Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Soulless (2003) User Reviews

The perpetrator may be soulless, but the episode itself has soul

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 4 November 2020]

Season 4 on the whole was a very good season. It did have three disappointments, "Pandora", "Tortured" and especially "Disappearing Acts" and also had a few reservations about "Rotten" too. Every other episode though ranged from very good to outstanding, with "Chameleon", "Dolls", "Mercy", "Desperate" and "Dominance" being examples of the outstanding ones. After Season 4 began so strongly with "Chameleon", it is hard to not expect a lot from the season finale "Soulless".

Luckily "Soulless" delivers, a great ending to Season 4, a great episode of of the season (towards the better end) and a great 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' episode. One elevated to an even better level by especially one of the show's most amoral perpetrators, an amazing guest performance and an interrogation scene to remember. It is episodes like "Soulless" that shows what prime-'Special Victims Unit' is all about, not one of my favourite episodes of the show or quite a classic but it's close.

It starts off on the slightly conventional side, but once the story really gets going (which it does very quickly) it immediately grabs the attention and doesn't let go. The direction is accomodating but also alert. The production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic.

The dialogue is smart and always intriguing, with plenty of it moving, chilling and provoking thought. The story is riveting for a vast majority of the length, brought me to tears and had hairs standing up on the back of my neck. The interrogation scene is truly chilling, the most chilling one since "Dominance", and even more so is the perpetrator who makes the skin crawl and their amorality is quite terrifying. Stabler and Olivia are on great form.

Acting is dead on from the regulars, and it is agreed that Logan Marshall-Green dominates and brings chills down the spine. Ann Dowd has powerful moments as well but this is Marshall-Green's episode.

Concluding, wonderful episode and a great ending to a very good season. 9/10

A Parent's Heartbreak

[labenji-12163 · 8/10 · 15 January 2024]

I wanted to share my thoughts on Wilkens' character in the recent performance. His portrayal sent chills up my spine, especially with the deadpan expression on his face and the impactful way he looked at his mother on the stand.

I appreciate how his performance was eerie yet understated, avoiding over-the-top antics. However, it was the character of the mother that truly resonated with me. It made me reflect on the countless loving parents who, despite their best efforts, find themselves unable to guide their children away from a path of darkness, whether it be a lack of conscience or struggles with addiction.

The performance stirred deep emotions, prompting thoughts about the heartbreak some parents endure, unable to save their children from themselves. It's a poignant reminder of the complexities and challenges that families face.

They lack fear as well as a conscience

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 16 October 2012]

Logan Marshall-Green's performance of a totally amoral psychotic killer dominates this particular episode of SVU. The only one coming close is that of Ann Dowd, mother in denial.

Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay are led one merry chase in this episode where a juvenile victim with a fake ID is gang raped in the bathroom of a club she had no business being in at the age of 15. While Hargitay is interviewing the victim she gets called away and the ringleader of the group comes back and gets her out of the hospital and kills her, leaving the body on the Coney Island beach. Amoral people like that also tend to lack fear as well as a conscience.

Though this was a gang rape it was Marshall-Green who did a great job in at first rolling on his friends. Turns out he's been conning them along for a while himself. Someone turns up who links him to other crimes.

In the end it's his mother Ann Dowd who gets shaken from her denial and finally realizes she's raised a monster. There are folks like that, there's no psychological or sociological explanation for their evil, they're just evil. Look at Jim Jones or Charles Manson for reference.

Still it's Logan Marshall-Green who dominates this episode, you won't forget this evil young man after viewing this SVU show.