I haven't blogged in a while due to:
a) the blahness of the past two episodes
...and...
b) I was hungover the day after Clowns.
The #42Minutes:
Fin and Rollins arrive at the scene where the beaten, bloody, and raped victim was found unconscious and suspiciously dressed with her tights on backwards and sans outerwear. At the hospital she gives her "name" but little else but Detective Sonny "Sherlock" Carisi comes through with boot evidence and narrows the crime scene to one of two fleabag motels where the dissolute manager bumbles and unsuccessfully tries to parry Fin's and Rollins' interrogation. More Carisi sleuthing leads them back to Sky (who had absconded from the hospital and is actually named Sandy), Rollins harangues her, Benson gets her to talk then talk some more, Sandy spills the story, Benson believes her, Stone needs more ammo, baby army boy confesses then recants then lies on the stand, Sgt. Preston stonewalls...for reasons other than military code... |
| Added episode bonus: Carisi shows us where not to stay when in Manhattan... |
Jury of One:
Two questions ticker-taped through my mind during the #42Minutes:
1. What the fuck is up Rollins' ass?
2. Why did SVU have to beat up on the military again?
Until we learn about the blood, it seemed this was a "classic" SVU case revolving around a reluctant, cynical victim, and a group of dudes covering for each other. Of course there had to be more to the story, but I was rolling my eyes thinking that "story" was similar to all the other times SVU writers have taken a swing at the armed forces. I should've had more faith...but then again, the sting of Eidteen lingers...
Back to the point of the ep in a second...
Rollins' attitude was, at best, distracting. She is a character I can both love and hate, but her incessant rebukes of Sandy flew way out of bounds...
"Saving New York one hooker at a time..."
"110 lbs. of wasted skin..."
"Ya missed a couple days' work. I can make that up to you, Sky..."
 |
| This week in "WTF (directed at Rollins) Faces." |
To have her behavior buttoned up at the end by introducing Dr. Al the Philandering Cardiologist made even less sense. Rollins has a ton of baggage. Instead of using her sister, or Declan, or the gambling, or something from her Atlanta days as the explanation, we get a previously unmentioned (and probably never mentioned again) off-screen character. Rollins is not the most mature person in the world, and her mercurial nature has always gotten her into trouble. Her romantic relationships have not turned out well, and that thread in her background could potentially be explored with some depth and nuance. I don't think her nasty, case-long hissy fit was completely out-of-character, but the context should have been better defined or at least open to further exploration.
Had the plot been, well, another plot...Dr. Al could've been the perp! Ooooooooooo!
 |
| Rollins, it's time for therapy. You're great sweet-talking the young men but you castigate the victim? C'mon, sister. |
Benson's ability to draw out Sandy's story then connect with her exemplified all we love, admire, and cherish about the character. She was pragmatic and empathetic without being sanctimonious or patronizing. She listened to Sandy when she needed to listen and consoled when Sandy needed to be comforted. And holy fucking shit OMB struggling to maintain composure when Sandy finished the mother story then grabbed the iPad...an Emmy-worthy two seconds.
 |
| This was just as powerful as "you matter." |
That little spineless twerp Shaughnessy surely took lessons from the sniveling kid in the Eidteen ep Mariska directed and that's enough about him.
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| I miss Barba, too, OMB. If looks could kill.... |
After Stone essentially tells Benson either Sandy or Jim have to be the sacrificial lamb, she's like "no, fuck that" and invites herself into Sgt. Preston's Humvee (which was kinda adorable, btw). The two of them work through their own interpretations of the meaning of "service." Benson acknowledges and respects the risks Sgt. Preston faces if he testifies which he courageously does. While on the stand and under fire from the defense attorney, he declares:
"Gender identity isn't relevant to what I do. Just like whatever is in your pants isn't relevant to what you do."
Retweet, retweet, retweet, retweet, retweet, retweet, retweet, retweet, retweet, retweet, retweet.....
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| Maybe there is hope after all. |
Quotable:
"He was old. Like 40."
Oh, you young people....(proving, once again, no matter the topic something in each episode always makes me chuckle)
"...After I teed it up for her..."
More Rollins BS. Even Sonny Bunny wasn't having it.
"But only one guy hit in the head with a lamp."
