Pathological

SVU takes on a famous case of a mother who for many years made her daughter sick (with drugs) so she could take care of her and make her dependent. The story reeks of the sort of over-the-top material featured in many an exploitation movie made in the '60s, but here it's fodder for Dick Wolf's hugely successful series.

But the treatment is as gee whiz as a soft porn movie but minus the cheap thrills. I don't see how that can work, but script here tries by having the star of the show (Kelli Giddish) a female cop/single mother, identifying heavily with both the mom and kid -sort of how an audience might feel. But that gimmick was a contrivance -unconvincing.

So we're asked to wallow in sleaze that isn't sleazy because it's a squeaky clean network tv show. The SVU team couldn't solve this Catch-22, damned if you do and damned if you don't situation, but in the spirit of Wolf's gimmicky "torn from the headlines" overall concept it's full speed ahead for a crappy episode, replete with a convenient sugar-coated utterly phony sort of happy ending.

As the misfortunate kid, Erin Wilhelmi, looks like a teen version of the late Sondra Locke, but is hampered with this unplayable material.

The 'Law and Order' franchise did the "ripped from the headlines" kinds of stories a lot. To me, the original 'Law and Order' did these kinds of stories a lot better and more consistently than 'Special Victims Unit'. The best "ripped from the headlines" 'Law and Order' episodes are truly wonderful and avoid the traps that come from having stories based, whether to the letter or loosely, on real life cases. Whereas the latter seasons of 'Special Victims Unit' did a lot and the results wildly varied, with many average or less.

"Pathological" is an example of the "ripped from the headlines" kinds of cases from the latter seasons, and it is better than a lot of them. It didn't blow me away as an episode and the show did do this type of story better with even more tact in the earlier seasons, but it is certainly a lot less preachy, less sensationalist, less one sided and more uncompromising than most of those that were also from the latter seasons. Was not a big fan of Season 19, but it did have some good episodes and "Pathological" was one of them.

Good things are many. The production values as ever have slickness and grit, with an intimacy without being claustrophobic. The music has presence when it's used but does so without being intrusive, some of it is quite haunting too. The direction is also understated but the tension never slips, the second half being full of it. The script is taut and smart with very little sign of rambling or long winded-ness. Doesn't take itself too seriously while treating a difficult subject with respect.

Really liked the story on the whole, if more so the first than the second. Which was harrowing, moving and went at an energised clip. The ripped from the headlines aspect of the case is not heavy handed or exploited. The acting is very good to great from leads and supporting players.

By all means, "Pathological" isn't perfect with it being a case of the first half being better than the second. The truth about Mariel and the hold she was under with the medication and what she was being told was obvious and more should have been made of it.

It is not as good when the case, at an implausibly fast rate, goes to trial. The trial portion is flimsy in evidence and it is a case that could easily have been abandoned right away, if you take into account Mariel's state of mind. Absolutely love Barba but he uncharacteristically comes over as idiotic and stubborn here, especially the elevator scene and his ludicrous response to being asked too late by Olivia to drop the charges.

Overall, good episode if not amazing. 7/10.

Writer & creator is genius.

this episode is amazing.

This episode has SVU catch a case from a special needs school. Two of the kids there, Conor Tague and Erin Wilhelmi are caught having sex and the cries of rape go up. As neither of these kids quite understand about consent the case is plainly unprosecutable.

But a consult from Tamara Tunie from the ME's office yields the fact that after a seizure Wilhelmi's body is a pharmaceutical collage and that this is what is giving her all the ailments she has that put her in need of special ed in the first place.

Some nice performances from Tague and Wilhelmi as the kids and George Sheffey and Dendrie Taylor as Wilhelmi's parents are noted in this SVU story. Also Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet returns after a long absence.

Some parents are in need of some truly special education.

I just have to say that Rafael Barba has become my favorite character on this show. He does whatever it takes to make sure that justice finds a way to the best of his abilities. I wasn't sure about him at first, but he really has shined this season. This character has grown and changed in so many ways since he was introduced. I would be proud and grateful to have him on my side.