I do like him in dark blue, but I agree on the overall slide in the fashion department, though at least he has that sexy undercut they're failing at concealing from his "Chess" days. They really missed out on having a scene with non-perfect hair so we could all adore the fluff. S.o. ringing his bell at Too Early in the morning or sth so he has to open the door in all his scruffled glory.
They totally should have had Barba kidnapped early on, that would have mussed his hair, but the most physical thing that ever happened to him was first episode. Really, Criminal Minds and CSI was better at spreading out bad things happening to female and male main characters. Liv got kidnapped the most, but Amanda's been in a few hostage situations too, and with guys obsessed with her. The only hostage situation I remember Nick was in (I haven't seen the pre-Barba yet), was Nick trying to talk a psycho kid into letting a younger kid go in "Born Psycho". I think it actually makes more sense for the rapist in Criminal Hatred to attack Barba instead of his own female lawyer, from prior accounts it sounded like women were invisible to him or have 'cooties'.
I felt that Rafael's suits doesn't seem to fit him as well in the later seasons, in fitting and in shades -- he can look good in blues and grays, but I feel like they weren't trying to bring out his best feature anymore. Esparza was better dressed as Dave in A Murder At The End of the World (2023), better make-up -- or he just look great because they were living on a set with hot springs, that's great for skin, easing back pain -- and therefore better sleep.
Now that I think about it, blue brings out his green eyes too, especially now that he's a silver fox.
Raul Esparza SVU 25th anniversary party https://www.tvinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/raul-esparza-svu-season-25-red-carpet-1014x570.jpg
Looking really cute and fashionable: Raul Esparza in Shades and suited next to Broadway sign for Can't Help Lovin That Man 2017 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/ral-esparza--342203271677760567/
I would sell my firstborn for a good Rafael!whump episode, sigh. He's so good at looking scared shitless, it's really a shame they never had a script like that, esp cause I can see the squad getting protective of him. :( No one touches the class hamster!
What I love about Esparza is his shoe-phobia. I bet he's fucking barefoot in that suit...
Hannibal was the first thing I saw Esparza in and I pretty much slept on Chilton through my binge watch till he was tied to a chair looking terrified, then I adored him, and, having not read the books or watched the relevant films before hand, I hate how it ended so much.
David got battered at the end of A Murder At The End of the World but it as wasted, I can't believe they didn't include a short scene or background happening of his boyfriend / fuck buddy / friend or his platonic lady friend fussing over his injuries -- and at the beginning, I actually wonder if David was in a secret affair with the rich guy who didn't seem to be interested in his wife -- I guess he could have been sleeping with more than one guy. Got some bi- vibes from David.
I think I saw a feet post on Esparza on reddit once, he wasn't just barefeet for the couch interview or with the blue nail polish, there were other pictures, he has cute feet, he's really cute all over. I really wish we got to see Chilton in his pajamas and slippers, then his barefeet when the slippers come off when he gets kidnapped by Gideon or Hannibal or Tooth Fairy. The pen chewing thing is something film Chilton did, and the Red Dragon was kinda gay in the films (and book as well if the details were the same), see, I remember that while he killed the whole family, he was specifically there for the wife/mother, and ONLY the wife/mother was bitten with the dragon's teeth, biting is a sexual thing for Francis, it's the dragon sexually devouring the woman clothed in the sun, in flames, her beauty arousing then being consumed by his lust. Disfigurement / burning was how Francis destroyed or purified his sin of sexual desire, that one second he had his lips on Freddie Lounds / Frederick Chilton, that house where he had sex with Reba.
I always wonder what would Francis have done in the AUs where Will had shacked up with Frederick instead of Molly, where Will would not have set Frederick up as an abandoned pet but Frederick would have instead been 'the wife' that as Francis's sexual target. I think Francis Dolarhyde killed the woman first because he couldn't stand having a living woman look at him and judge him as his grandmother did, so he couldn't do anything sexual to them till they were fully dead. Frederick Graham however...don't have to be fully dead to not intimidate Francis...
I think the door is still open for there to be Barba whump, that he comes back as a victim, Richard Wheatley's body as never found, there is a very explicit fic on AO3 but they could just have it on Organized Crime and hint at the sexual aspects. There is Alex Munoz too, if his wife divorces him while he's in prison, or even if he doesn't go to prison after all because actual rapists don't even get jail term all the time on SVU...if Alex is out and about but his life is ruined, his political ambition ruined, and he blame Rafael, and especially if Alex is actually the one Rafael has a crush on (ZERO chemistry with Yelina).
Yeah, bunnboi has a real thing about being barefoot, just hates shoes, it's like an inside joke.
I so want an Alex-takes-revenge ep, it'd be awesome, esp cause for realz now, Raf was super def in love with Alex, he broke his heart more than his parents, probably. The betrayal in his voice when he talks to Alex is gut-wrenching.
I watched beat up David on a loop till Disney broke, and ur right, he should've at leasten gotten a hug. :(
With Alex Munoz, suppose that he and Rafael actually did have a secret sexual relationship they were used to hiding back then, Alex confronts Rafael again some time after October Surprise, maybe after he was no longer ADA, or it could have started earlier -- he actually rapes Rafael but Rafel doesn't report it, especially if it's somewhat dub-consensual like before -- except Alex does it again, worse each time, and the frequency increase after Rafael is no longer ADA, to the point where the injuries are impossible to hide once he starts meeting up with his old friends from the SVU squad again. He tries to shrug it off in a "not my yacht" kinda manner, imply that it was just kinky sex, but he looks terrified.
