Law and Order: SVU Reviews O

 This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

(Now that I’m getting into some of the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)

“Wrong is Right” Season 2. I can’t find a summary to link to or copy so here’s my summary: It’s about a teenager who kills the man who adopted him because the man and his boss were molesting him.

The thing is, the man who adopted the boy is an expert on missile guidance systems that the military use and during the Persian Gulf War his legal status as a sex offender was turned off so that he could easily cross international borders to work on missile guidance systems (I’m not sure it makes sense that someone with that speciality would be needed in multiple countries during the war, but that’s what the writers came up with). His legal status was never turned back on and he adopted a boy. We also learn that the man’s boss at a defense contractor also attacked the boy. I don’t think that the show is claiming there’s a connection between the defense industry and the sexual abuse of minors the way they might or probably would claim that there’s at least some racial profiling by the police- I don’t like the defense industry and I don’t believe there’s such a connection. But I still liked the idea of that industry looking bad in this episode.

“Honor” Season 2. Wikipedia summary is: “A woman found in the park shows signs of being viciously assaulted. She is identified as Nafeesa Amir, the daughter of Afghan diplomat Saleh Amir (Marshall Manesh). During the investigation, the detectives learn that Nafeesa and her brother Jaleel (Anil Kumar) were raised according to Taliban traditions in which an "honor killing" is the punishment for disobedience. Although her individuality has been suppressed for her entire life, the SVU squad turns to Aziza Amir (Susham Bedi) for help, hoping that the love she feels for her daughter is stronger.”

This is a pretty good look at the political Islam of Afghanistan’s Taliban. It does a pretty good job of suggesting that the Taliban are in conflict with most Muslims and with the Koran.

I’m going to keep this pretty brief. Sometime around 2000 I signed at least one if not two email petitions criticizing the Taliban BEFORE 9/11. The first two years of the US invasion of Afghanistan I supported it, partly because of how offensive the Taliban are. I got the impression that Afghan women didn’t support the invasion, but I also supported it because of 9/11 (Al-Qaeda was based there), so it wasn’t just the misogyny of the Taliban (which, by itself wouldn’t justify an invasion considering the opposition of the Afghan feminists). After two years I realized that under George W. Bush’s leadership the War on Terror was a disaster and in that context the war in Afghanistan was not going to help and was just going to make things worse. But I also can’t imagine a successful War on Terror that doesn’t include defeating Al-Qaeda. I’ll take that thought a little further in another post that I’ll work on soon and publish soon. (UPDATE 3/32/22 That post is here)


“Baby Killer” Season 2. Wikipedia summary is: “The tragic shooting death of a young girl leads investigators to a little boy Elias (Nicolas Martí Salgado). Elliot and Olivia interview him with his parents (Sara Ramirez and Robert Montano) as he is one of the youngest murder suspects they have ever questioned. Meanwhile, Alex argues with her co-workers over what punishment would be ethical. Ballistic evidence reveals that Elias picked up the gun after a gang related murder which he must have witnessed. In addition to providing a mitigating circumstance for Elias' case, this allows the detectives to apprehend a wanted criminal (Carlos Leon).”

There are a few minor things worth mentioning:

1) The killer’s teacher says that officially classes should have no more than 32 kids and hers has 40 and one of the detectives says “it must make it kind of hard to give each student the attention they need.” The teacher shows the detectives a violent picture the killer drew in class but says that she didn’t act on it because she wasn’t shocked by such things coming from children. Although the picture wasn’t a sign the boy was going to kill the girl, I think that violence among young students might decline if teachers had more time for students who need it, and that’s one more reason for there to be more teachers and smaller classes.
2) When discussing what lead to the shooting members of the SVU team point out that because the HMO of the killer’s parents wouldn’t cover their daughter’s medical condition they had to work more than normal to pay the medical bills but couldn’t afford regular child care so they sent their son to an illegal, cheap and sub-standard child care operation. We need universal health insurance or something close to it (like Obamacare with a public option) and we need, for multiple reasons, free or heavily subsidized child care.
3) A psychiatrist who used to be a recurring character on Law and Order when she worked with the authorities says that her heroes are “not those who started wars but those who brought about peace.”
4) Since the little boy is Latino and the little girl he killed was Black, there is talk of racial tensions. On one hand, the girl’s mom tries to stop this talk, but the little boy ends up killed by a Black little boy.

“Asunder” Season 2. Wikipedia summary is here: “The truth behind the alleged rape of a woman (Amy Carlson) by her police officer husband (Nestor Serrano) comes to light when a history of domestic abuse is uncovered. Monique Jeffries leaves the squad and files a discrimination suit against the NYPD.”

This is one of the episodes where they go after a cop.

Roseanne Reviews O

 This is a set of reviews of Roseanne episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I will focus only on the political aspects and will mention what percent of lines spoken by non-family members are spoken by people of color.

“The Commercial Show” Episode 19 Season 4. Wikiedpedia summary is: “The Conners are picked for a Rodbell's commercial, much to Darlene's embarrassment. Leon and his partner break up. The Bowmans are moving back to Chicago.”

There’s about 55 lines by non-family members, but only about 10% were spoken by people of color.

Also, there’s some significant stuff about Leon being gay.

“Therapy” Episode 20, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: : ”Darlene mouths off about a girl at school, and Roseanne accompanies Jackie to her therapist.”

Out of about 25 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

“Lies” Episode 21, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Darlene bypasses Roseanne for advice on David. Roseanne is anxious about a lie detector test in her workplace.”

A very minor character gets upset that he’s eating meat and that he’s using paper products (a cow and a tree had to be killed) but (unfortunately) I think it’s just the writers being funny- I don’t think we’re supposed to take him seriously the way we would if Darlene said something like that.

Roseanne, in a misguided effort at being a good ally outs Leon at work to an investigator working for the corporation (she thinks they’re investigating Leon because he’s gay and calls that un-Ameican). It’s kind of inspiring, if you ignore how she outed him when his supervisors might not have known (probably didn’t know) that he’s gay. She tries to undo the damage by saying that he’s not gay.

Out of 50 lines spoken by non-family members, none are spoken by a person of color.

“Deliverance” Episode 22, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “8-months-pregnant Crystal goes into labor and Dan coaches her as she gives birth to her long-awaited daughter. Roseanne and Bonnie feud over who will manage the coffee shop, the feud causing Roseanne and Jackie to miss Crystals daughter being born, but both learn it is closing down in three weeks. Darlene tells David to stop crowding her.”

Out of about 40-45 lines spoken by non-family members, none were by people of color.

“Secrets” Episode 23, Season 4. Wikipedia summary: “Depressed because Becky still will not see him, Mark gets drunk at the Lobo Lounge and puts his fist through the jukebox. Dan tends to him, then must lie to Roseanne and Becky.”

Out of about 30-40 lines by non-family members, about 20% are by people of color.