Detective Dominick "Sonny" Carisi: Like Or Loathe?

[katisha]

Carisi has definitely grown on me, too.  I didn't like him much at first, and that's without ever having seen his first ever ep at the beginning of S16.  I actually did see it the other day and he was irritating and unevolved, and on a shallow note he looked terrible with that pornstache.  But fast forward to the end of S17, and without my even realising it, he's become one of my favourites. 

[Desperately Random]

I love Carisi. And I've become a big fan of Peter Scanavino. Personally, it doesn't matter to me if a character is a Mary Sue or a rogue bastard. I don't care if she/he has a specific purpose or not. All I care about is whether or not I enjoy the character and look forward to seeing him on my screen. I don't analyze why I feel one way or another about a character because a character either works for me or it doesn't. And Carisi is definitely working for me and has become one of my favorites on the show. And I like that he is a bit of a Mary Sue and still has some of that naivete about him but he can also be tough and a bit of a hard ass when he needs to be. I was glad that SVU was renewed mainly because I want to continue seeing Carisi and what happens with him. I find him to be an interesting and entertaining character and a great addition to this show.

[minamurray78]

I'm ok with Carisi, I think the actor is good and, on a more shallow note, he could don a casual look more often, just less gel and no more pornstaches, please.

I think part of what I like about the character is in fact that he hasn't been given any dramatic storylines yet, other than his sister's from last year. Sure it gets annoying if they use him like a jack of all trades whenever they need to bring something up in an episode, but actually, I don't want to know anymore about him that I already do. He's a detective, went to law school, seems quite smart, no apparent bagagge looming on the horizon, that's enough.

I wrote in another thread how I feel about SVU being more inclusive about the detectives' private lifes on screen: a little is good, more is not always better IMO. I'm not really sure I want to see any romance between him and Rollins either, cause I'm afraid they'll mix that into a case and make more drama. Just stick to what we know about him, maybe throw in a bit of his legal knowledge (since that character trait has been there from the beginning), just let's not over do it. I don't wanna get tired of this character either, like I did with Amaro and Rollins.

[wknt3]

I like Carisi. I liked the potential when he first came in and that he was something different. I always find myself defending the new characters when they come in since so many people seem to forget that Dick Wolf loves to play up the conflict when someone starts before they become BFFs and eternal comrades. But it was nice that he was neither cynical or a copy of past squad members, even if they overdid the whole grating goofball thing or the squad showing him what was up. I loved the Carisi we got after he shaved the pornstache, the writing got better and we put the constant grimdark of the previous SVU era in the past, and they figured out how to a character that wasn't constantly snarky or constantly self destructing. And now I like him. Some weeks I still love him and some weeks I wonder if they're deliberately going over the top, using the plot lines that The Big Bang Theory isn't using for Raj anymore when he's cooking gourmet meals and babysitting for Liv or Rollins or writing for a character based on a small subset of internet fans like their timeslot competition.. At this point I would not be surprised to see him, Rollins, and Benson at a spa or on a Sex And The City tour, or getting mani-pedis. Or to see him just standing around wearing a vest and holding a baby for no particular reason other than to get trending on Tumblr. I hope the new showrunner gives us more of the good and reels in the other aspects so I can wholle heartedly love him again.

[skittl3862]

If Carisi is a Mary Sue, what does that make Olivia Benson? There are multiple episodes where she is literally the only one who is right all along. I don't think she was shown to make a single mistake until season 14.

Carisi's role is the rookie detective. He's still learning. He still makes mistakes (definitely not perfect). He's eager to please- personally and professionally- and wants to succeed at SVU. He's a bit of a Season 1 Cassidy, but without the fromage. I prefer his empathy to Amaro's hot-headed reactions.

I certainly don't think Peter Scanavino is hot enough to have been cast solely to titillate viewers, and if that is the role they were attempting to fill, they could have done a lot better. No offense to Peter, but...

I'm just glad we finally have a male SVU detective who doesn't fall into the 2 long-established tropes of Comic Relief and Dad Who Takes It Personally.

