When Rafael Barba (Raul Esparza) first met Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) in Season 14 of Law & Order: SVU, he requested her interim captain whether or not it was Take Your Daughter To Work Day. Benson, a Particular Victims Unit detective with almost 20 years of expertise, nodded a well mannered hi there to the brand new assistant district lawyer with a glance in her eye that promised she would not overlook that snide little remark. Within the early post-Stabler (Chris Meloni) period of the sequence — throughout which the present struggled to search out the best stability of personalities and incessantly cycled by way of new characters — Barba’s introduction appeared poised to tip the rigorously balanced power that all the time existed between the regulation and the order into chaos. However regardless of their rocky begin, Barba turned Benson’s most compelling companion out of SVU‘s total 21-season run.
Barba’s slick, boastful, morally questionable strategies on his first particular victims case in “Twenty 5 Acts” — which included bullying a rape survivor into testifying by threatening her with perjury fees, railroading her school professor into blowing up her skilled profession, and grandstanding in entrance of the press — received him no respect from SVU’s most compassionate detective. However simply as Benson was prepared to put in writing him off because the form of lawyer who cared extra about his skilled document than getting justice, Barba took off his belt, looped it round his personal neck, and requested the defendant within the jury field to take the opposite finish and display how he choked his sufferer. In a courtroom scene not like every other on SVU, Barba’s stunt revealed the person’s true violent nature to the jury, who had been on the point of acquitting him of rape. Regardless of the blunt and reducing means Barba had handled the survivor in an effort to make the case hermetic, when pushed, he went above and past within the courtroom to get the conviction — and that dedication was one thing Benson understood and will respect.
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After discovering that widespread floor, their friction settled into a gradual simmer. When Barba’s childhood buddy acquired caught up in a sexting and bribery scandal throughout a mayoral run, Barba turned to Benson to make sure that he did not cross any skilled traces whereas the investigation was ongoing. When Benson’s frustration over judicial loopholes clouded her testimony in a chilly case involving baby molestation and homicide, it was Barba who reminded her of the sufferer’s mom and why she wanted to maintain her cool on the stand. When Benson realized who the organic father of her adopted son Noah was and found he was a prison, it was Barba who walked her by way of the authorized hypotheticals and reassured her that Noah’s father could not problem the adoption. Every case labored collectively over 5 seasons, whether or not received or misplaced, introduced the pair nearer.
Benson and Barba naturally balanced one another. Benson cracked instances with empathy and ass-kicking, whereas Barba caught convictions with political maneuvering and diligent foresight. However the highly effective chemistry between the 2 did not simply spring from the truth that they made up for each other’s blind spots; extra importantly, the duo realized from one another and pushed one another to develop. By the point Barba left the sequence in Season 19, he felt a lot kinship with a mom preventing for her braindead toddler’s proper to die that he risked incarceration to assist her. Due to his years with Benson, he knew that empathy might be a supply of energy as an alternative of a weak spot to take advantage of. And as for Benson, her time with Barba pushed her to attain a rigor in her casework that bolstered her eventual promotion to captain of the SVU. With Barba, Benson advanced past the guts of the sequence into the mind as properly.
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None of Benson’s earlier companions, squad mates, or pals come near having had such a constructive influence on her as Barba did. Nobody else might actually go toe-to-toe along with her as equals. All due respect to the depth of the early Stabler-Benson years, however there is not any model of the present the place Liv can be captain of SVU if Stabler had stayed her companion. She would have been caught prioritizing Stabler’s points and reining in his mercurial tempers, moderately than specializing in constructing her personal talent set. Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) was a youthful, sexier model of Stabler, simply one other companion she needed to babysit too typically. As for Mike Dodds (Andy Karl), we hardly knew ye earlier than you had been gone. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Sonny Carisi (Peter Scanavino), and Kat Tamin (Jaime Gray Hyder) are three nice additions to the sequence who love Benson, however honed their expertise below her tutelage. John Munch (Richard Belzer) and Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) are beloved mentors to be valued, but additionally individuals who’ve largely left her behind since they retired. Fin Tutuola (Ice T) comes closest to being Benson’s equal, a non-judgmental sounding board for her to speak to, however is on a very totally different wavelength with regards to the job. As for the opposite ADAs? Alex Cabot (Stephanie March) grew exceptionally near Benson over time however the pair by no means challenged one another as a lot as Benson and Barba did. The opposite ADAs all the time remained a minimum of a cellphone name away aside from Barba, who snuck straight into her coronary heart.
In Barba’s closing episode, he stood simply outdoors the courthouse with Benson saying a silent goodbye to the life he as soon as had after escaping a homicide cost and shedding his job. Barba defined that earlier than he met Benson, he solely noticed justice in black and white. However after Benson, there was colour and now that is all he can see. “I am you now, Liv. You have opened my coronary heart and I thanks for it,” Barba instructed her. “However I’ve acquired to maneuver on.” Benson could not reply, tears overwhelming her within the second, however identical to that first fateful day, the look in her eye mentioned she’d would not overlook it later. This time, after 5 and half years of deeply enriching partnership, Barba knew her properly sufficient to know.
Regulation & Order: SVU is accessible to stream on Hulu. Take a look at extra great 2010s series to watch here.
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