Law & Order: SVU is TV’s longest-running procedural, and it’s about to start its 28th season in the fall on NBC.
There is some comfort in seeing our favorite characters again, but it’s a double-edged sword because the series has changed so much over the years.
While Law & Order: SVU Season 27 featured more layered cases that focused more on the victims, the cases didn’t connect with the main characters very often.
It lacked the personal connection, heart, and team camaraderie the series was known for.
Law & Order: SVU Season 28 needs to balance more heart with headlines if it wants to survive and keep its fanbase, including me, happy.
How to Incorporate the Characters into Weekly Cases
Law & Order: SVU Season 28 needs to add more character depth to its weekly cases. Some of last season’s cases were exceptional, while others I barely remember.
Most of that was how well they incorporated the main cast into the cases. I know there were budget cuts, and that hurt. Fin (Ice-T) didn’t appear as much, and many fans had looked forward to having the old crew back together again.
It was also disappointing that when Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) returned as a series regular, she seemed like a generic sheriff’s detective instead of the detective we’d grown to love.
There weren’t many meaningful scenes with Rollins and Olivia or Rollins and Carisi, about the case or otherwise.
The only time Rollisi got sufficient airtime was on Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 11, “Career Psychopath,” and it’s the third time they’ve written about Henry Mesner.
That needs to change. Ideally, most episodes can have a case that affects a main character. Law & Order SVU Season 27 included a few of those and should do more.
Terry Bruno did his best work when he recognized that a teenage boy had been sexually assaulted by an older woman because he’d been through that, too.
Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 15 was one of the most emotional and layered episodes of the season.
Law & Order: SVU includes many cases about teenagers, including AI and cyberbullying, and that’s another way to include Olivia Benson and Renee Curry’s teenage sons.
Sometimes teenagers know more about what’s going on at school or about new tech than their parents do.
These are only ideas, but it’s a start.
The Best Way to Add More Personal Moments
We aren’t asking for the impossible, but it would be great to see the squad together outside work.
We saw that maybe once in Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 15 when the squad cheered Curry on at her boxing match.
That was a nice attempt, but there were 20 episodes, and I can only remember that and when the ladies played UNO, only to be called in on a case.
The series needs to realize fans care about the characters’ lives and these meaningful moments, whether it’s Rollins and Carisi’s anniversary dinner or Olivia and Noah catching up.
We need a peek into the characters’ personal lives to stay invested. It’s been over a year since Amanda and Olivia walked the kids to school. While they’re older now, maybe a group pizza dinner between the families at the end of the episode would suffice instead.
The Good News About Law & Order Season 28
We do have some great news about Law & Order Season 28. Ice-T has confirmed that Fin will be in every episode of the upcoming season, and he’s already shared photos of himself filming on set.
Hopefully that means the budget cuts have eased up some, and we’ll see Olivia, Fin, Amanda, and Carisi in the same episodes. Their friendship and dynamics are what hold the team together.
Fin has had Olivia’s back since day one. He’s supported her through so much. They’ll go out together. He’s been partners with Amanda. We need to see these relationships.
I also enjoyed the dynamics he formed with Bruno, and hope we see more of that. Bruno has been a welcome addition over the last few years, and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface on his personal story.
So far, Law & Order: SVU seems to have escaped the Dick Wolf curse of changing casts, and I think that’s for the best.
It took some time to warm up to Griff (Corey Cott), but he fits in there, too. Hopefully, if Tynan is gone, stories will focus less on him, and more on the group as a whole.
Over to you, Law & Order: SVU Fanatics. How would you improve Season 28? What would you like to see more of?
Let us know in the comments.
Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
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We’re talking how Law & Order: SVU can improve Season 28 and that means more heart and personal interactions.
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