A gritty crime drama from the creator of Law & Order (Law and Order - Special Victims Unit)

Member Name: IzzyS

Product:	Law and Order - Special Victims Unit
Date:	23/11/08 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great performances, interesting characters & storylines, gripping drama,

Disadvantages: Not for the overly sensitive or squeamish at times

Law & Order Special Victims Unit is one of number of spin offs from the popular, long running US crime drama show Law & Order, along with Law & Order Criminal Intent and the short lived spin off Law & Order Trial By Jury.

Law & Order Special Victims Unit, or SVU as its normally referred to by fans, is (like the other spin offs) set in NY and revolves around a the Special Victims team, who are called in to deal with the most distressing, usually sexually based, crimes, sometimes involving children, as well as teenagers and adults.

Now you might well be wondering why would anyone want to watch a show about such things? which is a valid enough question. Well, I didn't start watching this show until I read about others who watch it and it sounded like it was a high quality crime drama and I'll easily admit that I do like a good a good crime drama. From what I heard, the stories sounded quite interesting and so I decided to give it a go and see what I thought of it, considering I had already seen Law and Order and I was a fan of that show, plus the person behind Law and Order, Dick Wolf, is also behind this show, so I hoped it wouldn't be a weakened rip off of Law & Order.

As it happens, I was glad I gave it a go as it turns out, in my opinion, that it is well worth watching, particularly for fans of gripping crime drama show like me.

This show I feel works particularly well because of two main characters, those being of detective Olivia Benson (played by Marisa Hargitay) and detective Elliot Stabler (played by Christopher Meloni). Their partners and while their not a couple as such, they do have quite a strong friendship and they have an interesting past.

Some of the situations that they end up in while trying to track down paedophiles, cult leaders putting children or adults at risk, rapists or murderers, can put these characters in some rather tricky situations and the way the show is written, you as a viewer do feel quite connected to them and concerned for them. I feel the character development in this show is very well done.

There are, of course, other characters than Benson and Stabler, although those are the two people that are most featured and discussed about between fans I'd imagine but other detectives in the special victims team include detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, who's played by the rapper Ice-T and detective John Munch, played by Richard Belzer. Munch is, I'd say, more the thinker in the team and a bit of a mediator too, whereas "Fin" is more your typical action guy I suppose, he has a background as an ex member of a narcotics team and so sometimes, when needed, he'll go undercover and use some of his past knowledge to find snitches who might have seen what went on, to identify the villains or find people who have gone missing etc.

As well as the team, there's also the captain who runs the unit, captain Donald Cragen, played by Dann Florek, doctor George Huang, played by B.D. Wong, who uses the crime scenes to develop a psychological profile of the criminal and also interviews any potential suspect or what might be the criminal themselves, to determine their mental state and whether or not they can be put to trial, whether they realise or understand what they've done, if they are the criminal that is.

Similarly to Law & Order, this show has the two sides to it, firstly after being shown the crme scene which is normally randomly discovered by a passer by, a friend or visitor or someone or other, the team get into action to find the perpertrator, to help the victim if they pull through or whatever else and then, if the criminal is discovered, there's the element of the show about whether the team can get them to go to trial and your shown the trial and what happens.

The assistant district attorney (ADA) Casey Novak, played by Diane Neal, is the latest addition to the cast and the team obviously converse with her about whats going on in the case, what charges can be legally brought and she takes on the case when it goes to trial. Both her and Olivia are quite emotionally charged and you can tell that some of the stories, the crimes, really get to them and they can be quite passionate about getting what they feel is the right justice for the victim, whether they the victim, or victims, are ever found (they might be missing and they know the perpertraitor knows where s/he is), are alive or killed.

This is a pretty gritty drama and its not for the very faint hearted but I feel that its stories are very well written, it can be quite interesting to see what happens, how they track (or attempt to track) down the perpertraitors and how the team react to and deal with what they encounter. The character development is pretty top notch and as a viewer you do feel quite attached to pretty much all of the team but particularly detectives Benson and Stabler. Stabler is married (though his marriage clearly has strains) and he has teenage children, so seeing some of the things that he does clearly affects him too and he's left wondering if he is too protective of his children because of what he's seen that happens to other vulnerable young adults, or if he's not protective enough.

Anyway, this won't be for everyone but honestly, I really would recommend the show for anyone who likes Law & Order, CSI, Criminal Minds, those sorts of shows, just be aware that most of the episodes are about sexually based crimes so if you are squeamish about that, this isn't for you. Thats not to say that they show really graphic sex scenes, they don't, your only given a general idea, a view of the crime scene (some bloody sheets or that sort of thing) and obviously its discussed but thats about it. Also it isn't all entirely rape and murder crimes that are covered, there are other crimes that the SVU team deal with, including kidnappings, there was one show about a cult leader who had a group of children who stayed with him and followed his every move, that was intriguing and other types/forms of murder too.

This show has been going since 1999 and there are a few series boxsets available for purchase on DVD, though you can also watch it on Friday nights on Five or if you have cable or satellite, season (series) nine is currently being shown in double bills on the Hallmark channel on Sundays at 9pm and 10pm. This is the Hallmark channels SVU mini website, for anyone interested (it probably has spoilers for anyone watching earlier seasons/series though, just to warn you!):- http://www.svu9.co.uk/

I hope that you found this review useful, thanks for any and all r/r/c's.

Summary: A team in New York who have to deal with the 'most heinous crimes' as the announcer says