It's hard to blame Benson for being frustrated.

Since Churlish joined the squad, Benson must feel like a preschool teacher. Churlish and Muncy are constantly at each other's throats, and Benson has to deal with Velasco's past on top of it.

Still, her reaction after Churlish's undercover operation hit a dangerous snag on Law & Order: SVU Season 24 Episode 17 felt like overkill.

Churlish was wrong to tell Teddy to use her as an undercover without getting Benson's permission, but that had nothing to do with how things went down. Everyone assumed the DRINK was drugged -- would a more experienced undercover officer have magically known not to put the lime in their mouth?

Theoretically, an experienced undercover wouldn't have ingested anything the bartender gave them, just in case. Still, this particular screw-up could have happened to any officer, regardless of experience level.

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In addition, I don't know where Benson got the idea that Churlish almost derailed the entire operation. Everything went to plan other than her ingesting the drugs.

The bad guys took her to the hotel, where Teddy took care of her until the cops arrived. Afterward, they got her to a hospital and arrested the men waiting to rape her. Teddy was stationed in the hotel precisely in case the targets of the sting managed to kidnap Churlish and take her there.

Nothing was derailed. Churlish even gave them a urine sample -- something she thought to do while so intoxicated she could barely speak or move.

Everything that happened was the opposite of Churlish being reckless and almost derailing the operation. If Benson's still not over Churlish setting it up behind her back, she needs to check her ego.

Churliish's work led to them catching the people they wanted to catch AND exonerated Muncy's brother in the process. She shouldn't be punished for that.

Benson did have a point about Churlish needing to check her ambition, but it was unrelated to all that nonsense about how Churlish broke her trust by making it possible to close the case.

I'm also unsure why Benson doubted Churlish's reasons for wanting to be part of SVU. Churlish wouldn't have joined any SVU unit if all she wanted was a promotion, and Bruno knows her well and keeps singing her praises.

Churlish: The way McGrath tells it, I have 30 days. 3-0.
Benson: To do what?
Churlish: To impress you.

Permalink: To impress you.

Benson is at her best when comforting victims. This hardass boss persona doesn't fit her character well and needs to go.

She's been the same way with Velasco for the last few episodes. Even now, when he's following orders and searching for his friend so he can turn the guy in -- something that is completely ridiculous for her to demand of him -- Benson had to get on his case about how she doesn't think he's trying hard enough.

Benson's never been this strict with her 12-year-old son or her officers. Why is she suddenly trying to run such a tight ship?

Surprisingly, Muncy and Churlish's antagonism toward each other vanished the second the case was over.

I'm happy to see it go. It was obnoxious. But people don't suddenly go from enemies to friends like that.

Muncy probably felt bad for Churlish when they found her in that drugged state and was relieved that Teddy was exonerated, but still. I can believe they would try to drop the childish behavior toward each other, but I'd think they'd still be wary of each other.

Teddy also changed from his first appearance at the beginning of the hour to his last. He initially told the cops that guys getting with women who weren't sober was no big deal and practically excused the men who raped Abby.

Yet he seemed concerned and eager to help when he realized what had happened to Churlish, and he stopped that guy from raping her.

Muncy tried to tell everyone that her brother was one of the good guys. I'm glad she was right; it would have been devastating for her if Teddy had been part of the trafficking ring!

While the Churlish stuff was fun and interesting, it stole the spotlight from the person the story should have been focused on: Abby.

Abby was upset that all of the police technology wasn't doing anything to get her justice. Still, after that, she disappeared, and the story focused on Churlish's decision to go undercover.

Even the resolution of her case was an afterthought! Churlish found out that the men had been arrested, and she and Muncy headed off to tell her rather than any active investigation into who they were.

It would have been so easy to add a scene involving the cops questioning all the people they arrested to find out who their "customers" had been and rounded up those people -- including Abby's rapists. It wouldn't have felt like they'd abandoned Abby's case if they'd done that.

Your turn, Law & Order: SVU fanatics. What did you think of Churlish's big undercover operation?