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Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
Here's a typical episode of this show: The detectives are informed of some crime which leads to some other crime. What could've (if this were an intelligent show like Perry Mason) led to thrilling mysteries or courtroom drama is instead co-opted so that all the characters can become one-dimensional mouthpieces to preach with all the subtlety of a brick the stance the show's writers take on any issue. This is made worse by that most of the "hard-hitting social issues" are either minor things the writers are blasting out of proportion, or else things that are too complex to arrive at an answer on which the writers are simplifying to make easier to handle.
The plot resolutions always hinge on something that shows the writers are either very desperate or very, very isolated from anything that could be considered "knowledge." Take for example an episode where a bunch of college kids delete an incriminating video, but it turns out they used an internet program that "doesn't really delete it, it just moves it to another part of the hard drive." I wish I was making that up. Sometimes they let the bad guy get away (to show the "shortcomings" of the justice system--like the fact that you can't convict people just because you don't approve of their beliefs, and other stuff I'm sure Germany circa 1940 would've agreed with), but fear not--he's always conveniently murdered by the end of it.
So why is this show so long-lasting? To be honest, I think a lot of people are just titillated by the subject matter. I mean, it is a show where practically every episode revolves around a sexual fetish. Of course there's the other possibility: American standards have lowered. You feed a man nothing but shit for a decade and he starts to think shit is godly. That's what's happened to television.
I think I'm gonna go cut myself for having watched this show.
Comments
Based on your description, I must start watching this show.
Like the episode about the insane comic book artist who killed off the gang members that raped and murdered his girlfriend and they take him to court for it using the comic book as evidence?
It was about a lawyer who knew her client murdered two women and decided to break confidentiality after he is arrested and killed, and is arrested herself after the SVU finds out that she gave back a piece of evidence to him after the first murder. It sidesteps the debate over whether breaking her oath retroactively makes her an assistant to a murder, because it turns out that she never gave it back after all! Yay!
It doesn't seem that anvillicious to me, at least not like you said. It does try to point out "shortcomings" of the justice system, but the vibe seems to be "...and we have to deal with it, since it does more good than harm" instead of "...and we should change that". I'm more annoyed by the times it tries to have its cake an eat it, like the above episode, and the fact that you apparently can't work in law without being so smug that you empathize with the suspects.
I can only think of one episode that was like this (basically Bait And Switch Boss in TV show episode format). That's the last episode of season 5 I believe, where their catching the urophiliac crook very quickly, with tons of evidence against him to boot, was a sign that there was something far worse to come. And that it was a season finale.
That said, I generally like the show.
It's my least favorite of the three major Law & Order branches (original flavor, SVU, and Criminal Intent). My favorite is Criminal Intent, though unfortunately it also seems to be the least popular of the three.
In fact, it was SVU that first got me interested in the series. I liked how they actually took the content seriously, and often showed how these situations were hard for everyone involved to deal with, victims and police alike, and how serving justice and punishing the bad guys and healing the victims isn't as simple as one might think. This at least applies to the earlier seasons (seasons 1 through 6 or so) of SVU, since I watched them as reruns on USA network while in college.
The fact that L&O episodes--and SVU is no exception--are highly episodic, making it possible to watch them one at a time in random order and still enjoy them, also helped to make me more interested.
What I don't like about SVU these days is that it is increasingly character-driven. The shipping between Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler is annoying when it becomes a centerpiece, and Stabler is (at least as of a few years ago) increasingly doing things that stretch my willing suspension of disbelief--any other cop would have been thrown off the force for constitutional violations for some of the things he's repeatedly done. I know that's in-character for him, and I know that fans like to see him around, but I sure as heck don't like it myself, and I'd much rather see him go than see his antics continue.
Also, the amount of Freudian Excuse in the characterizations was annoying. Olivia is the daughter of a rape victim (and a product of said rape). Elliot is the only one who has--no, had a family, until job issues made it too hard to continue (or perhaps I might as well blame fans for die-for-our-ship against his ex-wife). John Munch, the cool guy on the team, is still single, and if anything, the most interestingly characterized detective is Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, by making him a compassionate and law-enforcing black thug character (as well as a Republican, to boot, for some reason--perhaps just to contrast with Munch's left-wing ramblings).
While characterization is nice, I really enjoy the L&O metaseries for its casework, and the focus on characterization detracts from the focus on the casework, detective work, legal shenanigans, and stuff.
The episode I remember best from SVU was the one about the immigrant whose daughter was a freedomfighter/terrorist and he had to try to convince his daughter to stop trying to fight the government before a sniper could kill her.
That said, Stabler is interesting from a meta-perspective but that doesn't prevent me from being very irritated by his character. If only he would stop with the tough-guy nonsense.