In that universe, shouldn't Benson be held accountable for what she did? Nope. After all, if you watch SVU today, it's all about holding people accountable for their actions, regardless of their intentions and regardless of whether anyone else is culpable, too. No real need for an investigation or trial because Benson is always right, right? When she threatens him to coerce a confession, it seems to finally come back to bite her. In this episode, she decides the bad guy, a pedophile named Hodda, is guilty. With Benson, there are never any consequences. Sometimes they even faced consequences for their actions. People made choices based on their emotions and prejudices and frequently were shown to be wrong. The old SVU had some real moral ambiguity. It's his twitchy, scheming performance that saves this episode, but for all the good he does in playing such a monster, that's all cancelled out by the relentless effort to make Benson look good at the end. It's a tribute to his talent that he's able to play parts beyond his physical type. Tom Sizemore could easily be typecast as the sweaty, pasty-faced stump in any numbers of things. ![]() Overall, very good and much better than expected. Actually didn't find Olivia that over-sanctimonious, something that was a frequent big problem in the later seasons, and do feel that other episodes before and since have done this a lot worse than here, her feelings towards Hassler are understandable. The tension is plenty and chilling and emotionally it's poignant. The story is always compelling and did shock and move me. Carisi is amusing and there is a heartfelt final scene for Rollins, Kelli Giddish has come on massively since her first appearance. Shining particularly in Barba's cutting one liners. The script is tight and thought provoking, with no rambling or overdone melodrama. The direction is sympathetic enough without being leaden, while having enough momentum. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting. On a visual level, the episode is solid and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. "Depravity Standard" has so many great things on the other hand. Did find the outcome of the case rushed still, the episode could have done with 5-10 minutes more or the conclusion happening earlier. Also found Hassler annoying, due to being too pushy in personality and indifferently acted. Whether it adds anything new to what was said in "Manhattan Vigil" is up for debate but to me this was on rewatch a superior episode to that as there aren't as many contradictions or inconsistencies in continuity. Absolutely do not agree with the low rating, one of the biggest examples of lowly rated episodes of the show here that are not only not that bad but also to me good. This was one of the episodes that was much better than remembered and turned out to be very impressive in many areas this time. Speaking as someone who was mixed on "Manhattan Vigil", also a divisive episode within the fandom, so expectations were quite mixed before sitting down to watch this episode again as part of my whole show rewatch. My memories of the episode were not too great, loving the performances but disliking the pacing of the outcome and the character of Hassler. ![]() ![]() ![]() Season 17's "Depravity Standard" follows on from the events in Season 14's "Manhattan Vigil".
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |