Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Signature (2008) User Reviews

Signature

[jeremylr · 10/10 · 7 June 2009]

This is my first review of an SVU episode. I didn't get into the show until about 2 years ago, but it's a great show. One thing that always bothers me is the 1-word episode titles that make it difficult to distinguish between episodes, but oh well.

This episode really moved me. First, Chris Meloni & Ice-T don't appear. Adam Beach gets good face-time, helping Mariska out this go-around.

The FBI agent (Erika Christensen) who teams with Mariska Hargitay is very good. Besides that, the storyline tugs at the viewer's heartstrings.

Basically, a serial killer who specializes in torturing women for days upon days is the centerpiece of the story. He's killed over 20 women. There are especially brutal scenes that show what the killer did to his victims.

I don't want to get into the plot too much, but there's 2 scenes that I want to discuss. First, Mariska (aka Detective Benson) locates a victim who's still alive. I don't know the actress's name, but hopefully she got some more acting jobs based on her performance, because it's excellent, even though it's short. The terror & screaming seem all too real. I just felt so sorry for her.

UPDATE: The actress who played the victim who survived her initial torture is named Amanda Leigh Cobb, & IMDb lists this as her only acting credit. Hopefully she will reconsider, because she's got potential & range that would serve her well in an acting career.

The final scene has enough emotional impact to stop a freight train in its tracks. I still haven't seen half the episodes of the show, but Mariska really reacts to the death of one of the central characters in a way I'd never seen her do before, literally breaking down & sobbing.

The death is just so quick & such a waste. I found myself skipping back on my DVR to watch that final scene over & over. I think you will, too.

Triangle

[yazguloner · 10/10 · 17 June 2021]

Strong episode. Performances to applaud. FBI agent Cooper manages to be memorable in one episode. Cooper is olivia's youth. Olivia is like her more mature soul following her, talking to her. You'll see what I mean in the final scene.

In the first aid scene to the victim; Olivia is in the Cooper and the victim triangle. The actions taken to save the victim and the reaction of the victim. It carries key information to resolve conflicts between institutions, even conflicts between institutions and citizens.

One of the best and strongest story.

Close to a killer episode

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 23 September 2021]

One of my most vivid memories of when starting to watch 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' over a decade ago was watching "Signature", and how it haunted me and left me in complete horror for a while afterwards. Of all the Season 9 episodes on first watch of the season, it was one of the episodes that stood out when it came to the atmosphere and the emotional impact. At least to me it did, and do know a lot of fellow fans that feel the same.

"Signature" still has staying power atmosphere-wise and emotionally. Other episodes are more consistent in overall quality and have held up better and this is one of the "not as good now" episodes of 'Special Victims Unit'. Due to a couple of things that hurt it that weren't massive problems on first watch, the biggest being a very uneven performance that was distractingly bad in its worst parts. "Signature" is still a very, very good episode and its best aspects (Mariska Hargitay, the emotions felt watching it and the case) are so great.

Erika Christensen's performance has wildly divided the fandom. To me, her performance was uneven and a case of her being much better in the second half than in the first. In the first half, she came over as very stilted and wooden and, even for the case that clearly unnerved all the characters, there was a real feeling that the case was a lot more personal for Cooper than most of the others.

The identity of who was responsible for the initial crime was not a shock, there was just something about them early on that made me think they are involved in some way or know more than they're letting on.

However, there is a lot to recommend here. The production values are solid and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting. The direction is sympathetic enough without being leaden. What still lives in the memory is the amazing performance of Mariska Hargitay, steely and moving in particularly the second half. Christensen's acting improves vastly later on, she is very moving at the end which shocked and moved me. The chemistry between the two of them is great and one of "Signature's" driving forces.

For most of his stint, Lake didn't do much for me but this is one of his better appearances. Due to that he actually seemed to genuinely feel something about the case and because Adam Beach seems more relaxed than before. Season 9 varied when it came to its stories and not every case was executed very well. That for "Signature" is one of the season's best, it is still truly disturbing with what the victims endure and the torture chamber being the stuff of nightmares. Plus the serial killer is one of the most sadistic and despicable in 'Special Victims Unit' history, the nature of his crimes and what he did will shock even those not easily unsettled. The case is also very sad, especially in the closing moments.

Concluding, very good and nearly great. 8/10.

Dang that was a dark episode

[wrenleung · 10/10 · 9 January 2020]

There were some scenes where I had to look away. Great acting by Mariska Hargitay and Erika Christensen.

Erika christensen was amazing

[Ranbl · 9/10 · 27 February 2020]

One of SVU's best episodes. Erika christensen rocked with an outstanding performance. Very dark episode

Killer of the Woodsman

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 12 February 2015]

With both Stabler and Tutuola on an extradition trip, Dann Florek is shorthanded so the presence of FBI investigator Erika Christiansen is welcome in the search for a serial killer known as the Woodsman. Mariska Hargitay and Christiansen bond and she treats her like almost the little sister she never had. In fact we learn that Christiansen had a checkered childhood like Olivia Benson and is also still grieving the death of her mentor, a criminologist who committed suicide so unnerved by the sheer brutality of the Woodsman.

We only meet the Woodsman after he died. His bodies are found in secluded woody areas hence his moniker. I won't reveal his occupation, but it also gave him perfect cover to commit his monstrous deeds. He had a torture chamber where he kept victim for several days before dispatching them.

And he's found dead with a bullet in his head. And a telltale clue is found by Adam Beach making the squad focus on Christiansen as the killer of the Woodsman.

This episode is marked by a brilliant and overwrought performance by Erika Christiansen. I'd watch this just to see her, but she also gets brilliant support from Mariska Hargitay. One of the best SVU episodes out there.

"Signature"

[allmoviesfan · 9/10 · 27 October 2023]

Christopher Meloni and Ice-T don't feature in this episode at all - nor does Richard Belzer, but Munch has been absent more often than he's been present so far this season - with Finn and Stabler on an extradition job in Quebec.

That leaves Lake as Benson's partner and they get assistance from Cooper (Erika Christensen) an who is a behavioral sciences expert chasing a serial killer called The Woodsman, whom Cooper and her colleagues have been after for a long time. Cooper clearly has an emotional stake in the killer being caught.

"Signature" features one of the creepiest scenes I can remember when Benson, Lake and Cooper follow a SWAT team into a storage facility The Woodsman used as a torture chamber. Some of the implements the camera panned by...man alive.

No high point in this stretch for the SVU franchise

[SimonSaysSmallScreen · 4/10 · 28 February 2020]

Christensen was underwhelming in this episode, to the point of being a distraction. Way-over-the-top delivery, unconvincing emotional outbursts, admittedly, also some clumsy lines. Maybe she got a bad deal. It is a dark story, which demands sensitive writing. The standard SVU level struggles with it. All the characters seem a little more adrift than usual, but the regular cast handles it with their usual aplomb. An ambitious attempt, maybe a little too ambitious.