Near the end when Alex was saying just like the old times, he didn't just put his hand on Rafael's shoulder like a normal platonic friend, he had his hand on the junction of neck and shoulder, that's intimate, I think his thumb would have been at the base of Rafael's throat. I can so see Alex choking Rafael, and maybe even throwing Rafael's stunt in Twenty Five Acts at him, that nobody would believe Rafael didn't consent to Alex choking him after that...
I cant write rape, really, I kinda cant, though I read it fine, but I fucking love worried!squad finding out Raf's been in some private trouble, I could just write/read that same trope every day twice for the rest of eternity and not tire of it.
I get it, there are some I'll read but won't write or try to write either. What about domestic abuse though? Or dub-con? Like Alex come back and resume the abusive relationship he has with Rafael in highschool, and it's abusive but Rafael doesn't actually say no...
There is so much canon-based whump potential, Barba's migraines, how tired he increasingly look, how he went from constantly snacking to not... Early seasons we've seen Barba in his jogging outfit and yacht outft, and he went to plays...early seasons Barba demanded a lot of evidence from SVU before he'll prosecute a case -- but then he just started doing what Liv ask -- I'm guessing Barba's workload and stress hugely increase so he got less time for social life, outdoor air and eating. The migraine thing, I bet he gets neck-shoulders-back pain too, and feeling cold. So just imagine bunny curled up on Sonny's lap, Sonny's warm hands rubbing his neck.
I know! I totally agree! He drinks a lot, too, and he's looking tired all the time... You could've had a really good mental health ep about the dangers of burnout and write Rafa out of the show that way instead of the shitty way they did it. That way he still could've returned, too. *sigh*
Or they could have had that gang that had threatened Rafael in the elevator actually assault him, while he was prosecuting them on sex trafficking, this way how Rafa exit the show would actually be SVU related, it can tied into Law and Order: Organized Crime, and Peter Stone could have been introduced at the ADA who prosecuted Barba's attackers instead of the ADA who was attacking a fan favourite. That would be a better way to reintroduce Stabler without setting up Stabler vs Barba, making Liv chose Stabler over Barba, and instead of making Stabler look like a jerk who ghosted Liv For No Reason At All, make it so that his undercover work suddenly got so serious he couldn't contact anyone, not even his family -- and that his wife divorced him in the mean time.
ETA: I think the last good season was 16, the one that introduced Carisi and while Amaro was still there, it was still very grounded, Carisi was from Staten Island, Amaro and Barba bond over being Cubans from the Bronx -- Season 17 opened with Murder Wizards, they were clearly trying to ape Criminal Minds or even Hannibal, "National Manhunt" took them out of New York which was a major draw for why people watch Law and Order, and the court portion of the show, Barba's, start to be neglected. It felt lik Esparza was only still around because he was a fan favouite, but they didn't give good lines good clothes or even fed him...we didn't get any special Barba episodes like S15 October Surprise, or S16's Padre Sandunguero and December Solstice
If at this point Dick Wolf already knew he wanted to bring back Elliot Stabler in Organized Crime, he seriously effed up not making gangs the building arc for Season 17 instead of Murder Wizards and Celebs. Gangs deal with drugs and sex trafficking...drugs was Fin's old department, and they could have had Mike Dodds talk about transferring to Organized Crime at the end as that's a more natural pivot than to Terrorism...and that way his death would be even shocking to people who don't pay attention to Broadway news and thinks he's moving to OC. There could have been stories like, hospital call SVU because of overdosed underaged prostitutes, heck, have the John be the one call 911 and then be shocked and remorseful learning that the hooker was underage and trafficked, and they can talk about how human trafficking often happen in the open. Night club get shot up, female patron assaulted, and it turn out the night club was trying to keep out gang members that was selling roofies.
ETA2: Nick's 2nd baby mama, the one who was really sweet on him, she just took their son out of New York at the end of season 16 to get away from the gangs, so it's weird the gang storyline just dropped out of sight. Would have been a perfect background buildup to Barisi too (which they were too stick-in-the-mud to go with in spite of fan favourism, natural chemistry, and actors in agreement), Carisi starts driving Barba around, as Nick did once during October Surprise, it looked like it was just because they were working together, but Barba has been hiding threats and Carisi was empathic and intuitive enough to notice anyways.
We never did find out who that guy was working for, did we? That coulda been a really good angle, I agree. Raf was just such a whumpable character, look at him!
Comment on Only One Fish in the Apartment
GenuineSnoof Wed 23 Oct 2024 05:29AM UTC
Comment Actions
sungarden Wed 23 Oct 2024 06:14AM UTC
Last Edited Wed 23 Oct 2024 07:20AM UTC
Comment Actions
GenuineSnoof Wed 23 Oct 2024 07:44AM UTC
Comment Actions
sungarden Wed 23 Oct 2024 09:02AM UTC
Last Edited Wed 23 Oct 2024 09:13AM UTC
Comment Actions
GenuineSnoof Wed 23 Oct 2024 09:17AM UTC
Comment Actions
sungarden Wed 23 Oct 2024 09:25AM UTC
Comment Actions
GenuineSnoof Thu 24 Oct 2024 12:02PM UTC
Comment Actions
sungarden Thu 24 Oct 2024 03:46PM UTC
Last Edited Thu 24 Oct 2024 04:01PM UTC
Comment Actions
GenuineSnoof Sun 27 Oct 2024 09:27PM UTC
Comment Actions
sungarden Mon 28 Oct 2024 03:41AM UTC
Last Edited Mon 28 Oct 2024 04:39AM UTC
Comment Actions
GenuineSnoof Tue 29 Oct 2024 05:47AM UTC
Comment Actions
(15 more comments in this thread)