‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 15, episode 10 review: One of Mariska Hargitay’s hardest episode yet
Typically, we love the courtroom episodes in the “Law & Order” franchise, mostly because they are supremely intelligent, fantastic installments where there are all sorts of great character development.
Really, the difficult thing about Wednesday’s “Psycho Therapist” is trying to figure out whether or not this is a great episode of television, or something that is just, quite frankly, disturbing to watch. It was one of the roughest hours of TV that we have seen in some time, and there were moments where it felt like torture as Williams Lewis stood there in front of the jury and made himself out to be a victim. He manipulated everything in the story time and time again, and then tried to do it again in the courtroom.
But even through out most of the proceedings, it still felt as though the team was going to get a win, mostly because of what we were hoping to see when it comes to Barba’s own grilling of Lewis. But then, we learned that he was not going to allow it, saying instead that he would like to move straight to the closing statements.
So when the verdict came out and there were some guilty verdicts in there, we were pleasantly surprised. It was a good and probably realistic move to not have Lewis found guilty on everything. Mariska Hargitay had one of many brilliant moments in here as she started to tear up, thinking that it was over … but was it really? That moment at the end with the seizure definitely has us nervous.
In the end, the episode was very well-done and this is where our confusion lies. We just don’t feel like “SVU” really needs a villain like this to keep coming back and doing horrible things. At a certain point it could be perceived as a more of a comic book feel … and we definitely don’t want that. Grade: B.
What did you think about this episode, and about some of the performances in here? Be sure to share your thoughts below.
Photo: NBC
Rob Amatti
January 12, 2014 @ 12:41 am
Conclude this storyline and kill Lewis off. Enough already!
Elmer Frazier
January 10, 2014 @ 8:28 pm
What’s unbelievable, is that any of those cops would be allowed to continue to investigate crimes with their backgrounds. Olivia would have been long transferred from SVU for prior behavior as would all the other characters.
Jodie
January 10, 2014 @ 7:47 am
Actually I found this episode completely unbelievable. Usually I believe this show treats the audience with some degree of intelligence but here we were led to believe the William Lewis could get off. There was no mention of physical proof that he was guilty, Olivia’s physical condition, medical reports, pictures. We were led to believe that there was enough doubt for the jury to buy the story that Olivia’s team (which is only 5 people) could make the entire story up, and the story was a detective being kidnapped and held hostage for 4 days.
Rose
January 11, 2014 @ 11:37 pm
I completely agree with you. I found it very unbelievable for the same exact reasons you mention. Although I love the series – and did enjoy this episode very much – I was constantly wondering why there were no displays of the physical evidence like photos or things from the beach house that could be used as evidence. Hello… blood stains in the trunk and on the floor of the back seat!!! I know this is just a show – but I really wanted more depth from this episode. A two hour show would have probably allowed for more realism.
Carla Sposito
January 9, 2014 @ 6:26 pm
I love SVU. I love Mariska. She is beautiful and talented.
GoLiv
January 9, 2014 @ 9:18 am
In my opinion, the show got so incredibly interesting now that svu finally has a real nemesis, someone to challenge them in every way. Also, Det. Benson has put away so many criminals, no surprise that one of them got so obsessed with her. In the end, it makes sense and captivates us, because we grew to care so much about Olivia. Just as long as Liv keeps winning, I’m for it (however, it shouldn’t become the main focus of the series).