Oooo...so much to review today and it's hard to know where to start. But I'll start at the very beginning, Sound of Music style, with last week's episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, episode 7 Blinded.
Of all the Law & Order's, SVU has been the most sensationalistic, which is perhaps forgivable if you know that SVU was never ever going to have the Law & Order banner above it. As a consequence we have to deal with all the usual soap style dramas that come with programmes like CSI and the like. However, it's been toned down a lot (ironically because it has the Law & Order banner), but the cases are usually straight forward, well, as straight forward as, say, uncovering a dead boy who was molested by his "father" who bought him in Guatemala as part of a paedophile ring in New York before being murdered and castrated himself (I didn't make that one up, by the way - Season 4, Episode 6...and I'm not that sad; I only know that because I just watched it). Rarely, like Law & Order Prime, do we get a variety of viewpoints giving us something to think about. Except for, occasionally, Ice-T thinking that maybe sixteen year old girls seduce older men of their own violation. However, in Blinded we get some rather interesting points of view from everyone and the title has less to do with Detective Stabler being headbutted into a car window and temporarily losing his sight, and more to do with the various detectives blindness towards the entire case that is being presented.
Essentially we have a man who rapes three about-ten year old girls, but does so off his schizophrenia medication. When he is on the medication he not only is regretful about what he has done, but is fully happy to go to the FBI to be transferred to Louisiana where he committed his first crime and where he will certainly get the death penalty, something which no longer is an option in New York. Det Stabler is physically blinded, but Det Benson is also blinded by revenge as it is she who not only alerts the FBI to the situation, but also stabs ADA Novak in the back by revealing that Novak once had a schizoid boyfriend and used her ADA powers to have his attack on her dropped to new DA McCoy (yes, McCoy making his first crossover as DA...wonder if he'll make it to Criminal Intent). Naturally Novak is keen for people to understand that schizophrenia is a very painful disease and this guy really had no control of the rapes. Det Tutuola thinks the suspect should be executed - he chose to go off his medication and is therefore responsible. Det Lake, on the other hand, agrees with Novak. Most interesting of all, though, is the suspect himself who tries to kill himself because on his medication he is aware of the fact he raped three little girls and that is just too much to live with.
It was a truly fantastic episode as all L&O's are when they give us a case that is ambiguous and has a number of points of view that aren't easily overcome.
Oh, incidentally, let's chat about Ten's fantastic preview for this episode. "Stabler and Benson have worked together for many years, but tonight they make a mistake that could cost them everything!!!!". Err...what mistake, exactly? OK, they didn't arrest the guy when they first met him, but he did have an alibi...so, again...what mistake? Well done Ten - 100 points for the mislead.
"A+"
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