Imperfect Heroism

Sometimes “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” can be very difficult to watch. The show rarely holds back in its emotional heaviness: serial rapists, sociopathic criminals, and murders of children are common topics. And while it is entertaining to see how the investigations unfold, sometimes it does end up being truly disturbing. I’ve had one too many SVU nightmares after mistakenly watching it before falling asleep.

But in each and every episode, even in the most nail-biting moments, it is impossible to lose faith that justice will prevail because of the main heroine, Detective Olivia Benson. The other detectives also bring much to the table; Munch is shrewd and dedicated, Fin, played by Ice-T, is well…Ice-T. But it is Benson’s strength and passionate willpower that drive each episode. Elliot Stabler also had this quality of embodying courage and passion when he was on the show. But especially now that he is gone, Det. Benson is the reason that you feel safe by the time the mournful jazz music begins to signal the end of a particularly grueling episode.

This is perhaps the best explanation for why the season 15 two-hour episode premiere of “SVU” was so gut-wrenchingly distressing. Season 14 ended with Olivia Benson trapped in her apartment with William Lewis, a serial rapist-killer, holding a gun to her head before the screen went black. It was unclear to all if she would live—especially as it was unknown at first if Mariska Hargitay, who plays Benson, had re-signed her contract.

When season 15 picks up, we see Benson tortured, assaulted, trapped, and drugged at the hands of a heartless sociopath. While she does survive and breaks free (more on that later), the viewer has to watch for at least 40 minutes while she is abused verbally and physically. All at once, Benson, the protector and fighter for the weak, who makes each victim and us feel safe, becomes the victim herself. She is suddenly the one who needs saving.

As a viewer, seeing Olivia at the hands of an unmerciful rapist was a very powerful experience. By making her the victim, “SVU” turned the tables on its audience. Suddenly, Benson, normally the symbol of protection and safety, was trapped herself, leaving the viewer with nothing to do but watch, petrified, that it would be too late. “SVU” put the audience members in the role of the detectives scrambling to find her. Like them, we love Olivia and were thinking desperately the whole time of ways she could possibly escape.

Uncomfortable as it is to realize, it’s easier to watch “SVU” when each victim is a fresh character who you don’t know. It was much harder to watch the show when they tortured someone that I care about. This is perhaps an interesting reflection on how we all think about crime on a daily basis. We read a horrible story and feel pity, empathy, even disgust and then quickly move on. I can’t count the times I’ve read some horrifying story in the New York Post and shuddered at the evil of it. But by the time the day’s over, I’ve forgotten the name of the person killed. It’s very easy to just see a tragic situation as a “story” when we don’t know the people involved. We’ll be gripped by the shocking tale of Ariel Castro and yet not know much about the girls that he tortured. The newest episode of “SVU” forces us to process crime differently, putting viewers in the shoes of people that are directly impacted by crime and not just indifferent bystanders.

Of course, Benson does escape, and then she is left with a choice—she can kill Lewis or she can wait for the police to arrive. In the end, Lewis’ taunting becomes too much for her. She loses control and beats him with an iron rod, almost killing him. Reading the commentary on Hulu about this episode, I found that many viewers expressed that they thought Olivia’s choice at this moment showed she had gone to the dark side. On the contrary, I think it shows Benson is human and in the end a realistic character. It would’ve been very hard to believe that a dedicated sex-crimes detective, after being tortured and abused for four days, would have been able to rein in her fury at such a sadist. Benson’s behavior is of course not commendable—it would’ve been better if she had maintained control—but as her therapist tells her later, she is “not superwoman.” (Plus, can you imagine how much worse Lewis would’ve suffered if Stabler had been there?)

Benson is not perfect, but she is almost always noble and just. If she does ever die on the show, it will be as crushing a blow to the fictional fight for human good as the death of Albus Dumbledore in “Harry Potter” or Ned Stark in “Game of Thrones.” She is a reminder that real heroes can exist—people who constantly try to help others and yet at the end of the day, are human and susceptible to mistakes. In the end, it is Benson’s imperfect heroism that makes us all tune in at the end of the day to hear the “dun-dun, dun dun dun dun dun” music one more time.

—Staff writer Isabel H. Evans can be reached at isabel.evans@thecrimson.com.