The suspension of disbelief is necessary to enjoy any work of fiction. In this case, the instances in which it was necessary to suspend incredulity were way too many. the rape victim is an antisemite, at the very least a rabid antizionist, trying to emerge in N-Y politics? A closet lesbian who goes to a fashionable lesbian bar? My point is that when US TV writers go into politics they simply don't get it; too often the characters are completely improbable, unrealistic.
13 Reviews
Assumptions
bobcobb30118 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Titus Welliver's Rob Miller is definitely an interesting villain, but I don't know if SVU is the right show for stuff like this. I think diehard fans just want a good case that plays out in an entertaining way, not these unrealistic stories.
definitely not that bad
paulaobert23 December 2019
Something different and i don't get why people are saying it is so bad. and the representation of the extreme muslim in comparison with the lesbian muslim is a true example of our modern world and a really good idea.
Great
ohadbitton-967283 January 2020
Prejudice is playing an important role in this episode, each side is shown in its lowest and as the title suggests, assumptions are made by the characters anx the viewers and reflect the deep problems they cause in our society.
Interesting spin
griffingold16 May 2019
I enjoyed watching the episodes. The writers took creativity and their own ideas in a character and a story and I enjoyed it. How the story progressed, how more facts about the case came to light is something that is shared throughout all law and order svu episodes and this episode was no exception.
Assumptions
audaciousness19 July 2019
An excellent episode from start to finish that gave us a lot to think about. We had an unsympathetic victim, we had political bias, and we had many, many assumptions. I do understand why it's controversial, since it was quite political, but it was superbly written.
Making assumptions
TheLittleSongbird20 August 2023
It is not as if this review has any bias against anything that tackles tough subjects. That is far from the truth, as the uncompromising tackling of controversial topics is one of the main appeals of the 'Law and Order' franchise. A lot of my favourite episodes of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' tackle extremely tough subjects, some still relevant today. They however still handle the subjects very hard hittingly and movingly, unlike too many of the later episodes, and not heavy handedly and blandly like other episodes of 'Special Victims Unit' do.
"Assumptions" is not a particularly great episode. Sadly not a particularly good one either, which is being said with a lot of regret. Also not a particularly good at all penultimate episode of a rather patchy season. There are good things and there is one particularly good guest star performance (though the acting is not a problem here generally). But there are also a lot of things that are not good at all, too many for a potentially good episode to be in any way good. Which is saddening.
There are good things. It is a visually slick episode, typical for 'Special Victims Unit' (or at least up to this point) and the 'Law and Order' franchise, and one with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear with the theme tune still memorable.
The episode also has one great performance, the unsettling one of Titus Welliver and the character of Rob Miller is interesting and creepy. The acting overall is fine.
However, "Assumptions" is ruined by badly by heavy-handedness, especially the very one-sided political elements. The show indeed has tackled political and topical issues many times before and has done them very well more than once but has also too often made it too clear in an unsubtle way what side of the issue it's on).
Disadavantaged also by that the ripped from the headlines-like case is very muddled from trying to include too much, has too few surprises, is dully paced and is too sensationalist. That the victim is so unsympathetic, one of the season's most unsympathetic, doesn't help. Some of the writing is too overheated and awkward.
Lacklustre overall. 4/10.
"Assumptions" is not a particularly great episode. Sadly not a particularly good one either, which is being said with a lot of regret. Also not a particularly good at all penultimate episode of a rather patchy season. There are good things and there is one particularly good guest star performance (though the acting is not a problem here generally). But there are also a lot of things that are not good at all, too many for a potentially good episode to be in any way good. Which is saddening.
There are good things. It is a visually slick episode, typical for 'Special Victims Unit' (or at least up to this point) and the 'Law and Order' franchise, and one with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear with the theme tune still memorable.
The episode also has one great performance, the unsettling one of Titus Welliver and the character of Rob Miller is interesting and creepy. The acting overall is fine.
However, "Assumptions" is ruined by badly by heavy-handedness, especially the very one-sided political elements. The show indeed has tackled political and topical issues many times before and has done them very well more than once but has also too often made it too clear in an unsubtle way what side of the issue it's on).
Disadavantaged also by that the ripped from the headlines-like case is very muddled from trying to include too much, has too few surprises, is dully paced and is too sensationalist. That the victim is so unsympathetic, one of the season's most unsympathetic, doesn't help. Some of the writing is too overheated and awkward.
