Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 1 Review: ‘Fractured’

As far as setting up the latest new team dynamic goes, Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 1 “Fractured” is successful enough. So far, Juliana Aidén Martinez is a good fit; we can say the same for her character Detective Kate Silva. Last season’s criminally-underused Captain Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) also seems to actually be getting a chance to do something other than pastry delivery. Add to that a miracle of miracles — Carisi, in court, and getting the win — and even if this season premiere doesn’t feel big enough to really be premiere-like, it’s good enough.

Even so, there are a couple of stumbles during the case that, this late into a series, shouldn’t be happening. Add to that some instances of “oh, FFS. Are we seriously doing this with how we portray folks who have very real problems with policing in this country again,” and we just still keep wishing for better for this show. It’s certainly better than the very low bar set by the Maddie nonsense in Season 25. But, also: Can we not with some of this?

Welcome to SVU…and good luck

If it feels like we’ve been here before, it’s because we have. With Muncy in Season 24, in particular. A new female detective comes in, we see promise and a chance for Liv to mentor someone, and it…dies before it even has a chance to start. With that being said, yeah, we see the potential here with Detective Silva. The opening scene with her and our dearest Captain Benson is decent enough set up to show it’s a comfortable working relationship. Maybe not perfectly solid yet, but comfortable and with some mutual respect.

We also get a pretty quick sense of what her personality’s like. Juliana Aidén Martinez’s timing and delivery on Kate’s joke about her dad being a P.I.T.A. all her life is spot on. We’re always here for that wry sort of humor. Not to mention, we kinda want to know more about that particular father-daughter relationship now. Actually, if you throw in how she says, later in the episode, that watching people run toward the towers on 9/11 made her want to join the force — no mention of dear ol’ Dad — and there’s real story potential here. But, again, we’ve been here before with being optimistic…and there rarely, if ever, seems to be any follow through. Here’s hoping Silva breaks that pattern.

(No comment on Kate wanting to be one of the “working-class heroes” leading to…this job. Also no comment on her going through that unhoused dude’s stuff without either permission or a warrant, other than to say she’d better not have been lying when she said they’d get him a new hammer.)

So far, Benson’s even behaving like a competent boss and mentor again. We learn she hasn’t brought up Silva’s dad in the three weeks she’s been at SVU. Which is good. Just because Daddy’s a hotshot doesn’t mean Detective Silva should get special treatment — either in terms of too-high expectations or the boss being too easy on her. Thankfully, that looks to be Liv’s approach. So, when Silva tells Velasco she thinks the Captain is testing her, we know it’s about her and her alone. Just a normal sense of “is this person a good fit, and can they handle this particular unit” and not anything else. And, also unlike last season, Liv’s focused enough on what’s going on around her to pay attention to Silva’s shooting skills while hitting her own target.

Unfortunately, as much as we want to be like “we like her,” we’ve played this game before. Lately, it seems like every time we have a good first impression of a new female character on this show, she doesn’t stick around. Either that or we have a situation like the one with Curry last season — here, yet with nobody having a clue what to do with her. Just saying, maybe if we come into Season 26 with a healthy mix of optimism and concern — unlike all concern after whatever the Season 25 premiere was or way too much optimism like the post-crossover beginning of Season 24 — things will turn out better.

Or not.

About that case…

Look, we get it: This is copaganda. At this point, there’s probably even some sort of quota for “cops whining about people who want accountability getting in the way of them doing their jobs” each season. But even knowing this, Bruno just randomly griping about how “everyone in college hates cops right now” during an interrogation is so irritating. If the goal is to get us to give cops a break, you’ve failed. On the other hand, if it’s there to make us hate cops even more and have less respect for your characters while we roll our eyes so hard we give ourselves a headache, then mission accomplished. Mazel tov!

