Thursday, December 8, 2022

Law & Order SVU “And A Trauma In A Pear Tree” Discussion Topic




Here is the discussion topic for Law & Order SVU, “And A Trauma In A Pear Tree” which aired on Thursday, December 8, 2022. Please feel free to add any feedback you have about this episode in the comments!

My own comments
 I have mixed feelings about this episode. We saw a wonderful “surprise” wedding (not a surprise to fans) with Amanda Rollins and Sonny Carisi. We also witnessed Rollins getting a much deserved happy ending as she goes off to teach at Fordham. While I am sorry to see Kelli Giddish leave the show, at least her character went out on a high note, which seems out of the norm for any of the Law & Order brand shows.

The episode as a whole was somewhat disjointed. Besides the wedding, Benson was *forced* to take Noah to meet a surprise half-brother (they share a father) when she discovers Noah has located him and has been communicating with him. She meets what looks like the perfect family and, after Noah makes a comment that makes Benson feel she's not his “real family”,  she appears worried he will not want to be with her anymore. Making matters worse, while staying in a motel, she locates a hidden camera while she’s wet and only wearing a towel. Despite being a victim herself, Benson and Rollins partner in a strange sting operation to get the perp.

Detective Muncy, meanwhile, loses her cool on the witness stand and makes a mess of Carisi’s case that was a carryover from a recent episode.

The big shadow hanging over this fall finale were the allegations, released earlier in the day, that current showrunner David Graziano was “mistreating women, support staff on multiple shows”. This is certainly brings a dark cloud over not only Law & Order SVU but the entire Wolf Entertainment group. The timing of the release of the story – the day of the fall finale – could not have been worse. Obviously this will require investigation and action taken if warranted. But I found myself really scrutinizing this episode because of it.

At least the door seems still open for Rollins – and Kelli Giddish – and for that we can be thankful!

7 comments:

Laurie F said...

There were too many things going on in this episode. The weirdest stuff was Benson and the motel room and finding the camera. Taking the guy back to the hotel room and that whole scene with him in the bed and Benson and Rollins pretending to come on to him...bizarre is the only word I can think of. I know they are trained police but the scenario seemed risky and sounded like entrapment. Didn't one of them move to take off the guy's belt? Ewwww....

Benson is clueless about Noah. He found a family match going on the internet? How is he getting is DNA checked without Benson knowing? How is he contacting strangers without her knowing? For someone involved in sex crimes, she is very naive when it comes to her own kid. That other family is too perfect, it didn't feel right.

Rollins and Carisi getting married was done well and seeing Rollins landing that nice job was nice but can a person get to be a teacher at Fordham so easily? I don't know much about how these colleges/universities work when it comes to teaching credentials. I wish they would have giving Rollins better story lines in the past, she would have been less annoying.

Muncy is going to be a problem. I'm tired of new people coming in an being problems. Can't they hire someone more experienced?

Dawgdays said...

Got a whole Thelma and Louise vibe 🤣

MorbidPet said...

At least they didn't kill Rollins off but what a shame to get rid of the most talented actor they got. And that will be a wrap for me as a viewer. I'm leaving with Rollins. Good luck SVU, it's been ups and downs, sometimes a blast and sometimes a disaster but I've kept tuning in. Firing Kelli Giddish was the drop though.

dttruman said...

There were so many of these "things that happen", that Chris and the other commentators have mentioned. Noah on the internet tracking down a supposed brother w/o Benson knowing, yet she is has been very cautious about exposing him to anyone or thing she doesn't know. Which makes me wonder why she doesn't regularly check his web browser history. Benson letting Noah sleep over was out of character, but it did allow her and Rollins to apprehend a perp, that maybe by entrapment not in their jurisdiction was also out of place too.

The one thing that really threw me most of all, is why was Rollins allowed to wear a White wedding dress, since many men had a key to her Chastity Belt.

Elliot said...

@dttruman umm idk what century ur from but rollins isn't religious that we know of and while carisi is catholic we have no indication he's an extremist...she wore a white dress because she wanted to, as that's what happens at most weddings (esp first ones)

Jardín de Infantes dulces pasitos said...

Regarding the last episode, it seemed strange to me that Noah now had a brother knowing that they never said in previous chapters that he had a brother, it may be that "weird" appeared there now and it hurt me that he told Benson that it was his only family that she had... would she have said it without knowing that it hurt her? We don't know... and the Rollins thing was beautiful to finally see him get married and without the characters leaving because they've been shot or killed, and about the new showrum, yes I read it and it seemed strange to me, I would have to go out and give an explanation of what is being talked about.

brit said...

First of all what an awful wedding dress last time i saw a dress like that a Mormon was wearing it. I have Mormon distant relatives so no need to say i can't have that comment lol. Secondly now they resurrect Rollins character into mother Theresa right at the end as they bounce her off the show.
How weird was Olivia's reaction to her resigning a real friend would have been pleased for her.
DNA matches like ancestry for instance are easy you spit in a tube but how did he get the money to do it its not cheap. Plus the chances of finding a match that easily when we are talking about minors i have to call bs on it.You have to be 18 to test your dna on a public site like ancestry. I have an adopted son in his 30's with supposedly 6 half siblings and he has never found a match.