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SVU

 The final SVU of the year made me think of a notable recent case of police incompetence, the Gabby Petito case.


Petito and her boyfriend were pulled over when the boyfriend--Brian--rammed his car into a curb. Petito telegraphed serious distress in a few ways: She indicated that Brian had grabbed her by the throat (a major sign that the male partner is eventually going to turn his aggression into murder), she sobbed hysterically and assumed all "the blame" (while Brian was eerily calm and said, "crazy woman"), she mentioned Brian's habit of belittling her aspirations.

It would seem you didn't need a PhD to infer where all this was headed, but the police decided this was just a "couple's squabble," and "probably both parties were being a little hotheaded." Easy just to give a stern lecture and head to the donut shop! Then a murder and a suicide occurred.

SVU ended its season with a variation on this story. A woman is a victim of domestic violence. She indicates all isn't well by swinging a baseball bat wildly at the police. She seems to say that she wishes to be taken to jail -- because this means she will be safe from her predator. Rollins knows she is entering a minefield. 

With smart, incisive writing, the SVU people show how Fin tries to keep the predator under control. Fin feigns sympathy: "We know you're innocent, we wanted to pull you aside here so you didn't have to deal with this nonsense in public....." Meanwhile, Fin is trying to draw out any incriminating statements from the predator to help with an eventual court proceeding.

Predictably, the predator doesn't pay attention to a restraining order; he returns to his terrified wife because one party needs a phone charger. (I admire the writing here.) Violence ensues; the wife kills the husband; brain scans reveal that extensive beatings have severely limited the wife's reasoning and impulse control; the wife, having been put on trial, now gets to go home. She is at least free of the evil man who has been haunting her.

I'm not sure if this is drawn from a true story. I was surprised and disturbed throughout.

Can't say I care very much about Barba. Sorry! But I look forward to next year.
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