I hate to say this, but Law & Order: SVU is falling far short this season.
This has been my favorite show for decades. It’s the show that inspired me to write my own stories for and about survivors.
But this season, something is missing from Law & Order: SVU despite the fuller cast and some episodes that are worth a second look.
Contrary to showrunner David Graziano’s promise, Law & Order: SVU has not gone back to basics, and that’s what’s most disappointing about it.
If he hadn’t made that promise, maybe I’d be more positive about this season. The stories aren’t bad, for the most part, and the new character is enjoyable — when she’s actually featured.
I don’t think SVU is beyond repair and needs to be canceled, but so far, Season 26 has not impressed me the way I expected.
Best Episode: “Tenfold” (Law & Order: SVU Season 25 Episode 7)
Law & Order: SVU Season 25 Episode 7 was the one episode that fulfilled the promise of going back to basics.
This one focused on a group of sex workers who sell their bodies on the streets.
The group of women SVU worked with in this case were all women of color, too, except for one trans woman, which allowed the episode to explore the effects of racism in policing on an already vulnerable population.
The best thing about this episode is that Law & Order: SVU didn’t explicitly state the obvious problems. Sometimes, characters push the writers’ agenda in their dialogue, but not this time.
Instead, the audience was left to draw its own conclusions from what happened.
Wallen didn’t trust the cops not to make her the criminal, despite Bruno having helped her on a previous occasion, and the other women in the group weren’t about to talk without getting paid.
That spoke volumes while being silent about why so that the audience could figure it out for themselves.
This story’s Carisi subplot was also the kind of powerful personal story that often elevates SVU over other shows.
Carisi had been having some mental health issues throughout Law & Order: SVU Season 26, and they were especially evident here.
He was hyper-focusing so hard on the one pedophile he knew was lurking in his neighborhood that he was reluctant to do his actual job, yet it wasn’t drama for its own sake.
Instead, Carisi’s obsession with this guy led to an interesting subplot that brought up the question of whether pedophiles can be helped to control their urges before they offend.
In short, this story gets the highest marks on the Law & Order: SVU Season 26 midseason report card because it had absolutely everything that has always made SVU must-see TV.
Worst Episode: “Fractured” (Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 1)
Unfortunately, there were several contenders for the worst episode. Many episodes had good ideas that weren’t developed properly, which inadvertently sent the wrong message.
However, Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 1 was as bad as “Tenfold” was good. And it was the season premiere, too!
This episode gets low marks on the Law & Order: SVU Season 26 midseason report card because it completely botched an interesting premise.
The case, once we got to it, was about a group of female law students who were attacked in their dorm, with one being murdered in addition to raped.
(Luckily, this Hudson University incident wasn’t at the same time as the protest-turned-riot on FBI Season 7 Episode 6!)
However, the episode featured a cold open (aka the pre-opening credit scenes) that went on seemingly forever. It juxtaposed Benson taking her team to the shooting range with scene after scene of the group studying together.
These super-long cold opens are a bad habit that Law & Order: SVU needs to drop.
The original Law & Order has figured that out this season, but SVU still writes them as if they’re the pilot to a spinoff about people we’ve never met.
The premiere was especially egregious. It tried to dump a bunch of info about newcomer Kate Silva, which was an additional reason it was slow to start the episode’s story.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Law & Order: Season 26 Episode 1 used the annoying trope of making the guilty party appear out of nowhere halfway through instead of building a story leading to his arrest.
It was almost as if the writers realized they had to hit the arrest at the halfway mark and just stuck someone in. Ugh.
This was no way to start the season! Fortunately, Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 2 redeemed the show with a stronger story and less info dumping, but it didn’t bode well that the season opener seemed so sloppily written.
Best Storyline: Carisi’s Spiral Into Poor Mental Health
The Carisi subplot was hands-down the best storyline, although I have to deduct some points on the Law & Order: SVU Season 26 midseason report card for not featuring it enough.
Throughout the first half of the season, Carisi had a hard time adjusting to being a mostly single dad due to Rollins’ extensive travel for her new job.
Being a girl dad seems to have triggered vicarious trauma over all the horrors he’s seen over his career as both a cop and an ADA, and Carisi was unable to let go of his fears after a pedophile leered at Jessie while Carisi was walking down the street with her.
This scenario is screaming for a Law & Order: SVU spinoff about Rollins and Carisi so that the characters can both get the screentime their story deserves, but in the meantime, Carisi struggled to stay objective during a case while angry that pedophiles and others who could hurt his daughters were out on the street.
That’s why Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8’s Carisi hostage story was unnecessary.
Carisi was already going down the path of poor mental health, so he didn’t need to directly experience horrific violence to struggle with PTSD and related trauma issues.
It was an exciting, intense story, but the Law & Order: SVU Season 26 midseason report card gets lower marks for including it because it was so gratuitous and took up an hour that could have focused on a powerful case for the fall finale.
Worst Storyline: Rollins Returning As An Intelligence Officer
Amanda Rollins is one of my favorite characters, and I’m sick of her being treated poorly.
It’s bad enough that Rollins only has limited appearances, but when she does pop up, it’s not for a strong storyline.
The idea of her as an intelligence officer is good on paper, and I fully support a Rollins spinoff of Law & Order: SVU.
However, so far, she’s appeared twice, and in both cases, the sexual assault victim was an afterthought.
Her first appearance was better than her second, as she was at least actively involved in an investigation, though it seemed like one that belonged on a different show. (Again, we need a spinoff.)
During Carisi’s hostage situation, she was mostly sidelined. She showed up at the scene only to be sent away while the hostage negotiation team did a lot of yelling about how she shouldn’t be there.
She had some emotional scenes with Carisi once he finally got out of that deli, but her earlier scenes were a waste because she had so little to do. She should have been more actively involved in trying to resolve the situation if the show was going to use her at all.
Other Thoughts Contributing To The Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Midseason Report Card
- Kate Silva is a great addition to the team, but it made no sense that she disappeared for several episodes after her introduction. This is one way that the idea of cast rotation to save money is problematic for the show.
- SVU is continuing to pretend Elliot Stabler doesn’t exist. While I’m neutral on Benson/Stabler, this is a bad idea, especially when some cases seem like a natural fit for a collaboration with Law & Order: Organized Crime.
- Similarly, despite Benson crossing over to Law & Order, SVU hasn’t reciprocated even though the issue of whether a brain-dead victim needs to be taken off life support had come up on Law & Order two weeks before it occurred on SVU.
- Despite the big problems with the writing, there have been several powerful cases, and Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 6 was a far better version of the Gabby Petito case than when Law & Order did it during Season 23.
Over to you, SVU fanatics.
What do you think about Season 26 so far? What grade would you give it?
Vote in our poll to make your voice heard, and then hit the comments with your thoughts.
Law & Order: SVU Season 26 airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c and on Peacock on Fridays. It will return with new episodes on January 16, 2025.
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