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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.
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