Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 26 Episode 12 Review: Calculated

If there ever was a magic to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, this season has proven the magic might be gone. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 26 Episode 12, “Calculated,” is further proof of this.

What attracted so many viewers in the first place doesn’t seem to be there any longer. And even though the magic of Olivia Benson lives on (and it probably will never die), there have been times in which even Benson herself seems to be acting out of character.

Something stopped clicking during Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 25, and it has continued to be a mismatch throughout this season. The storylines aren’t what they used to be, and the team continues to be a combination of puzzle pieces that don’t fit together.

“Calculated” brings TARU back into action once more, and that continues to be the one thing the show has gotten right this season. Bringing that extra help that explores the cases deeper and allows viewers to understand the evidence better is key to the show.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit used to do this regularly when the show started. Why they stopped will forever go unanswered, but bringing it back might be the only thing that saves this season.

It does seem, however, that in order to bring TARU in, someone from the team has to sacrifice their onscreen time. Even though most of the squad works the case, Curry is absent. This makes us wonder again when the show will find the balance it once used to have.

The fact that characters like Fin, who have been around for decades, get a few lines here and there proves that the show continues to struggle to give everyone the storylines and the time they deserve.

Maybe by the end of the season, they will sort it out, but with the way everything is going, that seems unlikely.

While Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 26 Episode 12, “Calculated,” shows again that Benson is willing to do whatever it takes to help the victims, it presents us with the contradiction her character brings to the table when Carisi is ready to make a deal.

Many times in the past, Benson has made deals with suspects and perpetrators when that meant they could catch more bad guys. This time, she is ready to catch the college advisor and call it a day.

Nevertheless, Carisi’s intention to go after a bigger ring of pedophiles has a double purpose. He isn’t just doing it to catch more bad guys but because he will look good in front of his bosses after dropping the ball upon his return to work.

Still, it makes no sense that Olivia Benson would ever back away from the opportunity of bringing several abusers to justice. That is not the Benson that fights for her victims nor the “pain in the ass” that DA Nicholas Baxter claims she is.

Ultimately, because they are both so focused on holding their end of what they believe to be right, the case gets more complicated, jeopardizing the safety of a special needs adult who was simply enjoying an online game.

Silva’s guilt at bringing Matthew Daly into the case is completely understandable. The pressure Carisi put on the squad to get 50 offenders no matter what is clearly what pushes her to dismiss her gut feeling.

Benson being the one to eventually save the day does take away from the slight character development we could have seen in Silva. Instead of letting her character deal with the consequences of her actions, Benson steps in and saves the day. That is the usual for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but it doesn’t allow viewers to get to know (or like) Silva more.

However, what seems out of place in Silva’s storyline is that Bruno and Velasco bring up the difference between homicide and special victims unit. Yes, there absolutely is a difference, but this doesn’t seem to be the right case to point that out.

There are plenty of other cases in which Silva is working directly with a victim that can attest to the fact that it isn’t the same as seeing chalk marking where the victim died or speaking to a breathing person. But her issue with the case isn’t the victim.

Maybe this idea that Silva is struggling to transition from homicide to SVU should be re-addressed at a later time. It would make for great development in her storyline, but it must be tied correctly to the case being worked. Otherwise, it adds nothing to the storyline or who she is.

If those details aren’t enough to make us wonder if the episode is good or not, the squad and Carisi spend the entire case referring to the pedophiles as pedos. While this is a commonly used slang word, it feels out of place and disrespectful when the people working the case use it.

The combination of the failure of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 26 Episode 12, “Calculated,” continues to leave viewers wanting more of what they used to love. There’s still time for the season to change course and deliver better episodes.

While it’s true that not every episode this season has been disappointing, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is definitely not what it used to be.

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.

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