Nobody has a much bigger coronary heart than Olivia Benson.
She’s come a good distance since her first day as an SVU detective when she needed to be taught that she will’t “choose the vic.” These days, she cares about each sufferer, regardless of their background.
On Legislation & Order: SVU Season 24 Episode 11, she even managed to care concerning the child who was compelled to attempt to kill her to cease the gang from raping his mother. Duarte and Carisi thought she was going manner too far, however was she?
This case highlighted the complexity of coping with the gang downside. BX9 focused youngsters who had escaped Central America, and in the event that they weren’t grateful sufficient for his or her new “household” to hitch up, the gang used rape to power the difficulty.
This was a horrible scenario that frightened youngsters had no thought easy methods to take care of. Benson rightly understood that regardless of his violence towards her, Albert was a sufferer and, as ordinary, was unwilling to permit different cops to retraumatize him within the identify of justice.
The story left me with the burning query that no person requested: how on Earth might anybody break up this gang after they had this sort of energy over weak youngsters?
Arresting Papa is a begin, however BX9 is not going to go away as a result of its chief is in jail. Another person will take his place, and that individual would possibly proceed utilizing rape to power youngsters into the gang.
There are quite a lot of items to this puzzle. Papa wasn’t incorrect when he mentioned that the dysfunction on the Bronx SVU contributed to the scenario, so correcting that can hopefully assist.
Immigration reform might be additionally a part of the answer, regardless that that wasn’t talked about. Many of those youngsters had been most likely undocumented, which gave the gang further energy as a result of the youngsters lived in concern of deportation.
The Bronx SVU reform piece was primarily off-screen. Fin was presupposed to vet new detectives in Benson’s absence, however we weren’t aware about any of that.
Whereas we did not want scene after scene of Fin interviewing folks, a real subplot involving this is able to have been compelling. Why point out it just for new detectives to magically seem on the finish of the hour?
It additionally appeared odd that no person requested the Organized Crime Unit for assist with this one. That seems to be coming now that Papa is in jail, but it surely ought to have occurred earlier.
The Organized Crime Unit’s mission is to convey down leaders of gangs and mobs. Oscar Papa was exactly the sort of individual that unit has experience in beating at his personal sport.
As a substitute, Duarte needed to do issues his manner as a result of he heads the gang unit.
Duarte’s cussed resistance to seeing the rapes as vital offered drama, and it was logical the gang unit can be concerned with a gang case. Nonetheless, Stabler’s division might and will have lent experience to the seek for Papa.
It additionally would have made sense for Stabler to leap in when he discovered the gang went after Benson.
That can nonetheless occur within the third a part of this trilogy of episodes on January 26. Higher late than by no means, however nonetheless.
This case did not really feel like an SVU case. Tying a gang chief to numerous rapes is what Benson does, but this did not really feel like what she was doing.
Benson needed to guard the youngsters who had been being compelled into BX9 and get justice for rape victims, however this was a gang case regardless of her insistence that they do issues her manner.
Papa’s assembly with Benson and Duarte was one of many more strange components of this story. What did he hope to achieve by calling them to a restaurant and claiming he did not condone rape?
There have been no veiled threats in what he mentioned until you rely his silly remark about Benson needing ice for her eye. He kind of was daring the cops to tie him to the rapes.
All he achieved was making Benson extra decided to get him. Was he appearing out of pure ego, or was there some extent to him tricking them into assembly him on the restaurant?
Benson knew anybody who testified towards BX9 had a goal on their again; she ought to have been extra frightened about Albert’s security as soon as he turned on “Maestro.” (As an apart, Benson has all the time been fluent in a number of languages, together with Spanish, so why was she instantly unfamiliar with a fundamental Spanish phrase?)
I used to be certain he can be killed earlier than they may get again to work on the case. Fortunately, that did not occur, however why was Benson so insistent on ready till tomorrow to get his testimony when she knew what the dangers had been?
It felt like there have been too many contradictions of earlier historical past on this story, which contributed to my sense that it did not belong on SVU.
What did you suppose, SVU fanatics? Was I the one one who felt this story was misplaced?
Hit the large, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us! And remember you’ll be able to watch Legislation & Order: SVU on-line.
Legislation & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9 PM EST / PST. The subsequent new episode airs on January 26, 2023.
Jack Ori is a senior workers author for TV Fanatic. His debut younger grownup novel, Reinventing Hannah, is offered on Amazon. Comply with him on Twitter.
