Law & Order: SVU Season 21 Episode 10 Review: Must Be Held Accountable
Jack Ori
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I'm not a fan of the cop-in-danger trope.
Law & Order: SVU uses it too much, though usually, Benson is the one who gets herself held hostage.
Law & Order: SVU Season 21 Episode 10 focused on Rollins being forced into the company of an unhinged ex-cop, and this story went better than it might have.
The best part of this whole Save Rollins thing was that Rollins was far from a damsel in distress.
Benson said Rollins could take care of herself and she was right.
Not only did Rollins talk herself out of trouble more than once, but she managed to end the situation peacefully, arresting Bucci herself and showing back up at the police station with him in cuffs.
You know, if you're gonna take people hostage, it helps to be lucid.
Rollins
That was a refreshing change from many shows where kidnapped women become helpless victims who are dependent on someone to rescue them.
Not that Carisi wouldn't have been happy to play that role if he'd been given half a chance.
Carisi: How could he be allowed his gun after that meltdown in the hospital?
Benson: He's retired NYPD. You know how hard it is to get a red flag on -
Carisi: If he didn't have a gun, this all plays out differently. Getz made that plea deal knowing he was going to walk. I don't know how yet, but that Judge Ellory was somehow in his pocket. They're all connected. I'm gonna look into them. If Rollins gets shot, I'm coming after all of them.
Carisi went on the warpath as soon as he found out Rollins had been taken hostage and he never quite got off it. Even the deal he made with Bucci was to protect Rollins from having to testify.
At first, it sounded like Carisi was ready to kill the people responsible for threatening Rollins if they harmed her, which would have done nobody any good at all.
But instead, he did his best to use the full weight of the legal system against Getz and all his victims for Rollins' sake.
That's better than going vigilante like Bucci did, but it does beg the question of whether Carisi would have been as motivated to get the bad guys if Bucci wasn't holding a gun to Rollins' head.
That's not a good look for the cop-turned DA. And by the way, Carisi is still participating way too much in the investigative side of things when he's supposed to be on the courtroom side now.
Anyway, it was no surprise that Carisi was the one to hold Rollins once she finally fell apart. On TV, kidnappings and other scary situations are often the catalysts for relationships to begin, and this seemed no different.
Rollins told Bucci she doesn't go for nice guys because of the way she was raised, and that was half BS to get him not to hurt her. But could she have been talking about why she's resisted Carisi's advances for so long?
Carisi may catch some flack from Hadid for keeping her out of the loop, but he made the right call. Hadid is all sorts of shady, and I wouldn't be surprised if she's been covering up some higher-up's involvement in Getz's child rape and child porn ring.
In any case, he and Kat don't like each other after this whole thing, and that's probably not going to change any time soon.
Kat: Sorry for what I said back there about Rollins:
Fin: You're gonna be a great detective but...
Kat: I gotta think before I open my mouth.
Fin: That and before you go off the playbook.
Kat has no filter between her brain and mouth, is impulsive, and often puts evidence together the wrong way.
In reality, she probably wouldn't last too long at SVU or any other division of the NYPD since she is so allergic to following orders, but her character creates an interesting dynamic with both the other SVU detectives and the DA's office.
Hopefully, she will accept Fin's mentoring and learn to hold herself back a bit so that she's not constantly sabotaging cases and relationships.
In any case, it'll be interesting to see how this rift with Carisi plays out. There's going to come a time when Kat needs a favor from the DA's office, and she may regret burning that bridge when she does.
Kat: Maybe I shouldn't say this, but Rollins knows him. Is it possible she's in on this? Lost perspective?
Carisi: You're right. You shouldn't have said that.
The other thing this story had going for it was that it wasn't entirely focused on the search for Rollins.
Benson learned right away that Rollins had been kidnapped and then SVU got busy trying to nail Getz while also searching for their detective. The Getz investigation was interesting, even if it was mostly spurred on by Rollins' kidnapping.
Untangling Getz's web required solid police work, though some of Carisi's attempts to get information seemed more like blackmail than investigative techniques.
The scene at the judge's home was the most egregious example. They took the judge into a private room, showed him photos, and insisted he work with them if he didn't want his career blown up.
Surely a judge with his connections could have done something other than given in, though I was glad for the sake of the plot that he didn't.
Abrams: Garland, for what it's worth, I have a lot more friends in 1PP than you do, and the sense I get from them is you don't know your place.
Garland: That's why they're the Old Guard.
The best part of the get Getz operation was Deputy Chief Garland's refusal to be intimidated by Abrams' threats.
Garland is already one of my favorite new additions to the cast, and his willingness to stand up to high-profile figures like Abrams and Getz solidified that.
The whole thing fell apart quickly after Abrams and Getz were arrested, which was satisfying...until Getz hung himself.
Fin: Getz doesn't seem like the type who would kill himself.
Kat: That doesn't even look like him on the gurney. No, hear me out. They switch him out with some homeless guy from the morgue and meanwhile he gets on a plane to some island beyond extradition.
Fin: No. I think someone took him out. No way did he kill himself.
Benson: A lot of people wanted him dead. Either way, his number was up. But what gets me is that these girls will never get their day in court.
The last five minutes of the hour were a not-subtle-at-all commentary on Jeffrey Epstein's death.
Benson's point that the victims wouldn't get justice now was well taken, and I had to wonder what Bucci felt or might do now.
Bucci calmed down when Getz was arrested, but the whole point of kidnapping Rollins was to get justice. And now that didn't happen and he will be free in a year's time.
Let's hope he doesn't come after Rollins, or anyone else at SVU, when he gets out.
Your turn, SVU fanatics. What did you think of the conclusion of the Jeffrey Epstein Steve Getz saga?
Hit the blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts.
Want to see the episode again? No problem. You can watch Law & Order: SVU online right here on TV Fanatic.
Law & Order: SVU's historic 21st season continues to air on NBC on Thursdays at 10 PM EST/PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.
