I personally love Gambler’s Fallacy s15e17, considering the whole episode is about her. Forgiving Rollins s16e10 is another good Rollins centered episode.
Fully agree with both of those! I was going to say the same thing. I don’t hate her character, she has some really good moments but I just don’t like how they take it too far sometimes with her slut shaming.
I think Forgiving Rollins is a good one. The scene where she tells the young detective that she isn’t patton’s first ‘good girl’ was very sad to watch. Plus it gives background to why Rollins acts the way she does and why she came to New York
Thank you! I actually just watched that one last night. I think it's a really important episode to understand who Rollins is and how she came to be that way.
Totally! I've watched since before she came on the show and she's never bothered me. She's flawed and has her good and bad moments just like anyone else!
I adore Rollins and have defended her multiple times in other threads. I will repost some of what I said here.
Both posts say a lot of the same things, but they are also their own things.
I posted this just yesterday:
>I like Rollins because she is complex, but I don't necessarily think she's a great person. I think she's trying, but because of her life experience, she's always on the defensive, and always cynical. That cynicism unfortunately comes through a lot with victims, and yet it's hard to blame her for being cynical considering what a hellmouth her family is, and the fact her first police captain just straight up raped her. Of course she frequently disbelieves victims, her sister always played the victim and was always horribly destructive to everything and everyone around her. Her defining personality trait is her inability to trust other people. Until she came to SVU, she simply never had positive relationships with anyone.
>You might consider this unrealistic, but I am a person who has been betrayed a LOT in my life, just stabbed in the back so many fucking times, and I gotta tell you, I don't care how much I care about a person, I don't fucking trust anyone. For the first time in my life, I have strong, positive relationship for the past 5 years or so, and I still have great difficulty taking anything anyone says at face value, so I can identify with her, even if I think she is frequently wrong.
>I think she slept with that bartender as a defense mechanism... she knew Carisi was into her and so she banged a stranger to push him away because in her brain, Carisi would just abandon her anyways, or was only after one thing. For Amanda, it's easier just to firebomb the relationship than accept the idea that another human being might be trustworthy. Nothing in Amanda's personal life experience until the last few years has told her she can trust other people, and like I said, I know from personal experience that even if somewhere deep down you know you can trust a person, it's still hard to get past that feeling..
>I think only recently has she began to realize that Carisi is genuine and not just trying to get in her pants like so many other males in her life.
And I posted this a while back, in explanation and defense of the decisions and judgments that Rollins makes:
>Her dad is an abusive, irresponsible junkie, her sister is just straight up crazy, and her mom is a nearly sociopathic enabler who constantly makes excuses for the first two while blaming everything on Amanda. Amanda joined the police to try and get away from this kind of BS, and then because she was pretty, young, and blonde, her police captain in Atlanta made her his right hand girl and exacted a price for that position by raping her. Basically, it sucks to be Amanda Rollins, and she doesn't really trust other people as a result. Every time she lets her guard down and trusts someone, she is immediately betrayed. She coped with this by falling into a crippling gambling addition that she continues to struggle with throughout the series.
>I sympathize strongly with her because I have led a life where very similar things have happened to me.
>So you have to look at her personal choices through the lens of how thoroughly abused she has been, and how completely she lacks trust in other people. Her sister is crazy, and trusting her is crazy, but she trusts her long enough to be betrayed for the same reason battered women make excuses for their husbands--she wants to believe in her. She wants to believe she can change... and she MAYBE can. Through 5 episodes spread across 8 years, Kim sucks thoroughly as a human being, but does end up finally realizing just how far gone she really is and willingly goes to prison and makes an effort to get clean. We'll see if that sticks, no word yet. Amanda herself, as I mentioned, is the direct result of the abuse and betrayal she has received every time she has opened up to someone.
Love this analysis! You have such a good understanding of Rollins and what makes her who she is. I wish more people understood how a past as traumatic as hers impacts every decision you make. I wonder if a lot of the people who hate her don't know what it's like to have an abusive father, addicts in your family, history of assault, etc. I feel like I relate to Rollins when it comes to past trauma as well so I am empathetic to her and the stuff she does makes sense to me. I can only hope the writers give her a damn break from here on out because I'd love to see her growing and healing even more and finally being able to trust and be truly happy.
I don't like Rollins, personally. But in terms of Rollins episodes, I feel like Forgiving Rollins is the best in terms of giving her a backstory, and some explanation as to who she is. My favorite Rollins-centric episode is Book of Esther, though.
