It’s a sad day for all the SVU fans: Sgt. John Munch, a.k.a. Richard Belzer, has retired!
Richard Belzer has played the Detective turned Sergeant in a total of 10 different shows in the last 21 years, spending his last 15 in the Special Victims Unit, along with Benson and co. Although he doesn’t hold the record for the most appearances by the same character (462), no one beats him in the number of cross-overs he did.
The farewell episode opened with Munch retirement dinner, soon interrupted by a call to Olivia from a former and current rape victim. Still, the brief moments in the beginning made us laugh and cry a little, but luckily NBC released the entire Munch speech.
Great to see everybody at ease, as well as familiar faces from the olden days, including Munch first partner at SVU and Olivia’s beau, Cassidy. Missing though, were ADA Barba and Melinda Warner (given that Raúl Esparza is now part of the main cast, it would have been appropriate).
At least, they said that Munch leaving doesn’t mean he’s leaving for good, as he’s now a recurrent cast member. =)
Although extremely sad by his departure, I think it was time and was done quite nicely…
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