When Law & Order: Special Victims Unit first aired, it was primarily centered around the detectives, but as the show went on, we learned that it takes a village to reach a conclusion, and there’s often outside help. Season 2 introduced us to that outside help in the form of new characters, ADA Alex Cabot (Stephanie March) and psychiatrist Dr. Huang (BD Wong). Both characters brought a new dynamic to the cases in the show, with Cabot bringing her law expertise, and Huang getting deep inside the minds of both the perps and the victims. Carisi (Peter Scanavino) has taken over as the squad’s ADA, but there has notably been no psychiatrist since Huang departed.
Dr. Huang hasn’t returned to SVU since Season 17, meaning it’s been nearly a decade since we last saw the character. It’s been clear that SVU has been spinning its wheels for a while. Many characters have departed the series, including Stabler (Christopher Meloni). The stories have gotten dull and repetitive, and even when they get dark, they’re not as twisted as they once were. This is why rehiring a psychiatrist would be a hugely beneficial move, not only for the squad, but for the show in general.
Dr. Huang Was the Moral Center of ‘Law & Order: SVU’
But Huang wasn’t just beneficial in how he helped with twisted cases — he also helped the squad through their own personal issues. He helped Benson through her trauma and Stabler through his divorce, and he helped both of them better themselves by educating them on mental illness, trauma, and human behavior. Dr. Huang was the perfect juxtaposition to Benson (and particularly Stabler) for this reason. Both detectives led with their emotions and their gut instincts, which is to be expected in their line of work. But Dr. Huang is much more reserved and analytical. He sits back and takes everything in, and only then would he form his own opinion. It’s a power balance that was fascinating to watch unfold. He was always well respected, yet he often butted heads with the detectives when they would disagree over a case. That dynamic is sorely missing from the newer seasons. It’s rare when we see someone challenge the detectives now, or give a unique perspective on a case.
‘Law & Order: SVU’ Needs a Psychiatrist on the Crime Squad Again
All procedural shows have their fair share of disturbing episodes, but SVU bases its entire plot around the disturbing and traumatizing cases. Many of the cases investigated either involve sex crimes, children, or crimes against the elderly. They’re especially touchy topics, which means that the victims who come into the squad room require a certain level of care that was once provided, but it isn’t available anymore. The same goes for the perps. We used to get a deep dive into some of the perps and get some answers as to why they did what they did. It doesn’t erase their crime, but it gives some answers, and in some less extreme cases, these people can get help. Now, though, there is no psychiatrist on the squad, so we rarely get into the nitty-gritty details of why these crimes were committed, making the stories feel exploitative and hollow.
A recent example is the Season 26 episode “Aperture”, in which an assault is witnessed, and the detectives are led to stepsiblings Josie (Ava Jean) and Atlas (Tristan Spohn), who were forced at gunpoint to have sex. But it’s eventually revealed that Atlas has been taking inappropriate pictures of Josie without her consent and that he raped her. To make things even more twisted, he doesn’t see what he did as wrong. He talks about how he’s in love with her, and how he wants to hear her voice one last time, but he never acknowledges the crime he committed or the trauma he inflicted upon his stepsister. This is the exact kind of case that would benefit from a psychiatrist on the squad. Atlas clearly needs help since he doesn’t see what he did as wrong and believes that Josie loves him like he loves her. It’s such a disturbing case and one that should have spent a bit more time digging into not only the perp, but the aftermath for the victim as well. Without a psychiatrist on the squad there’s only so much that can be done, and the show loses its emotional impact at times because of it.
That’s not to say SVU needs to bring back Dr. Huang specifically, though that would be incredible. Any psychiatrist would bring so much to the show again. There’s so much more storytelling that can be done when the show dives into the minds of the perps and the victims, and it was fascinating anytime it explored that during Dr. Huang’s time on the show. The show just hasn’t been the same since he’s been gone, but there’s time to remedy that in Season 27 by bringing back the psychiatry angle and digging into the dark stories that made SVU so revolutionary.
