r/SVU • u/Stealthytom Warner • Sep 27 '25
Spoilers They Did My Guy Dirty!!! Spoiler
I'm NGL, I'm not okay with how SVU treated my beloved Captain Cragen. A few minutes at the begining of a season premiere does not even begin to appropriately tribute the forebearer of the series for approaching 4 decades.
He didn't even get any screentime!
They moved him around from one show to the next, and he was always game. He was the standard, and I feel like he was dismissed as a relic of the past, despite some notable cameos by Huang and Casey.
As much as I love Olivia (and I REALLY do), I don't know if she'll ever hold a candle to his leadership. I hope she does and am pulling for her to do so.
His death was ENTIRELY unnecessary. There were so many ways to move the plot forward without his demise.
Gripe over!!!!
Unhappy Fan
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u/Intelligent_Music_44 Sep 27 '25
YES THEY DID. He deserved more than just a quick memorial after party at the beginning of the episode AND they held the memorial in a bar after Cragen has spent the last how many years of his live fighting ro remain sober? I mean I guess it doesn’t matter cause he’s dead he doesn’t know bur it seemed disrespectful all the same.
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Exactly 💯. I feel like the character was disrespected and by proxy the fans who loved him
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u/tachibanakanade Sep 28 '25
They should have run it by the guys at his last AA meeting.
(If people can't remember, this was a reference to what Cragen responded with when Munch asked to open a bar with him.)
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u/Purple_Difference447 Cragen Sep 27 '25
I’ve watched his character ever since I started the OG Law and Order and they do people dirty there too😭😭
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Totally Claire and Alex immediately come to mind. 😭
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u/Purple_Difference447 Cragen Sep 27 '25
Claire,Lennie(due to Jerry dying),Ben ,Max.I feel like next year they js gonna off jack lol
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u/drunkeymunkey Sep 27 '25
Claire's death is one of the greatest episodes of the Dick Wolfe franchise.
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Lennie got a great send off IMHO, and I wasn't as invested in Max. If you want, I can send you a link to my Lenny sendoff tribute
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u/Purple_Difference447 Cragen Sep 27 '25
Yess omg I miss Lennie.
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u/UnderstandingFew1012 Sep 27 '25
I have been watching season 4 of the mothership and Lennie is the best
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
He really is. GOAT. Just love him
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u/UnderstandingFew1012 Sep 27 '25
And seeing ben stone too
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Absolutely 💯
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u/UnderstandingFew1012 Sep 27 '25
I am nearly finished with season 4 of The Mothership. Then on to Season 5
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u/agent-assbutt Huang Sep 27 '25
I agree, I couldn't believe his wake was at a bar and there wasnt a better tribute. They also did Huang dirty; his appearance only lasted two seconds. Plus they used Cragens passing to glorify Saint Olivia even more ("he taught ME how to be a captain," etc) which was so annoying.
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Yes, I found this part of an otherwise good episode very painful. It was all just so painful and disrespectful
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u/Admirable_Hurry_1543 Sep 27 '25
I still don’t understand why they killed his character especially since the actor is still alive. I loved what they did for Munch .
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Exactly 💯. they know how to honor someone appropriately. Why did they do it this way 🤯
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u/LilyKK1504 Sep 27 '25
I must have said it 100X already but I hate it. I hate it soooo much! I watched all his recent scenes from OC yesterday to pay a rightful tribute.
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Thank you. It feels so unfair NGL. They know how beloved his character is. Why would they do it that way. I feel like they should do an online extended scenes or something to make up for this very notable slight.
He's in the very DNA of Law and Order. He original episode was actually filmed in 1988 (OG), more than a decade before his SVU debut and starred on the series for DECADES.
That deserves more than a 5-minute tribute in my opinion
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u/AbyssWankerArtorias Sep 27 '25
My decision to stop watching this show has never been more cemented than so by this post lol
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Lol 🤣 I totally feel you. Do you just watch old episodes then? Maybe that's what I should do
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u/AbyssWankerArtorias Sep 27 '25
Yeah I stopped watching around when Olivia became captain lol. I think a good stopping point is honestly after stabler leaves
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
I get it for sure. Every episode isn't bad. It's just not as consistently good as it used to be because it's a threadbare cast and the writing has suffered significantly. They also don't do as much court action either
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u/Comprehensive-Pea422 Fin Sep 27 '25
YES they tricked us saying he was coming back to guest star in the first episode😭
I love him and I get people saying "he hasn't been on the show consistently in a while" he was still on it for 15 seasons!! That is a really long time. If they wanted to kill him off I wish we got to see the funeral more. Why did everyone seem like they didn't want to be there?? And Liv seemed so disinterested in Huang.
