Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Bound (2004) User Reviews

Forensics discover a serial killer

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 March 2016]

This episode belongs to Tamara Tunie. As medical examiner Melinda Warner she discover clear evidence of a serial killer in the unique choice of weapon.

The victim are old women who are in advanced stages of cancer. The connection is rather obvious to the physician treating these women. But that's far from the resolution. The perpetrator truly was one sick individual.

An amusing sideline highlight of this episode is Diane Neal going to Judge Philip Bosco's house to get a court order signed. Turns out she has her pick of judges as we see Bosco entertaining a lot of his colleagues that we see on other Law And Order franchise shows. Nice to see the judges away from courtroom.

The Fake Fight And The Judges' Card Game

[stp43 · 8/10 · 28 January 2016]

Bound turns into a bit of an unusual episode for the SVU series in that while it has the usual high-quality tautness of presentation and strong Twilight Zone-esque plot twists, it also features a bit of a twist for primary characters Olivia Benson and Elliott Stabler.

The strangulation of an elderly lady is linked to a home-care foundation run by two twins, Matt and Emma Spevak, and as SVU investigates it finds evidence linking Matt Spevak to several other strangulation murders for access to substantial wealth - which Matt Spevak needs to pay off severe gambling debts.

But when Matt himself is found shot to death at the abode of his latest victim, SVU's resident psychologist George Huang and Medical Examiner Melinda Warner quickly find the setup doesn't make sense, and suspicion now centers on Emma.

It is here that one of the episode's two strongest scenes occur. SVU can't prove Emma is guilty, so they have to smoke out a confession from Emma. To do this Huang recommends Olivia and Elliott fake a "sibling rivalry" fight in front of her. Olivia's reaction when Huang recommends this course of action is priceless, a mild anticipatory glee in her eyes (and a credit to Mariska Hargitay's ability to convey emotion through her eyes in the best David Janssen mold), while the sham fight itself allows Hargitay and Chris Meloni an opportunity for minor hamming.

Then there is one of the inadvertently funniest scenes in the series - ADA Casey Novak must get a judge's signature on a warrant to exhume Emma Spevak's mother, and she happens upon a poker game involving seemingly all of NYC's judges, a setup that works humorously for two reasons - it brings to mind such entertaining card game scenes as the Presidents' Card Game sketch from Rich Little and Batman The Animated Series' "Almost Got 'im" card game - one half-expects a judge to mutter, "Not the robot theory again." And adding to the unintended humor is ADA Novak's confession to having nightmares of facing all of the city's judges - while naked. Judge Petrovsky (Joanna Merlin)'s reaction to that idea is worth seeing as well.

It adds to an entertaining murder mystery.

Bondage of death

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 13 January 2021]

My feelings of "Bound" have always been the same on previous viewings (4 previous viewings, this recent rewatch was my fifth when the earlier seasons started airing again very recently)), very positive if not ever considering it one of the best of Season 5 or of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit'. On first glance reading the synopsis the episode does sound quite ordinary, but as 'Special Victims Unit' and the franchise frequently showed a knack of making a lot out of ordinary-sounding premises that didn't bother me massively.

"Bound" on fifth viewing is still a great episode of 'Special Victims Unit'. It is not one of the season's very finest and would certainly put many episodes of the show over this one anyday. There is so much to love however about "Bound", and it is evidence of how much Season 5 improved (it very briefly started off rocky whereas it did pick up a third or so of the way through, "Loss" and "Control" being the best episodes from this period). And that the second half of it is a lot better and more consistent than the first on the whole.

There is actually very little wrong with the episode. The only issue for me was the over-obvious identity of the murderer, "Bound" did initially do a good job in making one think it was someone else but once a major turn of events occurs one immediately has doubts and it becomes a case of it could only have been one person.

Otherwise, "Bound" has so much to recommend about it. It is as ever shot with the right amount of intimacy without feeling too up close, even with a reliance of close up camerawork. That the editing has become increasingly tighter over-time is great too. The music isn't over-scored, manipulative or used too much. There is intimacy and tautness in the direction.

It is a very thoughtfully scripted episode, not that that was unexpected. Especially in the final act with an absolutely brilliantly written final scene, one of my favourite interrogation scenes of the early seasons. The story never ceases to be compelling, despite not being surprised by the truth. With some great scenes elevating the case above the ordinary by the very entertaining and suitably tense fake fight, the priceless court order scene (that subplot is Novak at her funniest) and the very powerful, creepy and oddly moving final scene.

Furthermore there is fine chemistry between the leads, especially between Stabler and Olivia. The performances are spot on across the board, with Jane Krakowski playing her last scene beautifully.

All in all, great. 9/10

Obvious Killer

[wrenleung · 9/10 · 19 December 2019]

This is a classic SVU episode where a huge guest star ends up being revealed as the killer with plenty of red herrings. The final scene was so powerful yet so creepy like I was watching a horror movie. Excellent acting.