Also, Olivia Benson is Getting Old
Law and Order: SVU “Man Up/Man Down”
Season 20, Episodes 1 and 2
Airdate: 9/27/2018
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Staff writer
“Nobody expects you to be wonder woman.”
“I do.”
Olivia Benson has been on the force for a long time. Her SVU tenure started a year before the series began in 1999; she was an officer on the beat for many years before that. She’s no spring chicken and closer to the end of her career than its beginning.
Twice during “Man U
p,” while chasing suspects, she gets winded; during one of those chases, a woman on a bike is knocked over and injured. Her sudden inability to keep up bothers her. She says as much to her long time confidant and newly minted Sergeant Fin Tutuola, who admits to suffering from the same aliments. Tutuola has become the SVU’s Yoda of sorts, always being the one to dish out sage advice. Despite his reassurance that aging is natural and won’t change much, it’s clearly still weighing on Benson and showrunner Michael Chernuchin has stated these physical limitations will be a big part of Benson’s arc this season.
Perhaps the time has come for Benson to step away from the front lines. As SVU’s leader, she has been out on the streets with her detectives more regularly than her predecessor, Captain Don Cragen, and has been front-and-center in investigations — antithetical to Cragen. While the primary reason is Mariska Hargitay is the show’s biggest name, an explanation within the show’s universe is Benson is a very hands-on leader. Perhaps she can lead from the squad room more often now. There is no shame in aging. The truth of the matter is physical limitations can become increasingly common.
Benson is not a young woman anymore. She doesn’t move as fast as she did in 1999. By no means does that mean Benson should hang up the towel or even take a desk job. She can still do most of the things her job requires, but she has to accept those physical limitations affecting her stamina; how long it’ll take Benson to accept them remains to be seen.
CASE DETAILS:
This case was deeply unsettling. The first hour of this two-hour episode was a bit on the slow side apart from the fast-moving cold open, which felt almost overloaded. After the not-guilty verdict at the trial, momentum was gained during the second hour.
Despite ADA Ben Stone’s initial failure to win the case — largely due to the family refusing to help themselves or be cooperative at every turn — it was obvious the person who raped 15-year-old Sam Conway was his own father. Wanting to become a man in his father’s eyes, Sam (who comes out as gay to his parents early on during the case) slowly becomes unhinged, leading to a shocking turn of events.
I did not see the school shooting scene coming, although I probably should have after the episode’s opening scene with the rabbit. I also thought the directing and writing choice to only have us hear the shots being fired, but not see them, was an effective one. The sounds alone were enough.
Sam is a murderer and deserved the sentence he ultimately got, but I still felt sorry for him. His toxic home life pushed him to the edge.
As Tutuola said, “A lot of kids are assualted, abused, and humilaited. They don’t shoot up schools and murder other kids.” He’s right, but it is not hard to understand how Sam into a dark mental place, even if he took out his frustrations on the wrong people.
Aside from the rape, Sam was abused by his father both verbally and physically for years. I’m glad that a second trial found him at least partially at fault for the shooting (the official charge was criminally negligent homicide). Like Benson told Sam’s mother, his father created an environment where Sam believed killing made him a man. While he may not have pulled the trigger, he pushed Sam towards his mental break. He got off for sexual abuse; in the end, he got what he deserved. It’s a shame he destroyed his entire family on the way down.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE:
- Sam’s brother, Brian, annoyed me. However, the evidence suggests he was also subject to the same treatment that Sam received — he coped with it all better.
- Rollins is pregnant again, and her cheating ex-boyfriend is trying to win her back. It doesn’t look like he’s changed his ways though. Stay away, girl. Stay away.
- Who is the dad? If I had to guess, it’s probably the cheating ex-boyfriend.
- Not a whole lot of Benson’s son, Noah, in this episode, which is fine. I don’t have disdain for the child like some fans do, but I don’t think there needs to be such a heavy focus on him anymore (like there was last season). I hope the end scene of this episode was not an indicator of events to come on that front.
- While we’re on the subject, I think Noah pushing Benson was the first time she’s gotten mad at him, like, ever. Welcome to motherhood, girl. It gets a whole lot worse.
- I was a bit stunned to see Benson infer to Rollins that she had an abortion. While she didn’t outright confirm it and might not ever address it again, that doesn’t seem like the Benson we’ve come to know over the last two decades. Perhaps that “regret” is what led to her 15-year-long desire to become a mother. She could also be referring to her mother’s choice to not abort her. I would have appreciated some clarification here.
- It’s nice to see Benson be comforting to Rollins after seasons of tension between them. A lot of fans have noted Benson has seemed rather harsh and critical of Rollins for many seasons now, but you have to remember Rollins lost Benson’s trust and respect after she got involved in the undercover gambling ring in Season 15. It takes time to earn that all back, and I think the two of them have reached that point now.
- ADA Stone is still having a rough time coming to terms with the death of his sister, who was gunned down in last season’s finale. He’s picking up multiple women at a time, racking up an insane bar tab and leaving Carisi to pay for it, and, to me, he wasn’t fully himself in the courtroom. I find it hard to care for Stone, but he’s not afraid to put SVU in check when they get a little too radical. I didn’t see that in this episode. Admittedly, SVU handled this case by-the-book for the most part, but hopefully Stone gets his head on straight soon.
- “White people and rifles? Don’t ask me.” – Ice T, 2018.
- “My wife’s yoga pants don’t stretch this much.”
- It’s truly amazing what they can get away with saying on this show.
