American Tragedy

Episode aired Oct 2, 2013
TV-14
43m

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

936

YOUR RATING

Cybill Shepherd and Jeffrey Tambor in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: American Tragedy

Play trailer1:38

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Crime Drama Mystery Thriller

A celebrity Southern chef shoots and kills a teenage African-American boy that she thought was a serial rapist. But was her life in danger, or was she just an over-reactive racist?A celebrity Southern chef shoots and kills a teenage African-American boy that she thought was a serial rapist. But was her life in danger, or was she just an over-reactive racist?A celebrity Southern chef shoots and kills a teenage African-American boy that she thought was a serial rapist. But was her life in danger, or was she just an over-reactive racist?

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

936

YOUR RATING

10User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 1:38

Watch Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: American Tragedy

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Trivia
The title of the episode seems to be a play on the "American Dream" concept, which is the national ethos of the United States, in that every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life. The title "American Tragedy" implies that, for many, the opposite can happen.

Quotes
Dr. Melinda Warner: [during Mehcad Carter's autopsy] Kids can survive incredible trauma, but when they crump, they crump quick.
Rafael Barba: Crump?
Amanda Rollins: All the vitals go south all at once.
Odafin Tutuola: So we're looking at a homicide?
Dr. Melinda Warner: If getting shot what killed him? Yeah.
Olivia Benson: Jolene said that she fired in self-defense.
Dr. Melinda Warner: I can't speak to that, but there was no fouling or stippling on his body. He wasn't that close to her.
Rafael Barba: Is it possible the stippling disappeared during surgery?
Dr. Melinda Warner: It can't. Stippling burns into skin.
Amanda Rollins: What about on the clothing?
Dr. Melinda Warner: You mean after EMS, the evidence mangling service cut his clothes off through the bullet hole? I will hunt them down and kill them.
Odafin Tutuola: Melinda.
Dr. Melinda Warner: Sorry.

User reviews10

Review

Featured review

2/10

Written With A Sledgehammer

SVU was always the most "band wagony" of the L&O shows, the quickest to jump on a social issue du jour, but this American Tragedy episode (obviously patterned after the Trayvon Martin incident and even with the same innocent Boy In Hoody narrative) ) lacks even the slightest of nuance to pull that off. The result is one overtly preachy, agenda driven mess of a TV show. Of course in this L&O episode, to hammer home their point, the script writers make the 'boy" who was shot, even younger, far more pure & innocent (church goer, honor roll student) than the real life person that this story was patterned after. Clumsy, heavy handed story telling that deserves a 0/10 rating, but was bumped to 2/10 due to some decent albeit sporadic displays of acting skills