About Last Night…LAW & ORDER and SVU Crossover, THE PITT, THE TRAITORS, and More

LAW & ORDER — “Snowflakes” Episode 25010 — Pictured: (l-r) Mariska Hargitay as Capt. Olivia Benson, Maura Tierney as Lieutenant Jessica Brady — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

Let’s talk about Thursday night’s TV!

LAW & ORDER and LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT crossover: Starting with the great: Truly, thank goodness they pivoted from the original plan and focused it back on Benson and Brady. Mariska Hargitay and Maura Tierney are the dynamic of LAW & ORDER-SVU I want to see, and really the only compelling crossover duo (from those two shows) at this point.

It’s not just that Hargitay and Tierney are fantastic actresses in their own right; they absolutely are, and it’s frustrating/stunning how much better they are together than most dynamics we’ve gotten in the L&O universe this season. But Benson and Brady are also in this fascinating space where they’ve seen each other through serious trauma, while also being very different about how they go about their jobs. They respect each other, they like each other, they trust each other, but they’re still wild cards. And both women are used to being the boss, so having to cede control to someone else shifts things, even if it’s brief.

But, man, they were great together. 

The problem largely comes from the fact that a lot of the pacing of the crossover didn’t work for me. The first hour had a lot of beats that felt pretty directly ripped off from previous crossovers, both storyline-wise and also just the literal look/set up of the scene. (Brady witnessing someone get shot in front of her like Cosgrove did at the start of “Gimme Shelter”; the discovery of the bombs like, again, “Gimme Shelter”; Bruno getting seriously injured mid-investigation in the middle of nowhere like ORGANIZED CRIME’s Whelan did in “With Many Names”; Ukraine playing a key role here, like it did in “Gimme Shelter.” And that’s not even touching the half-dozen older SVU episodes that previously handled the storylines in this crossover.) It felt like they didn’t have enough story, so they borrowed from themselves to pad things out.

This also isn’t a knock against the actors, but it feels like the writers also really haven’t figured out the best approach for how to handle the court element of these crossovers, either. It was the weakest part of “Gimme Shelter” and “Play With Fire,” and despite interesting pieces in “Purity,” it just didn’t work here, either. Brady’s techniques messing up their case was a twist that could have allowed their legal expertise to shine (or really had the ADAs work with the cops to figure out a way out of it), but instead they just largely pivoted back to the cops. I appreciate they brought back a couple of familiar lawyers (like we got last crossover), but if the trial isn’t going to be a significant portion of the episode, it largely feels like a waste. And as much as I love CJ—and I do! Let us see much, much more of her on SVU, please—it was odd they utilized her here, especially when Sam was entirely excluded from the SVU hour.

I get the appeal of these big crossovers! But what makes the FBI, ONE CHICAGO, and SVU-ORGANIZED CRIME “movie” crossovers work is that they felt pretty natural to the show universes; the teams do different things that feel like there should be genuine overlap, there is deeply earned history between the characters* which gives the storytelling depth, and it feels like an event. This felt like it could/should have been an SVU episode, with Tierney guest-starring, and stripped a lot of the repetitive elements for a stronger story.

Look, I get it: Last season, the franchise had its biggest ratings success either when the scripted CBS shows weren’t on or if there was a crossover. And crossovers between the mothership and SVU are baked into the DNA of SVU…they started back in season 1! The problem is, I think that original crossover format—where one show hands off the storytelling to the other—actually works better for these two particular shows.

A few other thoughts…

• *This was an issue last crossover, too, but the constant cast change means it’s hard to be invested in any dynamic beyond Brady/Benson, who have been well showcased in these last two episodes. Fin was interesting with the L&O folks, but everything else was missing the spark that we got last go-round.
• This is SVU specific, but: The other problem with this is we just had Olivia get serious push-back (and arguably a threat to her job) from Tynan. It was completely avoided here. And we’re supposed to believe Tynan wouldn’t be all over this case, which was very high-profile, two squads were involved, and a lieutenant was a key witness/big part in things being overhauled? (Not to mention, Fin was suddenly back.)
• I did love that we got a bit of Brady and Riley’s partnership before everything went to hell. I assume we won’t get much more on mothership this season, but they were fun while they lasted before he officially partnered up with Walker.
• Hey, Tierney got the morally questionable storyline she wanted!
• Curry remains a badass.
• I was growing a bit frustrated that Olivia wasn’t mentioning her own motherhood (to anyone) as the case progressed, given Noah’s origins, but I am thankful they did actually have her open up. I know I’m a broken record on this, but it really is such a relief to feel like we have a well-rounded Olivia back. 
• It was also such a lovely relief to have Olivia reach out to Elliot, personally and professionally, because this was a case OCCB should have been looped in on. And Hargitay was so fantastic on the one-sided call—a feat that is deceptively difficult, acting-wise—as Olivia tried to keep it together when she left the voicemail for Elliot. Olivia had just survived an explosion, she had to help save her colleague’s life (who was impaled right next to her in the blast), and she very clearly was not okay. The way Hargitay’s voice rose as Olivia asked for Elliot to call her when he got the chance, the way she shook her head when she hung up, as if she was trying to shift from Olivia to Captain Benson as she had to get back to focusing solely on the case…it was such a beautiful moment of quiet humanity, of processing the horror she had just gone through (and was still ongoing), and trying to reach out for help. And, truly, thank you to the writers for letting Olivia freakin’ Benson have that. It’s such a regressive, exhausting, anti-feminist trope/mindset to pretend women can only be strong if they are alone and pillars of strength who NEVER NEED ANYONE! No. That’s bull. It’s wildly unhealthy to take the world on your shoulders alone. The strongest thing any human can do is allow help when they actually need it. Olivia has a group of people who deeply care about her, but she often only lets them help if they’re at the right place at the right time. (And even then, it’s hit/miss whether she actually accepts the help.) Her actively reaching out to someone she cares about in a time of need is one of the healthiest things we’ve seen her do in years; it’s really lovely that she trusts he’s a safe space for her to showcase her own vulnerabilities. And good for the show/franchise for making it clear that Elliot came through, fast, both for Olivia and the case. 
• So far this season: Cragen has died, Fin and Bruno nearly died…I’m going to need every single character in the larger LAW & ORDER universe to stop this right now. No more injuries. No more death. (Thank you in advance.)
• (Also very funny that Kevin Kane’s introduction to the SVU world—as a different character—was an IVF-centric episode, “Inconceivable,” back in season 9. Now, an IVF-centric case almost took out poor Bruno.)
• I hope every single person who thinks white supremacy is the answer to anything had a miserable time with these two episodes. 

