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audreylauriston
Reviews
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Dreams Deferred (2012)
Patricia Arquette as a main SVU character
This episode is a big step above most, with Arquette carrying it almost to herself. More than a guest star, she is the main character in this one, with the SVU team becoming the supporting cast.
This episode speaks of the reality of street sex workers through an aging prostitute, and even though I don't have direct knowledge of this world, to me it feels like a very honest and raw portrayal. Because even though the events shown here aren't ones of a typical day in a hooker's life, it still manages to show the daily, "ordinary" tragedy without sinking into pathos.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Bully (2011)
A messy episode
This is one of the rare SVU episodes that totally missed the mark for me.
Despite featuring a talented and experienced group of guest stars, the performances feel theatrical and fake. But with such a poorly written scenario, I don't think the actors can be blamed here.
The plot is without substance. It feels as though they tried to stuff in too many ideas for the duration, not giving them time to be performed adequately, and instead ending up to be almost satirical.
The main characters are shallow and cliché: you have the psycho bully, the mousy victim, the momma's boy, the gay best friend, and even the egotistical artistic "genius"...
All in all this episode feels very messy and really didn't do it for me.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Behave (2010)
Simply one of the best episodes of SVU
Most SVU episodes hold up to a standard, which explains why this series has held on for so long: intriguing plots; decent to great acting; interesting questions of morality and values vs the law and its loopholes; sex crime victims advocacy; main characters that are well developed but still leave space to the episodes' own storyline and guest actors...
It's a great recipe, with infinite topics to touch on.
But this episode blows it out of the park!
I remembered it from seeing it on tv more than 10 years ago, it had stayed with me. And when I saw it again today by chance it had the same effect.
It's the same SVU recipe but pushed further, with more tooth and a stronger flow. There's a powerful, sometimes violent realism that most episode just skim over.
A dark storyline; simply amazing acting from Jennifer Love Hewitt; the trauma of a rape kit collection; the shocking backlog of unprocessed DNA evidence in the US; the law's shortcomings and the frustration of justice not being served...
This episode is a step above all prior ones and it opens the door to a new strength in the episodes that follow.