The One Law & Order SVU Plot Twist Fans Really Hated
Despite recognizing the strengths of this story, people just hate the way it affected one beloved character.
The long-running crime series has had its share of controversial storylines over the years, when some fan-favorite characters suddenly become hated and interesting storylines turned boring and dull.
But none of the unexpected plot twists had such an impact as the story arc of Dana Lewis (Marcia Gay Harden), which turned an affectionate and strong woman into a cold-blooded killer.
Dana was first introduced in Season 7 as an undercover agent infiltrating a white supremacist group, and was forced to conceal her real identity from Olivia Benson and her team. She even spoke racial slurs to Munch and Fin to avoid revealing her cover.
In the end, Dana disclosed her true self by saving Stabler during a courtroom shootout, revealing herself as an FBI agent to brutal white supremacist killers. The whole situation took a heavy toll on Dana's mental health and career, and it was later revealed that she had been raped by one of the leaders of a neo-Nazi group.
Undoubtedly, thanks to Harden's superb acting and thoughtful script, Dana has become one of the series' favorite recurring characters, and fans have always looked forward to new details about the life of the strong-willed FBI agent. Imagine everyone's surprise when, in Season 14, this noble woman was unmasked as a murderer.
It turned out that Dana had used her experience and knowledge as a detective to kill an innocent pregnant woman because her romantic interest had abandoned her.
Of course, Dana has some justification for her actions since this man forced her to have an abortion but didn't do it to another woman, but fans were still quite disappointed with the writers for changing her whole personality only to make such an unusual plot twist.
While almost everyone agrees that the story itself was written quite well, a huge part of the series' audience still hates it, because of the fact that after Dana was exposed and sentenced to 25 years in prison, she disappeared from the series altogether.
Fans would love to see more of Dana, especially after Marcia Gay Harden declared her interest in bringing her character back.