Law & Order: SVU season 20: Is it time for a Carisi love interest?

In some ways, romance is a rather-delicate subject with the NBC series, largely because it is somewhat distracting from the most important matter at hand: Telling the stories and the cases that matter the most. Yet, it is also important to care about the officers along the way. You want to applaud them for their heroism, but in the process, you want to know who they are.

I want to know more about Sonny Carisi, mostly because there are so many interesting things that could come out of seeing what he’s like in a relationship. Does it change how he works, his friendships, or his personality in some way? What sort of person would be interested in him, and in turn, what is he looking for? Peter Stone aside he’s the person within the SVU cast who has been there the least amount of time and with that, he’s the character we as viewers stand to learn the most about.

It doesn’t seem like there is a big interest from the writers in pairing up Carisi with Rollins; with that, the show would probably have to look elsewhere, such as a recurring character, to fill this role. It’s an interesting idea, but also one that producers may not consider. While 22-24 episodes a season seems like a lot, the reality remains that there’s only a few minutes an episode on average to devote to the personal lives of some of these characters. There may just not be time to devote to it, especially since there’s often not time to even focus on Olivia’s.

Really, SVU and love interests are really just all about what you’re looking for out of this show. I’m not opposed to them if they’re handled the right way (seen sporadically and showed as an extension rather than the focus), but it doesn’t seem to be something the writing staff is overtly prioritizing. It’s just one of many different interesting show-related things to discuss during the off-season, and Peter Scanavino is more than capable of delivering an excellent performance.

Do you think Carisi, or any other character, should have a love interest this coming season? Share below!

(Photo: NBC.)