Law & Order: SVU is at its best when Olivia Benson faces off with people who think they are above the law.
The series has had many such stories, but Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 6 was among the most satisfying.
Sadly, it’s mostly fantasy for someone like Raymond Ellis to so quickly be knocked off his pedestal, but it’s the type of story we desperately need right now.
The Ellis Family Got Away With Everything — Until They Met Benson
Discovering that the Ellis brothers were involved with raping Skylar and other women at lavish parties was the easy part.
They didn’t do all that much to cover their tracks because they didn’t have to.
Many victims didn’t bother reporting them because it was common knowledge that nothing would happen, and if they did get into trouble, their father was more than willing to throw his weight around.
That made every aspect of Benson and Carisi’s attempt to hold the Ellises accountable so satisfying.
I had to laugh at the way Benson burst into their video shoot and arrested the brothers without bothering to insist they put on shirts before they were handcuffed and led away.
That was the first time anyone had dared go this far in prosecuting them for their crimes, and they were smug enough to insist it was all a misunderstanding while being dragged away.
That set up Benson’s determination to show them that they weren’t as untouchable as they thought — and because this was Benson, she was going to get there one way or the other.
Unfortunately, first she had to deal with Raymond Ellis.
It Was Almost Too Easy for Benson to Throw Ellis Out of the Precinct
Don’t get me wrong — I loved the way Benson handled the overly entitled Ellis patriarch.
Raymond Ellis: What’s your name?
Benson: Captain Benson. I can spell it for you. Would you like my badge number too?
Ellis: I just might.
Benson: I’d be happy to give it to you… as soon as you leave my precinct.
It was clear Raymond Ellis wasn’t used to being told he couldn’t be where he wanted to be, but he was probably even more frustrated that he couldn’t intimidate Benson.
Benson’s resolve was so strong that even Ellis’ team tried to convince him to leave — and he finally did.
It seemed strange, though, that the only follow-up was Ellis screaming that Benson didn’t know who she was dealing with when she arrested him at the end of the hour.
He was apparently all bluster and didn’t plan at all for the possibility of Benson standing up to him.
Bullies often are cowardly like that, but at the same time, it didn’t make sense.
When someone is not used to being stood up to, usually their first line of defense is to double down on attempts to control the situation.
Ellis never tried to file a complaint or otherwise interfere with Benson’s job, even though he successfully got a detective demoted to traffic patrol for arresting Nathan for drunk driving and causing a fatal crash.
Granted, Deputy Feldman probably backed down more easily — after all, he advised Benson to “look the other way” if the Ellises committed crimes — but still, a man who does stuff like that doesn’t give up altogether because a cop freely offered her badge number so that he can file a complaint.
I guess Ellis was so sure he could intimidate his way into a not guilty verdict for his sons that he didn’t want to expend energy on retaliating against Benson until after the trial was over.
The Trial Portion Was Pretty Standard SVU Fare
I was pleasantly surprised that the judge was fair to the prosecution.
In most cases like this, the judge is either threatened or bribed out of being impartial, and in the Law & Order universe, it often seems that judges side with the defense all the time for the hell of it.
When the judge was taking his time returning to court, I was sure he was going to suddenly dismiss the case after secretly receiving death threats.
Thank goodness that didn’t happen, and for once, justice was served after Paul survived being attacked in jail.
Ellis Miscalculated By Using Paul As a Sacrificial Lamb
The resolution of this case, though a little too convenient, demonstrated how overconfidence is the Achilles’ heel for bullies who think they can manipulate their way out of trouble.
Ellis was prepared to sacrifice Paul by making him plead guilty so that Nathan could get off scot-free, and it never occurred to him that Paul wouldn’t go along with being incarcerated for his brothers’ crimes.
Of course, they also didn’t think that Carisi could succeed in interfering with Nathan shooting Paul dirty looks so that he lied under oath, so they had to scramble to come up with Plan B, and it was their undoing.
I doubt any of this would play out this way in real life.
We’ve seen over and over in our news how wealthy and well-connected people get away with literal murder, so a Raymond Ellis isn’t so easily toppled.
But that’s the best thing about Law & Order: SVU.
It presents the world the way it should be, treating survivors with empathy and offering hope that justice is in reach, even when perpetrators are powerful men who have gotten away with heinous crimes for years.
What did you think about this hard-hitting episode?
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