Law & Order: SVU Guide

Nov 20, 2005 23:06

So I heart Law & Order: SVU, except for how it's really a terrible show, in that it's about really upsetting things, and it's kind of sanctimonious and often not very well-written - but, uh, anyway, I heart writing FIC about this show, so, uh, yeah. Unfortunately there are very few online resources for episode guides, character guides, etc, especially for when you're first getting into the fandom and are just wondering what all their names are and stuff like that. And today ros_fod emailed me asking for resources and information, and because I love her and I really, really, really, really want her to write fic, I decided I would put together a basic introductory guide to the show, for reference. So.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Rape and Dead Babies; a beginner's guide

In the criminal justice system, sexually based offences are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Overview



(The platonic ideal of the cast)

Law & Order:SVU focuses on the Special Victims Unit, a unit specializing in sex crimes (and crimes against children and the elderly), working out of the fictional 16th precinct in Manhattan. The show was the first spinoff in the Law & Order franchise, and varies the L&O formula by focusing much more heavily on the detectives investigating the crimes, rather than splitting the show half and half between the detectives and the prosecutors; also, the show tends to spend a little more time on the personal lives of the characters than the original series (though this is still a L&O show, so it's still not that MUCH time, and the show is still much more story than character driven.) Currently, the show is in its 7th season.

The Characters

Detective Olivia Benson



Olivia Benson is a detective on the Special Victims Unit, played by Mariska Hargitay, and, along with her partner, Elliot Stabler, is one of the two main detectives on the show. Her trauma is that she is a child of rape, raised by an alcoholic and abusive mother (the show strongly implies that her mother drank to deal with the trauma of the rape). Her mother died in a drunken accident in the second season, dialing Olivia's angst all the way up to 11. She doesn't have any other family, and sometimes worries that her father's violent traits might have been passed on to her, and to any children she might have in the future.

On the job, Olivia usually strongly identifies with the victims (uh, overidentifies, when the show gets maudlin), and her history as a child of rape is why she joined the unit. Like pretty much everybody on the show, she's married to her work, and rarely dates, though in season one she did have a one-night stand with a coworker, Detective Brian Cassidy, who soon afterwards left the unit. She also had a past affair with a Bronx ADA whose murder was later investigated by the unit, Jeff York ("Lowdown"). (York turns out to have been gay and to have had AIDS, and Olivia has to be tested. The whole episode seems to shake her, though she tries not to show it.) She and her partner, Elliot, are close, though they often disagree on cases.

Benson has been stalked by suspects at least twice ("Stalked" and "Wrath" - the latter of which was by a man she had unjustly sent to jail on faulty evidence), has gone undercover a number of times, seems to be strongly in favor of gay rights, and is uncomfortable with the mentally ill. Though she seems to get along well with all the other members of the unit, on the few occasions when she's partnered with Fin instead of Elliot for whatever reason, they tend to have a lot of tension and get into shouting matches. Olivia speaks Spanish fairly well (though her accent, quite frankly, is not fantastic).

Fandom seems to strongly believe that Olivia is gay, though the few times on the show that she has gone on dates, it's been with men. Probably the most popular pairing in SVU fandom, though, is Olivia/Alexandra Cabot, with another strong contingent of Olivia/Elliot shippers (a ship that is unfortunately rife with horrible fic and a tendency towards babyfic).

Detective Elliot Stabler



Elliot Stabler is the other main detective on the show, played by Christopher Meloni, and is Olivia Benson's partner. Elliot is a father of four, and as such tends to be the detective who gets really upset at the cases involving children. He married his wife, Kathy, when they were both teenagers because she was pregnant with their first child, Maureen (Maureen was born circa 1984, making her currently around 21 years old. She is in college at "Hudson University".) Their other children are Kathleen (now around 18 years old, born circa 1987), and the twins, Dickie and Elizabeth. (Yes, Elliot named his only son "Dickie". I don't know what to tell you.) The twins were born February 21, 1993, making them currently 12 years old. (In the 2nd season episode, "Countdown" (which is, by the way, hands down the best episode of SVU EVER), Elliot basically misses their 8th birthday because he's working around the clock to catch a child rapist before the guy kills the little girl he's currently abducted.)

