Law & Order SVU “Flight Risk” Recap & Review

“Flight Risk” was heavily promoted as SVU’s take on the Harvey Weinstein case, but the only resemblance this episode bore to that case was a man using his power to take sexual advantage of women. It seemed completely unrealistic that the whole case was investigated, went to trial, a sweetheart deal cut with the Feds on what I see as a hijacking, and a grand jury convened, all within a matter of about a week. Is Barba so good at what he does that he needs little prep time, and is scheduling a case for the grand jury to hear really that speedy?

I thought this case opened strong and they did an excellent job on the airplane scenes.  For this season,  the stories are well constructed and the scenes structured and filmed for maximum interest. But I keep getting stuck on what feels like improbable timelines.

This episode also shows Chief Dodds acting like a supportive boss and friend to Benson, but later we see Fin isn’t buying that act. I’m pleased with how Fin handled Dodds and really like how they are writing the character this season.

But first, the case, which opened with a calm plane flight, run by Optimum Air. It turned tense as the co-pilot, Tara Sidnana, locks the pilot, Logan Carter, out of the cockpit and then flies erratically in order to land, terrifying all the passengers. What surprised me about this scene was how easily the pilot, with only minor assistance, could break into the cockpit. Tara is quickly subdued and the aircraft safely landed.

Later, Rollins gets a call saying that Tara claims she was raped. Of course, the SVU must investigate the rape claim, and they speak with Tara who is being held at the airport jail. They are told they don’t think she has any link to terrorists. Tara explains she just wanted to land the plane and get the hell out. She says she was assaulted months ago and Optimum Air had told her if she kept her mouth shut she’d get fast tracked to her wings and never have to fly with Captain Carter, who she claims raped her. Carter was the pilot in this current flight. Maybe Tara is a bad pilot; if all she was doing was trying to land the plane, she certainly didn’t seem to have very good control over it. I am in no way excusing Carter raping her, but I don’t think this is any excuse for commandeering an airplane and terrifying all the passengers. It seems her answer to her being assaulted was to assault others with terror.

As the detectives investigate the case, they find that Optimum Air has a culture of objectifying their female employees and withholding promotions, docking salary, or threatening reassignment to women who don’t cooperate.

As she pursues the case, Benson gets pushback from Dodds, who says if she proceeds with this case, he suggests he get herself a big umbrella because the skies are going to open up and a lot of federal crap is going to come raining down. Benson counters that her umbrella is plenty big. As Dodds leaves her office, Fin walks in and when he sees a frustrated Benson, asks her if she wants him to cut Dodds, as he knows how to do it. Benson sees it as humor but Fin is probably serious.

In the Law & Order SVU universe, cases move at lightning speed. By January 15, the case is going to trial. Carter has been viewed as a hero, but Tara is scorned as she walks to the courthouse. She testifies that she pleaded guilty to federal charges, and she will serve two year and lose her pilot’s license. Two years for commandeering a jet and terrifying passengers seems far too light a sentence to me. I can’t imagine the Feds going easy on her, or any pilot, regardless of the explanation of her actions.

The detectives uncover another case of rape by Captain Carter and this gives Barba leverage to cut a deal with Captain Carter for two counts of rape and 10 years prison time.

When discussing the matter of the culture at Optimum Air with Barba, Benson states, with sarcasm, that being sexist, misogynist pigs isn’t a crime. But Barba thinks it should be and decides to convene a grand jury to pursue charges against Optimum Air. This begins on January 17. During part of the grand jury, one female employee testified that "Male pilots are worse than passengers. A pilot will pretend to hug you so he can look down your bra or text you “what color panties are you wearing” ". I found this testimony alarming as it lumped all male pilots into one category of being sexist pigs. She seemed just as bad as the men at Optimum Air who have negative opinions of all women.

