Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18 starts off kind of rough, with another one of these “I just know this guy is connected, based on nothing” situations. Somewhere toward the middle, though, the hour turns itself around. Unlike in, say, Episode 17, Captain Benson and her squad actually treats a young sexual assault victim with care — no selfish manipulation necessary. Yes, they have to notify Sam Carson’s parents because he’s a minor, but no, they’re not going to hammer him until he testifies when he’s clearly not ready. Additionally, when it turns out that the 2001 date carved into a man’s back is connected to the 8-year-old child he got away with assaulting, Benson and Carisi do their absolute best to work within the law and hold her accountable for her act of revenge — while also treating her as the victim she is.
Basically, ‘The Accuser’ is, dare we say, one of those SVU episodes that manages to carefully walk that uncomfortable line between making excuses for violent behavior and giving explanations. Furthermore, the story takes advantage of some very natural opportunities to let both regular and guest cast members shine. Caleb Malis and Kevin Kane do some great work together, both in the scene where Sam discloses to Bruno and when Sam comes back to him, worried he’ll turn out like Angela.
As far as Angela’s tragic story goes, Carolyn Fagerholm is stellar. She’s believable as a woman who is so broken from the many, many ways people have failed her throughout her life. This is something that has to be expertly layered underneath the anger, which sits in plain sight, just behind the complete lack of remorse after tracking down her abuser and making him pay. Fagerholm nails it. Those bitter, twisted expressions of hers would be utterly terrifying — if not for everything we know about the character and all that pain, all those tears welling up in her eyes.
Thankfully, while Olivia still says a couple of things that have us like “???” in Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18, she also still feels more like our Liv than the BensonBot that’s plagued us for most of this season. Both Captain Benson and Mariska Hargitay are at their best in those scenes with Fagerholm. Hargitay’s performance is full of the type of empathy and sadness we’ve come to expect when Benson is faced with a victim she genuinely can’t save, whose story appears to get more heartbreaking with every breath. And Benson just…she’s more herself when she’s actually written as that person who listens and cares, as opposed to the thing with no soul that feels the need to spout “inspiration.”
The main issues are, unfortunately, the usual ones. Bruno shows up at Benson’s apartment in the middle of the night, but she doesn’t mention anything about her kid being asleep, or still being up doing homework, or being out with friends, or whatever else. You’re at her home — this should be an easy place to name drop Noah! N-O-A-H. Easy! In that same vein, Carisi telling Benson he knows this case is “a tough one” for her winds up opening the door for a conversation about changes in the system. That’s fine enough. But it’s a lost opportunity to mention how it hits close to home for her as the mother of a teen (ish?) son. Or, for that matter, the conversation could be about how it’s tough for Carisi, too, with daughters around the age Angela was when Eddie assaulted her.
Still, Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18 at least gives Olivia the downtime at home in the first place, and little moments with Carisi make sense in an “ADA working with SVU Captain” kind of way. So, eh. We’ll take the improvement, actually.
MORE: Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 14 and Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 2 remain the best this season has had to offer.
More on Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18
- I spent the first 10 minutes or so like “wait. Why do I recognize the dad? No…what…is that??? Can’t be. IT IS!!!! OMG! Malucci’s here?! Just kidding. Erik Palladino has escaped ER and will now forever be Mike Ross’ prison boyfriend to me after that Suits arc.”
- “Own up to your mistakes, look your boss in the eye, and apologize. And who knows? Maybe you’ll get your job back.” Did anyone else hear this line and just, like, laugh out loud?
- But why are we commenting on this dude being “unremarkable,” given the violent nature of his attack? Weird.
- I mean, in retrospect, “he ain’t sh—” would be a fitting line, but…yeah. Anyway.
- “It’s gotta be rare.” “First time for everything.” Ok but nobody using the word “rare” means “non-existent.”
- “Sam doesn’t always use the common sense that God gave him. But he’s a good kid.” The fandom when we talk about Elliot.
- Is…is nobody going to comment on a grown man being all, “I can see why he quit” about a teen girl or.
- “Sometimes, there is no reason.” Criminal Minds called. The BAU says this is BS. They can always find something.
- “Wingnuts.” Is that, like, a thing people still say???
- “Random attacks don’t usually involve someone being scarred with a specific date, Mrs. Upshaw.” The delivery here had me chuckling. Very much reminded me of “he was making a movie called Stab. He was stabbed” from Scream 3.
- I kind of wish instead of shoving Bruno’s disclosure in as an afterthought in Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 15, it would have appeared here?
- “I just want to go home.”
- Fin checks on Liv. Liv actually admits she’s “been better.” Progress! …and they get interrupted so that goes nowhere. Typical.
- “Her father was a drinker. Her mother was out of her mind. She was just looking for attention.” Maybe I want to reach through the TV and punch this “wingnut.”
- “If I ever had a kid and somebody did that, my face would be the last thing they ever see.” “I feel you.” Same.
- “I’m a cop. I shouldn’t say that.” “Yeah, Bruno, but you’re human first.” Things we can’t say about Liv for most of this season.
- “Ohhhh, I don’t feel guilt at all.” And you shouldn’t.
- “He already won, Captain. I remember him every day, even on my best ones. He didn’t scar me once — he’s scarred me every day since.” So glad she didn’t reply with some “healing” nonsense here. Genuinely. Thank you for that.
- “…because trust me: It. Was. Worth it.”
- Weird tonal shift with everyone ribbing Curry about tackling this girl after…that.
- “I hate what you did. But I hate what was done to you even more.”
- Anyone else think about Liv beating the everloving F. out of Lewis at any point during all of this or.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18 ‘The Accuser’? Leave us a comment!
Law & Order: SVU airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.
Yep I noticed the weird tone change from interrogation room to squad ribbing… poor editing?
Maybe they think talking about Noah doesn’t add much value, it’s kind of settled, she has a loving son and all is good on that front… besides there is bigger fish to fry… bigger Irish/italian fish, if they ever get to it. I think they don’t know how to handle it.
Yeah, I would’ve not put that scene in at all, personally. Knowing what we learn about that victim, a bunch of cops cracking jokes about one of them tackling her is just…no. Hard no, even.
Maybe, but it’s just…Elliot talked about his family all the time. Characters on multiple other shows talk about their kids all the time, even when the work they do doesn’t directly line up with something that makes them think about them. This…is just STRANGE.
I think Elliot’s kids came up when he had trouble parenting them or the kids were in trouble themselves.
Olivia is portrayed as the perfect parent that completely understands their kid, and Noah doesn’t get in trouble himself.
On the one hand, let’s not have Noah get in with a gang or do drugs or get accused of murder and what not… on the other hand no drama no screen time.
That’s the thing, though? I don’t think she IS portrayed as the perfect parent. Quite the opposite. She’s absent, couldn’t bother to pay attention to him talking to her on the way home at the beginning of last season, and, apparently, doesn’t even think about him this season. Even in the past, there was that episode when he was LITERALLY in a cage, and she just…had less energy for that than I would’ve ever expected of her back in the day.
Oh boy the cage.. that was inexplicable. For sure she could have had a bigger reaction there.
But off late, I think their strategy is to assume personal stuff is off screen.
Even Elliot and Olivia, they could still come up with a clever way to justify Elliot’s lack of contact (like maybe IAB forced him on leave, banned contact with Olivia, transferred him etc) and they could figure out somehow Olivia finds out now and can begin to heal from that… but instead they will probably jump straight to … oh sometime over the summer they got together (clown) ☺️
I don’t think they can afford to cheat viewers on EO like that if they want to keep them, which they very much need to do.