Elliot tends to in general neglect his family in favor of his job, and is always working instead of going home. Though he seems to care deeply about his kids and his marriage, the job puts a strain on them, which results in his wife leaving him in the sixth season (we find out in the episode "Doubt" - she takes the kids and goes to her mother's). The exact reasons for Kathy leaving haven't been completely explained by the show - Elliot says that "the job makes me hard to live with" and that Kathy "was tired of me being angry all the time". He tried to never talk about his job at home, even to his wife, which also put a strain on the relationship, and on at least one occasion Kathy seemed sad that he shared all that with Olivia and not with her. He apparently went to his priest for counseling to try to save his marriage, but Kathy left him anyway. She started divorce proceedings in the seventh season ("Raw"), though Elliot has yet to sign the papers.

Elliot is a devout Catholic, though his Catholicism tends to come and go (hello, WRITERS). While he tries really hard to be broad minded, he sometimes is sort of uncomfortable with homosexuality, particularly the idea of one of his own kids being gay. Elliot has a lot of issues with anger, and often is right on the line in terms of police brutality, even more so than the other detectives. In season one, he told a psychiatrist that he fantasized about killing pedophiles, and was put on suspension. He is generally suspicious of mental health professionals, and was also sent home in a case where a cult killed a bunch of children because he was so unwilling to talk about his feelings. He seems to dislike George Huang, the FBI psychiatrist assigned to the unit in the later seasons.

Elliot has lived in Queens all his life (earned his BA from Queens College, attending nights while working), and is from a large Irish Catholic family. His father was also a police officer, and they had a difficult relationship. Elliot was a Marine before joining the NYPD, and has a tattoo on his right forearm of the Marine corps logo (he also has a tattoo on his left upper arm of Jesus on the cross). He has said that he fought in the Gulf War, though this really does not square up with his timeline in other regards, so I am tempted to throw it out as bad continuity, WRITERS. As of the first season, he'd been on the force for 12 years, which means that at this point he's been a cop almost 20 years. Before Olivia, he'd had at least two other partners.

Captain Don Cragen



Cragen's the captain in charge of the SVU, played by Dann Florek, and functions as a sort of father figure to the unit. He looks out for his detectives, and is generally very aware of their emotional states and how it affects them on the job. His character first appeared on the original Law & Order, but I don't watch that show, so the following information comes from the wikipedia article on his character.

"Cragen started his career as a homicide detective in the 1960s with partner Max Greevey (played by George Dzundza), gradually rising up through the ranks to police captain. An alcoholic for much of his early career, Cragen went sober after pulling a gun on a pedestrian in a drunken rage when he was still a detective. He hasn't touched a drop since.

In 1991, Cragen was investigated by internal affairs for corruption; during the investigation to prove his innocence, he discovered that he was being framed by his former captain and mentor, whom he turned in. He has maintained bitter relations with the police bureaucracy ever since. The same year, his former partner and longtime friend Greevey was murdered.

Cragen transferred out of the Homicide Department in 1993, to be replaced by Anita Van Buren. He went on to head the Anti-Corruption Task Force. In 1998, Cragen was attempting to bust Mafia boss Don Giancarlo Uzielli for the murders of 15 people when he discovered that there was not only a cop in the 27th precinct on Uzielli's payroll, but that his former detective from homicide, Mike Logan, was interferring with the investigation of the Don by investigating a murder of his own. With Logan's help, Cragen discovered the identity of the corrupt officer: his former detective, and trusted friend, Tony Profaci.

In 1998, Cragen transferred out of the Anti-Corruption Task Force to a new bureau, called the "Special Victims Unit", which investigates sex crimes. The new job was a way to cope with the death of his wife Marge, an airline flight attendant, in a plane crash."

Cragen may or may not have children; at one point he mentions a kid, but in another episode says he's grateful he doesn't have kids, so whatever, SVU.