One employee finally comes forward with evidence of an email that she typed which came from the top - Mr. Fleming – which said there is scientific data that women, no matter how well trained they are not mentally or emotionally equipped to captain an aircraft and that it is not a natural career choice for females. The memo added that the resulting anxiety can lead them to make poor decisions which may have severe consequences, including endangering lives and that women may be better suited for flight attendants. (Strangely, this is exactly what Tara did; her anxiety led her to make a poor decision that endangered lives.) Barba makes an impassioned closing argument and gets his true bill indictment charging Optimum Air and all its employees with grand larceny.

Wait, what? Charging ALL its employees? This would mean even down to the low level employees, men AND women, would get charged. This was a ridiculous statement and I am shocked that a grand jury would have bought into it. I’m surprised Barba would have cast such a wide net, even if he knew it would ultimately not be workable.

Later, Barba tells Benson that Optimum will probably make a motion to dismiss and says they will win, but he gets to appeal, but his odds of winning are 60/40 against. He thinks at least he got the wheels turning. Benson shows a New York Ledger headline which highlights the airline’s misdeeds, commenting she thought grand jury testimony was secret. Barba’s explanation is that the courthouse leaks like a sieve. He thinks the company will be declaring bankruptcy by next week, and Benson calls Barba a feminist icon.

Within this episode we see some interaction with Benson and Dodds. Benson was off 3 weeks, and Noah has returned to school – Dodds, checking on Benson in her home, offered her a few more weeks but she counters “…I think if Noah and I spend one more day together, we’d both end up in strait jackets” (which is what many fans have been saying for weeks). Dodds mentions after his son Mike died, every night for 6 months he’d go into the bar where Mike tended years ago and he’d drink too much. He could tell Benson not to beat herself up too much about Sheila, but one thing he hates is a hypocrite. So Dodds seems to be very concerned and supportive for Benson…but later Fin gets the win and shows Dodds’ true colors. At the end of the episode, when Dodds returns to SVU, Fin confronts him about Benson and says she is the only one that can do the job. Fin brings up rumors that Dodds was interviewing replacements for Benson, and Dodds explains that he wasn’t sure Benson was coming back and he had a department to run and bosses to answer to. At face value, this seems like a reasonable explanation. Dodds thinks Fin understands him and Fin does, but not the way Dodds expects, Fin shows Dodds a memo – we don’t see what it says – but the contents must be damning as Dodds is clearly rattled. Fin says he wants to make sure they DO understand each other. Dodds says he does. While we don’t see what’s in the memo, we can only assume that Dodds is not in Benson’s corner and may be actively working against her. This is one story line that would be very interesting to pursue.

Update January 20, 2018 – a deleted scene has been added below.
Update January, 21, 2018 - another deleted scene had been added.

Cast:
Mariska Hargitay - Lieutenant Olivia Benson
Ice-T - Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Raúl Esparza - ADA Rafael Barba
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, Jr.

Guest stars:
Peter Gallagher - Deputy Chief William Dodds
Yasmine Al Massri –Tara Sidnana
Martin Donovan – Captain Logan Carter
Ned Eisenberg - Roger Kressler
Reg Rogers - Carl Fleming
Roxanna Hope Radja - Alexis Sidnana
Anastasia Barzee - Jeanne Howell
Ana Maria Jomolca - Ellen
Blair Busbee – Erin Kay
Tyrone Mitchell Henderson – Kevin Reed (HR)
Sonia Manzano – Judge Pepiton
Iliana Guibert - Sandy Sullivan
Tom Day – Agent Doherty
Phae Lewis – Molly Harrison
Liam Craig – Traffic Supervisor
Jennifer Dorr White – Passenger
Jonathan Schenk - Passenger #2
Felicia A. Dinwiddie - Passenger 3
Molly Crowley – Passender 4
David Scott Purdy – Air Traffic Control Employee
Sara Brophy – Ms. Mile High
Peter Saide – Mr. Mile High
Holly Holcomb – Grand Juror #4
Deja Blaise - Juror #17
John Mack – Air Marshall



Deleted Scene Added January 20, 2018



Deleted Scene Added January 21, 2018


Deleted Scene Added January 23, 2018





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