Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8 Round Table: Was Carisi Being Held Hostage A Strong Fall Finale?

Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8 was an intense hour centered around Carisi being taken hostage during a robbery.

But was this the best way to wrap up the first half of Law & Order: SVU Season 26?

TV Fanatic writers Laura Nowak, Sara Trimble, Jasmine Blu, and Jack Ori discuss whether we enjoyed this episode, whether it was a fitting fall finale and more on our Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8 Round Table.

Did you enjoy Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8 breaking from the norm with this Carisi hostage situation, or would you rather have had an actual SVU case?

Laura: I’ve been waiting for this one for weeks, so I was excited for a Carisi-centric.

I’ll admit it seemed odd that there wasn’t a rape case, but there are other kinds of special victims that the show used to cover.

The high-intensity drama reminded me of when Olivia was kidnapped during “Townhouse Incident” (Law & Order: SVU Season 17 Episode 11)

Sara: It was great to see Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8 focus on Carisi since he gets less screen time as an ADA than in the SVU division.

This episode will likely be part of a bigger storyline for the second half of the season.

Carsi has to deal with the emotional fallout of not only the hostage situation and failing to stop the attack of one of the female hostages (not necessarily a rape case but still very much an SVU case) but also the stress that caused him to fixate on the child predator in the previous episodes.

Jasmine: It still fell in line with an SVU case because of that horrific assault.

Overall, I thought the hour focusing on Carisi was fine. It’s obvious that this may be a lingering issue for him for the rest of the season, so it’s not a random one-off episode for excitement.

I thought Peter Scanavino’s performance was fantastic during this episode, so I liked that he had something more to do to flex his skills a bit.

Jack: While I agree that Peter Scanavino’s work on the episode was amazing, I hated this one.

I’m sorry, but I’m not a fan of episodes where one of the main characters is taken hostage. I didn’t like “Townhouse Incident” either, for the same reason.

Rollins has also been held hostage before, so at this point, it’s a repeated beat that was completely unnecessary.

I would have rather had more of Carisi dealing with vicarious trauma during a powerful case.

Rollins rushed to the scene but mostly argued with hostage negotiators who didn’t think she should be there. Was this a good use of her character?

Laura: I initially thought Rollins and Olivia would work together, which was disappointing. However, I was relieved Rollins was there to support Sonny.

He knew she was there, and seeing her there when he came out to embrace him was so emotional. This story could not have been done without her.

Sara: Given their close relationship, the episode wouldn’t have been believable if she didn’t show up at the scene.

I would have liked seeing her contribute to the case somehow, maybe had it tied into her new position. It seems like a missed opportunity.

She has been through enough during her time at SVU to be able to put her feelings aside and be professional.

Jasmine: It seemed like a waste of Rollins to me.

It’s not like they can put her back in for just anything, so if they were going to have her on Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8, I feel like they needed to put her to better use.

Her being there for Carisi was great, but she and Olivia acquiesced to those around them far too easily to feel authentic to me from either character, so she was just standing there waiting and hoping. 

Jack: I enjoyed her scenes with Sonny at the end, but I agree with Jasmine that this was a waste of Rollins.

I felt like they brought her back to argue for 30 seconds and then stand around feeling helpless. That’s not true to her character and was pointless.

Did you know Carisi was going to double-cross Deonte on Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8, or did you fall for his claim that he would help him?

Laura: I believed Carisi would help Deonte, especially after he saved him from Boyd. Deonte seemed to get mixed up in this with the wrong person and was redeemable.

Sara: It was very uncharacteristic of Carisi, who is usually more sympathetic to people who fall into the wrong situation but try to redeem it.

Carisi’s been through a lot in the last few episodes, so his emotional state is shaky.

We could see him become a more jaded ADA due to those events.

Jasmine: I genuinely believed he was going to help Deonte. I was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t.

I think he may have even considered helping because it’s in his nature to do so, but then he kept thinking about what he and the others endured and lost Ali, and his mind changed.

I don’t blame him one bit. I struggled to find sympathy for Deonte when he had many points where he could have done the right thing before it escalated and simply opted not to… 

Jack: I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one who was surprised.

I thought Deonte was redeemable.

It’s true he didn’t do much to stop Boyd, but it seemed like he was as intimidated by him as the hostages were.

This situation will obviously impact Carisi’s mental health, but was this story the best vehicle for giving him a mental health story?

Laura: That’s a good question.

It definitely affected him, seeing his friend die and knowing he couldn’t save a woman from being raped when that’s been ingrained as part of his job.

