Law & Order: SVU’s Carisi seems to be on the decline.
Too many cases he’s working on remind him of how vulnerable his young daughters are, and to make matters worse, Rollins is out of town 95% of the time, so he’s left to handle it on his own.
Carisi’s family story is compelling, but can the police procedural succeed while keeping Rollins off the screen?
Carisi’s latest storyline explained
Carisi faced a case in Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 4 involving the brutal rape of two teenage girls, one of whom died as a result.
His mood starts to go downhill when he sees a monster leering at nine-year-old Jesse.
Confronting the man wasn’t necessarily wrong, but leaving Jesse waiting on the corner while he got in front of him was risky in many ways.
Someone else might have taken Jesse away while he wasn’t looking, or the situation might have escalated because of the way he confronted that person.
Still, Carisi was content to berate the man, especially given the leering and catcalling common on city streets.
Carisi has since redoubled his zeal as he prosecutes a potentially critical case, and his emotional response hints at something deeper going on.
Many fans speculated that Carisi was slow to respond to Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 2, a cold case in which a woman accused her powerful stepfather of molesting her when she and Jesse were about the same age.
That may well be the case, and if so, Rollins’ MIA status could either exacerbate or weaken it.
Rollins’ new job takes her away from her family, but also weakens the story
Of course, Rollins’ absence was explained behind the scenes as Kelly Giddish not being a full-time cast member.
On screen, there’s a semi-logical reason for her absence: her work in intelligence took her around the world.
I can’t decide how I feel about this story. Carisi seems fine with Rollins traveling a lot, but Rollins’ absence means he has to raise his three children alone.
It’s been tough, especially since Carisi fears for their safety because of what she’s seen recently at work.
In a way, Rollins looks bad because he was out of town when this happened.
Even if she can’t be in every episode, why can’t there be any one-sided phone calls that at least give fans the illusion that Rollins and Carisi are actually talking to each other about their kids when she’s not home?
I loved Carisi’s conversation with Benson about raising pre-teen girls, but he was also supposed to be talking to Jesse’s mother, Rollins, and it felt weird that he didn’t.
I’m not saying Carisi shouldn’t have spoken to Benson separately, but it wouldn’t have made sense for him to not contact Rollins immediately after being confronted by a pedophile eyeing Jesse.
It seems like something you’d want to tell another parent right away, no matter where they are in the world at the time.
Rollins doesn’t have to be on screen all the time to make this relationship work
Long-distance relationships are common when one or both parents often work out of town, and the core premise of Law & Order: SVU is that Carisi, who spends most of her time raising her children, is attractive.
There aren’t a lot of single dads or dads balancing work and family responsibilities on TV – as a society, most TV shows still feature traditional gender roles when it comes to parenting.
Look at how FBI: Most Wanted handles Nina and Scola as an example of how to do this well.
Their storyline was more challenging because the two starred in different shows within the series, but they made it work. While one parent is away, the other parent may call or mention their relationship.
However, what Law & Order: SVU’s Carisi storyline is doing is like the FBI has a story about Scola having parenting issues with Dougie, but Nina is never mentioned, not even in passing mentioned.
Ridiculous, right? So why does “Law & Order: SVU” do this?
The difference is that Scola and Nina were main characters in every episode of their respective shows, even if they didn’t have a scene together, which made it easier to mention their relationship and phone calls in the scripts.
Rollins’ absence was due to the limited screen time available to her character as she was in a state of flux.
Still, there are a few tricks the show could use to make it look like Rollins is there even when she’s not, like the one-sided phone call I mentioned earlier.
The Best Solution Is Law & Order: SVU’s Carisi and Rollins Will Get Their Own Spinoff
Any Rollins/Carisi storyline on Law & Order: SVU will be lost in the shuffle, even if Rollins is fully involved.
In the early days of SVU, there was always a side story about Stabler and his family that had as much time as this week’s case. However, Carisi and Rollins aren’t as central to the story as Stabler was back then, so at best, they only get a few scenes and 90% or more of the episode is focused on the case superior.
The best solution seems to be to create a spin-off series featuring Rollins and Carisi, focusing on their life together and Rollins’ work for the intelligence community.
Cases and personal storylines intersect naturally on a show like this, and they don’t compete with other actors for screen time.
Law & Order: SVU fans, what do you think?
Do Carisi and Rollins need their own spinoff? Will Rollin’s absence negatively impact the story?
Come to the comment area to express your thoughts!
Law & Order: SVU airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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