delightful to see how Ben Feldman fit into this world.

We’ve seen the show expand its own universe with Pete being able to leave, Sass going into dreams, and even people getting the temporary ability to see ghosts and/or being possessed. But it was interesting (and sad) to see how Kyle was suffering through this gift alone. He didn’t have a spouse who was supportive of the way their lives had been upended. He didn’t have steady ghosts. It really was a curse for him. (And of course he tried to kiss Sam. Buddy, you ruined what could have been a good job. Well, maybe minus the endless Hot Pockets requests. Okay, and maybe the aggressive Hetty flirtation; she might have ended up scaring him away at some point, too.) I do hope Kyle returns at some point in the future, because it was fun to see Sam have another living who could experience exactly what she was.

Sass and Joan were very cute, too. I hope they’re able to continue their unconventional romance.

[For more on the episode, here’s what Feldman shared.]

FOUND: I’m so glad Carrie was finally taken in, though her being entrapped with her biological son was tragic. (Necessary, but ow.) Margaret and Jamie deserve to have some closure, peace, and safety.

Also: Lena trying to take out M&A clients?! Oy…there’s basically no “better” way to hurt Gabi.

LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME: Elliot Stabler back in therapy? Hell yeah. (Especially since it’s something he’ll be doing for the next three months, at least.)

I found what he said (and didn’t say) in therapy and confession to be fascinating. We know he needs to compartmentalize—every character on any kind of procedural has to—but at some point the boxes you put all the trauma into start to overflow. You can add more boxes to the pile, but it’s going to continue to take up space and maybe even tip over at the wrong time. Part of compartmentalizing is knowing when and where you should/can unpack that stuff; a way to move forward versus suppressing everything forever. 

And I honestly don’t know if Elliot really realizes that yet. It was quite literally beaten into him when he was young not to show emotions; that being upset was a weakness. His examples growing up were a physically and emotionally abusive father or a mother whose (largely) untreated mental health made her a danger to him. There was no safe place for him to process what he was going through, so he was forced to bury everything, keep his head down, and move forward. He’s existed that way his entire adult life, too.

Will this round of therapy start to change things? I don’t know. But there’s a lot going on in his life that could make him stop and reconsider his approach to things, including his injury and everything related to Eli. I am glad he has a therapist who seems to know how to work with Elliot, though. (And around some of his natural roadblocks.) I do hope we see more scenes like this, but if not, I’m at least glad to know it’s happening.

Elliot saying he hadn’t been to confession since Kathy’s death was also interesting because if that’s true, his crisis of faith has run deeper than I realized. (We obviously saw some of it last season.) It makes sense. But if that’s where he is, I hope we see him try to grapple with that more on-screen. (That being said, Elliot making a threat during confession was both terrifying and kind of hilarious.)

I’m really glad the team is utilizing Reyes as their undercover person, too. Not only is it nonsensical for Elliot to be the one constantly going under, but that was also the point of Reyes’ role in the team. (Heck, the first time we met him, he was being stealth at headquarters.) And Reyes is damn good at it, too.

So, uh, the Eli of it all. First of all, pretty terrible Eli and Becky were going to move out without telling Elliot. But also…Eli. Dude. No. Why are you telling your colleagues what is going on with your dad? If you don’t want to be treated like a nepo baby, don’t act like one. Not to mention, it could have seriously jeopardized the case if he told the wrong person?

As for the shooting, in a perfect world, I’d kind of love for it to be the catalyst for Eli to realize that he’s actually not equipped for this job. That he understands what his father has been going through, but, yeah, not for him. Is that the path the show is going to take? I’m guessing not. (Though I guess Elliot’s line in therapy about if you don’t have the tools to cope in this job you won’t last six months could be foreshadowing…?) If he does stick with it, what comes next?

A few other thoughts…

• We got Elliot Stabler saying f—?! I LOVE IT.
• This episode was so unexpectedly, darkly funny.
• Christopher Meloni is always so good with small physical mannerisms. You could feel the tension and stress (and maybe the TBI) in Elliot at points throughout the hour.
• Ayanna (lovingly) roasting Elliot will always and forever be hilarious.

LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION: Oh, I loved, loved, loved this episode so much. I was excited that this was a spiritual sequel to “The Girls’ Night Out Job” before we even got to the Tara reveal. But at that point? Oh, delightful. And Astrid and Parker having to work the job from two different angles to save Sophie? Incredible. I’ve loved their feud, but their having to band together for the woman they adore was just so perfect. And can we keep Tara, please and thanks?!

Which shows did you watch last night?

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