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'Law & Order: SVU' Season 22 Premiere Review: Olivia Benson admits her own bias as racism leads to failed case

The show also took a remarkable step in making Olivia admit her own bias, but what is key will be to see whether the show will continue addressing this
PUBLISHED NOV 13, 2020
(NBC)
(NBC)

Spoilers for 'Law & Order: SVU' Season 22 Premiere

The first episode of the 22nd season of 'Law & Order: SVU' starts in an explosive way. The show, which is known for its stories being "ripped from the headlines," continues to do so, and this time, it takes on a story that much too common for comfort. 

Right away, the episode begins unconventionally -- mobile phone footage showing a White woman calling the police on the Black man taking the video. He insists he is doing nothing but working out, yet, when the police come, they continue to question him. When the White woman's son finds an unconscious man, she immediately says that the Black man attacked him.

Soon Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her team are on the scene, and while the scene is being filmed by civilians, Olivia tells them to continue with the arrest -- the Black man has outstanding arrests and the police who initially arrived on the scene said that he was combative and aggressive. The victim is a Filipino-American by the name Eric, who is a doctor at a hospital nearby. Eric is taken to the hospital.

However, Benson's choice to arrest the Black man, named Jawon. Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi Jr (Peter Scanavino) continues asking repeatedly to ensure he was not wrongfully arrested. But as more information becomes available, it becomes clear that Jawon was, in fact, wrongfully arrested. When his NA sponsor gives him a proper alibi, Jawon is free to go, and he makes it clear that he is pissed.

Meanwhile, the team finds out that a man present at the crime scene that morning was at the same bar that Eric went to the previous night. They continue to pursue that lead, but in the meantime, Jawon has filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department and has named both Olivia and Sergeant Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (Ice-T) in the lawsuit. Deputy Chief Christian Garland (Demore Barnes) tells Olivia and Fin (who are defending themselves) that they sound defensive and that "by the book" will not cut it because that's what got them here, namedropping George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. He also informs them that Internal Affairs will be questioning them. Later, Garland tells Fin that he needs to look out for himself because, at this age, no one in the police force is safe.

The team does make the arrest of the man whom they think spent time with the victim -- he was at the crime scene the morning of the arrest and made a video, saying, "Defund the police." However, when Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) goes to see him, he says that he was on the side of the police, and calls Jawon a "thug." He is taken to the station on the pretext of being a witness, and while SVU thinks they might get him, a lawyer is called before they can get the truth about him.

Meanwhile, Olivia is called to Internal Affairs for her questioning about the incident. The questioning officer asks her about a stop and frisk incident in the past where she and her partner stopped multiple Black men -- it turns out that Jawon was one of them. When the IA officer continues to ask about it, Olivia insists that she is not racist or biased, however, the officer points out that while Olivia asked to run Jawon's name in the system, she did not do the same for the White woman who called the police -- it turns out that the woman has a history of making false accusations. The IA officer points this out to Olivia, who is still unconvincingly defensive, but the officer talks to Olivia about the systemic racism that persists in the police department.

So more than halfway through the episode, the SVU does not have a convincing case. Sure, they have the suspect's DNA, but he is saying that while he did have sex with the victim, it was the victim who forced himself on the suspect. Additionally, the wrongful arrest of Jawon is not helping either, and when Fin testifies, the grand jury has many questions about it and is skeptical of whatever evidence they do have. When Fin shows that he did, in fact, have second thoughts before arresting Jawon, Carisi gets angry that Fin did not tell him about it before. The episode also highlights the kind of tension that is present between Black and White cops as well. When the suspect agrees to testify, he turns the case around, saying he was a victim of NYPD's bias as well and that the police coerced his statement by holding his "Defund the police" video against him. What he does works because the jury votes not to indict him.

Meanwhile, a remarkable scene that was featured showed Olivia speaking to Garland and admit that she stayed up thinking about her own bias after her interview with Internal Affairs. She admits that she has been so focused on the victims, that her own bias did not even occur to her. She also adds that she does not know the extent to which her own bias has affected the way she works. 

Now, the show reflects the pervasive anger at the police that is present. The victim's family is angry that the suspect walked away and Jawon is angry about what happened to him -- after the video of his arrest went viral, the news of him being in Narcotics Anonymous became public and he was fired. When Olivia's son tells her that she needs to apologize for doing something wrong, Olivia goes to meet Jawon in the park. She tells him that the DA is pursuing charges against the White woman who called the police on him, but Jawon points out that Olivia and NYPD cannot take the moral high ground now after everything that happened. It is clear that NYPD's actions in arresting the wrong man tainted the case from the very beginning. Before Jawon walks away, Olivia admits that she and the NYPD has a lot of work to do.

There are a lot of eyes on crime procedurals these days and of the ones that have aired, 'Law & Order' has taken a more nuanced -- and rightful -- approach in addressing the issue. The show also took a remarkable step in making Olivia admit her own bias, but what is key will be to see whether the show will continue addressing the police's bias and systemic racism throughout not just the season, but for the remainder of the show.

'Law & Order: SVU' airs on NBC on Thursday nights at 9/8c.

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