Valentine’s Day; a smitten Fin Tutuola, a hooker getting pushed off a roof
Law and Order: SVU “Brothel”
Season 20, Episode 15
Airdate: 2/14/2019
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Staff Writer
“Brothel” was a standard episode of SVU compared to the previous one, “Part 33,” but it entertained nonetheless. It finds the SVU team caught up in a case involving a pop-up brothel. They quickly discover that there are other cops involved as well as a high-ranking judge.
Benson takes a backseat to Sergeant Fin Tutuola, who does most of the heavy-lifting by leading the case and being the liaison to the Vice Squad headed up by Sergeant Phoebe Baker (played by actress Jennifer Esposito).
Baker and Tutuola had a fling before Fin joined SVU; a tension develops between the two when it becomes clear that one of the dirty cops assisting the brothel is in the Vice Squad. Tutuola even accuses Baker of assisting the brothel herself which, of course, is not the case. However, recurring character Judge Edward Kofax, seen at the beginning of the episode, does turn out to be the mastermind behind it all.
The show made a surprising choice here. Kofax hasn’t been on the show a lot recently, but he has presided over a number of SVU cases during the last five years. Perhaps most notably, he was the judge during the trial of William Lewis, which must have made things extremely awkward for Benson when she interrogated him. Also awkward was the weird relationship with his fellow judge, Elena Barth, another familiar face to SVU viewers. I’m positive kissing your co-worker’s hand is inappropriate for the workplace, and I died laughing when Barth ended up being in on the plan to take down Kofax. She’s actually been shot in the courtroom; she has no time for one of her colleagues’ mishaps.
Tutuola also has an awkward moment with Baker near the end of the episode when he asks Baker out on a date. It turns out that she’s seeing someone, and Fin seems okay with rejection. This is a big development for Tutuola; his personal life is elusive, and I’m unsure we’ve ever seen a glimpse into his romantic one. As someone who remembers when his ex-wife appeared on the show over a decade ago, I can understand why Tutuola hesitated to pursue a romantic relationship again. I hope to see Esposito return down the line to play Baker; it’d be interesting seeing her team up with Tutuola once again.
JACOB’S FINAL VERDICTS:
– Rollins is already back from her maternity leave. Her indifference that we saw in “Part 33” is once again on display here. Does Rollins need a lengthier break? She at least acted nicer towards Carisi, even asking him to pop in and say hello to her kids.
– “First time in a brothel, fellas?” Benson’s and Rollins’ incredulity towards the police officers assisting them at the scene had me in stitches.
– A hooker got pushed off a roof. That’s happened on this show a couple of times.
– Judges have been corrupt on SVU before, but this was the first time that the judge was a recurring character as opposed to someone we’ve never met before. If you are interested in episodes like that, “Crush” from Season 10 is perhaps the most notable one to check out.
