Law and Order Special Victims Unit (1999 to present)

Reviewed by Melissa Garza

My husband is a fan of Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Batman cartoons, cooking shows, and The Larry Sanders show. I’m a fan of conspiracy documentaries, Snapped, The Daily Show, and the Biography channel’s productions about serial killers. There are only a few shows my husband and I both enjoy and frequently watch together. We both love QI, MST3K (and all of its children), and Law and Order SVU.

I have been a fan of the show now for years. Back in 2002, my sister-n-law and brother both began watching the show religiously. As I was often over their house, I started viewing it as well. I had always been a fan of Richard Belzer and by this time his character was teamed up with Ice-T’s which was and continues to be one of the greatest pairs in television.

Previously, I had enjoyed Richard Belzer in Homicide which was a similar show that found both mainstream success and a continued cult status. It had a much more raw feel to it but the acting was topnotch and the stories were fantastic.

Over the years, SVU has become one of the greatest shows on television. When my husband and I first got together, he wasn’t a fan and had only seen a couple episodes. That said, he also was a big fan of Richard Belzer so he wasn’t dead-set against giving it a proper chance. We began watching it after I came home at nights, and before he went to work. Soon, I saw that he was watching it on his own and that our Netflix account consisted of watching nearly every episode within a few months. The Netflix method of streaming to the PS3 must be the best thing ever invented. If only every TV show and movie was available for streaming!

The magic of SVU is the casting and amazing acting of the entire show. Dann Florek who portrays Captain Donald Cragen is amazing. Though, he is often underused due to his ranking on the force, when Cragen does become personally involved in a case the production is gripping. There is such a fierceness about the character and when he goes into protection mode for his crew, it’s magic. There’s one episode where he goes head-to-head with Internal Affairs when they lie to his people. He nearly gets physical and needs to be held back.

Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is another great asset to the production. Though tough and great at her job, the character never loses her femininity. She isn’t the 1980s (and before) damsel in distress stereotype nor is she the modern Tomb Raider style Super Woman who has unbelievable strength and adopts all masculine qualities. Instead, she’s simply a female police officer. Rarely are they written and acted in a manner which maintains integrity and a level of believability. From day one, Hargitay has delivered Benson is a fashion that exceeds the expectations and even allows the viewer to relate to her plights, cheer for her victories, and sympathize for her failures.

Her partner Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) had started off as an over-the-top, Dirty Harry style super cop that when faced with the worst-of-the-worst wouldn’t shy from a little excessive force. Thanks to the excellent writing and once again amazing acting, the conflicts and experiences of Stabler has changed him. He still loses control once in a while, but not as much and when he does, he doesn’t always feel as though it was justified. He and Olivia have an amazing chemistry and kudos to the show for never capitalizing on it by making it romantic. That would surely ruin the show and keeping Stabler the family man with his wife and kids is much more gratifying as a viewer.

Ice-T was born to play Fin Tutuola. He began his role in the second season and brought so much from day one. Typically, his character is level-headed and able to handle difficult situations without the Super Cop style of Stabler. There are times which make for some of the greatest episodes, where Tutuola gets too emotionally involved. One of the greatest was “Anchor” when a racist who followed the ranting of a Glen Beck/Rush Limbaugh style tv-host, was killing young children whose parents began as illegal immigrants. As they were not suburban white kids, the press paid no mind. Cragen initially didn’t want to take the case as it was not sexually based assaults. Tutuola insisted on investigating it and through the entire show as more victims pile, we witness one of the greatest performances by an actor in history. His contempt for the media for not running the story appropriately and the blame he placed on himself brought out so much emotionality to the character. It was a gripping performance by Ice-T and one episode which can be watched over and over again.

Another great Tutuola episode is “Denial” which is from one of the earlier seasons. A junkie is raped and when she is brought to the hospital a baby’s finger is found in her purse. Soon it is discovered that the finger is from her sister who died more than 10 years prior. She says her mother was the culprit while her mother says it’s her. The soft side of Tutuola is revealed as he cares for the rape victim and works diligently to find out the truth. As he relies on his knowledge from the Narcotics Unit, he is careful not to openly trust her. When it is revealed that she is being honest – he does everything in his power to protect her and ensure she doesn’t end up dead or in jail.

John Munch (Richard Belzer) has blessed SVU since day one. Munch is a character which has been on more TV shows than possibly any other. Most regularly, the Belz has portrayed Munch on Homicide for 7 years and SVU for the last 12. Still, the character still remains fresh and fun. Much of this is because Munch shares a lot of the wit, personality, and conspiracy beliefs as his portrayer and therefore the performance always is believable. When the show paired Tutuola with another partner, and Munch was on the show less, it suffered. It isn’t to say that the other actor was bad, but the magic just wasn’t present. The sarcastic nature of Munch matches Fin’s laidback cool nature perfectly. They work off one another.
In one episode where the squad is trying to track down some kids who beat the hell out of the homeless, Munch goes undercover and starts spouting conspiracy theories about the Illuminati. Stabler comments on how great of an actor he is and Fin replies, “that’s what he always says…he’s just saying it louder.” It’s a hilarious moment.

What sells the show more than anything is the comradeship between the force. When Olivia is accused of murder and IA comes to question her, the entire squad has her back and is ready to help in any way they can. In another episode, a pedophile put a school photograph of Elliot’s daughter on his website. When Elliot finds out, flips and beats the hell out of the perp, everyone including Cragen cover for him and force the guy to remove the picture.

Another great asset to the production is B.D. Wong who plays FBI psychiatrist Dr. George Huang. He has had conflicts with nearly everyone including the DAs, but he always stays true to his oath. The episodes that follow him are especially interesting as there is a great deal we still don’t know about the character. In one episode, he risks his license to bring a drug addict to a different country to utilize a drug which is illegal in America to stop the cravings and successfully quit. He always does the right thing, even if it puts him in danger. Personally, I’d like to see him the focus of more episodes.

Overall, the success of SVU is because it is a great show which follows the example of classics like Dragnet. It’s impossible not to care about the characters and the show itself is done in an intelligent manner. It has continued to produce wonderful episodes without losing any of what made it great. I hope it continues on NBC for many years to come.

Overall Rating: 10/10 Possibly, the only show on TV that still deserves this rating