Holding powerful people accountable isn’t easy.
Law & Order: SVU Season 24 Episode 5 featured a serial predator who was also a well-respected city employee. Going after him had consequences, making it hard to get witnesses to cooperate.
If anyone could do it, it was the SVU team.
SVU is at its best when it gives us heroic officers of the court who are determined to topple powerful criminals. While some viewers may complain that this is an unrealistically rosy portrayal of cops, the fact is that we need stories like this.
We live in a polarized political climate, and many people feel that well-connected white men get away with too much crap that poor people, especially people of color, don’t.
Law & Order: SVU gives us a glimpse into another world in which the justice system works as it should, and the cops don’t allow someone who risks public safety for their own benefit to get away with it.
This story was one of the strongest such stories.
Grecko was a thoroughly loathsome human being who was able to use sex, money, and political power to get whatever he wanted while claiming to be a man of integrity.
He was gross, and one of the best moments of the hour was when Benson called him out on his BS.
Grecko: I am not the monster you think I am.
Benson: You know, men like you become so good at lying they even begin to believe the ones they tell themselves.
Despite how clear it was to the cops that Grecko was everything he was accused of and worse, it looked like he was going to slither out of trouble. He convinced Daniela that her father would go to jail if she testified against Grecko, which was enough to kill the case.
There were probably dozens of other victims SVU could have found, but it was a lost cause. Testifying in a rape trial is retraumatizing; many survivors choose not to do so because it’s too hard. If they knew they were risking someone like Grecko coming after them, it would be twice as hard to convince them to come forward.
Plus, half the victims were male, and sadly, male victims carry even more shame because of beliefs about what it means for their gender identity. So there was no way any of them would testify.
The murder charges were a long shot, not because Grecko didn’t deserve to be convicted, but because he was a master manipulator.
The case would have been impossible to prove if his assistant hadn’t come forward. Even though Grecko’s lifeguards kept letting people drown, there was little proof of incompetence. On crowded beaches, there are bound to be some deaths, and some of them will involve the same lifeguards, so Grecko had a built-in defense.
But when there are lies and manipulation, there is almost always someone who is privately uncomfortable enough to gather proof even though they don’t have the courage to stand up to the bad guy. And that is exactly what happened here.
Grecko’s big mistake was that he didn’t think anyone would be willing to come forward. When his assistant did, it wasn’t as much of a disaster as it might have been because the guy knew what was going on and said nothing; that made him look equally guilty and, thus, less trustworthy.
But with a second witness coming forward at the last minute, Grecko’s goose was finally cooked. As Carisi pointed out, there was no way out anymore. Thank goodness!
It was annoying that people like the city supervisor, the mayor, and Chief McGrath were pressuring Carisi to drop the case because Grecko was a well-liked city employee. Thankfully, it didn’t work, and justice triumphed in the end.
Rollins is starting to put her life back together post-trauma, but Valesco may be dealing with his own trauma now. He tried and failed to rescue Diego, and Benson told him that it wasn’t his fault the boy died.
Is this a one-off, or will Valesco also have some lasting trauma from this as the season progresses?
Either way, Muncie admired Valesco for his attempt to save Diego. She’s starting to fit into the team; hopefully, she won’t ruin it by trying to pursue Valesco romantically if he’s not interested.
Rollins: A bullet?
Fin: Like the one you were shot with. You have to own your trauma or your trauma will own you.
While Rollins is getting better, she’s not out of the woods yet regarding her trauma. She has only a few episodes before she exits SVU; will she quit or transfer departments for her mental health?
The other big question is what will happen to her relationship with Carisi once she leaves SVU. It’s not strictly necessary for SVU to have romantic storylines, so it’s not that big a deal to have Carisi in relationship limbo if they’re still together when Rollins leaves SVU.
Still, it would be nice to get closure and a happy ending. Let’s hope Rollins’ exit has to do with her making a healthy decision for herself!
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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 Twitter.