109 replies to this topic

[Justin Cognito]

Because someone had to start it.

Best:

"Monogamy": If only for the Cross to End All Crosses. "...He only cried a little."

"Angels": Ew. Just... ew. But in an utterly captivating way.

"Slaves": Paved the way for what SVU would become. And Olivia wants a guy's balls in a blender!

"Torture": If only for the way it darts all over the place while still holding together.

Worst:

"Abuse": Shut up, moppet.

"Control": Shut up, Pot Weasels. Shut up a lot.

[sravenk]

Best:
Countdown: There was a freaky crime, some good, unexpected turns, and great team interaction that included input from all members of the squad. The suspense was awesome, and I think it was the last time an episode really had me pretty much on the edge of my seat throughout the whole thing. Well, except for

Loss (big surprise): Two syllables: Ho-Yay! For an O/A shipper such as myself that was the party pack right there. Except that after that came the horror that is Casey Novak. There are so many reasons I love Loss, I can't even count them. So let me just list one: the scene when Alex gets shot and Olivia crawls over her on her hands and knees and says, "stay with me, sweetie" (sorry to sticklers if I got the line wrong). Fricking beautiful.

Worst:
Shaken: Can you explain it to me? Casey is an idiot, and the "I love my daughter, really I do" mother is annoying as all get out. One bright moment is Elliot's scene at the end when he remembers having lost his temper with Maureen when she was a kid, and that was because Meloni could act the hell out a bologna commercial if he put his mind to it.

[Tarheel]

"Control": Shut up, Pot Weasels. Shut up a lot.

Yeah, Control pretty much owns the Worst half of this thread. Something even worse could unseat it in the coming seasons, but so far I haven't seen anything which could compete with the asstasticness that is the DETECTIVE OLIVIA BENSON! courtroom scene.

[18matt]

BEST:
Guilt: Beyond Alex having an illegal search performed to catch a pedophile (which was mad shady, but I kinda loved), the molestation victim who tried to kill himself broke my heart. He loved the guy who molested him (in a father-figure/best-friend/non-gay way), and when he quietly had the realization that all the affection that he got from him wasn't real, that it was a well-orchestrated strategy to get into his pants...it was like he was violated all over again. Broke my heart.

[bella1013]

Best episodes:

Damaged: One of the more memorable storylines, and oh so much Alex. My absolute nr.1, I like it even better then Guilt.
Fallacy: Most.Grueling.Sentence for any perp on this show ever.
Pandora: Something about Stabler kicking ass in Prague, and bad accents makes me like this one.

Worst episodes:

Bad Blood: I could die happily and never be bored by that one ever again
Rotten: Despite the midnight A/O chat, I wasn't in love with it
Control: yeah, I hated it too. Not so much because of Casey or anything, but that "my mother...." line. Gha!!

Edited by bella1013, Mar 9, 2005 @ 1:38 PM.

[Justin Cognito]

I forgot: "Competence" was a good one. It was great to see a portrayal of the mentally retarded that treated them like humans with intelligence, and not hopeless cases or "angels" (choke on my fuck, Brenda Hampton). Not to mention the sweet revenge Alex got on the supermarket owner in the end with the child support revelation.

Oh, and another worst: "Sophomore Jinx". A conversation with myself during the episode: "Huh? Wha... wait, that doesn't make any sense, why would... Al Sharpton? Oh, screw this."

Edited by Justin Cognito, Mar 9, 2005 @ 3:50 PM.

[idledandy]

Best:
Countdown - the ensemble, the urgency, totally my favorite
Manhunt - Fin/Munch insight, slick legal maneuver
Victims - Stablery goodness, best interrogation room scene ever
Execution - Stablery goodness, Elliot/Alex mad HetYay!
Monogamy - see Execution, above

Honorable Mention:
Care - pretty sweater Alex, good Cragen, great courtroom outburst
Angels - for the most wrenching moment ever, when the mom realizes her son tolerated molestation to preserve her happiness
Hysteria - the best of S1, plus a Lennie sighting

Worst, Pre-Alex Division:
Stocks and Bondage - Zzzzzzzz...
Russian Love Poem - Oh, the accents
Misleader - Boring, stupid, annoying in virtually every way
Not to mention Payback, A Single Life, Sophomore Jinx, Uncivilized, Disrobed...

