"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" Bend the Law (TV Episode 2023) Poster

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9/10
Simply Wow for me
osuka-191399 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode had me glued to screen the whole time. This is one of these episodes that I consider a bit dark, considering of what happens near the end of the episode.

The side story with Detective Velasco was one I can very much relate too. Seeing how hard Velaco's decision was to have his friend or the person that saved his life from the cartel be arrested was really well written in my opinion.

The Maxwell side was also pretty good, that twist at the end makes me hope that it will be brought up again.

My only complaint is that I wish these two stories, Velasco's and Maxwell's were in their own separate episodes. Would have love to see more of Velasco's story.

Overall, very good episode.
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10/10
EXCELLENT 👌
claycalderonblood2 May 2023
Once again SVU writers hit it out of the park! As a retired criminal defense attorney SVU has always maintained the integrity of the show by the authenticity of the writing. Basically, the first part of the show is Criminal Procedure followed by Criminal Law. This formula for success has endured the test of time!

Law and Order has been around since the 1990s and continues to amaze and surprise me with the plot development, intriguing characters, directing and performances by there amazing actors. I'm surprised a Law and Order movie has never been produced! I'm an Law and Order Junkie!!

Kudos to Mr. Wolf!!
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6/10
Bend the Law
bobcobb3011 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Maybe if they had just focused on one coherent storyline in this once instead of splitting the cast and splitting the time things would have worked out a little bit better. It was not all bad, but it did lack a lot of intrigue at times and certainly felt dragging.

We know Maxwell's crimes will be exposed at some point, but I kind of would have preferred the Stabler way of talking to her and letting her know she would pay as opposed to the Olivia way where she kind of hinted that the truth will come out.

This had potential, but ended up being just another average episode from Law and Order: SVU.
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2/10
Awful Even by SVU Standards
bkkaz28 April 2023
So . . . SVU goes on yet another male bashing tirade.

Case in point. The really bland DA chooses to hide something - *she* chooses - and then says it was so she wouldn't *emasculate* - notice, they could just as easily have chosen a neutral term, like humiliate - her wormy husband. So, he's to blame for *her* decision.

Let's turn that around.

If he had been the DA and his wife had done something wrong - and he chooses to do something illegal and further chooses to characterize his decision in a way that is sexist toward his wife, as though she is to blame - we not only would be justifiably outraged at *him*, we'd also say the decision was solely his to own.

This is what viewers mean when they are offended by something that rather than simply tell a story, instead subjects them to an editorial disguised as one. There's nothing wrong with telling a story about a woman wronged by a man, but when the deck is stacked this cheesily, it's clumsy and amateurish.

Drama - even bad melodrama like SVU - doesn't come from stacking the deck so obviously. It comes from conflict, including creating conflict in the audience about what's happening in the story (and not how bad the writing is).

If they're on their feet and clapping at the TV while saying, "You go, girl!" that's not conflict. That's propaganda.

Real conflict is a wife struggling over doing her job and hurting her husband. It doesn't make her husband a two-bit creep so she can pontificate to him while he worms his way around. It doesn't make her spout of trite dialogue written as though for a Cosmopolitan article. And it makes her take ownership of her own decisions and not gaslight them onto someone else.

The end is like science fiction. Remember when characters used to do things within the realm of probability? That's all off the table now, where characters are written like they're in soap opera.

Just bad, bad television.
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5/10
Great Episode Hindered By Unexpected Idiot Plots...
scttbrks-018411 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This was a really great standout episode until a little over halfway into it. Then it suddenly had two blaringly idiot plots pop up from nowhere.

One dealt with Velasco playing the audio recording to his partner in a restaurant and walking outside and being confronted by the girlfriend of the guy he secretly recorded. She then pulled a gun and forced him into a van and told him she SAW him play an audio recording for his partner and demanded his phone. How the hell did she see him playing an audio recording from outside the restaurant??! And even if she did see it why would she conclude it was about her boyfriend, smh, lol. And then after Velasco calmed her down and offered comfort by hugging her it was left completely unresolved. Nothing was said whether she went on to confront or tell her boyfriend about anything that happened.

And second, after showing viewers that the husband of Lorraine Maxwell (played by Betty Buckley in an awesome tour-de-force performance worthy of having an Emmy thrown her way!) choked to death on food he ordered from doordash it was later implied that there might be an investigation to see if Lorraine maybe murdered him and Olivia saying she hoped the conversation didn't come back to haunt her in the future. From what I saw she committed no crime and there should be no need for any kind of investigation.

Horrible writing, sorry to say. Elsewise it was a great episode! :)
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