GREY’S ANATOMY: Oh, Bailey confessing to Jo about Richard, and then Jo’s health spiraling, hurt. Then Ben supporting Bailey through her panic attack?! Ow, ow, ow. Chandra Wilson was fantastic in that sequence.

I don’t think the tone of the other cases they were dealing with worked as well as the juxtaposition to Jo and her kids fighting for her life. I get that this was a personal crisis versus a wide-scale tragedy, which makes basically everything different for the hospital, but I just couldn’t invest as much in the other storylines. (I did feel sad that the dude died while trying to propose. His girlfriend and buddy are going to be haunted by that forever.)

THE PITT: I missed this show so. damn. much.

Of course, they started the season on a stressful note…Robby, dude, you are a doctor. You cannot be on a motorcycle without actually wearing your helmet. (I know it says a lot about him/where his head is at that he’s doing that and bringing a helmet to presumably lie to his colleagues about the risks he’s taking. It doesn’t help my stress levels, though.)

It was disconcerting, in a great way, to be back with these characters with very little exposition about exactly what they’ve been up to. We had bits and pieces (Langdon’s first day back, Robby is about to leave, Mel is being sued, Dana explained why she didn’t leave the hospital, Samira might be leaving for Jersey), but largely we’re along for the ride. It’s realistic. Outside of Langdon, these people have been seeing each other every day and wouldn’t be doing a catch-up.

 A few thoughts…

• Oh, this baby storyline is going to break my heart. And pairing it with a parallel kid storyline who might be abused? Everything hurts. (Protect these kids. Santos at least has the little girl covered, but ow to possibly double the pain.)
• The show was brilliant with how they handled the patient who has hearing loss…changing the waiting room atmosphere/sound to what she doesn’t hear was a really effective way of showcasing what she is experiencing.
• Langdon being so desperate for time with Robby and Robby Not Having It made me laugh out loud. It’s not professional of Robby! It can’t feasibly last long-term. But it was amusing to see him try.
• It’s Robby’s last day before his sabbatical, but it’s Dr. Al-Hashimi’s first…we’ll see how well they can work together for the shift they’re overlapping.

THE TRAITORS: I’m coming at this show from a quasi-different perspective than many viewers (I assume), because I don’t watch a lot of these other reality shows. I’m still quasi-new to the BIG BROTHER world (within the past decade) and watch LOVE ISLAND USA, but I don’t watch a lot of non-competitive unscripted shows. I knew the actors. I knew the athletes and Donna Kelce. That was it.

So Porsha’s misspeaking took me out. I had thought Donna or Colton was the secret Traitor until Porsha mentioned she killed Ian and, most importantly, that there were four traitors. How did she know that?! But I can’t blame Ron at all for being suspicious. It would have been irresponsible for them take out anyone else, frankly.

But, my God, Maura not remembering the conversation that happened right in front of her killed me. Porsha actually got a clue from Candiace, realized it, but then doubted herself when Maura couldn’t back her up.

I also can’t believe Rob C. realized the Traitors were going to do a public murder and was not only correct, but became the victim of it. They were correct to take him out, because being a smart gameplayer in this show makes you a real, real threat.

The secret Traitor twist could have been interesting, but Donna didn’t really play well. And it’s unfortunate it blew up before she could unite with the Traitor trio.

But I’m also wondering how that final murder (of Week 1) will play out in the game? In theory, the people at the trees know their fellow endangered contestants are actually in danger because they’re with them? Unless they overthink it and think maybe it’s a trick…

Which shows did you watch last night?

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