Law & Order: SVU“Authority”
Original airdate: April 29, 2008
Kara – TwoCents Reviewer
This week was the big Robin Williams guest appearance we’ve been hearing so much about and for the most part, it lived up to all the hype. The episode starts out in a fast food chain called HappiBurger, where Dwight Lomax (Scott Adsit from 30 Rock) is holding a young, female employee hostage. He says he got a phone call from detective Milgrim who instructed him to strip search the employee and keep her there until he can get there. There are a few problems with this: she’s underage, he has no right to do that and oh yes, there’s no detective Milgrim. After hearing the entire explanation in interrogation, Stabler just looks at Lomax and says, “You’re an idiot.” It’s such a simple line but it’s amazing. We quickly find out there’s a website warning about the HappiHoaxer, who calls fast food places and tries to get employees to commit various criminal acts, telling them they have police authority to do so. Enter Robin Williams.
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Law & Order: SVU
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Original airdate: April 29, 2008
Kara – TwoCents Reviewer
This week was the big Robin Williams guest appearance we’ve been hearing so much about and for the most part, it lived up to all the hype. The episode starts out in a fast food chain called HappiBurger, where Dwight Lomax (Scott Adsit from 30 Rock) is holding a young, female employee hostage. He says he got a phone call from detective Milgrim who instructed him to strip search the employee and keep her there until he can get there. There are a few problems with this: she’s underage, he has no right to do that and oh yes, there’s no detective Milgrim. After hearing the entire explanation in interrogation, Stabler just looks at Lomax and says, “You’re an idiot.” It’s such a simple line but it’s amazing. We quickly find out there’s a website warning about the HappiHoaxer, who calls fast food places and tries to get employees to commit various criminal acts, telling them they have police authority to do so. Enter Robin Williams.
Four Things That Made This a Really Great Episode and One Thing That Made it Terrible:
1. Robin Williams as Merritt Rook. He was perfect. He was just the right amount of creepy that he wasn’t exactly disturbing but you also didn’t want to be stuck on a bus ride with him either. My favorite part of his portrayal of this role was that it didn’t feel like I’m Robin Williams And I’m on SVU. He really fell into the character and was completely believable. The only time I was completely aware it was indeed Robin Williams in the role was when the detectives called various numbers Rook had given them and got different fake voices, one of which was very Mrs. Doubtfire. Good job, Robin Williams. He definitely should be looking for a Best Guest Star Emmy nomination this year. He probably won’t win but hey, it’s nice to be nominated, right?
2. Merritt Rook’s character was really fleshed out. He had a backstory, he had reasons for what he was doing and I really understood him as a character. Plain and simple, he made sense as an actual person and not just another creepy character committing crimes. Say that five times fast.
3. Casey showed up! Seriously, Casey was there! You know, ADA Casey Novak, as in half of the Law and Order title? And she actually had a purpose for being there! I know! She was fantastic. I loved how Rook played off of her, treating the entire court case like a game (because it was to him) and even trying to get a hug out of her at the end. Casey even had some decent lines, like when she told the jury “he’s impersonating an innocent man.” Nice. I know a lot of people don’t like Casey but I do and I’m glad to see she actually got more than one minute of screen time this week.
4. Munch and his conspiracy theories. Sure, when he first breaks into them, I roll my eyes and go, “Oh, Munch. This again?” But when they don’t happen I miss them so he can keep on ranting about who really killed who and what the government is actually doing to us all he wants. It’s classic SVU.
5. And here’s the bad one. On the list of classic SVU detective mistakes, going into a place without backup when you know the suspect and/or your partner is in there should be at the top of the list. Also, why Benson or Stabler would think it was a good idea to let someone you know is extremely manipulative bend down and tie his shoe is beyond me. The whole entire ending was terrible. Clearly, since the path he ran in led through extremely dense bushes into the water, he must be in the water. There’s no way possible he could have ended up in the bushes. No. Not at all. Big sigh. Lame.
So, what did you think? Leave your TwoCents in the comments and let me know how you felt about that ending. It was a twist all right. It was like amateur hour at the good old Special Victims Unit. Rook should have just pointed off to the right, said, “What’s that?” and ran for it.
I completely agree with you about the ending. Up until they left the recording studio, I was thinking that it was a great episode...and then he had to tie his shoe.
ReplyDeleteThe appearance by 30 Rock's Scott Adsit was cool for me, I'm a huge 30 Rock fan. That situation at a fast food chain with a manager taking instructions from a phone call to inspect and de-cloth an employee was a real-life situation.
Despite the ending, Robin Williams and his character were great!
This was more profound than most novels you read. The ending had flaws, but this was amazing. The whole meta-message on authority really comes through. The message of the story was so powerful, it reminded me of Melville's Benito Cereno. Not only that, it integrates real events (a la Law and Order) into the story. It has a super prolific plot filled with twists and turns that make your jaw drop. Rook's whole story about his wife and the doctor and the reasons for his actions provide such a great character depth.
ReplyDeleteSeeing this piece made me think this is not just the greatest SVU episode ever, not the greatest Law and Order episode, not the greatest TV episode ever, but one of the best works I've ever seen. I want to turn this episode into a novel it's that good, better than any crime drama you'll ever see. It gave me the feeling of seeing Apocalypse Now for the first time or Kafka. I swear it's that good.