Edited May 30, 2016 by skittl3862

[buteo]

I think it would have been much more interesting, in terms of character development, for Carisi to NOT have passed the bar. I really would have liked to have seen how he reacted to this failure--would he have been withdrawn about it, or tried to find out what he did wrong, or turned to the other SVU folks for support?

I kind of picture him getting loud and mad and sad and then maybe pulling himself together--this would take maybe a couple of eps tho.  Sonny has had his worldview rattled a bit in season 17--his judgement of criminals/people/gut feelings during the undercover op, and then I'm sure those shitty shitty priests made him questions some things.  And then maybe he -isn't- cut out to be a lawyer? Or maybe not while also being in a hella stressful position in SVU...

And how would this have affected his relationships with the other characters? Amanda: sad for her friend, but glad he is staying (presumably) w SVU, tho less time for "making dinner...", Finn: would they be study buddies now? Liv: would she be like "are you gonna be a cop or a lawyer, time to choose," and Barba: would he be supportive or dismissive and how would Sonny react to -that-.

Would Sonny even try for the bar again?

They really just sort of dropped the storyline w Sonny and the bar--he got 2 seconds of "yay" and then mini Dodds is leaving and then all the other drama and now he's staying at SVU.  Will anything really be different/more interesting now?

[katisha]

Probably everyone else knew this but I never realised Peter Scanavino was another guest star who ends up with a spot as a permanent character. Just rewatching S14 E13, Monster's Legacy, and there he is as the janitor!  Did a really good job, too, IMHO.

Edited June 3, 2016 by katisha

[WendyCR72]

35 minutes ago, katisha said:

Probably everyone else knew this but I never realised Peter Scanavino was another guest star who ends up with a spot as a permanent character. Just rewatching S14 E13, Monster's Legacy, and there he is as the janitor!  Did a really good job, too, IMHO.

He was also on the CI branch for Mike Logan's first case on that show as a regular cast member in S5 as the criminal son of a junkie, "Diamond Dogs".

[katisha]

Cheers, Wendy. I will have to look out for that one too.

[WendyCR72]

For the insomniacs and/or those with DVRs, Peter Scanavino's L&O: CI appearance in S5, "Diamond Dogs", airs at 2:00 a.m. ET on USA. He actually plays a bad guy here.

[katisha]

Nobody has posted in here for a while but just wanted to say that today I saw an episode from Season 19 of The Mothership that I hadn't seen, called Just a Girl In The World.  He looked incredibly young and had a rather questionable hairstyle but he was still good.  

[Joe Hellandback]

Now you see I like him better with his porn star moustache, I think it suited him. As for the character I'd say he's a qualified lawyer and I'd like him more to clash with the others over legal points, I thought that was going to happen in 'Gone Fishin' over Finn kidnapping the suspect but he (or the writers) chickened out. 

[FireGhost]

11 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

I'd like him more to clash with the others over legal points, I thought that was going to happen in 'Gone Fishin' over Finn kidnapping the suspect but he (or the writers) chickened out. 

They filmed a scene where Fin asks for Carisi for some "hypothetical" legal advice, but they deleted it. It was released on Youtube though.

[Xeliou66]

They delete a ton of interesting scenes, only Benson shit makes it into the episode.

[QueenMab]

I thought way back, Carisi becoming a lawyer would give SVU an on the spot legal counsel to the squad so they wouldn't be dragging Barba into the whole investigation unnecessarily just to give him screen time and save the ADA for the important courtroom drama. Instead, we get a cop spouting legalese to a Lt. who won't listen to it so she can still "I'll call Barba" every five minutes, and apparently only freeing up Barba so he can be, almost exclusively, in personal therapy scenes with Dr. Benson. WTF? Why do a whole story arc about Carisi becoming a lawyer if they were just going to trivialize him into a law spouting joke? And turn Barba into an unethical, immoral, unprofessional ADA who is so insecure about his abilities and decisions, he needs an old cop to advise him on what to do, because he hasn't got a clue how to do his job after twenty years? I'm still of the opinion this show creates halfway interesting characters and then can't figure out WTH to do with them except turn them into needy, insecure, loserville satellites of Benson. WTF writer's?!? If you don't have the skills to develop a character independent of Almighty Benson, STOP creating them in the first place! I fully expect Stone to be yet another casualty. Watch him systematically become a "disciple" of St. Benson. Wait for it......