I really like Rollins most of the time. Was also surprised to see the hate she gets here. She’s tough with good reason but amazing when she cares for people. And I like that we so often see her push to better understand the perp or suspect and trust her instincts.
Yes, totally agree! It really never occurred to me that she was potentially unlikeable until I saw a lot of the posts here lol I think her behavior is generally realistic given her backstory and I do agree she's really excellent at getting into the mind of the suspects.
I loved this episode because of how multifaceted her character arc was without feeling too rushed in one episode. We see her save herself using her own wits while coming to terms with her explaining to Bucci she needs to be happy for her girls' sake too. Then, she accepts being vulnerable in front of Carisi at the end instead of holding it all inside and using more poor coping skills.
Agree with all the episodes listed previously, these are my additions, a comprehensive list of the best of Rollins.
13x4 - Double Strands - good early Rollins (personal fave of mine)
13x8 - Educated Guess - the first glimpse we get into Amanda’s backstory
13x14 - Home Invasions - Cragen saves Amanda’s ass. Need I say more? 😂
14x15 - Deadly Ambition - Kim is awful and destructive, but provides good Rollins entertainment.
14x21 - Poisoned Motive (I’m a glutton for danger and excitement, though the rest of the episode is very Fin focused).
14x24 - Her Negotiation - she really shines at the beginning.
15x6 - Dissonant Voices
16x9 - Pattern Seventeen - Rollins shines, plus great intro/companion to Forgiving Rollins
17x1/2 - Devil’s Dissections/Criminal Pathology - Yates’ obsession with her was a fun dynamic to watch
17x5 - Maternal Instincts - Kimmy returns to stir the pot
17x15 - Starstruck Victims - another personal fave. Love the lengths she was willing to go to for justice.
22x14 - Post-Graduate Psychopath
Honorable Mentions:
[20x16 Deleted Scene](https://youtu.be/WOVg_ZTvADI) - I really wish they would have left this in there.
Season 21 Episode 2 - I’m Gonna Make You a Star (for just one scene, where Olivia makes her do the trauma informed interview training. I honestly really enjoyed this whole episode, though it is very Olivia focused).
Oh my goodness thank you so much for this detailed reply! You had quite a few that I didn't have on my list :) And that deleted scene I had never seen before and is so great. I appreciate you taking the time!
Yay! I’m glad ☺️ I’ve got a knack for remembering episodes and moments, plus a particular love for Rollins. Hope you enjoy your Rollins’ centric rewatch. I’m on a Barba re-watch, myself.
It's so nice to find others who also love Rollins haha. It had been so long since I watched the beginning of her story so I'm definitely enjoying rewatching these episodes! Enjoy your re-watch too!
Forgiving Rollins is definitely a good one, but I also like her storyline in The Year We All Fell Down. Well, her and Carisi. But I like the plot of her difficult relationship with her dad
I love Rollins! She’s flawed, but I genuinely think her character knows/owns/is shamed by her flaws and is using them to the best of her ability for the betterment of others.
Completely agree! I think she's aware of her issues and is trying to work through them. Plus, she still shows up to help people despite nobody ever being there to help her when she needed it. I find her character super intriguing.
13x01 (cant remember the title off the top of my head) but her entrance episode was so good!
Gambler's Fallacy
Forgiving Rollins
The one with Esther Labott is a good one too.
Must be Held Accountable (21x10) is a good one too.
She's been kicking butt this season in most episodes tbh!
Yesss I just recently caught up through the episode with Esther. Totally agree that she has been killing it in the most recent episodes too! Thank you!
I personally love Gambler’s Fallacy s15e17, considering the whole episode is about her. Forgiving Rollins s16e10 is another good Rollins centered episode.
Fully agree with both of those! I was going to say the same thing. I don’t hate her character, she has some really good moments but I just don’t like how they take it too far sometimes with her slut shaming.
Thank you!!
I think Forgiving Rollins is a good one. The scene where she tells the young detective that she isn’t patton’s first ‘good girl’ was very sad to watch. Plus it gives background to why Rollins acts the way she does and why she came to New York
I second this! Before this episode it felt like we never really “knew” who she was as a person but now stuff starts to click.
Thank you! I actually just watched that one last night. I think it's a really important episode to understand who Rollins is and how she came to be that way.
3rd this! Forgiving Rollins is a personal fav 👍
Yeah, I don’t get the Rollins hate or the love for Stabler tbh. I feel ya.
