"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" Contagious (TV Episode 2005) Poster

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7/10
How we grown-ups learned of Jennette McCurdy
Ddey6521 January 2009
Apparently some kid on an IMDb message board took offense to the title of this comment, as if I were somehow implying that they lacked the ability to understand the subject matter. Let me reassure that person, that I meant no disrespect to the kids. It's just that she was better known for her appearances on other Nickelodeon shows and TV-movies before her current status as the co-star of "iCarly."

Larry Purcell, his wife Sonya, and their daughter Holly(McCurdy) are rushed to the hospital after being in a car accident near Central Park. While the doctors try to change Holly into a hospital gown, she impulsively starts to kick away at them, making them suspect that she was also a victim of sexual abuse. Unable to get her parents consent for a physical examination while they're in surgery, they contact SVU to sneak a court order for one. During the procedure, Detectives Benson & Stabler are called to the scene, and Holly takes some comfort in the presence of Stabler. Sure enough, their worst fears are confirmed, and now the SVU and the hospital must work with hospital shrink Dr. Rebecca Hendrix(Mary Stuart Masterson) to find out who violated this little girl. Holly is so terrified of the "man" who molested her, that she fingers a good friend of the family, played by Daniel Hugh-Kelly. To make matters worse, she reveals her victimizer also killed another girl from Queens who's the subject of a highly publicized missing persons' case. And if that's not enough, two other mothers claim that their daughters were molested by him, and a few others follow. It's so hard not to be touched by Miss McCurdy's performance, that it's easy to understand why Detective Stabler flies off the handle more than usual in this episode, at one point nearly ripping the prime suspect's wife's head off.

Ah, but while the person who truly victimized Holly is a member of the same gender, we can't really be sure "Uncle Mark" is the pervert here. Yet every circumstance in his life seems to indicate that he is. The extra time he spends with other people's kids and a trumped-up teen prostitution charge in his past should make this an open and shut case. Holly's artwork is the key to the guilty party, and he's very close to Uncle Mark. No, I won't go beyond that, other that to reiterate the fact that McCurdy's heart-wrenching performance will make you stand up and take notice.
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7/10
SVU gets it wrong
bkoganbing10 February 2019
This SVU story is a perfect illustration of the difficulties of working with child victims. Rape counsellor Mary Stuart Masterson misinterprets what victim Holly Combs is trying to say. SVU as represented by Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay get it wrong.

This episode also shows the difficulties of what happens once you are in the "system". Daniel Hugh Kelly who on his many appearances on various Law And Order franchise show is usually the bad guy. His story here though is a frightening one because it could happen to any of us.

Nice guest star turn by Daniel Hugh Kelly.
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9/10
It's contagious
TheLittleSongbird18 February 2021
On my first watch of "Contagious" did get me emotionally and had the shock factor. Was very captivated by Jennette McCurdy and it left me thinking hard. All those feelings were present in subsequent rewatches whenever the season aired (with 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit', which overtime has actually grown on me as a show but has for a while been a case of the earlier seasons being a lot better than the later ones, being the show often watched on weekday nights).

"Contagious" still held up on my recent rewatch. It always struck me as a wonderful episode and one that does almost everything right. It's still thought-provoking, shocking and very moving with terrific performances and it's one of those episodes that has gotten better overtime. Due to having more to appreciate and due to taking more in of what the episode has to say about a very difficult subject that it explores absolutely beautifully. Season 6 of 'Special Victims Unit' was the most consistent, certainly the least bumpy, of the Season 6s of it, the original 'Law and Order' and 'Criminal Intent' and "Contagious" is this close to being one of the best episodes.

Nearly everything works here. What really stands out is the acting. Especially from Christopher Meloni, in an intense yet also heartfelt performance, and heart-wrenching McCurdy. It was very interesting seeing Daniel Hugh Kelly playing a character that one doesn't actually hate for once and Kelly plays him very well. The case is gripping and hard-hitting emotionally, that not only shows the devastating after effects of child/sexual abuse but also having much to say about how difficult it is to prosecute when the real truth comes out and how too quickly we judge people.

Stabler's subplot is equally powerful and realistic, showing what stress can do in such a difficult job and with an increasingly difficult family situation to cope with as well without being too soap operatic or dominating too much. It was good and very tactful to see the subject told from a non-biased point of view, where everybody's remorse and pain is noted and felt deeply. Love Stabler and Olivia's chemistry and it is very clear that she cares for him.

Furthermore, "Contagious" is well made, intimately photographed and slick with no signs of under-budget or anything. The music didn't sound melodramatic or too constant and the direction is accomodating while still having pulse. The writing is beautifully balanced tonally, not over-sentimental, not cheesy and is easy to understand while having the right amount of challenge.

My one issue with "Contagious" is to do with Hendrix. Her role could easily have been filled by Huang and should have been, he would have been more sympathetic and handled the case with a little more professionalism.

Other than that, this episode is wonderful. 9/10 (was very close to getting a perfect score)
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8/10
"Me Too" Gets Comeuppance
stp437 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
SVU delves into underused territory here where a seemingly air-tight investigation goes haywire.

It opens, though, with some dubious cinematography. A man, his wife, and their 9-year-old daughter are injured in a bad car crash. The daughter, Holly, has to be taken in a separate ambulance and the unattractive man within asks Holly about possible internal injuries. He tells her in essence he has to take her clothes off to check for signs of internal injuries.

Apart from the general discomfort of this setup, the way the scene is shot - with the camera panning to almost looking up Jeanette McCurdy's legs - is doubly troubling. Whose idea was it to shoot it this way?

Holly naturally objects, and it takes a female doctor at the hospital to verify Holly doesn't have internal injuries. But it's what she and ex-cop Rebecca Hendrix do find that necessitates SVU involvement.

The ensuing investigation winds up snaring a school coach, and other children come forward and finger him for molestation. It's a slam dunk against the coach.....

But no. The kids fingering the coach are themselves being coached to identify him. Parent are doing this because others say he's guilty. But by the time everyone figures out who the real rapist is, the coach has been character assassinated.

It serves as a needed refutation of the Me Too movement and the kind of episode the series needs to revisit nowadays
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2/10
Appalling mess
susan111_az27 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Oh, lord. What can be said about this episode? Lots of voyeuristically vivid word-pictures of little girls being molested. (We're supposed to think it's horrible that these children have been manipulated into saying such awful things. No one seems disturbed, though, by the idea of ten-year-old *actresses* being required to sob their hearts out while describing in vivid detail exactly where "he touched me".)

A gaping plot hole: a man loses his career after being accused of a crime he didn't do, and no one puts the blame where it belongs -- on Mary Stuart Masterson, The World's Most Inept Shrink, who browbeat her victim -- pardon me, her PATIENT -- into giving a false accusation. And yes, it's Hendrix's fault! Watch that scene over again: Hendrix demands, endlessly, intolerably, that Holly give an answer -- ANY answer -- to the question, "Who did this to you?" And seems genuinely startled (this is a psychiatrist?) to find, later, that a terrified child might give a false answer JUST TO SHUT HER UP.

Add a double dose of scenery-chewing from Elliot MY ANGST IZ PASTEDE ON YEY! Stabler, and you've got one of the poorest episodes SVU has made yet.
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