Law & Order: SVU season 19 episode 10 review: The sad case of Mariel
This was a story that did feature a shocking death, but it was not until we got closer to the end of the episode. The story at the center of the hour revolved around Mariel, a young girl who found herself basically manipulated and controlled by her mother — who did not quite understand the extent of what she was doing. While the episode began with an investigation into assault, it started to spiral when it was clear that Mariel was not actually sick like she thought that she was. Instead, her mother was making her believe that in a wide array of different ways. She wouldn’t let her have a boyfriend; heck, she wouldn’t allow her to stay at school.
Eventually, Mariel ended up learning the truth about her mother projecting an illness onto her, and she was not happy about it. She seemingly exploded within a fit of rage and ended up killing her. She ended up resenting her for her entire childhood being ruined. That part of her story is sympathetic. Killing her own mother? Not so much.
For Barba, this eventually led into what is one of the most difficult parts of the job for him. He is assigned with the task of having to put people away, and at times ensure that they are convicted of crimes he believe they committed. Mariel killed her own mother. She had a very clear and in some ways understandable motive. Yet, that doesn’t change what happened in the slightest. This was a heartbreaking case with a heartbreaking end and we wish that there was a different way that we could describe it at the moment.
At the end of the case, you could see the sorrow in Barba’s face. He couldn’t make an exception for a girl because of her trauma; yet, he still felt terrible about sending her to prison. This is where he found a way to get precisely what he wanted: He purposefully had a mistrial declared after spilling the means on the case in front of a jury. This was a way to get the case shifted down to Family Court, one where she could get a lesser sentence. She was punished, but not in the form of life in prison.
Through all of this, what a performance we saw from Raul Esparza tonight. He was commanding, powerful, flawed, and the perfect actor to play Barba … especially this week. It was outside-the-box courtroom drama tonight, but it came about in a way that made sense for this story.
Final Verdict
Tonight’s SVU was another great example of fantastic performances coupled with smart writing and a case that was different than most others. Also, wasn’t it nice to get Warner back on the show after a long time away!
What did you think as a whole about Law & Order: SVU season 19 episode 10? Be sure to share some of your thoughts in the comments!
(Photo: NBC.)