Comfortable New Yr, SVU fanatics!
Law & Order: SVU Season 22 Episode 4 addressed everybody’s grief and shock over the painful yr that simply handed and began 2021 with a case that had no simple solutions.
As an extra bonus, Barba got here again to defend a veteran who shot his daughter’s rapist. The one factor higher would have been if Barba might keep to be a everlasting thorn in Carisi’s aspect.
A number of nice stuff right here, however first…
Was I the one one who had no thought Fin was relationship Phoebe or who she was?
Fin talked about that they was companions and labored a case collectively lately, however I discovered their a part of the opening sequence complicated as a result of I had no recollection of this girl’s presence in his life.
Congratulations to him on his engagement, I assume, however it might have been good if this relationship had grown so far on-screen.
Leaving that apart, I loved the New Years’ Eve sequences firstly of the hour.
Noah: Are they nonetheless going to drop the ball?
Benson: In fact they’re.
Noah: If there’s going to be no person right here, why are they placing these [barriers] up?
Benson: They’re simply establishing. Hey Noah, we’re gonna watch the ball drop on TV identical to some other yr.
Noah: No, it isn’t. I simply need this yr to be over.
Everybody was doing their finest to have a traditional New Years’ regardless of the struggling that 2020 heaped upon New York Metropolis residents together with the remainder of the nation.
There was an actual sense that the actors spoke from the guts every time they hoped that 2021 can be a marked enchancment from 2020. And I used to be delighted that Noah appeared to take pleasure in himself regardless of telling Benson that he simply wished this yr to go.
In fact, SVU was so short-staffed that everybody needed to drop their New Years’ plans actually. I would favored to have identified extra about Kat’s girlfriend in addition to had extra of a heads-up about Fin’s fiancee, however no less than everybody appeared understanding about their companions having to take off.
As for the case itself, who did not see AJ’s homicide coming?
Mickey confirmed up uninvited to the arraignment, instructed Fin he wanted to take a smoke break proper exterior the place AJ was going to be transported, and insisted on staying within the space to “watch the transport.”
Come on, Fin, what number of years have you ever been an SVU detective?
It was disappointing, to say the least, that Fin did not choose up on what was about to occur and made it much more painful to observe due to the woefully insufficient real-life police response to the chaos in DC only a day earlier than this episode aired.
Anyway, I assumed extra ought to have been made out of Fin’s dropping the ball right here.
Barba targeted on how neither ACS nor SVU had picked up on the truth that this supposedly saintly foster father had been raping all the ladies in his care, however neither he nor Fin’s superiors at SVU questioned how Fin let Mickey get away with what he was about to do.
Given Fin’s insistence that Mickey should not do a minute of jail time for this, that could be coming in a future episode. I hope so.
Fin is one in all my favourite characters, however it’s exhausting to consider that he missed all of the indicators as an alternative of trying the opposite approach on goal.
As for Benson, I do not know what she anticipated to occur when she “hypothetically” defined Mickey’s case to Barba and requested if there was any strategy to defend him.
Barba: Carisi will not have the abdomen to take this to trial.
Fin: So long as Mickey would not go to jail.
Barba: I really feel for him, I actually do. However he shot a suspect who was below arrest. The federal government frowns on that. And it is towards the legislation.
Benson: Barba. That is why we known as you.
She instructed Barba she consulted him as a result of it appeared not possible to maintain Mickey out of jail, then bought mad at him for taking the case.
That was foolish. She knew there was no assure Carisi can be open to a deal and that it was unlikely that the DA’s workplace would approve one that did not contain jail time, wounded vet or not.
In spite of everything, she was the one who mentioned to tread calmly with Nidia’s disappearance as a result of AJ was a extremely revered ACS officer, and it occurred close to Gracie Mansion.
Barba’s choices for defenses, on this case, have been restricted. There was no query that Mickey had shot AJ, so the one factor he might do, in addition to argue mitigating circumstances, went for an madness plea.
Jury nullification just isn’t a legitimate protection. Legal professionals aren’t supposed to inform the jury to look the opposite approach within the identify of justice. However that was roughly what Barba was arguing.
His strategy made me uncomfortable for an additional purpose. Garland and Carisi saved declaring the issues with vigilante justice, however on prime of that, Barba’s argument rested on the premise that folks with PTSD can not help however get violent if triggered.
Is that true typically? In all probability.
However individuals with psychological sickness — together with individuals with PTSD — are extra typically the victims of violent crime than the perpetrators, and tropes about mentally ailing individuals being harmful to strengthen stigma, make it more durable for individuals who want it to hunt assist dangerous to those that endure.
I name Days of Our Lives out for this commonly and anticipate higher of SVU.
In any case, Barba had some extent in regards to the NYPD not doing its job, however he by no means addressed the difficulty of what would have occurred if AJ had been harmless.
AJ’s guilt made it seem to be Mickey was looking for justice, however SVU typically will get the incorrect man — after which Mickey might need killed an harmless individual.
Both approach, this was a tragic story throughout, however I am unsure why Benson thought Barba was defending himself.
As I recall, Barba left SVU after he engaged in an unlawful act of euthanasia involving a child that might not presumably survive. That may be a completely totally different scenario than the one he bought concerned with right here.
What did you assume, Legislation & Order: SVU fanatics?
Did you take pleasure in Barba’s return? Did you assume his arguments in Mickey’s protection had advantage? Who did you assume did higher in his showdown with Carisi?
Hit the large, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us what you thought.
Wish to see it once more first? Simply watch Law & Order: SVU online proper right here on TV Fanatic.
Legislation & Order: SVU continues its historic 22nd season on NBC on Thursdays at 9 PM EST/PST.
Jack Ori is a senior employees author for TV Fanatic. His debut younger grownup novel, Reinventing Hannah, is out there on Amazon. Observe him on Twitter.