Critic’s Ranking: 3 / 5.0
3
Violent, armed robbers. Pointless deaths. Carisi at risk.
Regulation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8 supplied an adrenaline-pounding story meant to maintain the viewers on the sting of their seats.
Benson’s been held hostage twice, and a stalker kidnapped Rollins from her therapist’s workplace as soon as, so it’s not like such a story is something new, however it will get factors for the fun issue anyway.
The Aftermath Will Be Higher Than Regulation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8
Each police procedural does the cop-in-danger trope a minimum of as soon as, however recently, it looks as if most of them do it as soon as a season.
It’s simple to develop into desensitized to it when you already know your favourite character won’t go away the present and won’t be killed off, it doesn’t matter what.
Moreover, these tales don’t belong on SVU.
This collection is meant to be about empowering sexual assault survivors, and as a substitute, from time to time, we get a whole hour of one of many heroes being held hostage.
The aftermath of those tales is much better as a result of it reveals the cops (and sure, I do know Carisi is an ADA, however he was once a cop, and he was in cop mode this complete episode) combating the identical trauma they’ve been serving to others take care of.
However there are different methods to get there, notably with Carisi.
The person’s been coping with vicarious trauma and virtually breaking down all season lengthy.
Final week he was hyperfocusing on getting one pedophile off the streets, as if that was going to magically make his ladies protected.
If Regulation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8 wished to arrange a psychological well being storyline for Carisi, they didn’t must have him get randomly held hostage.
As an alternative, he might have misplaced a case he actually wished to win, one involving somebody who preys on younger ladies.
That might have led to a strong remaining scene by which he fully broke down, making it really feel like a REALLY very long time earlier than SVU returns on January 16.
Nonetheless, the closing scenes, by which Carisi insisted he was okay regardless that it was apparent he wasn’t, have been robust.
I used to be particularly touched by Rollins calling him “Sonny” relatively than Carisi.
These two often name one another by their final names, so her refusal to take action confirmed how nervous she was about him.
It was bizarre that the children have been with Rollins’ mom, although. Final I heard, she was disowning Rollins for not enabling Kim’s nonsense anymore.
Regulation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8 Wasted Rollins’ Involvement
Rollins doesn’t seem in lots of episodes, so when she is round, I’d relatively she do greater than combat with a hostage negotiator and get advised to take a stroll.
The logline for this episode stated that Benson and Rollins devise a dangerous plan, however I didn’t see Rollins doing a lot of something.
She wasn’t as ineffective because the “top-notch” hostage negotiator, who couldn’t even get the perps to speak to him, however I’d have relatively she had a subplot concerning the ghost weapons she’s attempting to get off the streets.
That may have been a much more fascinating use of Rollins than no matter that was on the sidewalk exterior the deli.
Carisi’s Efficiency Made This Episode
In the event you’re a Carisi fan, you in all probability loved Regulation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8.
It shouldn’t have been a Carisi-only episode. We wanted extra of an ensemble than we bought, contemplating that Benson has a full staff and that, at this level, she and Rollins are as skilled with hostage negotiation because the precise negotiators.
Nonetheless, this was a powerful episode for Carisi. Peter Scanavino did a few of his greatest work to this point throughout this hostage situation.
His willpower to stick with Ali and attempt to save his life was nice. This man wasn’t only a retailer clerk to him. He was a good friend, and Carisi’s response when Ali died broke my coronary heart.
Carisi: I’m sorry I couldn’t save your good friend.
Elizabeth: I’m sorry I couldn’t save yours.
I additionally loved the way in which that Carisi used psychology and his data of the regulation to confuse the robbers and throw sand of their intimidation operation.
Boyd reacted violently to not being in management, however it additionally confused him that Carisi wasn’t as terrified of him as he wished him to be.
Carisi’s interactions with Deonte have been so heartfelt that he fooled me, too.
I additionally thought he was real about serving to Deonte out if Deonte helped get them out of the state of affairs. I ought to have recognized higher, I assume, however I felt like Deonte was redeemable.
He was younger, naive, and had spent an excessive amount of time within the system because it was, and though Carisi was proper that he could possibly be held chargeable for felony homicide, I felt like the truth that he didn’t really pull his set off on anybody till he’d had sufficient of Boyd’s crap ought to depend for one thing.
(He additionally seemed like he might have performed a younger Randall Pearson on This Is Us and his final identify being Mosley bought me all distracted enthusiastic about how that’s Gabi’s final identify on Discovered, so what bizarre mash-up was occurring right here?)
Anyway, I particularly favored when Carisi advised him it was both assist him out or go residence in a physique bag. That was a strong trade, although I discovered it complicated that Deonte’s response was that he knew Carisi used to work for Benson.
I don’t perceive how they may discover that out by trying on his cellphone. Does he have Benson saved as “Captain Olivia Benson (my former boss)?”
Tess’ Rape Was Tangential to Regulation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8
The state of affairs described within the logline was far more intently aligned with SVU’s mission than what performed out.
If Carisi had tried to cease a rape in progress and ended up in a hostage state of affairs, that may have a minimum of been an precise SVU case.
As an alternative, Tess’ rape felt prefer it was added in to make it related to SVU.
She was traumatized, and Benson and Rollins comforted her after she was lastly launched, however she was such a minor character that it didn’t really feel impactful — and that’s the alternative of what SVU often stands for.
Over to you, SVU fanatics!
What did you consider this Carisi-centered hostage state of affairs?
Did it meet your expectations for SVU typically or for the autumn finale?
Vote in our ballot to rank this episode, after which hit the feedback together with your ideas.
Regulation & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c and on Peacock on Fridays. It’s going to return with all-new episodes on January 16, 2025.
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