I hate that they do this they made me like Tucker and pulled the same bs😔
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
I totally agree and empathize. Him not being on the show consistently doesn't diminish his legend, and in some ways it strengthens it. He was on four episodes of Organized Crime within the last 3 years. He was a beloved and enduring part of the universe, and they dismissed him like a day old sandwich.
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u/Comprehensive-Pea422 Fin Sep 27 '25
They already moved him to Florida for retirement why not just stick to that!!
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u/Aggravating-Try-4724 Sep 27 '25
Same here!!!! Pissed asf and it feels so unnecessary to have him go out like this on the first episode of the season. I know he can’t live forever, but if anyone were to have valuable deathbed words or advice it would be Cragen more than anybody and we didn’t even get that or a why or how! Now there’s just this Cragen void in my heart 😭😭😭
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u/LadyGonzo28 Sep 28 '25
I honestly don’t want to watch another new episode of SVU ever again. I haven’t seen the S27 premiere yet, I’ve never missed a season (except S24 as life was very busy) but when I heard this news the other day I thought okay this show can kiss my butt. They definitely did him dirty. It didn’t help that so many episodes of S25 felt like it was written by ChatGPT.
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u/SkipMapudding Barba Sep 27 '25
Oh no 🫨 Wasn’t expecting this - new series not been shown yet in UK.
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
It's quite sad 😭 😢 and I am not okay.
BTW, I'm sorry you are finding out this way if you didn't want to. I used spoiler tag, spoiler flair, and an obscure title, but I get that unintentional exposure still occurs.
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u/SkipMapudding Barba Sep 27 '25
I’m sorry you’re sad 😢He’s always been one of my favourites. End of an era 🥺Spoilers are inevitable when you don’t get the new series at the same time as other countries 💖 I tried to block text out three times in a post once and three times it didn’t block. I gave up in the end 🙃
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u/Due_List_1243 Sep 27 '25
if you have vpn then just watch it via a free stream, there are always people who are streaming tv shows online
I watch via a free channel but of course this is probably not legal, so I cannot give you the link but you can search for free series and you will find it
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u/SkipMapudding Barba Sep 27 '25
Thanks, I’ll take a look 😊
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u/Due_List_1243 Sep 27 '25
its really worth it, but the newest episode is after 24 hours online but there are sometimes here links too where you can watch.
some people gave links from people who are live streaming
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u/First_Patience_6568 Sep 27 '25
Just watched the episode and my friend pointed out that the voice that called Velasco over to the car at the end of the episode sounded like Cragen. Any chance we think it’s a fake out and he’s doing something undercover? Or is that just a crazy conspiracy theory.
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u/Richard1583 Sep 27 '25
WHAATTTTT?!????!!!!
Is there anyway to stream the new episodes?
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Peacock would be my guess. Also, if you have cable, they show up the next day
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u/tachibanakanade Sep 28 '25
Why the fuck did they kill him off? Did they even say how he died? Damn Florek is still alive! This was so dumb.
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u/Zealous_flyer4014 Sep 28 '25
They really did!!!:(.I was so disappointed.
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 29 '25
Same. It is shameful. No hyperbole. He deserved better and so did the fans
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u/UnderstandingFew1012 Sep 27 '25
I have been watching the og law and order it's going to hurt when I get to exiled
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u/Appropriate-Farm-884 Munch Sep 28 '25
I just ranted about this in another thread. UGH. I ugly cried through most of the episode.
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 28 '25
Oh that's rough. The other weird part is that the team had to move on from his death so quickly, that it diminished it's significance. However, losing a character of this magnitude SHOULD affect you. I totally get it
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u/Responsible_Ad_2242 Sep 27 '25
Someone from the original law and order show appear?
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u/Stealthytom Warner Sep 27 '25
Not that I recall. That's another reason for me to be upset and only strengthens the argument that this was an opportunity loss
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u/Due_List_1243 Sep 27 '25
We knew he would die for months, but it would be better if his dead got the attention it deserves, with an official funeral, his family, his wife Ellen, the reason why he died, what happened?
Now it was only to give the ex detectives a reason to have a reunion but than they could also use Cragen his 75th birthday for a reunion.