Detective John Munch



Munch is another detective in the unit, played by Richard Belzer, who is usually partnered with Odafin Tutuola (though in the first season he was partnered with either Jeffries or Cassidy, depending on the episode). Munch's character first appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street, where he was a homicide detective in Baltimore. After 20 years of service in Baltimore, he took his pension and moved to New York City, joining the SVU because it was the only position open. (As an aside, Munch has appeared on more TV shows than any other fictional character - something like six.)

On Homicide, Munch was an interesting, three-dimensional character, but this is SVU, so he's written a lot worse, and has been reduced to a few defining characteristics. (He also has a much smaller role on this show - Belzer and Ice-T show up, say a couple good lines, then go home and cash their paychecks, and I think they like it that way.) Munch is a conspiracy theorist, has four ex-wives, is extremely cynical, and makes a lot of sarcastic jokes. When he does let his guard down, he can be really affected by cases, though, particularly those that deal with suicide. Munch's father killed himself when Munch was a child. In one episode, he becomes particularly close with a deaf woman (played by Marlee Matlin) who is dying of kidney failure, and who advocates the right to die. Munch is Jewish, though not, I think, religious, and he speaks Russian.

Munch and his partner, Fin, seem to be very close - when Munch was shot (in the ass) by white supremacists ("Raw"), Fin sneaks Munch's favorite milkshake into the hospital when he comes to visit. (Theirloveissopure.)

Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola



Fin, played by Ice-T, joined the SVU at the beginning of the second season, as Munch's partner. He replaced Det. Monique Jeffries, and transferred from the Narcotics division, after his partner there took a bullet that was meant for him and was killed ("It took all the fun out of it.") As a Narcotics detective, Fin often went undercover, sometimes spending weeks or months in various alternate identities. He has a son, Ken, who is a computer science major in college, and with whom he has a rocky relationship. Fin was never married to Ken's mother, and was pretty uninvolved in Ken's life until recently, which has resulted in Ken being really angry at his father. The two reunited after Fin was shot in the chest and almost died during a holdup at a bodega in the sixth season ("Haunted"). Ken is gay, and didn't tell Fin; Fin inadvertently discovered this while investigating a case in the seventh season ("Strain"). Fin rarely dates - or if he does, we almost never hear about it.

Fin seems pretty laid back and relatively emotionally healthy, at least for this crowd. In "Charisma", in the sixth season, when a cult leader murdered a number of children, Fin was shaken up and decided to voluntarily take time off instead of continuing to work on the case. He generally gets in less trouble than the rest of the detectives, and doesn't overinvest in cases as much as the rest of them. He also tends to get the best lines. Inexplicably, in the second season he had a tendency to wear three piece suits (with VESTS), but now he dresses more like a normal person. Though he did manage to make the vests hot, which is like a superpower.

Secondary Characters, Chronologically

Detective Monique Jeffries



Jeffries was a detective in the cast in the first and part of the second seasons, generally partnered with Munch. She's a strong, forceful woman, and tended to have (sort of forced) bickering "chemistry" with Munch. I think the writers were going for a sexual tension kind of thing, but eh, whatever. She was cool, though the show tended to send her off to do her own thing, and she didn't get a lot of screen time. At the end of the first season, she told a psychiatrist sent in to investigate the unit that she had met a guy in a bar who had been a suspect on one of their cases, and she had slept with him, which led to her being put on suspension and confined to desk work for a good portion of the second season. She was very angry over this decision and over the department prying into her personal life, and eventually resigned, leaving the unit in the second season.

Detective Brian Cassidy



Cassidy was Munch's first partner in the division, a young, sort of earnest and sort of idiotic, detective. He tended to say semi-offensive things and be not too bright, but he did okay and was sort of endearing the way a puppy who chews on your sneakers is endearing. He had a brief affair with Olivia - she considered it a one night stand, and totally shut him down when he wanted to continue the relationship. He didn't take it too well, and midway through the first season had a kind of inappropriate outburst at her in front of the whole squad. Awwwwwkward. Immediately after this outburst, Cragen sent him out on a special assignment to check on a kid who was raped when she was a little girl; Cassidy found it extremely upsetting, and came back in tears. Cragen then offered to let him transfer to Narcotics, and Cassidy took him up on it. I strongly suspect that Cragen did this on purpose, to give Cassidy an out so he didn't have to keep working with Olivia, but this was never made explicit. Bye Cassidy, it was fun while it lasted.

Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot



Alex, played by Stephanie March, was the first ADA assigned specifically to the Special Victims Unit, joining the cast in the first episode of the second season. She's a very competent, kickass attorney, who knows what she's talking about and rarely allows emotions to cloud her legal and ethical judgement. (Unlike certain detectives I can think of. NOT THAT I WOULD NAME NAMES.) She does go out on a limb to support the detectives, and occasionally bends the rules to win cases, however. She has actually been seen out on a date with a rather slimy defense attorney she sometimes comes up against in court, Trevor Langan (ironically, he's played by Peter Hermann, Mariska Hargitay's real life husband), which shows a sense of professional detachment the rest of the unit could probably learn from.

In the fifth season episode "Loss", Alex decided to prosecute a powerful drug dealer, manages to insult him to his face, and then continues pursuing the case even after a credible threat had been made on her life. This leads to her being shot in the chest by a hitman, so critically that everyone believed her to have died. However, she had actually only been critically injured, and the FBI had taken her into the witness protection program, letting everyone believe she was dead as the only way to protect her life. Elliot and Olivia were the only ones who knew the truth, and this only because Alex insisted on being allowed to say goodbye to the two of them before she disappeared. (The three were obviously close.)

In the sixth season ("Ghost"), the SVU investigated a case that lead them to find Alex's shooter, and through a series of complex plot shenanigans, Alex came out of hiding to testify against the shooter. (And basically managed to win the case FROM THE WITNESS STAND, because she's AWESOME.) She'd been living in Wisconsin under the alias "Emily", and worked for an insurance company, and was dating a man who doesn't know her real name. It was depressing. After the case was over, Alex was whisked back into Witness Protection, and we were all very sad. COME BACK, ALEX.

Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak



When Alex left the show, this is what we got as a substitute; ADA Casey Novak, played by Diane Neal. I'm not saying Casey sucks, except that I am, and she does. She's not nearly as good an attorney as Alex, and often seems to be caught off-guard by what happens in the courtroom. She loses cases. She is generally incompetent. She has stupid hair, which she recently dyed blond. (During last week's episode, after this hair dying fiasco, I was watching the show with my friend, M, who said the best thing I've ever heard about Casey, which was, "I wish I knew what's so weird looking about Alex.")

Casey plays softball, and okay, she does have brief moments where she's all right or even cool. She once subpoena'd Donald Rumsfeld, that was pretty awesome. Before she came to SVU, she prosecuted white collar crimes, and after her first case with SVU she asked the District Attorney, Arthur Branch, to reassign her because she felt she couldn't handle working with sex crimes, particularly against children. He refused, however, and she seems to have dealt with it better as time has gone on. The detectives originally didn't take to her, probably in large part because they really liked Alex. Also, she initially came on really strong, tried to change everything, and kept interfering with their investigations. But after initial hostility, she took it down a notch, and they all finally came to a better working relationship. She's friendly with Stabler in particular.

But seriously. She blows.

Dr. George Huang



George Huang, played by B.D. Wong, is a psychiatrist and profiler on loan from the FBI. He acts as a consultant to the unit, providing profiles and insight into the perps, as well as occasionally analyzing the unit themselves. While he's attached to the unit, his loyalty is not necessarily to them, and sometimes he will side with the defense, arguing for mental disease or defect in suspects the SVU thinks should be convicted. This can cause conflict between him and the detectives and prosecutors of the show. He has a particularly rocky relationship with Stabler, who really doesn't like him very much. Huang is a second generation Chinese American, and as a fluent Chinese speaker sometimes acts as a translator when the unit needs him.

teevee, law & order: svu

Previous post Next post
Up