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Law and Order: SVU

Details are the key. Details make a script special. 


So when we see Broadway phenom Corey Cott walking toward a crime scene, it's important that he is ranting. He is ranting about not wanting to collect semen in a plastic bag. This exchange helps to (a) remind us of exactly what a cop needs to do, (b) establish a "tough love" rapport between Corey Cott and Kevin Kane, and (c) humanize Corey Cott. It's not hard to feel for Cott in this situation.

Another "script curveball" I admire. If my daughter wakes up at 5am and begins crying for Daddy, I have to listen for the story underneath the story. If she says she wants a new bed immediately, these are just words. What she is really saying--with her intermittent silences--is that she had an accident, she feels embarrassed, and she can't cope with the embarrassment. A bomb goes off in front of Kevin Kane. This *seems* to be an effort to destroy DNA evidence--to hijack a rape investigation. But Kane has to consider the (apparently) collateral damage. An entire fertility clinic has been destroyed. Could it be that the clinic was the *real* target?

So much has occurred, and we're not even sure if we have witnessed the hour's central crime yet. (We haven't.) This is artful writing.

Just one other note here. Stories depend on vivid characters; in this hour alone, we get Alex Murdaugh (Norbert Leo Butz), the "antinatalist" with a mysterious past, and odd, oily Noma Dumezweni. The writer can't stop to "highlight" the strangeness of each of these people--so their quirks seep out via dialogue. The momentum of the plot is maintained. Noma gives her bizarre speech about "secretly loving" a shitty work situation. The antinatalist makes his unfortunate reference to "young tail" at a BLM protest. Alex Murdaugh "borrows" a friend's workplace (making use of a "professional courtesy"). Wonderful choices--gems in a little crown.

Another terrific episode.


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