Skip to main content

Law and Order: SVU

 The premiere of SVU: What an interesting mess! 


My family purchased prosecco and chocolate cream pie--to celebrate the occasion--but we had a few stomach bugs. A tense discussion followed: Should the premiere episode wait until everyone had a clean bill of health? Obvious answer: No. We jumped in.

I know you watched, as well, so I'll keep the summary brief. In an opening voiceover, Olivia reflects on her career and on her battles, her sense of mission. (A voiceover is unusual, and it's one way that the new showrunner, David Graziano, can set himself apart.) A montage of memories includes famous shots from the most celebrated SVU episode in nearly three decades of TV writing--"9-1-1"--in which Olivia saved an abducted child, thereby losing her one chance to see the Broadway musical "Spamalot." (Curiously, "Spamalot" is now BACK on Broadway, in its first revival. Could the revival have played a role in Graziano's calculations?)

The episode "9-1-1" involved a lengthy, riveting dialogue between Olivia and the abducted child; the child had a cell phone, so she was able to offer clues. By contrast, "Tunnel Blind," the new episode, involves a very *brief* and frustrating pseudo-dialogue. First, the child spots Olivia in a car--and seems to signal her distress with a drugged expression, in her eyes. Later the child "communicates" with Olivia by leaving her name-bracelet ("MADDIE") in an inconspicuous spot, in the van that belongs to the man who has abducted her.

One main concern of "SVU," through the years, has been the role of technology in crime. Tech can be useful; we rely on cell phone towers, facial recognition software, video surveillance. At the same time, tech can be Pandora's Box; episodes have centered on Craigslist disasters, "dark web" assassinations, and ill-advised OKCupid entanglements. "Tunnel Blind" has one of the craziest tech scenarios I can recall. It seems that you should never, never share your child's school photo on Instagram--because a creepy entrepreneur will screenshot the photo and use it to design an "underage" sex doll. People in shadowy corners of the world will then purchase the sex doll--as a way of rehearsing for later acts of pedophilia. One buyer may become so infatuated, he will attempt to abduct the real-life "model"--and, then, consider the mess that you're in. All because of Instagram.

The end of this episode is surely controversial: Olivia's opportunistic boss wants to hold a press conference, to brag about a partial victory, when in fact a human being is still missing. Olivia knows this is a bad idea, but how can she argue? During the conference--in a humiliating way--Olivia is reminded that she has failed to locate a suffering child. The End! What a bold conclusion!

As one final party for SVU, my family and I played a game. We listed every Broadway star we could recall with SVU ties: Audra McDonald, Billy Porter, Peter Gallagher, Harry Connick, Leslie Odom, Andre de Shields, Bernadette Peters, Sutton Foster, Eva Noblezada, Alex Brightman, Raul Esparza, LaChanze, Victoria Clark, Marcia Gay Harden, Bebe Neuwirth, Brooke Shields, Martha Plimpton, Kerry Butler, Annaleigh Ashford, Laura Benanti, Karen Olivo, Rachel Bay Jones, Kathleen Chalfant, Judith Light, Elizabeth Marvel, Cynthia Nixon, Angela Lansbury, Betty Buckley, Anika Noni Rose, Tamara Tunie, BD Wong, Taylor Trensch, Frank Wood. You can play, too. I'm sure I'm missing some. Happy viewing.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...
3 comments
Read more

The Death of Bergoglio

  It's frustrating for me to hear Bergoglio described as "the less awful pope"--because awful is still awful. I think I get fixated on ideas of purity, which can be juvenile, but putting that aside, here are some things that Bergoglio could have done and did not. (I'm quoting from a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of the Church.) He could levy the harshest penalty, excommunication, against a dozen or more of the most egregious abuse enabling church officials. (He's done this to no enablers, or predators for that matter.) He could insist that every diocese and religious order turn over every record they have about suspected and known abusers to law enforcement. Francis could order every prelate on the planet to post on his diocesan website the names of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric. (Imagine how much safer children would be if police, prosecutors, parents and the public knew the identities of these potentially dangerous me...
1 comment
Read more

Raymond Carver: "What's in Alaska?"

Outside, Mary held Jack's arm and walked with her head down. They moved slowly on the sidewalk. He listened to the scuffing sounds her shoes made. He heard the sharp and separate sound of a dog barking and above that a murmuring of very distant traffic.  She raised her head. "When we get home, Jack, I want to be fucked, talked to, diverted. Divert me, Jack. I need to be diverted tonight." She tightened her hold on his arm. He could feel the dampness in that shoe. He unlocked the door and flipped the light. "Come to bed," she said. "I'm coming," he said. He went to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water. He turned off the living-room light and felt his way along the wall into the bedroom. "Jack!" she yelled. "Jack!" "Jesus Christ, it's me!" he said. "I'm trying to get the light on." He found the lamp, and she sat up in bed. Her eyes were bright. He pulled the stem on the alarm and b...
1 comment
Read more