I liked it for him, but I can see how other ways concerning his family or children may have worked better.

Sara: It felt like a good way for Carisi to feel powerless and vulnerable.

We’ve seen how protective he is over his family, but this method allowed us to see him as a victim who couldn’t save himself or the public.

He might start doubting himself and worry that he won’t be able to protect his family after this trauma, which could accelerate his overcautiousness about his family.

Jasmine: I struggled with this being the way to do that.

I appreciated the more subtle build-up of him as a father and what he sees and experiences as an ADA leading to something. Not everything has to be so extreme and horrifically traumatic to validate a mental health storyline.

I also struggled with essentially making such extreme violence against a random woman, serving as a jumping-off point for Carisi’s struggles.

Ali’s shooting was bad and hurtful enough, but some part of you can rationalize it as the worst-case scenario in an armed robbery situation, so you’re at least somewhat prepared for it.

But sitting there waiting for a guy to finish raping a hostage is something else entirely.

Can you tell I really had a problem with the use of rape in this episode?

Jack: Jasmine, you put that into words better than I could.

This is one of the things I hated about this episode. It felt like the rape was an afterthought.

If the episode had been about Tess, and Carisi got caught up in it after the fact, and now SVU has to try to rescue Carisi at the same time as they’re trying to get justice for Tess, that would have been fine.

But it felt to me like they stuck this brutal rape in there just to contradict the claim that this story wasn’t relevant to SVU. That didn’t sit well with me at all.

Did this story work as a fall finale?

Laura: Definitely!

It was high-stakes and involved one of their own. People will be discussing how Carisi will be faring.

Sara: I agree with Laura.

It was a great way to set up Carisi’s future and how his character will fare once the season resumes. These events could not only affect his family life but also his work relationships.

Jasmine: It was action-packed and memorable.

I probably would have preferred something that centered or utilized the entire team because too many of them have been underserved,  but it’s a finale that will have people talking, so there’s that.

Discuss anything about the episode not mentioned above.

Laura: I’m disappointed Fin wasn’t in this one since he and Amanda are close. He could have helped comfort her.

It was difficult to see Silas Weir Mitchell from Grimm play such a creepy, violent character, especially during Tess’s rape scene.

I’ve never seen him like that, and it was hard to watch.

Sara: I agree that Fin’s absence was notable, but he’s my favorite character.

This episode would have worked better if SVU had found a way to resolve the case. The entire situation felt weird.

There were numerous times that Carisi could have taken charge of the situation before things escalated.

He easily could have subdued the second suspect and stopped the attack instead of forgetting his police training and becoming a victim.

Jasmine: It did bug me that most of the characters were benched for the midseason finale.

And for the life of me, I really couldn’t grasp what made this situation so unique that it felt like the cops and SWAT were just there, not doing anything while Mitchell continued to terrorize everyone.

How much time passed?

It felt like it took forever for any authority figure to do anything, and in the end, Carisi still had to step outside of his own trauma and let his cop instincts come back to him to control the situation himself, often working against whatever the hell everyone outside was doing.

The hostage negotiator was literally useless.

The cops just seemed incompetent and useless so it was difficult to watch this episode at times because I really could not understand why it took so long to get the situation under control.

Half of what happened didn’t even need to happen. Weighing the risks, they could have breached and taken their chances after Ali was shot.

The rape was one of the most horrific and brutal just for the sake of it I’ve seen in a minute, and for no other purpose than to make Carisi, an unrelated man, feel helpless, and I’m obviously still having a hard time reconciling with that.

Jack: Everything Jasmine said above. I also really hated the gratuitous rape.

I don’t get why this was necessary for Carisi’s storyline. He was already on the path of poor mental health, so why accelerate it this way instead of continuing with the story we had?

What was your favorite scene, story, or quote from Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8?

Laura: The emotional Rollisi hug. There is no topping that. It brought tears to my ears.

Sara: The embrace between Rollins and Carisi was moving.

Carisi lost it after the rescue and needed Amanda for emotional support. He didn’t try to hide his emotions or act like a tough guy because he was safe with her.

Jasmine: Not to keep dwelling, but the guttural, anguished cry Tess let out was chilling.

But on another note, yeah, that Carisi completely fell apart after the rescue also got to me.

I appreciate being in an era where men can express more emotions than just anger. 

Jack: It’s unanimous. Rollins being there for Carisi was the most moving scene of this episode.

Over to you, Law & Order: SVU fanatics.

What were your answers to these Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 8 Round Table questions?

Hit the comments with your thoughts.

Law & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c. It will return on January 16, 2024

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