The franchise has always had a difficult time casting and keeping racial minority characters. SVU lost Michelle Hurd early on because the writers didn't know what to do with her. (Here's a clue: How many of the writing staff have been minorities?). If B.D. Wong hadn't been cast as the occasional guy to pop up spouting psychobabble, there would never have been a single Asian regular character in any of the Law and Order shows. Think about that. IN NYC. So, it's not surprising that the talented Adam Beach would make an auspicious debut as the franchise's only Native American character only for the writers to quickly lose interest in him in favor of Benson, Stabler, etc. Beach's cool disposition was probably also taking a little too much attention away from the leads, which is almost always the end of an actor's tenure when the producers are determined to service the stars. His send off episode here is made even less salutary by also giving the heave ho to Casey Novak. It follows the standard SVU playbook -- Beach's Chester Lake had a hidden agenda, in this case, pursuing an old case from his last job on the side. That leads to a shoot out with two cops, one of whom is gunned down. Is Lake crooked, and did he commit murder? Or are the cops crooked, and they were trying to murder him? You'll have to watch the episode to find out, but Lake's disappearance from the cast is a foregone conclusion.
