The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled many reveals to show what was speculated to be an abnormal episode right into a season finale.
Law & Order: SVU Season 21 Episode 20 did a terrific job, providing viewers cliffhangers and leaving us with extra questions than solutions.
We’d not have gotten every little thing the showrunners have been planning on earlier than the pandemic hit, however there was greater than sufficient there to hold conversations all through the summer season.
The top quality was made much more spectacular by the truth that this was a sequel to Law & Order: SVU Season 21 Episode 5.
The unique story, which featured three detectives dealing with three totally different circumstances, was one of many strongest of the season. It made a robust assertion about the best way rape circumstances are usually not at all times handled equally.
So the previous axiom that sequels by no means dwell as much as the unique held doubly true for this one — but Regulation & Order: SVU not solely pulled it off, however made a second highly effective assertion about the best way rape circumstances are dealt with in court docket.
Legal professional: My consumer Toby Moore is the actual sufferer right here. It is a sham trial and the NYPD has had a vendetta in opposition to him from Day One.
Kat: I believed this case was over once we arrested him.
Fin: Instances like this are by no means over, not even after they’re over.
It was apparent that FIn’s case was headed for hassle.
Means again on Regulation & Order: SVU Season 2, Benson acquired in over her head attempting to assist a younger woman with severe psychological issues, and as quickly as Fin started involving himself within the aftermath of this case it felt like the identical factor once more.
Joelle had been reluctant to press fees in opposition to her husband within the first place, so it wasn’t shocking that she did not need Fin to attempt to shield her now that Leon was out.
And whereas Fin might need thought he was placing Leon on discover, confronting him the second he acquired out of jail was a horrible thought.
As a black man in jail, Leon most likely had his fill of guards lording their energy over him, and Fin undoubtedly appeared to him like simply one other cop messing with him.
Fin giving Andre the telephone so he might name for assist if wanted made sense — in any case, the child referred to as the cops within the first place as a result of Leon’s violent habits in direction of his mother scared him. However it was apparent this was going to finish badly.
Joelle did not need the cops concerned and Leon was already in a blind rage due to Fin’s earlier intervention, so there was by no means going to be a contented ending right here.
Andre? That boy noticed his father get shot. No youngster ought to ever see that.
Fin
It is sadly ironic that Fin shot Leon in entrance of Andre, inflicting the identical traumatic reminiscence on the boy that has haunted Fin his whole life. Fin most probably felt a kinship with Andre that he’ll really feel extra deeply now, although the child will most likely not need something to do with him.
He’ll most likely additionally must cope with having fatally shot a black suspect, despite the fact that he’s additionally black and on this case, the suspect was armed and harmful. The neighbors have been already sighing sadly as they noticed Leon’s physique bag being taken out of the housing challenge, and Joelle is suing Fin for wrongful demise.
Discuss a cliffhanger! Regulation & Order: SVU Season 22 ought to get a ton of mileage out of the lawsuit, Fin’s personal guilt, the connection to his previous, and the unanswered query of whether or not he may even face felony fees or lose his job because of this.
Followers have been clamoring for extra Fin for a number of seasons, and it seems like we’re going to get it.
Rollins additionally ended up sucked into another person’s drama, however she dealt with it pretty properly.
If that is what it is like having a teen, I am by no means gonna be prepared.
Rollins
Ivy’s dangerous habits wasn’t as comparable as to what Rollins will face when her women are youngsters as she thought.
Ivy was performing out due to the entire Steve Getz scenario, and her mom was enabling her by continually insisting that Ivy is an effective woman who simply goes too far as a substitute of doing something about it.
Plus, Ivy is not Rollins’ child, so she’s extra goal, even when she is related to the household in unfavourable methods due to Ivy’s father kidnapping Rollins.
However in any case, I used to be pleased with Rollins for taking Benson’s recommendation to coronary heart and offering robust love. She might simply have seen Ivy as one other Kim and tried too arduous to save lots of her, making issues worse within the course of.
Mrs.Bouche: Ivy is like me. She pushes issues, however she is aware of when to cease. Proper, Ivy?
Ivy: Proper.
Mrs. Bouche: No extra partying, proper Ivy?
Ivy: No extra partying.
Rollins: I hope you imply that. Ivy, I will void your arrest for now however should you act out once more, I am selecting you up.
Kat’s case supplied some redemption for LaKira, who allowed Paul Davies to purchase her silence after she was overwhelmed and raped.
Lakira got here off as rather more empathetic this time round, and it was heartbreaking that she wasn’t allowed to be given particulars of Dakota’s demise as a result of she “wasn’t household.”
At first, it appeared like she is likely to be an issue as a result of she was satisfied Davies had attacked Dakota and saved pushing Kat for an arrest that she could not make with out proof.
Kat is thought to make impulsive choices that mess up circumstances, so it was actual development on her half that the one factor she did that she wasn’t speculated to was query Davies earlier than she had proof of anythig.
Legal professional: My consumer Toby Moore is the actual sufferer right here. It is a sham trial and the NYPD has had a vendetta in opposition to him from Day One.
Kat: I believed this case was over once we arrested him.
Fin: Instances like this are by no means over, not even after they’re over.
All the opposite circumstances paled compared to the primary occasion: Sir Toby Moore’s trial.
Viewers should wait to seek out out whether or not Sir Toby is ever going to make it to court docket and whether or not he actually had a coronary heart situation that interfered along with his authorized obligations, however within the meantime the drama round his potential trial was highly effective.
This was a excessive profile case that was all on Carisi’s shoulders and at instances it appeared like a battle that could not be gained.
Between Sir Toby’s disappearing act, reluctant and scared witnesses, and an unscrupulous judge-turned-defense-attorney who believes her consumer is being railroaded by vindictive girls, this one’s going to be nearly inconceivable to prosecute.
SVU made the purpose time and again that circumstances like this do not finish with arrest and that survivors usually do not get justice when their rapists are highly effective males.
However this being SVU, they are going to most likely give this a contented ending after a protracted battle. This collection is about giving survivors hope — how can they try this if Sir Toby Moore is not ultimately dropped at justice?
Your flip, SVU fanatics.
Hit the SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us what you considered the Season 21 season finale, what you count on to occur on Regulation & Order: SVU Season 22, and what you felt about these circumstances.
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Regulation & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 10 PM EST/PST. It’s going to return for a historic 22nd season someday within the fall of 2020.
Jack Ori is a senior workers author for TV Fanatic. His debut younger grownup novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.