Fin always bringing the salient points.
 |
| "Throw a few dollars at some ass..." Really Fin? But this exchange was more poignant than that. Fin thinks he knows everything about Preston. He doesn't. Good lesson for us all. |
"...by the stroke of a tweet from Air Force One..."
"I don't know what's gonna happen. Do you?"
Expertly and succinctly characterizing the current, precarious, state of affairs in American politics...without being pedantic. Nice.
"But after you people started with me, I looked in the mirror and began to see a piece of someone looking back at me...you know, it felt good."
Even though Sandy goes on to say that feeling disappeared after she was humiliated in court...ushering victims toward moments like this is the very essence of SVU...and at the end of the episode, I felt like Sandy could get back to that place.
Appearances:
Not the most impressive wardrobe collection this week though I do love a Benson in Blue. I guess I'm still in Barba withdrawal...
Preview pics and clips show trenches and OMB in green in the future, so there's that.
Tracking Tucker:
Trust...
They aren't all scum...
"You couldn't imagine not helping people. Believe me, I get it." (my wounds are still raw from Chasing Theo)
Next week MUST have room for some catch-up chit chat with Cabot and how in the hell can Benson omit TUCKERRRRRRRRRRRRR???
Is it Next Wednesday, Yet?
Regarding #NotJustAVictim and the calls for a regular cast member who is a member of the LGBTQ community...Tweets indicate some members of the fandom saw this episode as an insincere token of representation...
Though I respect these voices, I fervently disagree with what is being demanded. Here's why:
1. In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
This show is about the pursuit of justice for victims and survivors of rape and sexual assault. While some things have changed over the course of 19 years (ex: in earlier seasons it was common for the detectives to flippantly use "he-she" and "tranny" and then we fast forward to Transgender Bridge 17 years later and see the subject treated with extreme sensitivity and poignancy), the axes on which SVU rotates are the life-changing (sometimes life-ending), harrowing experiences of people who have suffered, endured, and live with the trauma of rape and sexual assault. Sometimes, SVU is the ONLY entity courageous and savvy enough to shed light on seldom-discussed obstacles facing officers, prosecutors, victims, survivors, and their families.
For someone like me, the character of Olivia Benson, her squad, and the crimes they investigate are a window into a world I hope to never have to experience first hand. However, the show continually reminds me of the horrors so many people have experienced and the inequities in our justice system. Equally important, the show forces viewers to acknowledge the fact that victims walk among us every single day carrying the invisible weight of their trauma. The show exposes the ugly reality that sexual assault victims are less likely to be believed and more likely to be shamed into silence than victims of any other crime.
For those who have been assaulted (especially those who choose not to publicize what has happened to them), though fictional, Olivia Benson is theirs. She might be their sole source of comfort or the only voice that encourages them to keep moving toward hope and healing.
Inserting a LGBTQ character will:
2. Fundamentally alter the purpose of the show
...and/or...
3. Become a source of contention that detracts from the purpose of the show
If the new LGBTQ character arrives and is, simply, openly living his or her life with a partner and maybe some kids and possibly a painful backstory...the backlash will be: "this person is not the crusader or the tortured soul or the chip-on-her-shoulder renegade we imagined."
If the character is "the crusader/the tortured soul/the chip-on-her-shoulder renegade," then the show becomes more about them and less about the victims.
Two Benson lines from Service emphasize these points.
"My priority is putting away the people who did this to you."
Extrapolation: the show's priority is to reveal the painstaking process of investigating and prosecuting sex crimes.
"Because it matters. Because you matter. And what happened to you matters."
Infuriatingly enough, SVU is still, in 2018, one of the only consistent voices repeating and insisting upon the legitimacy of this mantra. Adding a second mission to the show diminishes and mutes its original, intended message. It is saying to victims: "Yes, you matter, but not as much. Yes, the show seeks change, but it now seeks more important change. Yes, the show 'rips from the headlines' but LGBTQ headlines are so much more relevant than your headlines. Yes, we'll still seek justice for rape victims, but rape victims' stories have become so...mundane."
People demanding regular LGBTQ representation on the show have lost sight of the show's core goals. As the calls for this change grow more numerous and more fervent, they drown out the voices of the men, women, and children for whom the show was intended to speak.
