Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Monogamy (2002) User Reviews

Comedic actor gives a rare glimpse of his dramatic skills

[garrard · 9/10 · 29 June 2009]

The late John Ritter, mostly known for his comedic turns in the classic "Three's Company" and the most recent "8 Simple Rules," had a brilliant dramatic turn as an arrogant doctor who becomes the chief suspect in the death of his pregnant wife. Ritter is superb as a man so self-centered that he feels that he is above the law. He and regular cast member Chris Meloni have a powerful confrontation, allowing both actors a chance to show their skills.

As always, there is a "Law & Order twist, and this one is a stunning jaw-dropper.

Ritter was truly deserving of an Emmy nomination if not the award itself.

Rage from an anal retentive

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 4 December 2013]

What a commentary on the kind of husband that John Ritter was in this episode that his wife Tricia Paoluccio who is a drug counselor at a methadone clinic takes up with Bobby Cannvale one of the clients. So John Ritter in a very carefully planned assault, blitzes his wife from behind and cuts open her uterus in an abortion of his own choosing of her child.

One of the more monstrous acts ever perpetrated on an SVU show the dead baby is found in a dumpster. Paoluccio recovers, but she can't identify anyone. Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni work hard to crack this one and Meloni takes it personally.

Whether a charge of murder can stick to Ritter will depend if the seven month old took any live breaths and that will be hard. Not her fault, it's the law says Stephanie March that a fetus is not deemed a person in New York State. A law to prevent others from controlling a woman's right to choose may just let a murderer go free.

You'll spend a lot of time mulling over the ethics involved in this episode.

Anger and sadness

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 23 July 2020]

Other than the subject, which is not an easy one and not for the faint-hearted, "Monogamy" is most interesting for John Ritter. Despite my first exposure to him being in the 1990 mini-series 'IT', he was known more as a comedic actor and when the material was good (so not the 'Problem Child' films) he showed a lot of talent in it. Here in "Monogamy", he plays a dramatic role and it was a shock to see him have a character so cold-blooded so as against type as one can get.

Which was what was always interesting about 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit', having very or relatively famous guest stars and showing different sides to them not seen before, sometimes stretching their abilities appropriately, so one can't help but be shocked that they had those sides in them. Which was my exact feeling watching Ritter in this harrowing and very emotional episode, that is among the best of an often impressive Season 3.

"Monogamy" benefits hugely from its enormously compelling story. It has a very wide range of emotions, from intensity with the jealousy and anger to the poignancy of the sadder parts. The story standout was its heart-breaker of a final twist which killed me emotionally. The whole ending is one of the best of Season 3 and one of the few to make me cry and leave me completely shocked. The script is intelligent, always intriguing and quite nuanced, especially towards the end.

The whole conversation between Stabler, Olivia and Cabot about the baby and fetus rights provokes thought too. While the whole of "Monogamy" grips throughout and never lets go, the final third or so makes it a special one. The performances are uniformally great. The best performance of the regular cast comes from Stephanie March, her performance here is one of the best she gave from her time on the show and she has here the remarkable ability of getting a lot of emotional impact out of lines that sound so simple and normally don't have as much impact as seen here (such as "did he cry?").

Biggest surprise of all is how "Monogamy" managed to get such a powerful dramatic performance from Ritter, who spends most of the time being a skin-crawler but wrenches the heart at the end. Have no issue with the production values or music either.

All in all, brilliant. 10/10

Another Creepy Role for a Great

[muddy_cocosu · 10/10 · 14 August 2023]

I'm rewatching the SVU series and this one includes the late, great, John Ritter, who I've watched mostly from Nick at Night's Three's Company.

He is also in a Buffy the Vampire episode, it that episode he is Joy Summers' new boyfriend who takes his role as daddy too far. He is super particular and didn't like his stuff messed with. Kind of like his personality in this episode, very particular, the baby was the issue, not his wife, likes his home cleaned and made up in a certain way.

Most people don't know that he did dramatic, serious roles, instead of just funny man comedy. He can come off SUPER creepy in these dramatic roles that he did as a special guest. It is these roles that actually stay with me as the years have gone by.