I’m going to say this right now, right up front.
I’m ALL over the idea of Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler getting it on. For me, it’s not about “if” but “when”. I squee every time I see anything that even looks like a flirtatious moment and I cackle and clap happily at every innuendo.
I also know that it can’t happen until the very last episode.
Boo.
Still, we all know it’s true. If we learned anything from the slow, painful death of anything that looked like fun in Moonlighting, we learned that letting your leads get together kills the tension. After all, it’s rather difficult to play the “willtheywonttheyohpleaseGODdoitalready” game when they’re doin’ it, right?
But what amuses me even more than the tension, is the somersaults Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay have forced the writers to do just to keep them apart.
Have you noticed?
How many episodes does it happen? They get 5 minutes together and then one of the two has to be in court or of to some interview or a doctor’s appointment. They throw El through a window or Liv has a migraine or flying monkey pulled them apart.
::grin:: Okay, I exaggerated on the monkeys. But you get my point, right?
And why do they do this?
Because you can’t leave Chris and Mariska in the same room without the chemistry getting so intense that you’re wondering why they’re not screwing on the table in the middle of the interrogation!
Which means, they either have to be either apart, or in the middle of some intense action and are rarely or ever alone. (Oh, the tantalizing alone moments we get. You know you rewind. You know you do.)
The writers tried. For a second. They let it dance there, then tried to separate them, then tried to let them address it. You can tell the writers know they have a tiger by the tail and they’re just trying to hold on for dear life.
I’m beginning to think Chris and Mariska are just loving every moment of it. Next time Liv’s got to smack Elliot in order to convince a perp she’s on his side, just ask yourself if part of that isn’t her expressing her sexual frustration ;-)
It’s got to be a serious pain for the writers. I know it’s got to be a trick and a half for the actors.
And it’s one heck a load of fun for the viewers.
p.s. If by some miracle Dick Wolf reads this – I will pay my way to NYC and work as a local hire to do an under 5 on the show. Heck, I’ll play a corpse. Just sayin’.
We’re chatting with SVU Executive Producer Neal Baer this week on our radio show. Check it out!
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I have to agree with you on all points regarding CM/MH Chemistry. It’s really a force more powerful than the TPTB know what to do with. What gets to me is how they play it up off screen. Have you ever seen VDO/KE photoshoots with them hanging all over each other and play making out? Whether they admit to it or not, they use the chemistry to sell the show. I like how you explain them trying to surpress it. It’s like when they try to hide pregnancies on shows when the actress gets pregnant, but the character does not. They do clever editing, set direction, and show less of the character in her obvious state, to hide what is greatly apparent to anyone who has half a brain. In the end, you know it’s “there”, but you are just to ignore it and go about your viewing. The only difference in this comparison though is E/O has been pregnant for TEN YEARS!!! How long are we really supposed to look the other way? The actual “try” at exploring the E/O relationship outside the squad room, was fleeting at best. Three minutes outside a hospital room, two minutes in a locker room, four minutes on steps, does not make for an honest attempt in my book. Yes, this is a procedural, not a soap opera and personal issues are mainly left for back story (yet I seem to recall they dedicated a whole episode last year to Stabler Family drama) but if done right they can work a little in here and there, to get us to where we need to be.
On the whole “waiting until last episode” thing, I disagree with you here (and probably with many others). I see no reason why if you put the quality of writers that SVU has together and ask them to arch out a storyline for E/O, why they could not do this. It’s a lazy excuse to use “it will ruin the show”. Character development does not ruin a show, bad writing and poor execution ruin shows. I think if they can write a 42 minute program that starts out as missing child case, turns into a child murder case, then turns into a platform for childhood vaccinations, you can most certainly map out some plan for two of your main characters. Personally, if nothing happened between E/O in the next two years, I’d rather them kill one of them off, than get them together. It does nothing for me to see them together in the eleventh hour. I want a consistent story that shows the struggles and decisions they have to go through to get to the point of being together.
Oh, the Moonlighting reference. I’ll just say this, I am a HUGE Moonlighting fan, and it always gets under my skin when the “Moonlighting Curse” is mentioned in relation to lead character hook-ups. There was no curse, David and Maddie where as hot together from their first kiss to their last. There were plenty of great, fun, touching moments between them after their first time. (RE: 4×10 – Tracks of My Tears, 5×02 – Between Yuck and a Hard Place, as just a couple examples). Moonlighting’s downfall was a result of the network not knowing where to put them, Bruce getting too big for TV, and Cybil’s new family. Anyone who really watched the show, knows that it was smart and funny up until the last second of air. Again, TPTB just use “the curse” excuse to be lazy and unimaginative when it comes to pairing two obviously attracted lead characters.[/rant]