I watched the season premiere of @nbcsvu “Guardians and Gladiators” and here are some of my thoughts.

Firstly, this is the first time I’ve watched a full episode of SVU since the Wentworth Miller episode and before that, Raúl’s exit episode. That being said, I do think the episode was well done. It touched on things that are necessary without begging for sympathy, imo.

I REALLY loved the scene between @FINALLEVEL and @DemoreBarnes. You could see how tired Garland and Fin are in their own ways, Garland with his weary certainty of changing tides and Fin with his certainty nothing will EVER change. Really strong from both of them.

I also appreciate seeing Fin’s struggle between knowing he didn’t like what was happening with Jayvon’s arrest and still feeling like he had to back up Liv. “Captain didn’t do anything wrong.” Didn’t she? Didn’t you feel it, too? Subtle line but I liked it.

I also really enjoyed Blake Anthony Morris’s performance as Jayvon Brown and Aimé Donna Kelly’s performance as Captain Curry. I LOVED how unforgiving they were of Liv. It didn’t come off as nasty, just as pure EXHAUSTION because they’ve seen this shit before, they’re sick of it.

“If you’re suggesting that I’m biased, I’m not.”
“I’m going to stop you there before you tell me you’re an ally.”
POINTING OUT OTHERS’ OVERT RACISM WHILST BURYING YOUR OWN BIASES DOES NOT MAKE YOU AN ADVOCATE, IT DOES NOT MAKE YOU AN ALLY AND IT DOES NOT ABSOLVE YOU.

A solid chunk of this episode focused on Liv being in denial of her obvious biases and this isn’t even the first time we’ve seen that. I think back to Community Policing a LOT and I cannot imagine anyone saying this episode is OOC for her if you think about her behavior in CP.

This episode was a partial character study for someone who finally is FORCED to recognize some nasty things about herself, much like MANY people in the world should or maybe started to do recently. It starts there. Admitting it and actively trying to change are two different

things but IT STARTS THERE and I really liked that this episode didn’t necessarily end with a plea for the viewers to feel sorry for Liv. Yes, she says she has a lot of work to do (after stalking someone she wrongfully arrested at the park, mind stop that) BUT I’m so pleased

Jayvon didn’t forgive her. He didn’t try to placate her the way Sky placated Amanda in “Service.” He agreed that Liv has work to do then turned his back on her. As @damn_antihero perfectly summed up, Jayvon left Liv sit with her guilt and I thought that was perfect.

To be honest, I wasn’t super compelled by the other plot of this episode. It felt kind of goofy. I’m not sure whether Amanda calling Sonny “Dominick” is supposed to be a sign of friendship but it feels condescending. I saw people upset about him smacking the file cabinet and

yelling but he’s always been loud when he’s frustrated. Remember “Genes” when he full on got in Barba’s face or when he like, got physical with Tommy in “Parole Violations”? It’s not out of the realm of his character to be a hothead. Did think the grand jury scenes were goofy.

THOUGH, interesting that the white perp still got away with it by playing against the grand jury’s distrust of the police—and even the also white ADA who is, by virtue of his association with the police, someone who cannot be trusted in that particular moment.

Anyway, overall, the episode was stronger than I expected and I think it had some really nice character moments. Oh, I did also like the casual mention of Kat’s bisexuality. So yeah. Perhaps will watch again next week!