Greetings,
And now for the last of the "technically recurring, but should have been officially main" characters of Law & Order. Now there's a title. She is a character who I cannot remember if I have ever seen really smile, and yet she is one of the most fun and funniest of all the people on this show. More on that later. She's just plain great, and her name is Elizabeth Rodgers.
Elizabeth Rodgers was portrayed by Leslie Hendrix for about eighteen years. Amazing. She also made regular visits to SVU and Criminal Intent. That seems logical since her job is that of a medical examiner, which means she does the autopsies, gives cause of death and all that good stuff. According to my info, she initially wanted to be a surgeon, but didn't like cutting into living people. I can certainly understand that. Since the need for the medical examiner usually comes only at the start of an episode, she tends to only appear in one or two scenes. Sometimes, she has to testify in court or visit the DA's office or something, but that's rare. To put it bluntly, we do not see enough of M.E. Rodgers.
As I mentioned, she does add some great humor to this otherwise heavily-themed show, but her humor is about as dry as it comes. Rodgers constantly drops little jokes here and there, right in the presents of the dead bodies, as you do. But you probably need a sense of humor in that job. And you know what else she does a lot around the corpses - eat. Yeah, her meals are usually, for lack of a better phrase, in plain sight, and the cops often make comments about that. They also tend to have mixed reactions to her funny moments. If I were her, my response to all of this would be "You deal with the job your way; I'll deal with it mine".
When it comes to her personal life, we know very little, as you would expect. I think she mentioned a nephew once. She is also quite cultured, being a lover of classical music, as well as an avid reader. Her knowledge of a book series actually served as evidence against a defendant on time. Of course, in that case, she remembered things wrong, but I still give here credit. In the "romantic" department, Rodgers has had a few experiences, good and bad, even within the confines of the workplace. Most notably, she appeared to be getting involved with Captain Ross on Criminal Intent. She also went to see Aida with Lennie Briscoe, but I'm not sure if that was, you know, a date date. And then there was the time that John Munch of SVU attempted to ask her out to dinner. Spoilers: It didn't go to well for him.
I suppose that's all I can say about Elizabeth Rodgers. There may be few details that are known to us about her, but that doesn't matter. Frankly, I don't how someone can create such a memorable character with such little screen time per episode. But over the years, it happened, and I credit that all to Leslie Hendrix. Smile quota aside, she was a joy to watch. I always loved when she showed up on Law & Order, and I certainly loved when she showed up on the Law & Order episode of Community, a.k.a. my favorite episode. Yes, that is a thing that happened, and I am so glad it did.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
