Kelli Giddish: "SVU"

Recently, the NYT put a spotlight on three long-running shows: "The Simpsons," "SVU," and "Curb Your Enthusiasm." (Since "Curb" sometimes takes a few seasons off, people tend to forget it has been around since the President was Clinton. And yet....)

Of these shows, "SVU" obviously has the number-one spot in my heart, and I just have to say I'm so sad about the departure of Rollins. Although Kelli Giddish was less flashy than some of her co-stars, I thought she was consistently plausible. I also thought there was real chemistry between Giddish and Hargitay--for example, it was interesting to see the two dancing around Rollins's tricky love life, or sort-of-avoiding the Aidan Quinn subject--and I think it's risky to excise all of this from the new season (or new seasons).

Finally, I loved the grace notes in the writing. Rollins, a Georgia native, did not always have the enlightened views of her colleagues; Rollins also struggled with her addled father, who had a kind of co-dependent arrangement with a semi-estranged spouse or girlfriend. Rollins worried about introducing her daughters to a new love, and Rollins deliberately misquoted her shrink's advice to avoid a personal confrontation (for as long as possible). And Rollins struggled--in interesting ways--with a hotheaded colleague/boyfriend; Rollins sometimes had a more heroic outlook than Carisi, but she had to manage her anger to preserve an important thing that she had built, a thing that resembled a "normal" domestic life.

I just really liked her. I wish she weren't signing off.

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