Abuse

"Abuse" is an episode where you can see why people will love it, as there is such a lot to like and even love about it and it does hit hard emotionally (as well as making one feel angry) dealing with a difficult and quite sensitive subject. Something that 'Special Victims Unit' often was good at in its prime. It is also an episode where you can see why others will find it problematic. Especially if one prefers episodes where the detectives are professional and don't let personal feelings get in the way.

Personally liked "Abuse" very much myself. Is it one of the best of Season 2 or of 'Special Victims Unit' in general? No, and how Olivia behaves here is going to polarise, and actually has been polarising. "Abuse" though was a powerful episode that made me sad and angry, with one of the most rootable young victims of the whole show and a mother figure that doesn't deserve to be called a mother. While taking things personally on the job with the amount of limitations there are is not condonable, a large part of me did actually understand why Olivia behaved the way she did.

It is a good looking episode, true to the show's tone while looking sharper and more refined (especially in the editing) compared to the still well made first season. The music avoids overuse and overscoring while the direction lets the story breathe but also gives it momentum. The script handles the subject without being heavy-handed, while making its point suitably harrowingly, leaving me deep in thought and feeling a lot of emotions.

The story also compels, it is a very sad case that really hits hard and will resonate with anybody who has been in similar situations. Even those that haven't been there will identify. It was great to see Olivia have a maternal side and her sympathetic bond with Ashley is very touchingly done. Her anger and determination is in a way understandable here too, considering that she saw Ricki for who she really was and hated what she stood for. Do think a lot of people would feel the same. Really liked Stabler's caring bond for Olivia too and wished there was more of it.

Mariska Hargitay shows Olivia's determination and sympathetic personality with steel and poignancy. Hayden Panettiere gives one of the most remarkable child performances of the whole of 'Special Victims Unit', and even of the whole franchise, her performance did make me cry. Christine Andreas plays a real beast of a mother quite chillingly, her behaviour at the end defies belief (see for yourself, even those not easily sensitive are very likely to be fuming) mother characters on 'Special Victims Unit' seldom got more reprehensible than this.

Olivia's behaviour and how she handles the case is indeed on the extreme side and definitely unprofessional considering the job, the most unprofessional she's been since "Wanderlust". When thinking about it longer and harder though, how she acts here is not that un-understandabe.

Did think that the plot strand with the tutor was unnecessary and basically thrown in padding, especially considering little was done with it and it was disposed quite quickly early on.

Concluding though, a very good episode. 8/10

Ricki Austin is one of the few times where I've wanted to reach through the TV set and throttle a character. An exploration of the rich and strange, and the limitations of the law when it comes to the elite, this is as much an exploration of classism as it is of family law. Olivia is treated as a lowly parasite, and like in the later episode "Sick", she and Stabler learn that money and power can make anything go away, even child neglect. Christine Andrea is wonderful as the narcissistic celebrity you love to hate, and an early appearance by Hayden Panettiere as the troubled Ashley Austin-Black is welcome, too. The ending, just a heads up, is immensely frustrating and will not come easy to those who want to see a hopeful light at the end of the tunnel. Poor Corbin's death also hits hard, as the boy was adopted and therefore seems to matter less to this family (who has Ricki singing her own recorded vocals at the kid's birthday party, real classy). This won't be an easy episode for viewers who care about child welfare. Still, it's an important and worthwhile episode.

This is one of the stranger SVU episodes ever done and it shows the limitations that the squad has. Limitations I'm not sure shouldn't be in place.

The squad gets called in on the death of a young boy in a traffic accident that proves to be just that. He's the son of a celebrity couple so it's big news.

But his sister young Hayden Panettiere develops this attachment to Olivia Benson that comes out of nowhere. Mariska Hargitay does not quite know what to make of it, but she suspects abuse.

The trouble is that no matter what law enforcement brings to bear the parents especially mother Christine Andreas counters more than effectively with her connections and clout.

And we're never sure quite what's going on here. Young Panettiere might just simply be ignored by her ever busy and absent parents. That is considered a form of abuse, but not something that the state can get a grasp on. If she were being ignored in the sense of starved or ill kempt with dirty clothes, etc. this might be something they can do about. But what's happening here never seems to rise.

Olivia Benson's maternal instincts are awakened, but she's certainly stymied and the interesting part of the whole story is that it's never clear what is going on. The kid is in need no doubt, but I'm not sure there is anything the state can mandate.