Dick Wolf speaks. Can you hear his grating voice?
Because I can. I can literally HEAR his voice when reading this interview. It makes me wince.
corimariee posted a translation of Dick Wolf's recent interview. The original was in french.
It is HERE.
In which he talks about Olivia's role for next season and Chris's departure and sheds a little more light on things, and... to be honest, I'm not sure what he's doing...
So read it and then we can talk.
1. I'm not Dick Wolf's biggest fan. Let me get that right out there right away. I think he had his time, and he used to have good ideas, but his time has passed, and he's being too rigid about change now. Also, his comments about Olivia Benson in the extra interviews on the season one DVD's kind of creeped me out and made sort of resentful of him. He seems to think she's his fictional girl-friend, and while certainly a bit of that is perfectly understandable, it just... feels weird.
2. He seems to really be working HARD to make sure everyone knows that he didn't want Chris to leave, and he has NO IDEA why Chris would want to leave, and by the way, he was one of the best paid actors on TV, so he was UNGRATEFUL, and WHY DID HE LEAVE?? Really, Dick? You had just NO IDEA that he could ever want to leave?
3. On some level I feel like they value Mariska more than Chris, and once they got Mariska tied down, they didn't care so much if Chris left. It makes me wonder if they thought he had no other options or something. I mean, I get WHY they place such a high value on Mariska. She plays an iconic character, who is also a very strong female character, and she's their Emmy-winner. Although, also, Chris's shut-out in awards isn't because he isn't good, it's more likely because of the genre and the wide availability of good dramatic roles for male actors.
4. He also seems to somewhat blame Chris now for any failure that next season might bring, in that Olivia's 'promotion' was dependent on Chris staying. Now that he's left, apparently they have to change everything, which means Olivia might stay as a detective. Also, apparently, her promotion DID mean she was going to take over Cragen's position and Cragen/Florek was going to leave/retire. Which, I admit, would have been FASCINATING! I'd have LOVED to have seen a season in which Olivia was Elliot's boss. OMFG.
5. Meloni will not be coming back, even for an appearance or one episode, to tie things up. :( Somehow that seems so wrong. And yet... at the same time, I'm not as bothered by it as I could be? But they will clearly have to explain it in some way.
See, right now, with the open-ended finale, I can imagine whatever I want. Elliot quits, but he and Olivia keep talking, because partners like that are never NOT friends anymore. And there are late-night calls and coffee dates and he eventually gets divorced, and things HAPPEN. If Meloni had actually gone back for an episode or two, the show could have royally fucked with that freedom. It could have point-blank ruined any hope. And I didn't trust it to NOT do that.
So, now I'm just hoping that the explanation given in the first few eps of next season will not be "He moved away to be a monk" or whatever, and he and Olivia never talk. Because I can live with the way it is now.
Thoughts?
corimariee posted a translation of Dick Wolf's recent interview. The original was in french.
It is HERE.
In which he talks about Olivia's role for next season and Chris's departure and sheds a little more light on things, and... to be honest, I'm not sure what he's doing...
So read it and then we can talk.
1. I'm not Dick Wolf's biggest fan. Let me get that right out there right away. I think he had his time, and he used to have good ideas, but his time has passed, and he's being too rigid about change now. Also, his comments about Olivia Benson in the extra interviews on the season one DVD's kind of creeped me out and made sort of resentful of him. He seems to think she's his fictional girl-friend, and while certainly a bit of that is perfectly understandable, it just... feels weird.
2. He seems to really be working HARD to make sure everyone knows that he didn't want Chris to leave, and he has NO IDEA why Chris would want to leave, and by the way, he was one of the best paid actors on TV, so he was UNGRATEFUL, and WHY DID HE LEAVE?? Really, Dick? You had just NO IDEA that he could ever want to leave?
3. On some level I feel like they value Mariska more than Chris, and once they got Mariska tied down, they didn't care so much if Chris left. It makes me wonder if they thought he had no other options or something. I mean, I get WHY they place such a high value on Mariska. She plays an iconic character, who is also a very strong female character, and she's their Emmy-winner. Although, also, Chris's shut-out in awards isn't because he isn't good, it's more likely because of the genre and the wide availability of good dramatic roles for male actors.
4. He also seems to somewhat blame Chris now for any failure that next season might bring, in that Olivia's 'promotion' was dependent on Chris staying. Now that he's left, apparently they have to change everything, which means Olivia might stay as a detective. Also, apparently, her promotion DID mean she was going to take over Cragen's position and Cragen/Florek was going to leave/retire. Which, I admit, would have been FASCINATING! I'd have LOVED to have seen a season in which Olivia was Elliot's boss. OMFG.
5. Meloni will not be coming back, even for an appearance or one episode, to tie things up. :( Somehow that seems so wrong. And yet... at the same time, I'm not as bothered by it as I could be? But they will clearly have to explain it in some way.
See, right now, with the open-ended finale, I can imagine whatever I want. Elliot quits, but he and Olivia keep talking, because partners like that are never NOT friends anymore. And there are late-night calls and coffee dates and he eventually gets divorced, and things HAPPEN. If Meloni had actually gone back for an episode or two, the show could have royally fucked with that freedom. It could have point-blank ruined any hope. And I didn't trust it to NOT do that.
So, now I'm just hoping that the explanation given in the first few eps of next season will not be "He moved away to be a monk" or whatever, and he and Olivia never talk. Because I can live with the way it is now.
Thoughts?