Whoa! Talk about an intense midseason premiere!

Law & Order: SVU Season 23 Episode 10 felt more like a pilot episode for a new spinoff than anything else, plus left Benson's future with the NYPD -- and her mental health -- hanging in the balance.

This story was raw, real, and uncomfortable. And that was the point.

If any episode of Law & Order: SVU needed a trigger warning, it was this one.

The hour opened with a call to arms for white supremacists and a montage of hate crimes while Silent Night played in the background. The scenes of unknown perpetrators breaking windows at synagogues, vandalizing mosques, and beating people up weren't graphic, but they were realistic.

Real-life hate crime survivors might have had a tough time with these scenes, along with depictions of anti-Semitic graffiti later. The rest of us should have, too.

These scenes were meant to be sickeningly ugly and brutal. They were meant to make viewers realize what hate-fueled violence looks and feels like if they didn't already.

I applaud SVU for that.

The hour did a fantastic job of making us feel what it was like to live in a city under siege.

All these attacks on people because of who they are, who they worship, what they look like... we can't have that. Not in New York City.

Declan

• Permalink: All these attacks on people because of who they are, who they worship, what they look like......

The cops kept saying that this type of violence wasn't acceptable in New York City. Sadly, though, hatred and violence are often not anything out of the ordinary for marginalized groups.

SVU drove this point home when one of the victims said that kids often mocked him in the street. It wasn't that he'd never experienced religious hatred before. It was only the level to which these perps took it that was unusual.

The cops were more aware of it than usual, though, because the extreme violence had everyone on edge, and there was pressure for them to close the case.

Benson: These kids are minors. We can't put their faces out even if we arrest them.
McGrath: We won't arrest them if we don't get their faces out.
Declan: We put their faces out, all anyone will see is kids from the projects, gangbangers.
McGrath: So we can't go after the kids who attack Jews if they're Black, is that it?

• Permalink: So we can't go after the kids who attack Jews if they're Black, is that it?

McGrath's attitudes were put to good use here. He wanted to close the case and make people feel safe even though he didn't have all the facts, and the pressure he was under gave his casual racism another chance to rear its head.

It was ironic that no one called out the department head on his racist attitudes while fighting to catch a bunch of violent white supremacists terrorizing the city.

That was a beautiful, subtle illustration of the difference between the overt hatred that almost everyone is united against and the systemic racism that passes as business as usual.

Although the hour was heavy, it wasn't preachy. In some ways, it felt like a throwback to an earlier era of SVU when the focus was more on the crimes SVU was solving than anything else.

Declan Murphy's presence was a definite throwback. As Rollins pointed out, it had been six years. Many viewers were hoping for a semi-reconciliation between her and her ex, or at least some drama with Carisi.

That didn't happen, at least not yet. Carisi didn't even appear during the hour!

But this may not be the last time Declan Murphy makes an appearance, especially now that he's working Hate Crimes instead of going undercover.

If nothing else, he may need to back up Benson's shooting the perp at the end of the hour. Plus, this may not be the only time SVU joins forces with Hate Crimes.

And every time Rollins and Murphy got close to a personal conversation, that weirdo with the dog interrupted them.

I knew that guy was involved before he claimed his name was Don Johnson. He kept showing up at weird times, and he was fixated on getting the cops to believe the Black teenagers were responsible for the terrorism.

Luckily, Rollins and Murphy realized it too and got a step ahead of this none-too-bright criminal. He got himself both shot and arrested for his refusal to stop stalking the cops. What an idiot!

The teenagers ended up being a red herring, but I'm not sure why they were responsible for half of the hate crimes.

It didn't make sense that they attacked Jews and Muslims at the same time as a white supremacist group did. During a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, the teens explained their motives to the cops, but I still didn't quite get it.

It seemed like their involvement was primarily plot-driven. It helped the real bad guys use the kids as scapegoats, and there were a few seconds where everyone was angry that someone had leaked footage to the media proving one of the kids attacked a synagogue.

The media leak story quickly disappeared. What happened to it?

This thread was a weakness in an otherwise excellent episode that could have served as a pilot for the long-ago shelved Hate Crimes series. Could there be renewed interest in such a series now that Peacock TV has proven to be a success?

The hour introduced some characters that Benson had a passing familiarity with and could easily be the stars of such a series. There'd be plenty of potential for crossovers.

The promo for Law & Order: SVU Season 23 Episode 11 looks like a regular SVU episode, with no mention of Benson facing disciplinary action for shooting the perp.

It was a clean shoot. The guy said he had bombs and refused to stop moving.

Thank you. You just gave the movement the martyr we need.

Susan

• Permalink: Thank you. You just gave the movement the martyr we need.

The bigger problem is that the shooting made him a martyr, plus Benson was shaken by having had to do it.

That's a strong set-up for more story, and if Hate Crimes ever does become a thing, the cops who work for that division might also be busy trying to undo the damage done by Robert's new martyr status.

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Law & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9 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.