Originally written on August 24, 2011
When I heard the news that Christopher Meloni has opted not to continue on as Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, of course I was very sad. Elliot was one of my favorites on the show! Not to mentioned good-looking! But I also kinda saw it coming. Christopher has kept going on and on that 12 years was a good enough time to be on television in the same role and he had been dropping little hints here and there about leaving- even Ice T mentioned on his USS stream thing that it would be his last season but once the news really broke, Ice was sadden by the news, I think even shocked too. I suppose there was some hope that Chris would have continued on to season 13, especially when Neal Baer left to go to CBS and Warren Leight replaced him. It does sound like that SVU will be changing after the cluster mess that Neal had done to the show. Neal has really pimped out Mariska to be the 'star' of the show (truthfully, whenever Olivia is front and center, the episode, to me, turns out to be boring and I would rarely watch it again after that in repeats and DVDs) and turned the crime show into a soap opera. Neal approved to the idea of having Elliot separated from his wife...which was probably because Isabel Gillies moved to Ohio, quit acting and started to teach so he had to somehow give that closure. But Isabel got her divorce and moved back to New York and got her job back, thus reuniting Elliot and Kathy together (YAY!...and yes, that really pissed off Elliot-Olivia shippers but whatever) but Neal continued on with the soap opera drama. He gave Olivia a half-brother who she eventually forgotten, daddy issues, and, since season 8, becoming an anti-man crusader. However, what's really fustrating to me with Olivia is that she never really grew. Her character is pretty much the same person as season 1. Olivia was given two kids in a year span from dead-beat mothers in two different episodes and Olivia has claimed many many times of how she wanted kids...the baby died (I think?) and Calvin went to live with his grandparents but what did Olivia do? Nothing. It didn't encourage her to do what she wanted to do: to have kids. I know before she did look into adoption but they turned out down...okay so here's what you do: you look at MORE adoptions, you look into fostering a child, or, better yet, you turn to the sperm bank and get yourself pregnant especially since it looks like you won't be getting a man anytime soon, especially when you're on a man-hate crusade. Elliot did grow- he went through a separation, he got back together with his wife and had baby #5, he did screw up a little but he quickly got back on his feet and his marriage thrived from there with no problems. Even Fin's character grew, even Munch's, even though his screentime faded. Neal Baer really turned SVU from an ensemble cast to the Elliot-and-Olivia show staring Mariska and that B-actor Christopher (Chris even stated he's a B actor on NBC but that comment got deleted quickly on his official website- which now doesn't exist anymore). It was sad really...now he's gone and it sounds like Warren has taken up Neal's mess and making it better...only thing missing is Christopher Meloni...that sucks...but I don't blame Warren because it's not his fault as much as some fans of Chris's and EO shippers feel. Chris is the one who made the decision to leave, he wasn't fired, he wasn't given what he wanted while Mariska got what she wanted (more time off to spend with her young kids) and he left.
As for watching, at first I was a little hestitant but from the way it sounds, it sounds hopeful...but it will be very weird, very empty with Chris around. So, I've decided that I'll just take one episode at a time. I've heard that Elliot's departure will cover a good amount of episodes so I do want to be sure to watch those. After that, it's free-for-all. I'm just happy with the idea that Elliot is home with his wife and kids- Elliot and Kathy together forever and that Elliot didn't become a cheater to dump his wife for his female partner. Thank you thank you thank you
No comments:
Post a Comment