Worst, Alex-Era Division:
Manic - Blame the Corporation!
Scourge - Blame the Corporation!
Pique - squickiest thing I've ever seen on TV
Wrong is Right - weird government subplot, my least favorite Stabler scene ever (discussion with perp's friend)
Honor - don't know why this one bugs so much
Perfect - I wish everyone in this ep would shut up
Grief - blah blah whole world blind yeah whatever don't care
Noncompliance - hate. HAAAATE. Contrived, hangs on lame plot hole (not looking for the gun,) features Idiot of the Week device, poor introduction to otherwise awesome Warner (her postmortem clairvoyant coroner moment.) I know lots of people love this one, but ew.

Worst, Casey Division:
Careless - what the hell happened to this plot?
Quarry - The Olivia Show, starring Olivia, featuring Olivia
Hate - HAAAATE.
Choice - the SVU part is over about 7 minutes into the episode
Coerced - Huang and Casey, match made in heaven
Not to mention most of the others...

[Nflux Forever]

"Abuse": Shut up, moppet

Word. That episode rubbed me the wrong way because Olivia wasn't trying to solve a crime, she was getting involved into someone's family life. While Liv made some good points about the girl and her family, she would have been better off just minding her own business.

I liked "Ghost" for obvious reasons, but particularly when Alex showed Lurch how it's done. FROM THE WITNESS STAND.

"Care" is a favorite too. I enjoyed Cragen's bonding with the boy.

What about "Popular"? I got the feeling on the old thread that no one liked that episode.

[Tarheel]

What about "Popular"? I got the feeling on the old thread that no one liked that episode.

Was that the one with the evil clique of lying murdering teen girls? or that other one with the evil clique of lying murdering teen girls?

Yeah. Popular was not popular. In addition to being something of a ripoff of Heathers, didn't it also produce the infamous "Septmmmmbrrr birTHday!" line from Casey?

ETA: Ironically, I did mix them up! The Septmmmbrrr birTHday!-Heathers ripoff was actually Mean, which featured....(wait for it) an evil clique of lying murdering teen girls.
Popular was another one about teen girls and their wanton sexual activity.

Edited by Tarheel, Mar 9, 2005 @ 11:28 PM.

[spacedog]

What about "Popular"? I got the feeling on the old thread that no one liked that episode.

"Popular" has my vote as the worst episode between the end of S1 and the beginning of S5.

Some of the best not mentioned yet:

"Baby Killer"-depressing ep (that's good when done right); the kid playing Elias was great; an Olivet appearance is always welcome; Alex gets an on-camera superior, immediately clashes with him, and ultimately does the right thing, consequences be damned; featured the scene that spawned the "one drink" running joke here. Also, IMO, this appeared to be the first episode in which SM had a really solid handle on Cabot.

"Paranoia"-I love all the dirty cop intrigue, the squad butting heads with IAB, Khandi Alexander as Benson's mentor. I thought Smythe turning out to be an IAB field agent was a cool twist at the end.

"Rooftop"-Featured a great Fin-Stabler dynamic, with little snippets of background from both characters. Speaking of NYC, the rooftop scenes were awesome. Such a wonderful use of location.

Most of the worst eps on my list have already been covered. Season 5 is such a blur of asscapades, I sometimes have a hard time distinguishing individual episodes. Basically, if it's from S5 and the title begins with a "C", the episode belongs in the seventh circle of hell.

Edited by spacedog, Mar 9, 2005 @ 11:19 PM.

