This episode is so good that you can watch it right to the end before it turns horrible...Just like with "Sugar", the writers decided to shock the viewer in the worst way. Why does the innocent accused have to die? We go through this whole episode thinking PJ is at best a co-conspirator and at worst a murderer only to learn he is completely innocent, but then he ends up dying a horrible terrorizing death (just like in "Sugar"). How about we see some justice for the victim. Send the murderer to prison or let them kill their own selves! This episode was in no way made any better than it already had been for 40 minutes...Torturing PJ (by making him get smashed into the ground at 1000 miles per hour) or his father (by making him watch his son get killed after everything they had just been through together) was just plain sadistic writing. The ending killed the episode for me. Still, it rates a 9 because the worst part of the episode only constituted about 20 seconds run time, if that.
10 Reviews
Weird Episode
wrenleung16 January 2020
A pregnancy and insider information
bkoganbing31 May 2015
The SVU squad goes after a father and son pair of coffee traders who are accused of murdering a girl who was blackmailing the two of them with both a pregnancy and insider information. The victims of her machinations, Stephen Collins and Matthew Davis, in turn are accused of murdering the woman and setting her apartment on fire to cover the deed.
This particular SVU episode is rich in characters. Both Collins and Davis are finely drawn, the rich alpha male father who has to succeed at any price and the son who just can't compete with him, he can't get enough room to stand on his own. Davis has a most zealous advocate in lawyer Michelle Borth who really goes the extra mile in her representation. That and the family millions, close to a billion make it look like Collins and Davis will beat this one out.
I can't also forget the victim's spiritual adviser a woman who talks to the cherubs. Clea Lewis has a great scene with Ice-T and Richard Belzer.
Justice is meted out, but not by our legal system.
This particular SVU episode is rich in characters. Both Collins and Davis are finely drawn, the rich alpha male father who has to succeed at any price and the son who just can't compete with him, he can't get enough room to stand on his own. Davis has a most zealous advocate in lawyer Michelle Borth who really goes the extra mile in her representation. That and the family millions, close to a billion make it look like Collins and Davis will beat this one out.
I can't also forget the victim's spiritual adviser a woman who talks to the cherubs. Clea Lewis has a great scene with Ice-T and Richard Belzer.
Justice is meted out, but not by our legal system.
If family businesses do their own justice: flesh and nail
yazguloner19 June 2021
The story of father and son is told in the family that has been trading coffee for generations. Between commercial interests, this father and son are like flesh and nails. The separation of the flesh from the nail is hidden in the final shock bend.
An Emotional Cliffhanger
kovyhart-11 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I'd never seen this episode before. It looked interesting. So, I finally watched it. Your classic rich father/son duo in the coffee business. Both flawed in character. Especially the egotistical Dad. He was very unlikable. But played well. I thought both actors did a good job portraying each and the odd relationship they had. Dad impregnated the son's fiancée after we learn he couldn't get her pregnant.
She turns up dead. It looks like either one or both are involved. The case becomes complicated due to a juror. But all the assumptions they make are wrong. The ending is a total cliffhanger. Shocking the audience. The ending left a bitter taste when the guilty person is revealed. It was unnecessary.
A good episode with lots of drama and excitement. But a crushing ending that tarnished it somewhat.
She turns up dead. It looks like either one or both are involved. The case becomes complicated due to a juror. But all the assumptions they make are wrong. The ending is a total cliffhanger. Shocking the audience. The ending left a bitter taste when the guilty person is revealed. It was unnecessary.
A good episode with lots of drama and excitement. But a crushing ending that tarnished it somewhat.
"Trade"
allmoviesfan1 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
A father and son duo of coffee traders are in competition with one another at life. Son gets a girlfriend, father gets a younger one - often the son's girlfriend, that sort of thing
This leads to your somewhat cliched father-son-girlfriend love triangle. Throw in a murder, some juror blackmail, a development where the now-dead girlfriend is concerned and a touch of lawyers behaving badly...this was an episode that had a little bit of everything. Daytime soap writers would have been proud of this one!
I must admit I had a feeling who the guilty party was midway through the episode, but the (very depressing) ending was one I didn't see coming.
This leads to your somewhat cliched father-son-girlfriend love triangle. Throw in a murder, some juror blackmail, a development where the now-dead girlfriend is concerned and a touch of lawyers behaving badly...this was an episode that had a little bit of everything. Daytime soap writers would have been proud of this one!
I must admit I had a feeling who the guilty party was midway through the episode, but the (very depressing) ending was one I didn't see coming.
