Here is the discussion topic for Law & Order SVU “Breakwater” which aired on Thursday, October 27, 2022. Please feel free to add any feedback you have about this episode in the comments!
I liked this episode for reasons I can't explain. Some of it is the fact that Benson wasn't front and center the whole time. It had the feel of the early seasons of SVU. The guy in charge of the lifeguards was a serious creep and I'm glad they got him in the end. I know Kelli is going to be out soon and even though she's not a favorite of mine I think they're writing her character better this season than they have in the past. Go figure.
@ Chris - I hope John Oliver does a pt 2 on this show specifically some day and examines how it describes and discusses recovery from trauma and in particular how it has portrayed the therapeutic process over the years.
On this show the SVU team is the best at providing everything a survivor needs including therapy. Olivia Benson being the best therapist of them all. I remember an ep where she encouraged a surv to take a heavy object and smash the coffee table in Benson's office. She then held the surv as she wept bitterly. You know- the kind of support a real SVU captain would offer.
I am back to being ok w Rollin's exit and please no more main xter's w deep trauma needing to be resolved. This show is not prepared to do that kind of exploration nor is it structured- both as a cop show and one that is episodic in nature- to do the kind of deep dive necessary to truly ventilate these issues. Instead a xter like Rollins gets resolution from significant surpressed trauma by a one-time yoga retreat and now is finding resolution of *complex* trauma by wearing the same-type bullet she was shot w. And the caveat for all this is that "every victim heals differently" (recently said on the show). While true, this show regularly touts itself as a guide for survivors and police to know what to do so we do hv to consider the top of the bell curve not just the outliers.
Therapists on this show regularly come off as terse and apathetic. By contrast the cops themselves hv been formidable therapists. Heck! The man kidnapping Rollins was a better therapist to Rollins than the actual practitioner she was seeing. This was made known by her own admission.
Now we hv Fin! Easily the most apathetic one of the lot being touted as somebody who should be a "shrink when he retires." This was said w a straight face. He is now dispensing trauma advice and it is just the breakthrough Rollins needed. I want to believe things are drawing to a close, they don't hv time to explore her recovery journey and a "happy ending" has already been fiercely promised to the fans. Solution? Wait what if Fin gives her the bullet she was shot w to carry around and it is all the catharsis R needs? That frees up her last few eps for us to get going on that happy ending we promised!
And I'm trying hard not to be graphic here but a bullet penetrates in order to cause harm. Should we be extrapolating Fin's therapeutic methods to the type of assault primarily depicted on this show? What should those survivors wear in order to feel better?
Still no hate to either the xter or the actress but I am ready for this all to be over. I see now that it just cannot be done. Giving this xter a meaningful exploration of her story and road to recovery just cannot be done This show is not structured for it. That being said I hope we don't get Rollins 2.0. Leave the heavy trauma for the guest xters.
Enjoyed seeing Samantha Boscarino, but at nearly 28, isn't she a little too old to still be playing young teens? Anyway, I also felt that between the scenes with her as the CPR test subject and in the coach's office, they made the wrong choice as to which to show and which to cut away from (though I still hate the intros doing this kind of thing at all). The viewer should have seen the demonstration and if the coach was too touchy-feely and treated the mouth-to-mouths more like kisses, and then leave the office encounter more to the imagination. That would have been far creepier and effective.
Another thing: it was said that the white blonde lifeguard Mariel was present for a drowning in 2012. The board said that her current age is 25, so that means the coach had sexual relations with her when she was minor. Yet not once was he charged with (limitations may prevent that, but it should have at least been brought up) or even called out for statutory rape.
3 comments:
I liked this episode for reasons I can't explain. Some of it is the fact that Benson wasn't front and center the whole time. It had the feel of the early seasons of SVU. The guy in charge of the lifeguards was a serious creep and I'm glad they got him in the end. I know Kelli is going to be out soon and even though she's not a favorite of mine I think they're writing her character better this season than they have in the past. Go figure.
@ Chris - I hope John Oliver does a pt 2 on this show specifically some day and examines how it describes and discusses recovery from trauma and in particular how it has portrayed the therapeutic process over the years.
On this show the SVU team is the best at providing everything a survivor needs including therapy. Olivia Benson being the best therapist of them all. I remember an ep where she encouraged a surv to take a heavy object and smash the coffee table in Benson's office. She then held the surv as she wept bitterly. You know- the kind of support a real SVU captain would offer.
I am back to being ok w Rollin's exit and please no more main xter's w deep trauma needing to be resolved. This show is not prepared to do that kind of exploration nor is it structured- both as a cop show and one that is episodic in nature- to do the kind of deep dive necessary to truly ventilate these issues. Instead a xter like Rollins gets resolution from significant surpressed trauma by a one-time yoga retreat and now is finding resolution of *complex* trauma by wearing the same-type bullet she was shot w. And the caveat for all this is that "every victim heals differently" (recently said on the show). While true, this show regularly touts itself as a guide for survivors and police to know what to do so we do hv to consider the top of the bell curve not just the outliers.
Therapists on this show regularly come off as terse and apathetic. By contrast the cops themselves hv been formidable therapists. Heck! The man kidnapping Rollins was a better therapist to Rollins than the actual practitioner she was seeing. This was made known by her own admission.
Now we hv Fin! Easily the most apathetic one of the lot being touted as somebody who should be a "shrink when he retires." This was said w a straight face. He is now dispensing trauma advice and it is just the breakthrough Rollins needed. I want to believe things are drawing to a close, they don't hv time to explore her recovery journey and a "happy ending" has already been fiercely promised to the fans. Solution? Wait what if Fin gives her the bullet she was shot w to carry around and it is all the catharsis R needs? That frees up her last few eps for us to get going on that happy ending we promised!
And I'm trying hard not to be graphic here but a bullet penetrates in order to cause harm. Should we be extrapolating Fin's therapeutic methods to the type of assault primarily depicted on this show? What should those survivors wear in order to feel better?
Still no hate to either the xter or the actress but I am ready for this all to be over. I see now that it just cannot be done. Giving this xter a meaningful exploration of her story and road to recovery just cannot be done This show is not structured for it. That being said I hope we don't get Rollins 2.0. Leave the heavy trauma for the guest xters.
Enjoyed seeing Samantha Boscarino, but at nearly 28, isn't she a little too old to still be playing young teens? Anyway, I also felt that between the scenes with her as the CPR test subject and in the coach's office, they made the wrong choice as to which to show and which to cut away from (though I still hate the intros doing this kind of thing at all). The viewer should have seen the demonstration and if the coach was too touchy-feely and treated the mouth-to-mouths more like kisses, and then leave the office encounter more to the imagination. That would have been far creepier and effective.
Another thing: it was said that the white blonde lifeguard Mariel was present for a drowning in 2012. The board said that her current age is 25, so that means the coach had sexual relations with her when she was minor. Yet not once was he charged with (limitations may prevent that, but it should have at least been brought up) or even called out for statutory rape.
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