Nico walks to school for the first time. [NBC/Hulu]It's not that "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" is formulaic. It's that...uh...when a show's been on for this long, certain patterns start to emerge? Fine: It's formulaic. But that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable. Here are the most basic facts you need to know about last night's episode: Special 3-Ripped-Headlines Edition, because of all the headlines they crammed in last night.
First ripped-from-the headlines plot point: The initial setup: an adorable Romani (sometimes/formerly called Gypsy) boy named Nico disappears on the first day he's allowed to go to school on his own. It could be based on one of the most famous unsolved kidnappings in history, that of Etan Patz in Soho in 1972, but is more likely a reaction to the murder of an Orthodox Jewish boy in Brooklyn last summer on the first day he was allowed to walk to school, allegedly by a member of his own sect.
How was the real story fictionalized?
Instead of being a member of the insular Orthodox Hasidim in Brooklyn, who are often perceived as being distrusting of outsiders, Nico was a member of an insular Romani enclave in Brooklyn, who, in the episode, are distrusting of outsiders.
Read More »from ‘SVU’ Episode ‘Lost Traveler’ in the ‘SVU’-o-Matic: 3-Ripped-Headlines Edition
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