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Channel Surfing: 'Law & Order: SVU'
Indianofs.blogspot.com
Channel Surfing: 'Law & Order: SVU', Elliot would have appreciated this: in his absence, the 13th-season premiere of “Law & Order: SVU” turned into the best showcase his partner, Olivia, had been given in years.
Wednesday night’s installment of “SVU” on NBC was the show’s first without Christopher Meloni, whose tightly wound Det. Elliot Stabler had anchored the series through 12 years and 272 episodes. In some ways it was a relief: the focus on Elliot’s wack-a-doodle intensity had taken “SVU” way off track. Still, it was hard to imagine the show without him.
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But for one night at least, the only surviving “Law & Order” series in America, now in the hands of the show runner Warren Leight (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Lights Out”), was at the top of its game. The episode “Scorched Earth,” ripped from the headlines of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, was taut, restrained and well acted, in the best “SVU” tradition. (“L&O” fans: agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments.)
And Mariska Hargitay, whose Det. Olivia Benson had been mostly reduced in recent seasons to nagging Elliot about his excesses, gave some support to the Emmy nominators who keep putting her up for best actress. In the scenes that explained her partner’s sudden absence — subject to an investigation after his sixth fatal shooting, an off-screen Elliot decided to turn in his badge — Ms. Hargitay and the always reliable Dann Florek, as Captain Cragen, were excellent.
Among the established series dealing with major cast changes — a roster that includes “Two and a Half Men,” “The Office,” “CSI” and “House” — “SVU” is the most affected. The season premiere also saw the arrival of a new team of prosecutors, though both are returning characters, Linus Roache’s Mike Cutter (from the “Law & Order” flagship series) and Stephanie March’s Alex Cabot. The addition of Mr. Roache is a big gain for “SVU”; whether the same can be said for Kelli Giddish (“Chase,” “The Good Wife”), as the new detective who may eventually replace Olivia, isn’t so certain. A scene in which she tried to sweet-talk information out of a jailed suspect was the one really weak moment in the episode. (Danny Pino of “Cold Case,” who will replace Mr. Meloni, hasn’t appeared yet.)
The episode was also interesting for its extremely close tracking of the Strauss-Kahn case (the powerful European accused of rape by a hotel maid was, in this case, an Italian politician, played by the spaghetti western star Franco Nero). In the “SVU” alternate reality it was allowed to go to trial, so that all the questions that remained theoretical in real life could be argued out. It was disappointing in dramatic terms but understandable, when the result was a mixed verdict. In the meantime, some things were said about rape cases that were surprising for a prime-time television drama — discussing the maid’s testimony, Alex and Olivia took it for granted that the pressures of the situation lead to rape victims lying about their pasts. ““One lie is fine, even two,” said Olivia, who, uncharacteristically, had doubts about the maid’s veracity throughout the story.
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