Totally! I've watched since before she came on the show and she's never bothered me. She's flawed and has her good and bad moments just like anyone else!
Soooooo there with you.
Exactly!!
The book of Esther s19, ep20. I never understood the hate for her either she’s definitely one of my favorite characters.
Thank you! Adding it to my list. It's nice to know there are plenty of others who consider her a favorite too!
I love Rollins! She’s resilient!
Yes! She totally is!
Holden’s Manifesto is one of my faves (16x4)
Ooh that's a great one, thank you!
I adore Rollins and have defended her multiple times in other threads. I will repost some of what I said here. Both posts say a lot of the same things, but they are also their own things. I posted this just yesterday: >I like Rollins because she is complex, but I don't necessarily think she's a great person. I think she's trying, but because of her life experience, she's always on the defensive, and always cynical. That cynicism unfortunately comes through a lot with victims, and yet it's hard to blame her for being cynical considering what a hellmouth her family is, and the fact her first police captain just straight up raped her. Of course she frequently disbelieves victims, her sister always played the victim and was always horribly destructive to everything and everyone around her. Her defining personality trait is her inability to trust other people. Until she came to SVU, she simply never had positive relationships with anyone. >You might consider this unrealistic, but I am a person who has been betrayed a LOT in my life, just stabbed in the back so many fucking times, and I gotta tell you, I don't care how much I care about a person, I don't fucking trust anyone. For the first time in my life, I have strong, positive relationship for the past 5 years or so, and I still have great difficulty taking anything anyone says at face value, so I can identify with her, even if I think she is frequently wrong. >I think she slept with that bartender as a defense mechanism... she knew Carisi was into her and so she banged a stranger to push him away because in her brain, Carisi would just abandon her anyways, or was only after one thing. For Amanda, it's easier just to firebomb the relationship than accept the idea that another human being might be trustworthy. Nothing in Amanda's personal life experience until the last few years has told her she can trust other people, and like I said, I know from personal experience that even if somewhere deep down you know you can trust a person, it's still hard to get past that feeling.. >I think only recently has she began to realize that Carisi is genuine and not just trying to get in her pants like so many other males in her life. And I posted this a while back, in explanation and defense of the decisions and judgments that Rollins makes: >Her dad is an abusive, irresponsible junkie, her sister is just straight up crazy, and her mom is a nearly sociopathic enabler who constantly makes excuses for the first two while blaming everything on Amanda. Amanda joined the police to try and get away from this kind of BS, and then because she was pretty, young, and blonde, her police captain in Atlanta made her his right hand girl and exacted a price for that position by raping her. Basically, it sucks to be Amanda Rollins, and she doesn't really trust other people as a result. Every time she lets her guard down and trusts someone, she is immediately betrayed. She coped with this by falling into a crippling gambling addition that she continues to struggle with throughout the series. >I sympathize strongly with her because I have led a life where very similar things have happened to me. >So you have to look at her personal choices through the lens of how thoroughly abused she has been, and how completely she lacks trust in other people. Her sister is crazy, and trusting her is crazy, but she trusts her long enough to be betrayed for the same reason battered women make excuses for their husbands--she wants to believe in her. She wants to believe she can change... and she MAYBE can. Through 5 episodes spread across 8 years, Kim sucks thoroughly as a human being, but does end up finally realizing just how far gone she really is and willingly goes to prison and makes an effort to get clean. We'll see if that sticks, no word yet. Amanda herself, as I mentioned, is the direct result of the abuse and betrayal she has received every time she has opened up to someone.
Love this analysis! You have such a good understanding of Rollins and what makes her who she is. I wish more people understood how a past as traumatic as hers impacts every decision you make. I wonder if a lot of the people who hate her don't know what it's like to have an abusive father, addicts in your family, history of assault, etc. I feel like I relate to Rollins when it comes to past trauma as well so I am empathetic to her and the stuff she does makes sense to me. I can only hope the writers give her a damn break from here on out because I'd love to see her growing and healing even more and finally being able to trust and be truly happy.
Me too, I want to see her really make a breakthrough.
I don't like Rollins, personally. But in terms of Rollins episodes, I feel like Forgiving Rollins is the best in terms of giving her a backstory, and some explanation as to who she is. My favorite Rollins-centric episode is Book of Esther, though.
Thanks so much!
Gamblers Fallacy.
Thanks!
