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I’ve been critical of Law & Order: SVU Season 26, but when it gets it right, it REALLY hits hard.Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18 (“The Accuser”) had everything that I love about this show.It didn’t hold back, but it also didn’t hit the audience over the head with its message — and that’s especially important when it explores issues like the relationship between trauma and crime.
(Peter Kramer/NBC)Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18 Blurred The Line Between Victim And Perpetrator“The Accuser” focused on the blurry line between victim and perpetrator, which allowed it to ask some difficult, hard-hitting questions.As the episode began, Eddie Upshaw seemed like the least likely person to ever become the victim of a violent crime, which is TV speak for him having a terrible secret that needed to come to light.Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18 Quietly Addresses the Harsh Truth About Trauma and Criminalityby Jack OriFound Season 2 Episode 18 Recap: Missing While Heather Concludes Jamie’s Mystery & Expands Lena’s!by Jasmine BluWhat Is the Point of Wicked’s Ethan Slater on Elsbeth Season 2 Episode 17?by Joshua PlemingThe case moved swiftly from a simple case of a man potentially being attacked by his disgruntled teenage employee to a sexual abuser who had been grooming kids for at least 20 years.
Once Eddie became both a victim and a perpetrator, the case got messy. The cops couldn’t ignore what had been done to him, but Benson was as disgusted and frustrated as the situation deserved.Benson: I can’t ignore the fact that if this trial had happened today, Eddie Upshaw would get the prison sentence he deserved.
What happened next addressed an issue that’s close to my heart: the way the criminal justice system treats trauma survivors.Angela Jones grew from an abused eight-year-old to a teenager who acted out and used drugs to escape her pain, which landed her in prison. (Peter Kramer/NBC)Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18 Subtly Showed The Relationship Between Untreated Trauma and Criminal BehaviorMy special interest as a social worker was criminal justice reform, and I met so many clients in my internships whose only crime was using drugs to escape the trauma they’d suffered.
This was especially clear in Angela’s case. She was thirteen when she started using, and she wasn’t selling — she was in prison (and now on parole) for simple possession.The episode didn’t make a big deal out of that.
It mentioned it, had Benson say a few words about how trauma and crime had now intersected, and moved on.Fortunately, Benson understood Angela’s trauma better than most. (Peter Kramer/NBC)Angela was arrested after a foot chase, and her only comment was, “Get your goddamn hands off of me!”That was not exactly a subtle reference to the trauma she suffered, but it offered the opportunity to quietly critique the way cops often deal (or don’t) with suspects’ trauma histories.
Although Curry said that she hated having to use cuffs on Angela, it wasn’t clear until her conversation with Benson that Curry understood why Angela was acting the way that she did.Should 9-1-1’s Next Disaster Be More Grounded in Reality?by Whitney EvansNewsflash! The Disposal of Female Leads Doesn’t “Rebrand” Series; It Kills Themby Jasmine BluPulse’s Biggest Pitfall? Fixating on The Worst It Had to Offer Instead of the Bestby Jasmine BluAngela’s decision to run, her defiance and attempt to fight back by biting a uniformed officer, and her response upon being cuffed were all related to her childhood trauma, and the experience of being thrown against a cop car and cuffed probably retraumatized her.Of course, the cops had to arrest her — there was probable cause to believe she had assaulted and sodomized her attacker, and nobody was going to ignore that because of her trauma history.
However, her trauma-based decisions led to the cops feeling justified in using violence, which retraumatized her further.That’s part of the cycle of trauma that Benson mentioned at the end of the hour, just as much as the violent crime she committed in response to the violence she’d suffered was. (Peter Kramer/NBC)Benson Responded To Angela’s Pain Perfectly, But That’s A FantasyBenson once again proved that she’s the kind of cop many real-life survivors wish they had crossed paths with.
She understood Angela’s pain implicitly. She used her empathy and understanding to get Angela to talk about what had happened to her and admit to what she’d done in response.Benson: You throw your life away, you let guys like that win.
Angela: He already won, Captain. There isn’t a day that what he did isn’t on the top of my mind. He didn’t just scar me once.
He scarred me everyday. So what happens now? I go back to prison? Cause it was worth it.Benson: We get you a lawyer and figure this out.
Then she got a lawyer and made sure the justice system treated her more fairly than it had ever done before. (Peter Kramer/NBC)Sometimes, advocates for police reform get frustrated with scenarios like the one on Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18 because they suggest that most real-life cops already have the type of empathetic response that Benson exudes.I get that, but I see it differently.
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Instead, she simply did something most cops wouldn’t do in real life. She put Angela’s needs over the state’s need to score a major conviction, secured her a lawyer, and worked with Carisi to ensure she got a fair deal. (Peter Kramer/NBC)Random Thoughts About Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18Carisi was far more tolerable than he has been for a while.
Hopefully, that means his own poor response to trauma is over for the time being.I liked Sam turning to Bruno. It was silly for Benson to be worried about Bruno meeting with a traumatized suspect without backup when we all know she would do the same thing if she thought she could help.
When we first learned that Eddie had sexually abused Sam, I thought maybe Sam’s father already knew and was the one who attacked Eddie.Eddie’s ex-wife had only a few scenes, but she was the real villain here (besides Eddie, of course). She’s the one who was so deep in denial she refused to believe a traumatized little girl 20 years ago and was still insisting that Eddie did nothing wrong after another victim came forward.
(Peter Kramer/NBC)Over to you, SVU fanatics.What did you think about the case and the issues raised on Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 18?Vote in our poll to rank the episode, then hit the comments with your thoughts.Anonymous VoteSign in with WordPressRate Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 185 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 StarVote×Username or Email AddressPasswordLog InNo account? Register hereForgot passwordLaw & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c and streams on Peacock on Fridays.
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