The Book of Esther

Story could have been so much better. The writer's interpretation of an actual event was sh@t beyond the telling of. I dare say these writers ever get caught up in a real life terrifying event they wouldn't have a clue what to do as they aren't smart enough. Minus score.

Anybody who has read any of my other reviews for for example individual episodes of the 'Law and Order' shows, am slowly working my way through writing reviews for all the episodes of 'Law and Order, and 'Special Victims Unit' (also 'Criminal Intent' until late 2021), with a long way to go, will know already how much admiration there is from me for anything that tackles difficult and controversial themes and issues. The topic here did sound interesting.

But it deserved much more interesting and stronger execution than what is seen in "The Book of Esther". The guest turns are truly great and one of the biggest reasons to see the episode as a one or two time watch, but "The Book of Esther" joins the fairly long list of 'Special Victims Unit' episodes where the episode overall is nowhere near as good as the guest turn. The plot is too much of a weird mix of what were major flaws in the worst of Seasons 10-12 and what were also major flaws post-Season 14 or so.

"The Book of Esther's" best aspect is the acting, namely the guest acting with an affecting Rebekah Kennedy and a terrifying Ray McKinnon. Kelli Giddish is also a strong presence, despite not liking how Rollins is written here (but am blaming the writing here not Giddish). The episode also starts off quite well and unsettlingly, but the episode is at its best dramatically with the unspeakably gut-wrenching aftermath of the climax.

Furthermore, it is a visually slick episode, typical for 'Special Victims Unit' and the 'Law and Order' franchise, and one with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear past the early stages with the theme tune still memorable.

However, "The Book of Esther" does have significant drawbacks. Did not like Rollins here, her handling of the case is all over the place with lots of dumb decisions and she comes over as very unsympathetic, like tempting the victim with food trick but in a way that was more distastefully taunting in body language than caring. Olivia seems very nonchalent and indifferent in her attitude towards the case and how she interacts here.

Despite the aftermath of the climax being gut wrenching, the climax itself is wildly implausible. Which really lacks tension and has some truly odd and sloppy police work. The story is dull generally and lacks tension and anything surprising (with everything being too easy to figure out). The character writing for the perpetrator tended to be more neurotic than anything else, while the dialogue is generally bland and overwrought especially in the latter stages.

In conclusion, watchable but nothing special here. 5/10.

No, in spite of what other reviewers suggest, this is not Christian bashing or any other religious bashing. It takes an attempt to use religion as a lever to do things that are clearly bad, and holds it up for what it is: perversion of real religion. Jesus preached love to all people, even your enemies. Mohammed (blessings and peace be upon him) taught restraint, generosity and mercy in all your doings. I could go on... but fundamentally every actual religion embraces our encompassing humanity, our responsibility for each other and our need to respond to that responsibility. I distinguish "actual" from "organised" religions. Once organisation creeps in so also does power, the manipulation of that power, and eventually politics. So we end up with the Crusades, Jihads, the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials (don't try to absolve religion of guilt there!), all the atrocities committed in the name of religion over the last 4000 years and probably more. But an organisation does not have to be large, like the Roman Catholic Church. Here we have an organisation which consists of a father and those he considers under him, his wife and nine children. The political power he wields is obvious. This whole episode is not about religion: it is about power and those who would wield it in order to maintain it. Amanda did not make a mistake here. She and her colleagues were fired upon and returned fire. Does no one ask how these people obtained possession of such lethal weapons? Were they members of a "well regulated militia"? Was their intention to defend the State? No? Oh dear. Come on USA, time to bring the Constitution up to date and decide what the Founding Fathers would have said were they living in the 2020s rather than 1789. As to the production, I thought the whole team was up to scratch, and this was a brilliant episode. Mariska Hargitay continues to justify her salary (look at any modern professional athlete or the gladiators of ancient Rome if you want a salary curve comparison!), but here I have to give the accolade to Kelli Giddish. Her grief as Amanda really came through to me. The outcome was not Amanda's fault: she had done more than her duty and responded as she was trained. Amanda still needs, perhaps more than anyone else in SVU, a ?mother? Figure that she can be held by. We have to see where the scriptwriters take us. In the meantime I send Amanda a supportive hug if she would like it.

10/10. The casting is perfect. Amanda Rollins is on a roll, she won't stop until the situation is resolved. She gets taught tough lesson throughout. The father of the family was perfect. I won't say to much because I want you to go watch it and see but just know I was entertained throughout. The intro was great & the ending....just WOW.

Episode with a pretty good story, great acting by Giddish and McKinnon, the Esther character has an extremely high "Carrie" vibe, a bit of an unnecessarry stereo typing, and some other things that were way too "out there". Asking a dumpstore salesman for a list of buyers of a certain type of coat is also not very believable and is more of an administrative, desk job, and I really don't mind that some episodes are kind of based om stories you once read in the paper or saw on the news. It makes you look up some cases you may have forgotten about long ago.

It's just that the times Rollins is going rogue is getting old.