[Tarheel]

Basically, if it's from S5 and the title begins with a "C", the episode belongs in the seventh circle of hell.

In the old thread I think several folks noted that the Seventh Circle of Hell Starts with "C" syndrome appears to be continuing into Season 6 with Conscience, Charisma, and Contagious.

Edited by Tarheel, Mar 10, 2005 @ 12:42 AM.

[DB in London]

What was the episode with Chad Lowe where he sleeps with his mother? IMDB says its "Pique" - the one where they caught him with a whole room full of hat pins that he had stabbed unsuspecting women with.

I don't think the show could ever be any worse than that episode. There were parts where I laughed so hard I cried, then threw up at the end for good measure. Particularly over the last scene where "Jason" is laying in bed with his mother and he's just killed her. Yuck.

[bella1013]

What was the episode with Chad Lowe where he sleeps with his mother? IMDB says its "Pique" - the one where they caught him with a whole room full of hat pins that he had stabbed unsuspecting women with

That would have been Pique. I love that episode, probably because any pre s5 episodes could pull off"the creepier the perp, the better the episode" imo.

[jfdb]

Best:
Limitations - tense like Countdown, and I liked the scene where the other women confront the holdout. The ending is good.
Closure, especially pt.2
Protection - all around good.
Prodigy
Ridicule - Casey as a rapist and that whole part with Alex about whether women can rape.
Surveillance - undercover detectives! creep factor present
Risk - see above
Desperate - "you killed Jill." Awesomeness abounds.
Bound - the only S5 ep. I would actually say I "liked" outside of 'Loss' (no-brainer). The mock Benson-Stabler fight at the end was totally wicked, I loved it.

Worst:
Nocturne - just. No. They did a good job, but I didn't like it at. all.
Parasites - stupid twin sister thing and mail-brides? meh
Pixies - boring.
Wanderlust - boring.

I actually like a lot of S1 and can safely say S5 was a write-off. S6 so far as well, except for Scavenger, Hooked, and Ghost.

Edited by jfdb, Mar 10, 2005 @ 4:53 AM.

[Idiotboy]

I'm impressed. You guys know these episodes waaaaaaayyy better than I do. My first choice would be Execution: great structure, tight script and the nastiest SVU villain of all time. After that, maybe Loss for being the SVU episode that has inspired more exegesis than any other.
Worst? Slaves. Why? Because it was so rank and squicky it caused me to boycott most of the next two seasons in first run, costing me most of the Cabot Era, SVU's Golden Age.

[Beelzebot]

Having just seen it tonight... Doubt. Because it was stupid. And Billy Campbell/Shannyn Sossamon weren't good enough to pull off multi-faceted - by the end, I was wishing that they would both be found guilty.

Though Casey orating in front of the jury wearing her green coat and purple shirt ensemble, then cutting away to a reaction shot of the jury staring back at her in classic stunned mullet pose, did provide me with a laugh.

[Knee High Boots]

Under the category of Woo-hoo! for me:

Pique: I flove this episode. Chad Lowe was a really good creep throughout, but I particularly love the scene when he "turns" and slams his head into the interrogation room window when Stabler is questioning him. I always wonder if CL threw that in on his own because MH's flinch right after he does it makes me think she didn't see it coming. And I just love the "Oh, EW!" faces on Stabler and Benson in the final scene, because that's what I looked like when I first saw CL in bed with Mommy.

Angels: Way disturbing on so many levels, and yet so awesome. I am a big fan of the scene between Benson and Ernesto when he starts telling her about how his dad will pass his new "little brother" Jose to the next guy in the ring, and she starts to get a bit teary and her voice breaks. Superb work in that scene from both actors. Also, Munch in a non-black outfit for about two minutes and kicking ass, plus a classic Stabler tie tuck and perp slam! Good times.

