I had hoped to go further into the season before an episode of Law & Order: SVU that made absolutely no sense.
Unfortunately, Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 3 was all over the place, with a story within the story that disappeared after the next commercial break, a solution to the actual case that came out of nowhere, and the most ridiculous character exit in years.
This one could have been fascinating, too, if only it hadn’t been so scattered.
That Weird Anti-Life Protest Should Have Been The Plot, Not Just a Footnote
The premise of someone bombing a fertility clinic because they think all procreation is immoral was an interesting twist on the usual stories about anti-abortion protesters attacking clinics that perform the procedure.
It struck me as utterly bizarre that these young people complained that they hadn’t consented to existence, so nobody should give birth ever again.
It was almost a parody of youthful protests, but it would have been fascinating to find out how a jury would react to this “righteous cause” if one of the protesters were arrested for the bombing.
Sadly, this protest group was barely explored. The whole purpose of its inclusion in the plot was to reveal that the older man preying on young women within the movement had killed a random person who was not part of the story when he found out she was carrying his baby.
SVU often has two related cases at once, and it’s hard not to lose something in the shuffle when it does, but this one was the worst.
After the cops learned that Kirk had killed a young woman named Autumn, they arrested him… and after the commercial, he and the protesters had disappeared.
It Felt LIke I Missed Something When The Detectives Decided To Go After Mark Olson.
After Kirk was arrested for Autumn’s murder, the team discussed Mark Olson… but I had no idea why.
Maybe my mind was stuck on Kirk and expecting more to his story.
However, it felt like the team had moved on to a random suspect and it wasn’t clear why — did anyone else feel like that?
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Griffin followed up his exemplary work in getting Kirk to admit to being a predator who went after young girls by trying to visit Mark’s office and talking to another lawyer who said he lent Mark his space sometimes, but that scene didn’t give any clues as to why the detectives were there.
Things moved fast after that, too. SVU quickly realized that Mark was likely drunk or high and that he had killed his client, got an arrest warrant, and arrested him.
Carisi got to do the honors of getting enough out of Mark for an arrest, I guess because he was so offended that another lawyer would betray his client’s trust in this horrible, permanent manner.
It seemed like in the end, Mark killed the doctor because she wanted to change lawyers… but it wasn’t explained why he wrote SLUT on her stomach or made her look like an SVU victim.
It Would Have Been So Much Better to Connect Autumn’s Case To This Murder
There was so much untapped potential there.
Lauden turned on the suspect when she realized he didn’t actually love her and saw all women at protests as potential sexual conquests.
She was a typical SVU victim. The story should have revolved around her coming to terms with how she’d been manipulated by a sexual predator who had killed at least one other woman.
THAT story would have had SVU’s trademark complexity and nuance.
Imagine the drama of Lauden questioning whether her involvement with Kirk had led to the doctor’s murder, on top of wondering if he killed her friend Autumn on purpose.
She didn’t believe in procreation, but she probably didn’t want to kill people who were already here, so this would have created a moral quandary for her.
I’m hard on shows I love when they aren’t up to par.
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Plus, it could have given Griffin a complex case to grapple with.
He used his seemingly toxic masculine persona to get Kirk to admit he was a predator, which was one of the best scenes in the episode, but it felt pointless since the case disappeared.
So did the rape case they were investigating when the bombing happened — they got the DNA off the water bottle and then… nothing.
Make Velasco’s New Exit Make Sense…
Velasco had an awesome goodbye episode on Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 22.
He got flashbacks, a graduation ceremony, and a tearful goodbye from Benson.
So why the heck did he return for the first three episodes of Law & Order: SVU Episode 27, only to leave again?
I don’t begrudge Octavio Pisano getting more work, but this seemed silly.
We could have skipped having him say goodbye all over again and just left it the way it was at the end of last season.
Also, if Fin is going to be off work because of his injuries, we need a storyline around it.
He deserves far more than a tiny scene focused on saying goodbye to Velasco.
Remember when Homicide: Life on the Street‘s Frank Pembleton had a stroke and went from being the top detective in his unit to barely being able to speak?
That’s the kind of story Fin needs right now. Not these cameo appearances.
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Law & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c and streams on Peacock on Fridays.
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