Reddit user jdpm1991 posted a poll about six characters who’d been written off the show, asking which one people missed the most. Rafael Barba won by a landslide. The poll sparked a heated discussion on the various lost characters and why people missed them or why they hated how they were written off.
In Barba’s case, in Season 19 he gets wrapped up in a right-to-die case that leads him to turn off life support for a young boy who wouldn’t have much of a life if stuck on machines. Barba is indicted for murder. He beats the charges but ultimately resigns as a prosecutor because he’s too traumatized to carry on. Although Barba returned for a few episodes in later “SVU” seasons and even made an appearance on “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” fans never recovered from how the character’s “SVU” run ended. Raúl Esparza told Entertainment Weekly it felt “challenging, and emotional, and surprising,” but fans didn’t agree.
U/crazycatlady9183 replied to the poll by writing, “I absolutely HATED how they wrote off Barba. There were a million better ways to do it, and yet they chose something COMPLETELY out of place. Based on everything his character was built on, he just wouldn’t be someone to kill a child out of mercy. That was absolutely ridiculous and so was the trial.”
U/Mariangella007 said, “Barba’s departure for sure was the most painful. Still cannot rewatch this episode.” Meanwhile, u/kateefab pointed out that even their husband couldn’t stomach it, noting, “Barba’s was so bad that my husband who doesn’t have an opinion on this show thought it was ridiculous. It’s also interesting to look at from an ethics standpoint, but it was still bad.”
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