Law & Order: SVU had to drop Kelli Giddish’s Amanda Rollins to improve

Both real and fictional law enforcement have undergone a reckoning, albeit a confusing one, in recent years. Following the murder of George Floyd and the resurgence of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, many wondered: when cop shows were over. Law & Order: Organized Crime dropped its showrunner Craig Gore amid controversial Facebook comments about the 2020 protests (the show has since five showrunners in his three-year tenure). And yet, last year the original law & order was risen, and the sister Chicago P.D The law enforcement franchise is doing well, so it seems like cop shows are doubling down.

Despite this, cop shows no longer exist apolitically and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Actress Kelli Giddish appears to have been a victim of the Law & Order reorganization as her departure was announced in advance CSR‘s 24th season premiere on Thursday. But this author won’t miss Giddish’s Detective Amanda Rollins and her legacy of victim blaming and slut-shaming, and her departure shows just how far the Law & Order universe has to go.

This isn’t a celebration of actress Kelli Giddish’s departure Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – the was not by itself, and was cited by the series’ new showrunner, David Graziano, as only part of the “complex” behind-the-scenes creative and financial decisions that guide the show — but rather than her character’s. Giddish’s Amanda Rollins entered the Dick Wolf television universe as a member of CSR‘s elite roster for the show’s 13th season following the departure of Chris Melonis’ equally troubled detective Elliot Stabler (who now reprises that role in Organised crime, as well as plenty of cameos in the spinoff that made him famous). And she quickly (and often) became an example of pushing the limits of cop shows to truly protect and serve their communities. She’s judgmental, accusatory, and probably more conservative than we know, if her defense of an Ann Coulter-esque political expert in the season 19 episode “Info Wars” is any indication.

Photo: Virginia Sherwood/NBC

In later seasons, we find out that Rollins was raped by her former captain in Atlanta, who attacks another deputy in the season 16 episode “Forgiving Rollins.” “She’ll get over it,” Rollins says dismissively, clearly projecting her own trauma onto this survivor because Rollins had to do it herself. It is a reaction that contradicts the how CSR was then received as a species justice wish fulfillment for survivors who hoped their assaults would be treated with as much care as the dedicated detectives investigating these vicious crimes each week on NBC, but especially for Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), the patron saint of rape avengers.

Rollins was hard to forgive compared to Benson afterwards, despite all the baggage we have to find out about her, particularly in regards to her sister, the enraged Kim, played with aplomb by Lindsay Pulsipher. Having such messy relatives should make Rollins relatable and personable. And yet her story is always poorly written, making for the least charitable read about her as a character who stunts her growth, with her double superiority complex seemingly rising above her toxic family but always regressing.

While we have empathy for Rollins and understand why she is sometimes suspicious of survivors who, in her opinion, are not behaving properly, she doesn’t bring the same empathy to her work. A half-hearted act of going to therapy to process her toxic upbringing ended with her being held hostage (and that’s it). The episode that really got me into the character was season 19’s “Service,” when Rollins asks why SVU “gives[s] damn” about sex workers being attacked. For a detective tasked with bringing rapists to justice to have such a mockery of a group of people in between 45% to 75% likelihood of experiencing sexual violence at workaccording to the Urban Justice Center, is disgusting.

And that’s where Rollins represents the uphill battle CSR and his brothers still work badly. The show’s “snatched from the headlines” scheme doesn’t always leave enough distance for these newsworthy crimes CSR treating them with the sensitivity they warrant (ie a problem with the true crime genre in general). CSR had the opportunity to change the portrayal of police work in the late 2020 return of season 22; However, many will argue that the damage the franchise has done to police perceptions over the course of two decades cannot be undone in a matter of months. As it was, the season 22 premiere episode picked up white woman Amy Cooper calling the police of black bird watcher Christian Cooper (no relationship) at The Ramble in Central Park, which occurred on the same day as George Floyd’s murder , without bothering to unpack the racist reckoning of This Summer with the diligence that made survivors fall in love with the show. With CSR Dealing with the Amber Heard/Johnny Depp case in the upcoming season 24 and with the overturning of Roe v. calf Earlier this year, the show will likely incorporate more storylines ripped from the headlines into its scheme.

It’s not Detective Rollins CSRs only problem; She’s just part of a larger problem with cop shows and law enforcement more broadly. She was saved from ever growing up and having to learn from her mistakes. Getting rid of them won’t solve them all law & order problem, but it’s at least a step in the right direction.