TV Show Review

TV Review: LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Season 16, Episode 23: Surrendering Noah

NBC’s Law and Order Special Victims Unit Surrendering Noah   TV Show Review. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 16, Episode 23: Surrendering Noah ended the season with another episode revolving around Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her fight for her child Noah Porter (Bradley Dubow).  Benson has been fighting for parental rights with Noah since the beginning of the season. The fight finally came to an end in this episode as Johnny D (Charles Halford), Noah’s biological father, dies in a shooting by our lovely detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) after Johnny D tries to run out of court holding a security officer at gunpoint. This was convenient for Benson, making Noah officially hers without any prolonged fears of the biological parent coming to claim him. I mean Benson still has the fight in her but at some point the kid had to become hers. The show prolonged this story to the end of the season making it seem like the show may come to an end.

It was frustrating to see that a man convicted of rape, murder, and sex trafficking fighting for a son that he had no intention of taking care of. The show did a good job of creating anticipation leading up to Johnny D’s trial with the murder of the pimp, Timmer (Jas Anderson) by another convict, Selena Cruz (Laura Gomez) who was siding with Johnny D. When that failed Barba and Benson quickly began to realize that Johnny D had a lot of “friends” helping on the outside. When Benson approaches a group of Johnny D’s rape victims to testify, she hands Ariel Thornhill (Danika Yarosh) a fearless necklace. This definitely could have gone in the wrong direction in the trial by making her look like she was bribing her to testify against Johnny D. Either way, it all worked out for her as Johnny D started shooting and left Amaro down with two bullets in him.

On a side note, we see Benson on the same page as Lt. Tucker (Robert John Burke) when it comes to not promoting Amaro to the Sargent positon. Tucker and Benson are usually never on the same page but Benson does not put up a solid fight with Tucker and Tucker remains calm and friendly with her. Is the show setting the stage up something next season? Well we do find out later that Amaro is leaving the show. He is moving to California to be closer with his family. After his four years with SVU, he is ready to move on to other things. Many fans probably wondered why Amaro left in crutches and not dead. Looks like the producer wanted the option of bringing Amaro back into SVU. Benson and Amaro have an intimate moment in the end when he claims that he knows he wasn’t what her old partner was to her. She says, “No, you weren’t. I grew more in my last four years with you than I did in the twelve years that I was with him. You know that relationship – whatever it was – didn’t allow for anything else. But with you – with your support – I have a family.” This was, I am sure, hurtful to all the Stabler (Chris Meloni) fans out there that never wanted him to leave the show. Amaro did a good job filling the role post Stabler and of course Benson has to make him feel valued about it but I guess there is no winning the fans over. Stabler and Benson had a great relationship but Stabler was way more damaged than Amaro and let’s face it, Benson couldn’t leave Stabler’s side- ever. There is point to her statement as she did finally get the family she desired. So now that Amaro is leaving, who will be replacing him in the next season? Will Stabler return? Will Benson be able to obtain her duties as a Lieutenant and a mother? I guess we will have to wait and see.

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Shivangi Patel

A native Californian and Finance grad that is a former blogger for various fashion sites and dabbles in creative writing. Enjoys watching TV and writing about it. In addition to writing she spends her days as a Client Services Manager for a financial services firm, volunteering with non-profit organizations, and embracing her inner foodie by trying new restaurants around Los Angeles.
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