More importantly, though, there’s the way Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 1 treats the victims. The whole deal with the hookup just hours before their attack certainly provides motive, but the way the hour develops that story just comes across as disrespectful. At best. Case in point: Once the detectives dug into that hidden camera footage, there was no reason to show it again. The reaction shots make the squad come across as a bunch of amateurs who’ve never seen this sort of thing, and it’s just…weird. What was the point? Oh, wait. There was none.

Speaking of reactions. Let’s talk about how Captains — emphasis on their titles because they should know better by now — Benson and Curry act after learning that Elodie, a victim, didn’t tell them about a consensual threesome. If their frustration at not having the full story, and therefore not being able to do their jobs well, had been handled with any kind of nuance, whatsoever, we’d kinda get it. But no. It all comes across as some kind of opportunity to slut shame and view a rape victim with suspicion. Like, what even is this:

“The real question is: Why didn’t Elodie mention it to us?”

BFFR, Liv. You’ve been at SVU for 5785 years. You know victims don’t always remember everything after a trauma like that. And, in this case, it’s not exactly like the other two participants in Elodie’s hookup are exactly suspects. But sure. Fine. Whatever.

More on Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 1

Something about that sweater, the glasses, and texting away.
Messy ponytail Liv at the range. So true.
“She’s met my ex-wife” before aiming and shooting. Wee bit uncomfortable there, actually.
Absolutely lost it over these students not knowing what stare decisis is. Like, it’s fine. SCOTUS has made it meaningless anyway. Honestly, everything is meaningless now. May as well study something else. Pack it up, kiddos.
“Do I look like a Ma’am to you?” I am in this photo and I do not like it.
Meanwhile, Liv touching the side of her head while asking about “our vic with the head trauma” might or might not be one of the most unintentionally hilarious things in a minute.
“You must be a glutton for punishment.” Me, looking in the mirror before watching my shows.
“We missed out on a loottt!” “Yeah. Mostly because of the pandemic.” I can not roll my eyes harder. I think they have rolled out of my head, around the world, and back again. A few times.
A reaction shot that landed: Liv walking into that room and seeing all that blood everywhere. Like, my jaw dropped — and so did hers. But even just that slight pause in the doorway…yes.
Counterpoint: There’s never a bad time for coffee.
“You know, the saddest thing is, I think I was her best friend.” Not the murder, not the rape, not Damon being in a medically-induced coma? Ok then.
Love a good Benson/Carisi walk-and-talk.
“I told her you haven’t let me down yet.” “Ah, no pressure.” She’s so real for that.
“Damon and I used to joke about them just hooking up and getting it over with.” Add this to “love/hate,” and we’ve got ourselves a flashback to some detectives being all “screw you” at each other a couple centuries ago.
“You know his name, he doesn’t know yours.” “I hate his guts.” Relatable.
Ah, yes. The students filming the action. Here we go. This is just being so mean and it gets so out of hand so quickly when the poor cops are doing nothing wrong. Gag me.
It’s the way Mariska Hargitay clips off those words with the “yes, Sir” for me.
“Everybody’s looking for an excuse to beat up on the cops nowadays.” Sure, Fin. Sure. It’s looking for excuses and not accountability. So true.
Now, what did Ice-T, of all people, do to deserve getting stuck with a line like that?
“Now, I have to prove it to 12 angry New Yorkers who probably hate the cops as much as this crowd does.” Et tu, Carisi?
“The point is: You watched her say yes to two other people. On the very day that she said no to you.” The emphasis on “no” from Peter Scanavino is golden here. Just…golden. The whole trial, really.
Can not stress enough how much I loved seeing Carisi break Sam down by just rubbing his nose in all his own insecurities and rejections.
Even with the problems I’ve got with how this case was handled, the way Sam just starts whining about listening to Shelly’s problems is spot on. What a pathetic loser, just like so many other pathetic losers who think they “deserve” something from the women in their lives. More of this, less with the icky parts. Please!
“…becoming kicka** lawyers. Like you.” See what happens when you let Carisi do his job instead of being all inappropriate and playing cop??? It’s inspirational!