Lowdown: Just because I love Fin's "Don't look at me, I just know stuff" line after he gives the Down Low for Dummies Learning Annex lecture to the squad. The final scene between the husband and wife makes me cry.

And now for the category of Eh, Not So Much:

Russian Love Poem: A Munch-centric episode and it sucks to high heavens? Damn.

Stocks and Bondage: As idledandy so eloquently put it, Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[sunshine95]

Pique: I flove this episode.

Chad Lowe was so good as the perp, but...no. I just can't like the episode. That last scene will haunt me for the rest of my life. I don't think a television show has ever made me feel so traumatized. *cries*

As for my best and worst: (just off the top of my head...I'll probably feel like changing this list a lot)
Best: Loss
Honorable Mentions: Slaves, Execution, Guilt
Worst: I don't think there's one that I can definitively say is the worst, but here are some...
Dishonorable Mentions: Abuse, Stalked, Mean, Sick, Outcry, Doubt, blah blah blah...

Edited by sunshine95, Mar 12, 2005 @ 5:48 AM.

[bella1013]

Russian Love Poem

I really like this one, it's season 1 cheesiness at it's best. Oh, and those Russian accents, so funny.

ETA: they rehashed most of the (Russian) guestcast in the Mothership's "Refuge" two parter.

Edited by bella1013, Mar 12, 2005 @ 6:36 AM.

[Eliot]

Escape was simply awful. Dumb plot and no Stabler. But I really think the worst episode ever was the horrid one with the Littlest Drag Queen (tm Somebody More Clever Than I). It was so bad I can't even remember its title, even though it just aired, like, three weeks ago.

Generally, the more outlandish, twist-y plotted episodes lose me after the second comercial break, so that means pretty much all of last season with the exception of Loss, which I thought was well-acted all around.

Sign me up as one who really, really liked Rage. I liked that it broke formula and I liked that it was Stabler-centric and I liked that Meloni acted his Ass of Life off throughout. Predictably, I also liked Pandora and Risk, because they, too, had a lot of great Stabler and didn't strictly follow the L&O formula.

I also liked a lot of the very early episodes, yes, even the ones with Cassidy (I thought he was endearing, so shoot me), but I thought "A Single Life" (aka One Tomato) was particularly good at representing the partner dynamic between Stabler & Benson.

[LaPetiteSinge]

Ups:

Fallacy (4x21): Awesome performance by Kathryn Moenning, and really good plot - I was glad they addressed the issue of prejudice against the transgendered. (Although what was up with her boyfriend? Why was he all...weird?)

Head (5x25): I like things that push the envelope. And I love twist endings, I admit it.

Scourge (2x21): It was just so effing scary. But wonderful performances, and I loved Alex kicking some insurance company ass.

Tangled (3x5): Admit it, who saw that coming? And whee, Paris!

Silence (3x23): Basically because Eric Stoltz ("You're talking about drug shit on a cell phone?! PRANK CALLER, PRANK CALLER!") as a priest made me squee. And the ending was so...ooh.

Pandora (4x15): That last scene with the little girl, and Elliot alone with the sleeping perp and a gun? OMG. And when the guy (who looked like Gunther, I might add) was all, "You'll never stop all of us"...eeshk.

Mean (5x17): Because it was so entirely possible that it was scary.

Chameleon (4x1): Because Sharon Lawrence is so awesome is hurts.

Conscience (6x6): Never saw that coming. Great performances...and don't you love how Huang knew he was BS-ing, even though guy was a shrink himself?

Scavenger (6x4): ...Geez. Didn't sleep much after that one.

Identity (6x11): That was ONE KID?! Blew my mind. And that was such an awesome idea, I can't believe it took them 'til season six to trot that one out.

Downs:

Wanderlust (1x5): It was just...dumb.

Actually, I'll save myself time: pretty much all of the first season except for maybe "Hysteria" ("Nice shoes..."), "Stalked," "Remorse" and "Slaves."

