The opening scenes of Legislation & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 16 confirmed Benson visiting her mom’s grave for the primary time since Serena Benson’s dying in season 3.
Serena died off-screen so way back that there might be an entire new technology of Legislation & Order: SVU followers who don’t know the backstory — or that she appeared on Legislation & Order: SVU’s pilot episode in 1999.
The graveside scene was efficient, nevertheless it additionally satisfied me additional of 1 factor: the collection ought to by no means have killed Serena off within the first place, particularly contemplating that they did it off-screen.
Serena Benson Appeared Totally different In Her One Look Than How She Was Described Later
Serena Benson seems solely in a single scene of the pilot episode of Legislation & Order: SVU.
She and Benson have wine collectively, and Serena discourages her daughter from persevering with to work for SVU after studying that Benson’s first case includes a girl who castrated and killed the person who raped and impregnated her.
Throughout this temporary scene, Serena looks like a loving, involved mom who additionally occurs to be a rape survivor. The implication is that Benson continues to be traumatized from realizing she is the kid of rape, however her mom has moved on and put it behind her as greatest as she will be able to.
Serena is rarely seen once more; what occurs later is pure character assassination.
Benson describes her on a number of events as an emotionally abusive alcoholic who has relapsed into drunken conduct — are we speculated to neglect mom and daughter ingesting wine collectively within the pilot with out anybody getting drunk?
Serena dies off-screen on Legislation & Order: SVU Season 3 Episode 2 after getting drunk but once more and falling down the steps, and years later, Benson tells Rollins she discovered she was the kid of rape on the age of 13 when a drunk, offended Serena blurted out that she wished she by no means had her.
Clearly, Legislation & Order: SVU fully modified course after the pilot, deciding to get rid of Serena and retcon her into an abusive alcoholic in order that they may give Benson the backstory of getting gone into this line of labor as a result of the rape fully destroyed her mom.
In some methods, that was efficient.
Benson epitomizes “turning ache into energy,” selecting to make use of her traumatic experiences to make issues higher for different survivors as an alternative of self-destructing like her mom.
More often than not, anyway. I vaguely recall an arc on Legislation & Order: SVU Season 17 the place Benson flirted with alcoholism herself, and the data that her mom died in an alcohol-fueled accident made that story extra highly effective.
Nonetheless, Serena Benson had a lot potential, and it’s a disgrace it by no means got here to something.
At The Very Least, Serena Benson’s Relapse and Demise Ought to Have Been On-Display screen
It’s not outdoors the realm of risk that Serena turned to alcohol when Benson was younger.
Elevating a baby who solely exists since you had been raped brings up sophisticated emotions.
I’ve little doubt that Serena beloved her daughter, however Benson’s presence was additionally a continuing reminder of the assault — particularly if Benson regarded like her father.
And if Serena didn’t have help from household or in any other case, it’s comprehensible that she turned to alcohol to numb the ache.
Nevertheless, that was not the Serena Benson we met on Legislation & Order: SVU’s pilot. She didn’t seem to have an issue with alcohol then, and her daughter wasn’t involved about her ingesting wine.
Thus, if the writers needed to do an arc the place Serena relapsed into alcohol use and finally died due to it, it ought to have been on-screen.
It will have been much more highly effective if Benson — and the viewers — skilled her mom’s descent into self-destructive conduct in real-time, culminating along with her tragic dying.
As an alternative, all of it occurred off-screen, together with Serena being retconned into this one who had at all times been an abusive alcoholic and induced Benson nothing however hassle.
How disrespectful!
That didn’t match her one on-screen look, so if the writers had been going to go that route, they need to have put her remaining story on-screen as an alternative of hoping nobody remembered what Serena Benson was like within the pilot.
That mentioned, I don’t suppose it was essential to put in writing Serena out or kill her off in any respect.
Serena Benson Would Have Been The Good Sophisticated Foil For Her Daughter
Serena and her daughter clearly had reverse methods of coping with the trauma of the rape.
Whether or not or not you purchase the Serena-as-alcoholic story, it’s clear Serena’s major coping mechanism is avoidance.
Within the pilot, her foremost perform is to persuade Benson to not work for SVU as a result of doing so would require her to face her personal trauma.
Benson takes the alternative view — she’s right here to assist different survivors, and he or she’ll cease at nothing to perform that. Sadly, this dynamic is rarely repeated in every other episode, however think about if it had been.
Through the years, Serena might have been each a sounding board and an obstacle for Benson, desirous to help her however really believing her daughter can be higher off with out this job.
This might have been a compelling recurring battle, equal to Stabler’s ongoing marital and household points.
Serena Benson Missed So Many Of Her Daughter’s Milestone Tales
Think about if Serena had been round for Benson’s most necessary life modifications!
Her tackle Benson’s adoption of Noah and her discovery of a half-brother would have added additional emotional drama. I might have particularly beloved her response to studying her rapist had an entire different household.
And with the continued Benson/Stabler drama, Serena would have had many alternatives to place in her two cents about her daughter’s love life!
And I might simply think about her going head-to-head with Stabler’s mom! Now that will be must-see TV.
After all, folks generally die prematurely in actual life and miss their youngsters’s and grandchildren’s most necessary life occasions.
It’s tragic when that occurs, however on a TV present, it’s fully avoidable.
Serena Benson’s pointless dying didn’t must be written in in any respect. She might have remained within the present on a recurring foundation and popped up from time to time to bother her daughter along with her opinion.
What do you suppose, SVU fanatics?
Have been we cheated out of some nice storylines by killing off Serena, or is it higher the way in which it’s?
Hit the feedback along with your ideas.
Legislation & Order: SVU Season 26 airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c. The following new episode will air on April 3, 2025.
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