Odafin "Fin" Tutuola
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| Law & Order character | |
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| Det. Fin Tutuola | |
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| Time on show | 2000-present |
| Preceded by | Monique Jeffries |
| Succeeded by | Current |
| First appearance | Wrong Is Right |
| Last appearance | N/A |
| Portrayed by | Ice-T |
Det. Odafin Tutuola is a fictional character on the TV drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He is played by Ice-T.
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[edit] On SVU
A former Narcotics detective, Tutuola replaced Monique Jeffries after she left the SVU squad in 2000. He was then paired with Det. John Munch.
While in the Narcotics division, Tutuola worked undercover regularly. He would often spend weeks or even months at a time in various alternate identities. He left Narcotics and transferred to SVU when his partner took a bullet that was meant for him.
As of the season 8 episode "Screwed" he was assigned Chester Lake as his new partner.
Tutuola initially had a rocky relationship with his colleagues in SVU, especially with Olivia Benson and John Munch, although that has changed in recent seasons. Unlike them, he saw the world in black and white, with all criminals equally deserving of prison regardless of any extenuating circumstances. He also kept a tight rein on his emotions, refusing to talk about his problems or to admit that the grisly nature of his work often affected him. For example, he and Munch had been partners for nearly a year before he opened up about his former partner's death. He never mentioned his son to Munch, only a passing reference to a lab technician in season 3. It wasn't until season 6 that his son made an appearance on the show, and their rocky relationship was revealed.
In Season 9 episode "Undercover" both he and Benson go to Seaview Prison when the investigation leads them there. Fin gets there in time to save Olivia from being raped. In Season 9 finale "Cold", Stabler suspects that Fin tipped Lake off before he and Benson could take Lake into custody. Stabler dumps Fin's phones, making Fin furious. Near the end of the episode, Stabler quasi-apologizes for not trusting Fin (without explicitly stating what he did wrong), but Fin dismisses his apology because he believes Stabler will always be the same "bulldog", meaning that Stabler could appologize now and say said apology with sincerity but Fin believes he'll just be the same "rat bastard" the next day, as if nothing had ever happened. He requests a transfer from the squad after he told this to Elliot Stabler.
[edit] Character evolution
Over the eight years he has spent with the 16th Precinct so far, Tutuola has come to respect and trust his SVU colleagues, even though they often disagree over the best way to solve cases. An example is his partnership with Munch, which has grown from icy distrust to mutual respect and good-natured banter, often about politics, as Munch is politically left-wing and Tutuola is a registered Republican. After Munch was shot in the buttocks by a white supremacist during a court trial in the 7th season episode "Raw", Tutuola surprised Munch in the hospital with a milkshake.
Tutuola has been known to reach out to victims and suspects, especially those in the African-American community. When some suspects or victims won't talk to other detectives, they will talk to him. He can relate to those who live in poor, gang neighborhoods, as he grew up in one himself.
As a detective, he is meticulous and pays close attention to detail, often uncovering a previously overlooked piece of evidence that will solve a case. He once was awarded the Combat Cross, a medal given to detectives who have found themselves in shootouts on the job.
In 2004, Tutuola was gravely wounded while attempting to stop a holdup at a bodega; after being released from the hospital, he spent little time recovering, instead throwing himself back into work finding a kidnapped victim and busting a meth lab. In this episode we are introduced to his old boss from the Narcotics division: Lt. Pizzelli (Albert Insinnia). It was revealed in this episode that in Narcotics, the job was all about getting drugs off the streets and the people he dealt with were primarily drug dealers or users, which explains his earlier attitude towards criminals and victims.
Recently, while attempting to solve the murders of AIDS victims, Tutuola once again sought help from his son. Ken, a computer science major, helped the SVU squad locate the hacker who fraudulently obtained a list of AIDS patients. In the course of the investigation, Tutuola learned that Ken himself is gay. Their relationship was tested again in the episode "Venom", when uniform cops found Ken digging up a city street and took him in. Ken contacted Olivia Benson instead of his father and told her he was digging up the street to look for a body of a dead woman. The investigation, which first focused on Ken, took a new turn when DNA evidence showed that Ken's cousin Darius Parker (Ludacris) was not only the murderer but was also Ken's older half-brother, who had been abandoned by his mother (Fin's ex-wife Theresa). The episode ended with Darius threatening to expose the entire family's secrets in court.
In the season 8 finale episode "Screwed," Darius goes on trial for the murders and, true to word his word, every bit of the family's dirty laundry is exposed to the public. Theresa at first refuses to testify, forcing the judge to remand her into custody for contempt of court, but she eventually reveals that Darius was the product of a rape--the rapist being her own father. Darius is acquitted of all charges and both Fin and Ken say that they are done with him. However SVU writers say that they will bring back the Darius character somehow.[citation needed]
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In episode "Rooftop," Fin tells Stabler he was raised in Harlem and was six during the '68 riots. Fin would have been born in 1962 which would make his age 45.
- His name is taken from the book "The Palm Wine Drinkard" by Amos Tutuola, a member of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Information about Amos Tutuola, recounted in the book's introduction, states that his grandfather was an odafin, the spiritual leader of a clan, and Tutuola was the given name of the author's father.
- Tutuola means "The Gentle One" in the Yoruba language of southwestern Nigeria.[1]
- When Ice-T asked series producer Dick Wolf how the part was supposed to be performed, Wolf told him to simply just do what Ice-T would do if he were a cop.[citation needed]
[edit] References
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