Summary
The 500th episode of Law & Order severed an original link between the flagship show and the spinoff series.
Price shouldn’t have prosecuted the case as he isn’t part of the SVU branch of the DA’s office.
This canon issue could have been solved by a crossover episode or offscreen mention.
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A recent Law & Order story disrupted the link between the original series and its current spin-offs. The iconic NBC series has been a mainstay on NBC for over 20 years, although there was a 10-year hiatus between seasons 20 and 21. It is part of a three-hour block of Law & Order shows, all of which take place in the same universe and which sometimes feature crossovers with one another. This series focuses on homicides, while Law & Order: SVU takes rape, incest, and child abduction cases and Law & Order: Organized Crime follows complex investigations into mob bosses.
Shortly after Law & Order was confirmed for season 24, it broadcast its 500th episode. In honor of this milestone, the series offered a compelling story involving a rapist who made parole after only five years behind bars and killed a therapist who supported his parole bid within days of his release. The episode addressed the aftermath of Jack McCoy (Sam Waterson) leaving Law & Order as well as featuring many of the tropes that have made the series so popular. However, one aspect of the story contradicted established canon.
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How Law & Order’s 500th Episode Contradicted Established Canon
Price’s Involvement In This Case Contradicted The Rules
The 500th episode of Law & Order revolved around ADA Nolan Price’s ethical dilemma after a rapist he brokered a plea deal with for a short sentence committed a violent rape/murder shortly after release. Price had agreed to a plea bargain in which the perp got only five years behind bars for aggravated rape because the victim was so traumatized that she didn’t want to testify. This plot was realistic, considering the overworked New York City justice system. However, this story violated a key aspect of how cases are prosecuted in the Law & Order franchise.
When Law & Order SVU’s Dominique Carisi changed career paths and became an ADA instead of a cop, he joined a breach of the DA’s office that was formed specifically to prosecute rapes and other SVU cases. As ADAs, Carisi and Price both report to the same district attorney. However, Price should not have prosecuted this case because he does not work for the special victims branch of the DA’s office. The episode did not offer any explanation about this contradiction, instead proceeding as if rape cases fall under the regular DA’s office.
Law & Order’s 500th Episode Ignored SVU’s Existence Altogether
Nobody Suggested Speaking to SVU About a Case That Was Firmly In Their Wheelhouse
It would have made sense for Price to consult with Law & Order: SVU’s Olivia Benson or another member of her staff on this case. The case involved a brutal rape/homicide that Price was having trouble proving was connected to a previous rape. Additionally, Baxter demanded that Price prep a traumatized victim for trial and do his best to alleviate her anxiety so she could effectively implicate the defendant. These issues are SVU’s area of expertise, especially Benson, so the logical thing to do would have been to consult her about the best way to proceed.
Price’s insistence that he had to plead the case out to protect Chelsea from unnecessary trauma would have been stronger had he consulted with Benson about the issue, as Benson is an expert in how to take a trauma-informed approach to questioning sexual assault survivors.
In the past, Mariska Hargitay has appeared briefly in Law & Order as Olivia Benson so that Benson can advise the detectives about a case that is in her wheelhouse. This time, nobody involved in the case floated the idea of consulting SVU about the case. Instead, the story progressed as if SVU didn’t exist and the entire burden of investigating and prosecuting a serial rapist was on the cops and prosecutors involved in the case. This omission further cemented the idea that Law & Order exists in a separate universe from the rest of the franchise despite past crossovers.
The
Law & Order
franchise has not had any crossovers between any of its shows during the shortened 2024 season.
A Crossover Or Offscreen Mention Would Have Solved This Problem Without Changing the Story
Price Still Could Have Faced The Same Dilemma Even If Benson Had Helped
Law & Order might have omitted references to SVU because it wanted to focus solely on the original series for the 500th episode. This is unfortunate because a crossover appearance wouldn’t have been distracting. Instead, it likely would have made the story even more powerful. Price’s insistence that he had to plead the case out to protect Chelsea from unnecessary trauma would have been stronger had he consulted with Benson about the issue, as Benson is an expert in how to take a trauma-informed approach to questioning sexual assault survivors.
Benson’s brief appearance would have enhanced an already strong story about Price’s ethical dilemma and his conflict with Baxter about how to handle it. The only difference would have been that Price would have had some input from Benson to bolster his case that Chelsea should not be forced to testify. Benson’s appearance could have also foreshadowed the reveal at the end of the episode that Chelsea had been hospitalized for attempting to end her life. Benson might have warned Price about this possibility, which would have made the reveal even more impactful.
If the series had gone this route, its 500th episode would probably have stood out as one of Law & Order’s best crossover episodes. Instead, this milestone episode came across as a standard episode of Law & Order as well as one that contradicted the franchise’s canon. This is unfortunate because the episode contained a strong story that would have been more memorable had Law & Order not ignored its relevance to one of its spin-offs.
There may have been logistical or financial issues that precluded the possibility of a crossover during the episode. If this were the case, the story still could have kept the SVU connection alive by having the characters mention that they consulted Benson off-screen or depicting a one-sided phone call. If Law & Order had used either of these options, it would have kept the series connected to the spin-offs even if it was not possible to include a crossover appearance.
Law & Order’s Ignoring SVU Might Have Been a Callback to the Original Series’ Origin
Before Law & Order: SVU’s Creation, The Original Series Sometimes Investigated Rapes
The detectives on Law & Order have always worked in the homicide unit, but before Law & Order: SVU began in 1999, the original series sometimes investigated rape-related homicides, missing children cases, and other cases that are now associated with SVU. Thus, the series may have decided to have the characters investigate a rape/homicide without SVU’s help as a callback to Law & Order’s first few seasons, in honor of reaching the 500 episode milestone. Unfortunately, doing this without explaining its purpose contradicted established canon for no apparent reason and made it seem as if this series is set in an alternate universe where SVU does not exist.
CURRENT LAW & ORDER SERIES AND WHEN THEY BEGAN
Series
Start Date
Law & Order
September 13, 1990 (rebooted February 24, 2022)
Law & Order: SVU
September 20, 1999
Law & Order: Organized Crime
April 1, 2021
Law & Order might have wanted to have a standalone episode in honor of having reached 500 episodes, but simply ignoring Law & Order: SVU’s existence to do so didn’t work well. The series had many options, from a full crossover to a few lines of dialogue, to enhance this story by including SVU characters. Furthermore, it failed to explain why Price contradicted established canon by taking a case that Law & Order: SVU’s Dominique Carisi should have prosecuted. Omitting SVU in this manner severed the ties between Law & Order and its spinoffs and made it feel as if this series was set in a separate universe from the rest of the franchise.
Law & Order
airs on NBC on Thursdays and streams on Peacock.
Law & Order
The beginning of the long-running franchise Law & Order is a crime-drama series created by Dick Wolf and launched on NBC in 1990. The series follows the day-to-day lives of detectives and legal professionals in New York who are involved in apprehending and prosecuting dangerous criminals.
Cast George Dzundza , Chris Noth , Dann Florek , Michael Moriarty , Richard Brooks , Steven Hill , Paul Sorvino , Carolyn McCormick , Jerry Orbach , S. Epatha Merkerson , Jill Hennessy , Sam Waterston , Benjamin Bratt , Carey Lowell , Angie Harmon , Jesse L. Martin , Dianne Wiest , Elisabeth Rohm
Release Date September 13, 1990
Seasons 23
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