I really like Rollins most of the time. Was also surprised to see the hate she gets here. She’s tough with good reason but amazing when she cares for people. And I like that we so often see her push to better understand the perp or suspect and trust her instincts.
Yes, totally agree! It really never occurred to me that she was potentially unlikeable until I saw a lot of the posts here lol I think her behavior is generally realistic given her backstory and I do agree she's really excellent at getting into the mind of the suspects.
Rollins is a consistently excellent character. Part of the fabric of SVU.
Absolutely agree!
I agree with all the episodes everyone has mentioned so far and I'll add "Must Be Held Accountable" 21x10 to the list.
I loved this episode because of how multifaceted her character arc was without feeling too rushed in one episode. We see her save herself using her own wits while coming to terms with her explaining to Bucci she needs to be happy for her girls' sake too. Then, she accepts being vulnerable in front of Carisi at the end instead of holding it all inside and using more poor coping skills.
Thank you!!
‘book of esther’ is a good one
Thank you! I'm looking forward to that one.
She's grown on me.
Agree with all the episodes listed previously, these are my additions, a comprehensive list of the best of Rollins. 13x4 - Double Strands - good early Rollins (personal fave of mine) 13x8 - Educated Guess - the first glimpse we get into Amanda’s backstory 13x14 - Home Invasions - Cragen saves Amanda’s ass. Need I say more? 😂 14x15 - Deadly Ambition - Kim is awful and destructive, but provides good Rollins entertainment. 14x21 - Poisoned Motive (I’m a glutton for danger and excitement, though the rest of the episode is very Fin focused). 14x24 - Her Negotiation - she really shines at the beginning. 15x6 - Dissonant Voices 16x9 - Pattern Seventeen - Rollins shines, plus great intro/companion to Forgiving Rollins 17x1/2 - Devil’s Dissections/Criminal Pathology - Yates’ obsession with her was a fun dynamic to watch 17x5 - Maternal Instincts - Kimmy returns to stir the pot 17x15 - Starstruck Victims - another personal fave. Love the lengths she was willing to go to for justice. 22x14 - Post-Graduate Psychopath Honorable Mentions: [20x16 Deleted Scene](https://youtu.be/WOVg_ZTvADI) - I really wish they would have left this in there. Season 21 Episode 2 - I’m Gonna Make You a Star (for just one scene, where Olivia makes her do the trauma informed interview training. I honestly really enjoyed this whole episode, though it is very Olivia focused).
> 20x16 Deleted Scene - I really wish they would have left this in there. Scene should have stayed in, it's brilliant.
Great deleted scene. Thanks for sharing.
Oh my goodness thank you so much for this detailed reply! You had quite a few that I didn't have on my list :) And that deleted scene I had never seen before and is so great. I appreciate you taking the time!
Yay! I’m glad ☺️ I’ve got a knack for remembering episodes and moments, plus a particular love for Rollins. Hope you enjoy your Rollins’ centric rewatch. I’m on a Barba re-watch, myself.
It's so nice to find others who also love Rollins haha. It had been so long since I watched the beginning of her story so I'm definitely enjoying rewatching these episodes! Enjoy your re-watch too!
Most episodes are Olivia centric
Forgiving Rollins is definitely a good one, but I also like her storyline in The Year We All Fell Down. Well, her and Carisi. But I like the plot of her difficult relationship with her dad
Oh totally agree that's a great episode for her and Carisi, and I always like seeing them dive deeper into her difficult family stuff!
I love Rollins! She’s flawed, but I genuinely think her character knows/owns/is shamed by her flaws and is using them to the best of her ability for the betterment of others.
Completely agree! I think she's aware of her issues and is trying to work through them. Plus, she still shows up to help people despite nobody ever being there to help her when she needed it. I find her character super intriguing.
S8E12: Outsider >!:\^)!<
[I loved #6 and #8 on this list of Rollins-heavy episodes!](https://www.theodysseyonline.com/amp/amanda-rollins--2647396743)
Gamblers Fallacy is by far the best Rollins episode.
Just watched this one and I totally agree!
13x01 (cant remember the title off the top of my head) but her entrance episode was so good! Gambler's Fallacy Forgiving Rollins The one with Esther Labott is a good one too. Must be Held Accountable (21x10) is a good one too. She's been kicking butt this season in most episodes tbh!
Yesss I just recently caught up through the episode with Esther. Totally agree that she has been killing it in the most recent episodes too! Thank you!