Law & Order SVU — s9e17 Authority

[Please be aware that it is recommended that you watch the episode before reading further as it discusses the plot in detail.]

I usually try to spread out and do episodes from different series but I had forgotten that this important episode was coming. This is the first episode of SVU I ever watched and it drew me in. It made me decide to binge the series from the beginning and that led to watching the original show and Criminal Intent in whatever order they showed on cable. So obviously I have to do this one even though we just did another SVU ep. It also happened to be the 200th episode of SVU, and probably because of that, it is a unique one that doesn’t follow the standard SVU formulas.

It begins at a Happiburger fast food restaurant that badly needs a Gus Fring but instead we got Pete from 30 Rock (Scott Adsit) as a manager who cuffed and striped an employee (Monica Raymund) in the manager’s office with “reinforced steel” door. A Detective Milgram told him on the phone that the employee had stolen from a customer.

By the way, the scene actually opened with a customer in line complaining about vomit at the bathroom door. If you’re eating Happiburger for lunch, in NYC, you should probably just get in and get out and not eat in there. Most definitely don’t use the bathroom.

Thankfully, we don’t spend much screentime at the fast food restaurant. If this crime sounds familiar to you, it may be because it is based on real life crimes (1994–2004). It may also be because there’s a movie four years after this episode titled Compliance starring Dreama Walker (Don’t Trust the B in Apt 23) and Ann Dowd. There’s also a Netflix docuseries called Don’t Pick Up the Phone aka Pervert: Hunting the Strip Search Caller in the UK from 2022. This episode is the least uncomfortable out of all mentioned above.

Some amazing convenience store cameras and even more amazing “enhance” power lead the detectives to a Merritt Rook played by special guest star Robin Williams. It’s Robin Williams in glasses so you know he’s up to something, in case you also missed his last name that he likes to play games?

A lot of the times when standups are cast in movies or tv shows, the incorporation of their materials and styles could be quite awkward. Almost every Robin Williams movies has montages of him doing various bits and characters. This episode did an amazing job in that aspect. It runs through the gamut of what we know Robin Williams can do in half a movie’s runtime. You get some Mrs Doubtfire and various voices on the phone, you get him representing himself in court and putting Taru to task, you get the quietly menacing Robin Williams and later on full on emotional dramatic backstory. It’s not surprising that he was nominated for an Emmy.

Successful guest star showcase aside, the crime procedural parts did suffer a bit. It was downright weird that they just open the door when Rook was faking voices on the phone. He could have easily opened the door while on the phone. Stabler lost Benson in Grand Central station also seems more convenient for the plot and run time than common sense. It also doesn’t make much sense that Benson would not cuff Rook at Grand Central. It also would have been more interesting if it wasn’t another Stabler saves Benson situation at the end and if they switched places. They also seem to want to leave the door open for a return of Rook and hence the clumsy ending. There is this best line of the episode though:

On the other hand, there is a somewhat celebratory pillow fight scene where everyone seemed to have had fun. There are a few great Munch moments during and after the pillow fight. Fin, Lake and Dr. Huang got one scene each. Overall it’s an extremely entertaining episode with an extraordinary guest star that unfortunately has dumbed down some of our characters actions.

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April 29th, 2008

While 30 Rock was about to finish its second season, Baby Mama was atop the box office. Leona Lewis topped both album and single charts in the US. Grand Theft Auto IV became the fastest selling videogame of all time, until Grand Theft Auto V.

Robin Williams was between August Rush and Night at the Museum 2. We had seen him a few years earlier as not just more serious but villainous in the Insomnia, One Hour Photo, and The Final Cut.

The word “sheep” used in this episode’s context has dated back to Julius Caesar and probably the Bible. The term evolved into “sheeple” in the 40s according to the Oxford English Dictionary. I feel like it gained popularity in the 90s when chubby drug-addicted right wing radio talk show host started using it. Interesting that in the episode, Rook feels that he was the sheep for not challenging the doctor and most recently, the anti-vax/mask crowds are the ones most likely to call the other side sheep even though they all get their talking points from the same “fair and balanced” and “do your own research” news channels and podcasts.

RIP