Betrayal

Psychologist John Shea is our murder victim. But with an opening soliloquy he becomes as much a character in this as the rest of the cast. Of course tapes of his sessions are played throughout the course of the story.

Detectives Jesse Martin and Jeremy Sisto arrest the victim's wife Moira Kelly for the crime. She's heard some of the tapes and they show that her husband liked to take advantage of his patients. She ought to know because she started out as one of his patients.

With some court advisers Kelly does a great job defending herself and Linus Roache is really up against it. She even elicits the support of long time police and DA consulting psychiatrist Carolyn McCormick appearing for the defense this time. An expert witness that the DA calls is a charlatan in Dr. Olivet's professional opinion.

I won't reveal the end, but without knowing context you can draw a lot of wrong conclusions.

Decided a while back (three years ago) to review all the episodes of the original 'Law and Order', 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent', being someone who really likes all three shows in their prime/early years. Really loved a lot of the early seasons episodes of all three shows, while also finding all three less consistent later on (with the original not feeling the same post-Briscoe and even began to lose consistency in Season 11, 'Special Victims Unit' was the one that declined the most though).

A lot of tough topics were dealt with in Season 18 and that for "Betrayal" is no exception to this. Mostly they were executed very well indeed and even brilliantly in the best cases, with some quite hard hitting episodes in the season when it found its footing. Very few of them were dull or heavy handed. "Betrayal" is one of the hard hitting episodes and one of the finest examples. To me, it is one of the best episodes of Season 18 and one of the few where there were no real reservations.

Production values continue to remain high, while the direction lets the dramatic intensity of the second half to blister. The music doesn't sound melodramatic and the direction has momentum while also having enough breathing space when necessary. The acting is very good all round, especially in the legal portion. One of the biggest surprises of the episode, and in a good way, was seeing Moira Kelly in a way one has never seen her before and do it so well.

Story is absolutely riveting, pulls no punches and never comes over as too simple or over-complicated. Especially the legal scenes, which have come on a long way since the season first started. The tension and emotion factors are high and a major selling point in "Betrayal" is the truly shocking ending, the most shocking of Season 18. The characters are written well and don't feel like stereotypes. "Betrayal" never comes over as dull and it doesn't feel routine.

Overall, outstanding. 10/10.

If the writers on this episode could present such an incredible plot turn like this each time they sat by their keyboards this show would still be running. Without a doubt the way this plot was set up, I would bet, had almost everyone sucked in to what was an apparent affair and a pitiful spouse. Oh man, when they hit me with the concluding fact I was actually startled and it hit me like a hammer blow. I love this series and still watch the reruns until I realize I been there before, know the plots, accused and until I can almost speak their lines. At that point I move on but of the ALL episodes I've ever watched this is the best written, cast and acted of all. Top of the top kudos to the staff, wherever they might be.

A shrink (John Shea) was killed in his own clinic. Detectives found a mattress with teddies and hairbrush related to a young girl in the closet. He was married with two kids and his wife was soon pointed out as prime suspect as well as some of his patients. Police found out he actually protected the teenage girl from her abusive father but she didn't know anything about the murder. Another troubled kid led detectives to a tape hidden in doctor's drawer at the clinic (proof he had an affair with an underage girl) and his daughter confessed about their mother's location at the time of the murder, before changing her mind after the arrest. Did she have enough strength to confirm the truth at trial? Anyway, her mother stated she was raped by the doctor times before, because she had been a patient as well (she was a drug & sex addict)....She knows very well how to defend herself, even without a lawyer.

Dr. Olivet had to face ghosts from the past at trial (she was raped by a gynecologist fifteen years before, I remember that episode). The end is a little shocking.