Elizabeth Olivet
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| Law & Order character | |
| Dr. Elizabeth Olivet | |
|---|---|
| Time on show | 1991-1997; 2002-present |
| Succeeded | Emil Skoda |
| Preceded | Emil Skoda |
| First appearance | Confession |
| Portrayed by | Carolyn McCormick |
Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Olivet is a fictional character on the TV crime drama Law & Order. She was portrayed by Carolyn McCormick from 1991 to 1997. The character was revived in 2002, but makes far less frequent appearances on the show.
Olivet is a clinical psychiatrist who performs consultation work for the 27th Police Precinct and District Attorney's office in Manhattan. She is usually tasked with interviewing murder suspects to assess whether or not they are legally sane, and to assist the DA's office in forming psychological profiles.
She first worked with the police as a grief counselor when Sgt. Max Greevey was murdered in the line of duty in 1991. After a rocky start, she helped Greevey's partner, Det. Mike Logan, cope with the loss. The two formed a close bond. She worked closely with the 27th Precinct for years afterward.
It was not always a perfect partnership, however; her keen understanding of the subtle, complicated nature of mental illness did not allow for the quick, easy-to-understand diagnoses that the police and DA wanted in order to expediently arrest and prosecute suspects. While she was able to see through a suspect who was malingering, she could not offer easy answers with more complicated cases. This was of particular frustration to Executive Assistant DA Ben Stone and his successor, Jack McCoy, whose prosecution strategies were often hampered by her diagnoses. She is also generally in favor of compassionate, involved psychotherapy in mental institutions, rather than imprisonment or antipsychotic drugs, for genuinely disturbed criminals, which often clashes with the police's sense of justice.
In 1992, she was molested and raped by a gynecologist she was attempting to investigate. While the doctor was eventually incarcerated, the emotional scars never truly healed.
Olivet went into private practice in 1997; she was replaced by Dr. Emil Skoda. In the 2001 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Baby Killer", she was hired by a defense attorney to help defend a young boy accused of murder and found herself at odds with a former colleague, ADA Alexandra Cabot. She also made brief appearances in the SVU episodes "...Or Just Look Like One" and "Abuse."
In 2002, she returned to do freelance work with the DA's office. She would later appear in several episodes of L&O, although her role was much reduced from what it once was. She also made an appearance in the Law & Order: Trial by Jury episode "Day", in which she consults with ADA Tracey Kibre on the mental stabililty of a rape suspect Kibre was prosecuting.
In 2006, Olivet made a guest appearance in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "To The Bone," in which Logan went to her apartment for advice after accidentially killing an undercover police officer.
[edit] Trivia
- Olivet is one of only five characters who have appeared in all four Law & Order series. The other four are Lennie Briscoe, Ed Green, Arthur Branch, and Elizabeth Rodgers.
- Olivet and fellow police psychiatrist Emil Skoda are the only Law & Order characters to make crossover appearances on New York Undercover, another series produced by Dick Wolf.