[Bostongirl]

I love Carisi, hate his skinny ties lol

[25thID]

I was hoping he'd grow on me, but I find him more annoying as time goes on. At first, I didn't like Amaro, but, he grew on me until the writers ruined him, and turned I'm into a warmed over Stabler. Don't get me wrong, I really like Stabler, but, the character got old towards the end. He seems to be trying way, way too hard to be something he's not....I'm not sure what it is, and I don't think the writers do, either. Overall, I'm not impressed with the character, and there seems to be very little growth....with the exception of what was on his lip early on.  I'm not sure what it is, but he annoys me, and seems to add very little to the crew, and hasn't really developed that much.

[millennium]

No.  He's a caricature.  A stereotype.   The show would be better served if he and Rollins were taken out at the same time.

[QueenMab]

I think Carisi spends his off hours standing under a street lamp in Hoboken singing DooWop.

[jzmd]

I adore him!

[SarahPrtr]

On 5/31/2016 at 3:40 AM, skittl3862 said:

 

Carisi's role is the rookie detective. He's still learning. He still makes mistakes (definitely not perfect). He's eager to please- personally and professionally- and wants to succeed at SVU. He's a bit of a Season 1 Cassidy, but without the fromage.

OhMyGod.  This.  So Much THIS!!!  This part of your post had me laughing SO HARD.  I was almost screeching.  I too, was thinking about Cassidy and his... cheese.

[catlover79]

One of my favorite running jokes was he would ask everyone to call him Sonny, and no one did. Rollins finally did after he had been on for a few years.

[Claire76]

Totally adore Carisi!
Doesn't Rollins have a thread here? Interested to know what everyone thinks of that character. 

[wknt3]

On 7/21/2019 at 5:49 PM, Claire76 said:

Totally adore Carisi!
Doesn't Rollins have a thread here? Interested to know what everyone thinks of that character. 

She does now!
https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/95771-amanda-rollins-doing-everything-they-booted-jeffries-for-sometimes-in-a-single-episode/?do=getNewComment

[SarahPrtr]

On 6/7/2019 at 4:19 PM, catlover79 said:

One of my favorite running jokes was he would ask everyone to call him Sonny, and no one did. Rollins finally did after he had been on for a few years.

In the first episode with Carisi, he said "Call me Sonny, everybody does." and in a later episode, he said the same thing to someone else and Rollins said "Nobody calls you that."

For the love of god, do NOT pair up Carisi with Rollins.  That would be the laziest writing plot EVER.  I would like Carisi to be secretly married or at least have a girlfriend off camera, and they don't ever need to show who she is, just as long as it's not Rollins.  There's nothing for him in that relationship.

[wanderingstar]

On 9/9/2019 at 12:10 AM, SarahPrtr said:

For the love of god, do NOT pair up Carisi with Rollins.  That would be the laziest writing plot EVER.  I would like Carisi to be secretly married or at least have a girlfriend off camera, and they don't ever need to show who she is, just as long as it's not Rollins.  There's nothing for him in that relationship.

Completely agree! Let Carisi have an off-screen romance that gets referenced occasionally. No need to pair him with Rollins. At all.

[incandescent]

They're playing Carisi's first episode on ION and good God, was his hair awful! And the mustache!!

[ChristiKRN]

1 hour ago, incandescent said:

They're playing Carisi's first episode on ION and good God, was his hair awful! And the mustache!!

He has come a long way since that episode, hasn’t he?  I hope that they write  for Kat with that level of progression.  

[Jenny1234]

Worst actor ever. Should consider a career change.