‘SVU’ Hits 600, Rose Byrne & Meghann Fahy Are ‘Good Daughters,’ ‘Blue Lights’ Premiere, a ‘War’ Trial

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Very few scripted series have made it to the 600-episode milestone. (Gunsmoke, produced in an era when many more episodes per season was the norm, and The Simpsons, which has already surpassed 800, were the first.) SVU marks the occasion by reuniting Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) with her original partner, Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), when a conviction reaching back to their earliest days as detectives comes under scrutiny. Nobody’s record is perfect, but the Benson-Stabler partnership was one for the ages. Still is.

The Good Daughter

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony nominee Rose Byrne and fellow Emmy nominee Meghann Fahy are excellent as estranged sisters Samantha “Sam” and Charlotte “Charlie” Quinn in writer/executive producer Karin Slaughter’s adaptation of her own emotionally gripping 2017 best-seller. The six-part series opens some 20 years ago, when Sam and Charlie are scarred forever (Sam physically) by a violent incident in their childhood that continues to reverberate in the rural town of Pikeville, Georgia. Sam moved away, becoming a New York patent lawyer, while Charlie stayed close to her father, Rusty (Brendan Gleeson), a burly Atticus Finch-like defender of unpopular clients. When Charlie witnesses an inexplicable school shooting, Sam returns to Pikeville for an uneasy family reunion, taking on local corruption while untangling the messiest of family ties.

Blue Lights

The acclaimed police drama from Northern Ireland returns for a fourth season, with more turmoil on the streets of Belfast. The officers of the Blackthorn station have their hands full when several mobs descend upon a migrant resource center, with anti-immigrant Nationalists from Dublin and local Loyalists facing resistance from an Anti-Fascist Initiative. Though deeply critical of her crew’s chaotic response to the harrowing and escalating crisis, Chief Inspector Helen McNally (Joanne Crawford) is unprepared to learn of a more existential threat to their future.

War

You can’t help but smile when a judge (The Chelsea Detective‘s Adrian Scarborough) convenes the final hearing of a high-profile divorce case, calling it “the juicy bit.” It’s also the title of the drama’s penultimate episode, where courtroom fireworks explode when crafty barristers, played by Celia Imrie and Archie Panjabi, take turns with Morgan (Dominic West), the tech titan whose split with movie star Carla (Sienna Miller) is front-page news. The real action, however, is happening outside of the courtroom, now that double-dealing lawyer Johnny’s (Archie Renaux) identity as an office mole has been exposed.

Cupertino

The scrappy law firm’s latest crusade is to “stop the (AI) slop” when a famous rapper (Cliff “Method Man” Smith) hires them to sue a company for copyright infringement over unauthorized new mixes of his original work. The case gets personal for Michael (Mike Colter) when his opposing counsel turns out to be his own showboating father, Bayard (Joe Morton), a flamboyant entertainment lawyer. “Good to see you, kid,” he quips. The feeling isn’t mutual. Elsewhere, Olivia (Rachel Keller) turns to Vik (Nik Dodani) for help in stopping her brother’s fake online girlfriend from accessing their parents’ savings.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Crown of Deceit: Inside the Miss Universe Scandal (8/7c, TLC): A three-part docuseries airing in its entirety features former contestants and other whistleblowers exposing corruption and other leadership scandals within the pageant organization.
• 9-1-1 (8/7c, ABC): Even the teaser had me covering my eyes when the 118 responds to a distress call involving a tree-mulcher. Followed by 9-1-1: Nashville (9/8c), where dispatcher Cammie (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) clashes with her new boss (Camryn Manheim).
• The Traitors: New Blood (8/7c, NBC): The players on both sides take risks to make it into next week’s final.
• Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage (8/7c, CBS): Ruben (Jessie Prez) isn’t thrilled when Georgie (Montana Jordan) crashes his business class. Followed by a new episode of Eternally Yours (8:30/7:30c), where Jesse (Parker Young) contemplates letting his mortal wife Phyllis (Rose Abdoo) in on his true vampire identity.
• A Royal Stables Christmas (8/7c, UPtv): Kathryn Davis is Lady Ella, a titled equestrian who begins horsing around with a charming trainer (Franco Lo Presti).
• Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test (9/8c, Fox): Following a new episode of Hell’s Kitchen (8/7c), the Season 5 finale subjects the final recruits to a brutal interrogation process.
• Elsbeth (9/8c, CBS): The perky investigator (Carrie Preston) takes a big bite out of crime when she suspects a superfan (Veep‘s Sam Richardson) in the death of a Coney Island competitive eater who perished after a donut-devouring contest.
• Southern Charm (9:15/8:15c, Bravo): The 12th season opens with Venita Aspen hosting the first garden party of the social season.
• Law & Order (10/9c, NBC): The death of a medical student leads to a tricky legal diagnosis.
• Grey’s Anatomy (10/9c, ABC): Jo’s (Camilla Luddington) house call to her new friend from the birth trauma support group leads to a new medical crisis.

ON THE STREAM:

• Thursday Night Football (8:15 pm/ET, streaming on Prime Video): The Washington Commanders play the New York Giants.
• The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County (streaming on Hulu): The gossipy franchise expands beyond Utah to a group of young mothers in California.
• The Jigsaw Puzzle Murder (streaming on Paramount+): A two-part docuseries explores the 2024 dismemberment murder of Stuart Everett, whose body parts were discovered scattered in the woodlands of Manchester, England.
• The Killing of the Golden Rooster (streaming on HBO Max): A three-part docuseries revisits the 2006 murder of celebrated Mexican musician Valentín Elizalde, aka “El Gallo de Oro (the Golden Rooster).”
• PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie (streaming on Paramount+): The latest movie in the animated franchise makes its streaming debut.