‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 18, episode 5 review: Anthony Edwards delivers powerful performance

For everyone who loves feeling nostalgic about TV series’ past, it was nice to see Anthony Edwards appearing alongside Mariska Hargitay on “Law & Order: SVU” Wednesday night. The two parties previously worked on “ER” together, but unfortunately the two weren’t exactly working in unison for most of the hour.

Instead, Edwards appearing on Wednesday’ installment as Olivia Benson’s first partner, and a man who helped to keep her out of trouble during her early days on the force. You could argue that she should owe him something, but that something is certainly not protecting his son after he was accused of rape. His argument was that the victim consented, whereas both she and a witness proclaimed that she was not capable of giving her consent due to her drunkenness. A video online seemed to back up this story, as does the simple fact that it is hard to figure out why two consenting adults would want to have sex surrounded by garbage.

Edwards’ character was a truly detestable man, someone who was unafraid to leave any degree of law and order at the door in order to save his son. He fought for him every step of the way, including after he changed his mind a la “The Night Of” right before reading a public apology. As Benson assessed, he even fabricated a witness at the last minute in order to further show that his son was not guilty of anything.

Eventually, it took the defendant admitting to the truth and feeling overwhelmed by his guilt towards the rape for the case to end. Even if this meant putting his father in jeopardy, he was willing to do so for the sake of the truth. There are no happy endings on this show, but it is a relief here to see that justice was served to a certain extent. Two years is not enough for the crime, but these matters are constantly complicated. We don’t know what will become of his father, but hopefully there is punishment down the road.

As much as we loathe this character, kudos to Edwards for an amazing, gut-wrenching performance throughout the episode. there are plenty of great guest-stars who grace this show, and Anthony deserves to be considered among the best. Hargitay also delivered as always, and while much of the supporting cast had limited screen time, they made the most of what they had.

Grade: A-. A tremendous episode, and one that was anchored by powerful performances across the board. Hopefully this is an episode that sparks conversations, as this is the sort of rape case that probably happens more often than many others featured on the show.

(Photo: NBC.)