LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT

THE FIFTH YEAR

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: sex-related crimes, language, thematic elements

Rated:

The real turn-over for NYC PD detectives working in the Special Victims Unit is around two years. Most people simply cannot handle working sex crimes for much longer than that. But Elliot and Olivia seem to hold up all right, as they canvas the neighborhood for rapists, pedophiles, and other psychopathic sickos. Not for the faint of heart, but definitely intense television.

When a frantic 911 phone call implies a woman has become yet another victim of the carjack rapist, the squad calls in Detectives Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) to investigate. The victim is eight months pregnant and missing. The pattern fits that of the rapist, but the details begin to alter the further they follow their leads. The woman's doctor informs them they have forty-eight hours in which to find her, before she loses the baby, since it's a high risk pregnancy. Captain Cragen (Dann Florek) pulls most of his homicide detectives off the street to canvas the area, teaming up Bensen and Stabler with partners Munch (Richard Belzer) and Fin (Ice-T). But when a bust goes wrong and their prime suspect -- and the only one who knows the whereabouts of his kidnapped victim -- winds up dead, they have only a few hours of desperation to uncover the truth.

ADA Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) has problems of her own when she happens to run afoul of a dangerous Columbian drug lord who puts out a hit on her life. The traumatic resulting episode leads to the introduction of the series' newest prosecutor, Casey Novak (Diane Neal). Faced with mild hostility from the detectives and the issues raised by dealing with such violent and sexually explicit crimes, Casey appeals to her boss Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson) to remove her from the unit. Believing that her horror will increase her passion in the courtroom, he encourages her to face down her demons and hang in there. The going is not easy. Nothing is ever easy when you are faced with such devastating issues. But the series is a surprisingly poignant glimpse beneath the surface. It is not a show dominated so much by intended shock value as it is to bring awareness to the issues that plague the world today.

There are some truly incredible episodes in this season. "Loss" features the last appearance of Cabot, and the audience remains on the edge of their seats in one scene when she makes a remark to the defendant that has him leaping across the table, literally to kill her with his bare hands. "Choice" takes a controversial approach to the issue of abortion, bringing awareness to the dangers of pregnant women drinking. It features not only pro-life, pro-choice debates but also introduces the audience to a beautiful, sweet child who suffers from a birth defect due to her mother's alcoholism. Its nonjudgmental attitude leaves audiences with conflicting emotions after the final dramatic and ultimately fulfilling scene. Unfortunately, the very next episode features anti-religious bias when it becomes a debate over whether or not organizations that help homosexuals turn straight are profitable. (A gung-ho, Bible-thumping southern minister is one of the suspects in the murder of a gay man.) "Ritual" is a harsh but compelling look at the black-market slave trade of children.

Much like Wolf's other series, you never know what's coming in the next thirty seconds. Just when you have it figured out, a wrench is thrown into the works, a twist unfolds, the police discover new evidence, or their suspect turns up dead. In Casey's first episode she tearfully asks Olivia how they can do this, how they can wade through the worst acts of human depravity day after day. Olivia replies soberly, "Because someone has to." Because Wolf and his hard-hitting team of writers feel the compelling need to bring to light such turbulent issues, does not mean you as a viewer needs to subject yourself to them. There's nothing fun about The Special Victims Unit. Unlike Law & Order or even Criminal Intent, the series is not about "normal" homicides. It's about sex crimes.

If you cannot wade through discussions of rape, pedophilia, sexual assault, homosexual crimes, and other sensitive issues, this is not the series for you. It's edgy, it's dark, and it appeals to only a certain demographic who are so fascinated with watching it unfold that we cannot help becoming emotionally involved. Still, at the end of the day and at the conclusion of an episode, the audience feels as though they have had their emotions run over by a semi. It's up to the individual to determine if they can withstand the repulsion that comes from venturing into the details of mankind's most primal evil compulsions.