Secrets (2x12): It was just sleazy, whereas the show is usually...not.

Sacrifice (3x7): Kind of boring, it was obvious the wife was no good from the start.

Mother (5x3): That lady was annoying, and the last second twist felt forced.

Debt (6x2): I love Ming-Na, but it could have been more interesting. And I didn't like how nothing happened later after Elliot blew that guy away at the end.

Outcry (6x5): Just another "it was the guy we talked to while the credit were still rolling who seemed all nice and innocent and concerned" one.

Haunted (6x9): Not too bad, but it was a little disappointing, considering how incredible it looked like it was going to be.

[Mambo Queen]

Worst:
Shaken: Can you explain it to me? Casey is an idiot, and the "I love my daughter, really I do" mother is annoying as all get out. One bright moment is Elliot's scene at the end when he remembers having lost his temper with Maureen when she was a kid, and that was because Meloni could act the hell out a bologna commercial if he put his mind to it.

I am very new to the SVU watching, having just discovered the USA Saturday night fests a month or so ago, but Stabler's scene at the end just blew.me.away. If I was a drama teacher (and I kind of am--I direct the plays at my high school anyway) I would use that monologue as an example of how important emotional honesty is in a scene. Meloni rules, is what I'm saying.

The worst one I've seen? Doubt. And the Josie Bissett PSA about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was pretty weak, too.

[jaghetersimon]

I just saw Pandora, and I feel compelled to comment on how horrible that dude's "German" accent was. It was more Pepe Le Pew-stereotypical French than anything vaguely Teutonic. Plus the Europol agent's two lines in German were awful too--when Elliot asked what she had just said, I was thinking, "Dude! It was just some terrible piging faux German that sounds more like English. Put two and two together, you meathead!" But I guess that Elliot isn't supposed to be the brightest crayon in the box.

And the sets meant to look like the Czech republic? So fake, esp when they were chasing the perv and the kid down the street. It looked more like the Upper East Side.

It's nice that they wanted to do an ep on child trafficking in the newly open and "unified" Europe, but there were some kinks that could have ironed out before.

[haleyj]

Let's see, the best first:

Closure- Parts I and II. They portrayed what a rape victim goes through very well and I was thrilled when Harper shoots him. (You know it was her).

Remorse- Because I love Jennifer Esposito.

Fallacy- I found this one really interesting.

Countdown- This episode is just brilliant, and man is the guy creepy.

Manhunt- I love Munch going to see the victim who survived at the end.

Conscience- This is great. Kyle McLachlan ruled in this episode.

Loss- Well, duh.

Consent- They handled this really well.

The Worst:

Stocks and Bondage- Boring.

Care- Never really loved the kid centered ones. I like the psychos.

Abuse- As stated above.

Parts- Meh, except for Marlee Matlin.

[jellybeenz52]

I don't think anyone else has mentioned it as a best or worst episode... but I really like the episode Repression, its the first episode of Season 3, I don't really know why, but I think thats the episode that really brought me over from the Mothership to SVU, before that I was a casual viewer.

The episode that I always see on reruns is Legacy and I love this episode, if only to see Munch sit down on a tiny chair and talk to the little girl and she asks him if he wants to see her barbie... ah I love that scene.

Those two episodes come to mind when I think best episodes, but I wonder if its just because they are personal favourites.

[lostingeekdom]

USA Marathon today looks like a smorgasbord of shallow viewer treats. Starting with Payback, Stalked, Countdown, Paranoia, Wrath, Execution, Risk and Fallacy. So 'fess up.. who's the crack monkey on this board? This seems to have been picked keeping the twoppers in mind.

[carolynappleby]

Is Benson in Execution at all? What makes it so special?

Countdown, Wrath and Fallacy - that's what I'm tuning in for. Never saw Fallacy, so looking forward to that.

Going to be another marathon on Labor Day, All Season 3 - think it will include Prodigy.