Unintended Consequences

An overdose death by a teen from some wealthy parents brings the SVU team in. The young lady was also raped and that makes the case SVU territory.

She was in a high end Betty Ford type rehab clinic that is run by Dr. Peter Scolari. With the money the rich can afford on all kinds of treatment not available to most of us you'd think they would kick it.

But Scolari has found a real sweet racket in making them pay and pay again for their loved one's freedom from addiction.

This is a good episode which will give some insights into the difficulty of kicking the narcotics habit.

There is a solid case. Svu has a case similar to the Ellie Porter case. And the memory of Ellie continues with the arrival of her mother Sheila.

At the center of the story is a rehabilitation hospital. Strange events and money are spinning.

The central roles in the story are Dr. Rosemary and Dr. It's Barkley. One of them is the Angel, and the other is the Devil.

There are impressive performances with guest players. The audacity of the wicked to question, on the other hand, drives him crazy.

Gus Birney has a special face that feels like it's out of medieval.

Amanda's shake-up in the finale could have been more believable.

Olivia begins to question her ability to foresee people, that is, her instincts.

The subject of families continues in parallel with Olivia, Noah and relative.

The subject of Grandma Sheila is again long in my opinion. And again my opinion is that at first scene it should only be shown.

Continuing with this topic in the final finale is risky. Therefore, the topic of Sheila should not continue at the end. The stories are impressive, tough and sturdy. But as the subject of Sheila is shown at the end, it overshadows the solid files. It changes the dimension of the story. I feel like I'm watching a different series.

Apart from Mariska Svu, she is a great player who will make her player power speak. However, she should not spoil the style of Svu.

They really made a lot of monologue about their kids on drugs. But the best part of the episode was when Benson finally nailed the perp. She handled him. Her acting is brilliant.

The way this case was resolved was not at all what I was expecting. Sad in way, but somewhat justified. There were a lot of bad guys in this one, but there were also people who truly cared.

'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' was a great show in its prime, but became increasingly hit and miss prematurely and the seasons since Olivia's promotion have been particularly true to this. With a fair share of big issues that were recurring problems. Did appreciate "Unintended Consequences" taking on this subject, and while the episodes of the show that revolve a lot around personal lives vary a lot (personally didn't care for too many of the personal life subplots of the latter seasons) there are episodes that are successful in this.

"Unintended Consequences" is not one of the successes in this regard and that is true for most of the season's episodes. But when it comes to the case itself, it fares much stronger luckily, which does elevate the episode to a better level, and a lot stronger than most of the previous five episodes. It is uneven and not great, with not much that is exceptional, but as far as Season 19 goes (or at least the patchy first half of it) to me it was really pretty good with a lot of good things about it.

Those good things will be started off about it. The production values are fine, have always liked the photography's intimacy and grit and the look of the show has come on a good deal over-time (and it was good to begin with). The music (wisely used sparingly this time) doesn't intrude and has a haunting quality, have not always remembered to say that the theme tune is easy to remember and holds up. Direction is solid.

Furthermore, the script is thought provoking and doesn't get heavy handed or silly, which would have been very easy to do with this kind of story. The case is very compelling and moves quickly, without moving too quickly that it feels too hectic or anything. It also provides some nice insight into addictions in a way that hits hard without passing judgement. All the regulars are very good as are the guest turns of Annie Corley and Peter Scolari.

However, there is too much of the Olivia and Noah storyline (everything with Noah on the whole has never worked entirely for me despite moments) and sadly it is one that is not interesting and adds little.

It was nice to see Rollins play a big role and Kelli Giddish's significant growth as her over the years is noted, but the undercover part of the story could have been written more realistically, didn't buy the lack of back up check or Olivia being livid when she has done similar in the past.

Overall, not great but pretty well done. 7/10.