Lacklustre overall. 4/10.
All over the lot
bkoganbing20 November 2019
I think that the writers at SVU went all over the lot with this story. It starts out
with Nazneen Contractor playing a Moslem City Councilmember found unconscious in a synagogue where she says she was raped.
It turns out our victim won't pass an integrity test, but the SVU squad believes something happened, especially Mariska Hargitay. And it turns out our victim has some big secrets herself.
This plot wandered way far afield and it just wasn't real.
It turns out our victim won't pass an integrity test, but the SVU squad believes something happened, especially Mariska Hargitay. And it turns out our victim has some big secrets herself.
This plot wandered way far afield and it just wasn't real.
Poorly Executed
annikajscott12 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This episode could have been good but it was really poorly written. At first, it was obvious the victim in this episode was based on Ilhan Omar but throughout the episode the characterization went off the rails into an entirely different human being. If this episode had stayed true to the personality of Ilhan OR had just gone through with the plot they wrote without trying to fit in a real life political figure, it could have been good. However, it was a mess. One of the worst episodes of this whole show.
Horrible, absolutely horrible.
devinlawrence12 May 2019
This show has fallen to the lowest levels. Zionisism, islamaphobia, this episode misses the mark on all of them. This may be the peak of the cumulative garbage mountain SVU has become. Just bring back Stabler for a finale and let's finally drag this horse around back, dig a grave (if you hit another horse you've gone too far), and blow It's brains out.
Falsely accusation
dresmiles29 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This episode was all over the place. A lot of people have a lot of different opinions about what was hit or miss but the biggest frustration I had was that the Muslim woman accused Jewish boys of the rape knowing it wasn't them but it fit into her political and religious mind frame so she literally was willing and ready to have innocent boys persecuted for crimes they did not do... and she was not charged criminally for it or even reprimanded by the SVU. I mean using one's own sexual assault to further racist and anti Semitic beliefs and it not even being addressed very much is disappointing.
Luxuriating in bigotry
laurareijers26 December 2022
Blatant anti-muslim hate in this episode, a script that descends into Scriptural manipulation to support the hate in question, a writer who clearly doesn't see fit to treat muslims as human and a network which somehow gave a green light to this whole debacle. I think it's appropriate this writer's career is on hold now as no-one should get paid to promote fascism on tv.
I dearly hope SVU learns its lesson, does a modicum of research and starts holding itself to a higher standard when it comes to its depiction of muslims, because this was painful to watch. It's also not the first time, which is especially baffling considering the show has made some progress over the years in its depiction of other social justice topics.
I dearly hope SVU learns its lesson, does a modicum of research and starts holding itself to a higher standard when it comes to its depiction of muslims, because this was painful to watch. It's also not the first time, which is especially baffling considering the show has made some progress over the years in its depiction of other social justice topics.
Wrong on many levels
schwa8831 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episodes is bonkers in a lot of ways. One of the interesting parts of the Law & Order franchise is how the police often go down the wrong path at first, usually after who appears to be a logical suspect, and it later turns out to be a false lead. In this case it's two young kids seen running from a synagogue, one wearing what appears to be a MAGA hat. The kids turn out to be Jewish, with names like Ari Cohen or something similar. Here's the thing, tough. Jewish kids don't generally wear MAGA hats; that is the wrong demographic and is in essence conflating two different types of bias.
But even more bizarre about this story is that the rapist turns out to be the councilwoman's ex-husband. If this were actually the case, she would have known it immediately, and you could basically cut out the first half of the episode. A woman even years later is still going to recognize her husband's pheromones. The identity would be made immediately and we would not have gone down this road with the erroneous accusation against the boys.
Additional notes: Really weird closing statement from the defense lawyer. And the DA says "We assume" in his closing as if that's the job of the DA and the jury? No, no, no, that's not how it's done. Was the law consultant on vacation that week? Yikes.
But even more bizarre about this story is that the rapist turns out to be the councilwoman's ex-husband. If this were actually the case, she would have known it immediately, and you could basically cut out the first half of the episode. A woman even years later is still going to recognize her husband's pheromones. The identity would be made immediately and we would not have gone down this road with the erroneous accusation against the boys.
Additional notes: Really weird closing statement from the defense lawyer. And the DA says "We assume" in his closing as if that's the job of the DA and the jury? No, no, no, that's not how it's done. Was the law consultant on vacation that week? Yikes.
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