SVU returns for a solid, but predictable Mid-Season Premiere. Plus, Jacob gives his “State of SVU” address.
Law and Order: SVU “Plastic”
Season 20, Episode 11
Airdate: 1/10/2019
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Staff Writer
SVU returned from it’s winter hiatus this past week for the episode “Plastic.” It was an episode that was centered around a plastic surgeon, Dr. Heath Barron (former Royal Pains star Mark Feuerstein), and his girlfriend Sadie being accused of rape. While the episode was extremely predictable, it also was very well-done and well-acted.
I’m not exaggerating when I talk about the episode’s predictability. The moment that the cold-case of the missing child Cece was introduced, it took me all of ten seconds to to figure out that Cece was in fact Sadie, who has extensive plastic surgery to mask her true identity. I’ve clearly been watching this show far too long, as it’s fairly rare when a plot twist in this show catches me off-guard.
The episodes predictably did not take away from the story, which I found to be one of the more engaging ones featured this season. I think part of that has to do with the show’s new timeslot; shows that are featured in the 9:00 p.m. timeslot can typically get away with a lot more grotesque, risque subject matter. For a show like SVU, this is a good thing. It’s important to not shy away from the gritty, sometimes gory details of these crimes. In its earliest years, SVU had some pretty messed up crimes to investigate. Those sorts of crimes faded away for the most part as the show went on, as the crimes featured became more absurd and overly dramatic. I appreciate seeing these crimes being taken seriously again.
There’s not much else to write about this episode. I enjoyed it for the most part, and nothing on the show outright offended me, except for one thing. I did not care for the way the initial victim, Ava, was treated. This is a big pattern I’ve noticed throughout the season. In at least two different episodes during the season (including Alta Kockers, the episode that preceded this one), the initial victims were used as more of a MacGuffin (or a plot-device) than an actual victim. I don’t like that. While Ava wasn’t cast aside quite as quickly as those other victims, she also didn’t get the on-screen vindication that her rapists were caught, and that bugged me.
JACOB’S FINAL VERDICTS:
– A long running fan theory that Benson is/once was a lesbian was again teased this week, and I’m sure that the fanbase went crazy, although I think there is plenty of evidence (and a trail of significant others) to refute it. Still, it’s cool to see that the people who write this show apparently read SVU fan-fiction on the internet.
– I’m so glad that this show is giving Fin fun stuff to do and say again. Watching him tear apart a wall to find a corpse was a great time.
– “Beauty fades.” Mariska Hargitay, who has aged rather gracefully, delivered this line with a straight face.
– I guess it was nice to see CeCe to reunite with her long-lost father before she goes to prison. She may be a victim too, but she’s also a rapist, and should not be let off the hook.
THE STATE OF LAW AND ORDER SVU:
In addition to a “Jacob’s Final Verdicts” section for this episode, I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about my feelings as a whole regarding SVU these last few seasons, and specifically address a few big issues from the last ten episodes.
SVU reached its 20th season this past year. In an industry where some shows don’t even get to make it to the end of their first season, and other long-running shows have already come to or are coming to an end, that is no easy feat, especially for a police procedural. A few Law and Order shows never made it past that mark. And now, SVU is poised to surpass the original Law and Order in terms of both its tenure and its episode count.
That being said, I am quickly growing tired of the procedural format. That’s not exclusively this show’s fault. But it is a problem that is plaguing it.
Three of my favorite shows are The Walking Dead, Twin Peaks, The X-Files and The Blacklist. All of these shows are heavily serialized, and for me, it helps me make sure that I don’t miss an episode. One could argue that The Blacklist and The X-Files are procedurals, and that’s an entirely reasonable argument. The one thing that has to be noted however, is that both those shows have a distinct, long-term story that is explored over multiple episodes. SVU has some serialized elements, but they are not anything noteworthy, or anything that can help distinguish one episode from the other.
Again, SVU is a procedural more than anything else. But as my television habits change, it’s becoming harder and harder to enjoy this show the way I used to, especially when so many of the episodes in the last two years have been so lackluster. But I know that SVU can do better, and that they are capable of telling long term, compelling stories. They have done in the past to great success; the sagas of William Lewis and Gregory Yates come to mind. Those episodes were fantastically paced, fantastically acted, and fantastically written.
To that point, another problem this year continues to be the writing, which honestly hasn’t particularly strong since former showrunner Warren Leight left after Season 17. I may be a little biased, but I am particularly fond of Leight’s SVU; it was the freshest that the show has felt in years, and he was at the helm for some of SVU’s greatest episodes. Not every episode under his tenure was a great one, but the show had many more hits than misses.
Since his departure for greener pastures, however, it’s been the other way around. There are still plenty of good episodes, but they don’t have the same replay value for me that many other episodes before his departure did.
Some of those episodes, such as the ones featuring the Lewis and Yates characters, were heavily serialized, and they are arguably some of the best episodes of the entire show. The episodes during Leight’s tenure also showed a heavy sense of continuity, which helped to make some episodes feel more important than your typical outing.
This is not to say that the new showrunners haven’t tried to duplicate Leight’s tactics, because they have. They just haven’t been very successful. For example, bringing in Brooke Shields as Noah’s grandmother last season sounded good on paper, but in execution it flopped. This season, a side-story about Benson’s health was touched on briefly, but ultimately went nowhere. Is Noah still acting like a tyrant? Who knows? And who cares? The crimes and side-plots on SVU just are not all that interesting, at least to me.
Perhaps the biggest issue that has been plaguing the show as of late has been the character of Peter Stone. I like Peter Stone and enjoyed his character in the Chicago franchise, but he has not been written well on this show at all. Nothing about his arc feels organic, and I just don’t think that he’s a good fit for SVU, at least not yet. He was shoehorned in following Barba’s departure, and his arc with his sister did nothing to make me emphasize with him. The one thing that he had going for him was that he called Benson out when she got too radical, but it doesn’t even feel as if he does that anymore. Who is Peter Stone, and why should I care about him? Why should I like him? Please give me a reason, SVU.
Some readers may have noticed that I haven’t been writing a Case Recap section for these recaps anymore. This is because I just don’t think most of these cases are worth writing them for, especially the last few installments. So going forward, do not expect one to be featured, unless I think the case of the week merits it.
SVU is capable of being a great show. I hope that they can fix the problems that have been plaguing it. I want to like this show, and I want it to be on the air for many more years. It’s an important show that is capable of touching a lot of lives, and it’s also capable of being highly entertaining. But it’s time for some tough love. Do better, SVU. I know you have it in you.
