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robertarryn · 7 years

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SVU 16.12 Padre Sandungeuro

Requested by @jhmdd. Anyone can request any SVU episodes for me to review at any point during this process.

This review is written in retrospect after having seen all of SVU seasons 13-17. There are potential spoilers for all these seasons, so proceed with that caution.

So, skipping ahead to season sixteen, we have Padre Sandungeuro, a highly emotional episode about Amaro’s family life. I would recommend watching this episode at a far later point than season thirteen, because it really reads best as at the end of Amaro’s character arc. The Amaro seen in this episode is a very different person than the one at the beginning of season thirteen, and not just because of character development.

So, onto the episode.

Summary

Amaro’s father visits him for the first time in many years to invite him to his wedding. The situation quickly deteriorates, however, when a fight breaks out at a party and his fiance’s skull is fractured.

Title

I don’t know spanish very well but according to the Spanish-English Dictionary Padre Sandungeuro means something like Charming Father or Witty Father. A reference to both Nicolas’s charming personality and a pretty sharp contrast to the depressing nature of this episode.

Season Theme

The theme of season 16 is family, which plays heavily into this episode which centers around Amaro’s family, mostly on the power dynamics within his family. We are given a clear sense of their family dynamics early in the episode: Amaro’s mother and sister try to defend his father, Amaro looks down on his sister, his father clearly has the most power between all of them, and both Amaro and his father, to a certain extent, defines their identities with their role as a father, although Nicolas Sr. only seems to want control and he has it, in spades.

Episode Notes

Liv tries to save Amaro from having to go to lunch with his father. Carisi doesn't know how to read situations and offers to help out so Amaro can.

Amaro’s father’s fiance, Gabriella, is 28. There’s clearly a pretty large power imbalance in their relationship the moment it is introduced.

“Whatever happened between me and your mom in your imagination, you know, it’s over.” Nicolas Amaro, and to a lesser extent, the rest of his family constantly affirms and reaffirms in this episode that all of the problems that Nick remembers from his childhood are from his imagination. He’s remembering things as worse than they were--things were never as bad as he thought they were, he should get over it.

Nicolas brings up Amaro’s son and the fact that he didn’t know he had a son for several years and that’s what finally makes Nick leave--the implication that he’s the bad father.

Amaro’s judgement of his sister probably causes a lot of her lack of support for him later. They clearly love each other, but they don’t have much in common, and they have a clear divide on how they see their father.

Amaro attempts to reassure Gabriella in Spanish. We later learn that this was a mistake.

After a few red herrings, Nicolas Amaro is finally arrested and, when Amaro visits him, he makes an impassioned statement that he and Amaro are the same, a literal kind of “you’re not so different you and I” speach. Amaro doesn’t want to hear it--he knows he’s different from his father.

Liv tells Barba about Amaro’s past and Amaro is disgusted. Amaro accuses Barba of enjoying his pain which is both unnecessary and clearly untrue, but it helps set up a later scene where Barba is able to talk him through the situation.

The trial goes poorly. Barba’s off his game and Nicolas Amaro is ridiculously charming to the court and the jury.

Barba tries to tell Amaro that he doesn’t have to testify if he doesn’t want to--that Barba can offer a misdemeanor, and Amaro asks if he’s playing him. He doesn’t fully trust Barba but they’ve clearly come to a more steady dynamic at the end of the episode.

The scene with Barba and Amaro at the bar is really good.

Nicolas Sr. doesn’t call Amaro a liar on the stand. Nicolas Sr. says that his son has issues, that he should have been there. Taught Amaro to conduct himself as a man.

After the trial, Nicolas Sr. hugs his entire family, except for Amaro. They’re all still following him.

Amaro doesn’t allow Carisi or Fin to comfort him, and he doesn’t let Liv give him time off, or to keep Nicolas Sr. away.

Nicolas Sr. visits Amaro. He wants forgiveness, he wants Amaro to let go of his anger at him, of his hatred. It doesn’t feel any different than anything that happened before. Like Amaro said, he’s still lying, and this is only a part of the cycle.

Character Continuity and Characteristics

Liv advises Amaro to let go of his anger, that letting go is the best option, but he brings up her father and William Louis. Liv is hurt by him bringing her past up in anger but it’s clear she hasn’t forgiven them either.

Amaro states in an earlier episode that he’s half-Italian, but it doesn’t appear that either of his parents are Italian this episode.

Carisi goes bowling with his law school friends. He’s clearly trying to set Amaro up with some of them.

“Detective Amaro. If I’m talking to you it must be time to pay my water bill.” It’s nice that the writers remember the ridiculous amount of trouble Amaro has been through over the years.

Barba mostly exists in this episode as a foil to Amaro. Someone who had an abusive father and was never able to resolve his issues with him because his father is dead and there’s nothing he can do about it at this point.

Barba’s father was abusive, and is currently dead.

The entire episode is insights into Amaro’s personal life.

Trial Time

The lawyer for the defense is DiAngelo, who shows up in a handful of episodes later on, though this is his first. As someone else pointed out one time, DiAngelo mostly defends civil servants, which either means Nicolas Sr. is one, or that the writers hadn’t worked out what type of defense attorney DiAngelo would be.

The judge in this case of Judge Barth, who tends to go easy on defendants and is relatively likable, though she barely factors in the trial.

Offscreen, Barba somehow manages to get $100,000 dollar bail on an assault charge.

The prosecution doesn’t call the EMT that originally heard the outcry of the witness, which seems like a mistake because it makes the only witness to the statement of abuse Amaro, who is painted by the defense as being overly emotional and biased, how they are able to portray all of the prosecution witnesses.

The case is a loss at the beginning. Barba is more emotional than he usually is and, while he is typically able to channel his emotions toward convincing the jury to see things his way, like in Spousal Privilege early in the season, this case he’s too wrapped up in his own feelings on the case to be able to convince the jury the way he normally would.

Amaro on the stand is painful to watch. Nicolas Sr. on the stand is painful to watch. It’s clear where the trial is headed long before the Not Guilty verdict comes. Barba’s not on his A-game, Amaro’s the only one against his father, and Nicolas Sr. controls the room.

Both Barba and Amaro blame themselves heavily for the loss.

Let’s Talk Sexuality

“I don’t take crumbs. Especially from this...this gentleman who wears suspenders.” Nicolas Sr. clearly stops himself from saying something really nasty and outright insulting Barba due to his sexuality and settles for subtly implying that’s why he’s disrespecting him. Barba most certainly notices given the way he looks at the defense attorney afterward.

Let’s Talk Sex

N/A. Not really relevant to the content of the episode.

Worst Line

“She didn’t just back up the bus. She parked it.” Who wrote this guy’s dialog?

Best Line

“You know, Cubans come to this country and within one generation, we’re doctors, lawyers, CEOs of major corportations, but the only headline you ever read in the paper is crazy Cubans in wedding brawl. I hate this.” It’s Barba’s first line in this episode and just a great introduction.

The entire end conversation between Amaro and his father is very good as well.

Should You Watch This Episode?

This episode is hard to watch. It is a depressing, depressing episode, and pretty necessary for the character of Amaro. It’s very good. Recommended to Required For The Series.

#svu #padre sandungeuro #nick amaro #rafael barba #jhmdd #sophia reviews svu

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