Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 5 Round Table: How Effective Was This Sextortion Story?

Sextortion is an insidious and traumatic form of abuse, but did Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 5 do the issue justice?

TV Fanatic writers Jasmine Blu, Laura Nowak, Sara Trimble, and Jack Ori discuss this question.

We also debated Bruno and Silva’s chemistry, what the best moment was, and more.

How effective did you think Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 5 was at depicting the problem of sextortion and how it affects people?

Jasmine: I thought it did okay.

I felt like they could’ve done better. It didn’t feel hard-hitting enough for me, and it got too randomly convoluted.

After Kelsey almost took her own life, the emotional impact of the subject matter lost all meaning as we got wrapped up in this underwhelming sextortion operation.

Laura: I also thought they could have done a better job.

I felt for Kelsey, but this episode did not stick with me.

Sara: It was a bit dramatized for emotional impact at the beginning but it quickly turned into a puff news piece.

I agree with Laura that it wasn’t a memorable episode.

Jack: This was my issue with the episode as well. I spent a lot of time in my Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 5 review trying to figure out what was missing.

This episode should have been powerful, but it wasn’t, and I couldn’t figure out why.

Kelsey faded into the background too quickly after her suicide attempt, making it feel like a plot point, and it was disappointing because SVU is usually so much better at dealing with mental health issues than that.

Kelsey almost lost her job when the compromising photos were sent to her co-workers. What did you think of the solution Benson came up with for this problem?

Jasmine: I’m going to be honest.

Maybe my inner Olivia Pope was coming out, but the second started saying that her job was in jeopardy over them threatening to expose pictures, I already stated she may as well let them (because they would release them anyway) and spin it that she was doing an undercover story.

I literally said by the time this was over, they’d be giving her a Pulitzer.

So, suffice it to say, it was a good spin they probably could have done sooner.

Laura: I did love the undercover story. Like Jasmine, I wished they thought of it sooner to help Kelsey save some dignity since no one should fear losing their job because of sextortion.

Sara: It was a smart solution for Benson to come up with, but I’m surprised Kelsey didn’t come up with the idea, given that she’s a journalist.

Jack: I guess Kelsey was too traumatized to think of this solution herself. I agree it was a fairly obvious way to spin the release of the photos.

What did you think of Bruno and Silva’s interactions in the van?

Jasmine: They piqued my interest. But to be fair, I’d watch Bruno with anyone.

He has a natural and easy chemistry with everyone he shares the screen with, and it’s why he’s my favorite addition in recent years.

There’s potential for something there.

What? I don’t know. But I’m here for it.

Laura: I must not have noticed these romantic undertones. I can watch Bruno with anyone, but Kate Silva has yet to pique my interest.

Sara: I’m in agreement with my fellow fanatics.

Bruno is my second favorite member of SVU (Fin is number one), so it’s easy for me to ignore whoever else is involved.

I’m still not convinced of Silva’s character, and I hope the van incident didn’t spark any romantic connections between them.

Jack: I picked up romantic vibes right away, and I almost NEVER do, even when they’re slapping me in the face. So, I take that as a sign that this pairing needs to happen

Bronx SVU came up again as a non-helpful entity in Ruby’s case. Do you think there’s any significance to that besides it being an explanation for why Ruby didn’t get help from the cops earlier?

Jasmine: I want to say it is, especially since Silva was bringing up the lawsuit and all that with her father.

I’d love to think that it could be going somewhere with a significant storyline, but I honestly never know with Law & Order: SVU.

Laura: I hadn’t thought about it, but there has to be a reason the Bronx SVU was mentioned. Learning more about Silva’s father did make me interested.

Sara: We’ve heard of Bronx SVU several times, so it’s nice that there’s some continuation to the stories throughout the seasons.

It will be interesting, like Jasmine said, to see if they go anywhere with Silva’s father storyline or more about the lawsuit. I’ve been wanting to know more about that since we met Bruno.

It’s unlikely that Bronx SVU will get a spinoff, but we might see a future episode involving both SVU divisions. It may also hint at the potential Rollins spinoff.

Jack: My ears perked up when I heard Bronx SVU. The most incompetent SVU struck again!

When Bruno mentioned his lawsuit, I thought this had to go somewhere, but as Jasmine said, you never know with this show.

Did the plot twist on Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 5 of Neil being a victim who got to work for the sextortionists instead of giving them money make sense to you?

Jasmine: Honestly, no, because he didn’t have any money.

I know that anyone can be a victim of sextortion, and I don’t want to downplay the experiences at ALL, especially because I really hate how society doesn’t take male victims seriously.

That said, I also feel like it’s not in equal measure here. All victims aren’t created equal, you know?

Neil’s nude pics aren’t as ruinous as Kelsey’s because of misogyny.

Going back to the emotional impact of the episode and topic, I felt like it would’ve been more impactful if we focused exclusively on Kelsey.

Laura: Not really.

They didn’t have anything to gain by hiring him. He didn’t have any money.

At best, it removed their hot seat, which only weakened the importance of this case.

Sara: Again, agreed.

It felt like a cop-out or a cheap way to include both sides of the coin in terms of sextortion can happen to anyone.

Jack: It’s unanimous.

I felt like this was the same problem as Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 1 had: it created a random plot twist that wasn’t connected to anything.

I agree with Jasmine that sextortion is a big deal no matter who it is. But why would they go after someone with no money and no real fear of losing his reputation?

That made no sense, and neither did the idea of forcing him to work for them instead of making good on their threats.

Discuss anything not mentioned above.

Jasmine: Velasco undercover was so much fun. I wish we had more of that.

Laura: I also loved Velasco undercover, especially since he didn’t look the part and had to improvise.

Sara: I wasn’t sure about Velasco in the beginning, but he’s really starting to grow on me.

I love how smooth he is undercover, to the point that even a pro couldn’t spot that she was being played.

Jack: Velasco undercover was fun. I couldn’t stop laughing at how far short he fell of looking the part, yet he fooled the scammy “date” easily.

What was your favorite scene, quote, or storyline from Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 5?

Jasmine: Bruno asking for his watch back had me cackling.

Laura: Except for Velasco undercover, I didn’t really care for this one.

Sara: I thought the scene where Bruno gave his watch up because of the cheap suit was funny. How nice to be snobby and still slum it with blue collars.

Jack: I enjoyed the whole undercover setup, but especially Bruno and Silva’s interactions in the van.

Over to you, SVU fanatics!

What did you think about Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 5?

Hit the comments with your thoughts.

Law & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c.

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