TV Angel

“Wow.” That’s what I thought after watching last night’s Law & Order: SVU season finale. It used to be that when you left an L&O series you had soft music lovingly playing your character off into the sunset. OK, maybe not literally but exiting characters used to have much softer landings. These days they’re taking some lumps on the way out the door.

Consider: Det. Reynaldo Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) left to care for an ailing wife. ADA Abby Carmichael (Angie Harmon) left to work for the US Attorney’s office. Det. Lenny Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) retired from the force after years of dedicated service.

My how thing have changed.

L&O actor Jesse L. Martin recently left the series after a nine year turn as Det. Eddie Green. “Burn Card,” which aired 4/23/08, was the last ep to feature Det. Green. The ep saw Green on trial for the murder of a bookie with whom Green had a history, as it turned out that the detective had recently fallen back into a gambling problem. Things looked bad for Green until a last minute twist revealed that he was taking the rap for an ex-girlfriend. Green avoided conviction but still ended up leaving the police force with a moderately tarnished reputation.

Last night’s SVU finally, “Cold,” marked the exit of series regulars Diane Neal and Adam Beach. Neal has portrayed ADA Casey Novak since 2001. Novak’s last case was the zealous prosecution of a police officer for the rape and murder of a teenaged girl. Novak played fast and loose with some evidence in the case, resulting in the DA declining to retry when the case ended in a hung jury.

Novak’s former boss (Judge Elizabeth Donnelly, played by Judith Light) informed Novak that she would be brought before the Bar Association and censured for her actions. Novak had just begun to lament her fate when she got the call about Det. Chester Lake.

Adam Beach, who joined the show just last year as Det. Lake, had been the with franchise the least amount of time but had perhaps the most dramatic exit. Lake began the episode suspect in the murder of one police officer, the accomplice of the man tried by Novak in the ep. By the end of the ep, Lake was again suspect in the shooting death of another officer, this time arrested at the scene and taken away in handcuffs. The officer in question was, of course, the man who went free earlier in the ep due to a hung jury.

In a TV franchise known for welcoming back with open arms even their minor players, writers sure are making it hard for today’s alums to return. But what L&O loses in, shall we say, hospitality, it gains in drama.