Inside out
TheLittleSongbird7 October 2021
"Trade" has always been an uneven episode to me and of an up and down Season 9 it has always been one of the lesser and most frustrating ones. 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' when at its best is brilliant and there are many brilliant episodes in particularly the early seasons, even when the show declined. When not on form, and it did start losing its way from Season 7 or so onwards but became particularly uneven around Season 10/11, it was not good at all.
Regarding which category "Trade" falls under, my feeling is that it is not in the "at its best" category while also not being in the "not good at all" category. Plenty of episodes fall into the "in between" category, and that's where "Trade" fits under. Actually quite liked it, without loving it, in the first half, but it became rather hairy in the second and left me and many others absolutely exasperated at the end. It's above average but also something of a disappointment.
Quite a lot is good here in "Trade". The photography and such as usual are fully professional, the slickness still remaining. The music is used sparingly and is haunting and non-overwrought when it is used, and it's mainly used when a crucial revelation or plot development is revealed. The direction has some nice tension while keeping things steady, without going too far the other way.
All the acting, lead and supporting, is very good. The script is lean and thought-provoking and the story in the first half was intriguing and never dull.
It is a shame that the second half was not near as good. While the story is involving and there are a number of twists, few of them are that surprising from having been done before on the show and the franchise. The identity of the killer was the only one that truly shocked me. Some of the writing in the second half veered on soapy, especially towards the end.
While sloppy police work was a common thing in the show's mid period, there are not many episodes from Seasons 7-10 where the police work was this sloppy or unrealistic to the extent that one wonders how they even got onto the force. What happens at the end could easily have been avoided if the way the police behaved was competent. What really spoils "Trade" is the truly ridiculous ending, the only ending of Season 9 actually that insulted my intelligence. It is too heavily relied upon and is far too melodramatic and what happens is beyond stupidity and physically impossible. There are episodes where a lot of characters do not come off well, there are not many up to this stage of the show's run where everybody comes off badly.
Overall, above average but could have been a lot better. 6/10.
Regarding which category "Trade" falls under, my feeling is that it is not in the "at its best" category while also not being in the "not good at all" category. Plenty of episodes fall into the "in between" category, and that's where "Trade" fits under. Actually quite liked it, without loving it, in the first half, but it became rather hairy in the second and left me and many others absolutely exasperated at the end. It's above average but also something of a disappointment.
Quite a lot is good here in "Trade". The photography and such as usual are fully professional, the slickness still remaining. The music is used sparingly and is haunting and non-overwrought when it is used, and it's mainly used when a crucial revelation or plot development is revealed. The direction has some nice tension while keeping things steady, without going too far the other way.
All the acting, lead and supporting, is very good. The script is lean and thought-provoking and the story in the first half was intriguing and never dull.
It is a shame that the second half was not near as good. While the story is involving and there are a number of twists, few of them are that surprising from having been done before on the show and the franchise. The identity of the killer was the only one that truly shocked me. Some of the writing in the second half veered on soapy, especially towards the end.
While sloppy police work was a common thing in the show's mid period, there are not many episodes from Seasons 7-10 where the police work was this sloppy or unrealistic to the extent that one wonders how they even got onto the force. What happens at the end could easily have been avoided if the way the police behaved was competent. What really spoils "Trade" is the truly ridiculous ending, the only ending of Season 9 actually that insulted my intelligence. It is too heavily relied upon and is far too melodramatic and what happens is beyond stupidity and physically impossible. There are episodes where a lot of characters do not come off well, there are not many up to this stage of the show's run where everybody comes off badly.
Overall, above average but could have been a lot better. 6/10.
Procedural Crime Drama that breaks basic rules.
dlaird829 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
You could make a list of the errors in this episode. Initially it follows the typical SVU plot framing with a rape and murder of a young woman, with a fire lit to destroy evidence. Suddenly though the detectives are led to a coffee trader by a spiritual healer (WTF) ignoring the fact she most likely would have had some or all of mobile/personal planner/laptop they could have gleaned information from. Maybe they got bored of using this method as TARU has been able to recover information from fire damaged tech previously. The usual back and forth ensues with the father and son lead suspects until finally at the end the crime scene unit does the job they should have done at the start and finds the hidden camera revealing the purp. I mean it had a SIM card, they'd found a hidden SIM just previously, there must have been access to tge camera to get the card without cutting a hole in the wall. Then sloppy policing in letting the killer out of the room to be able to commit a murder suicide is just ridiculous. In real life the father would be suing the department to bankruptcy. He certainly can afford the lawyer to do it seeing the son can afford to pay a lawyer that can dish out a 50k bribe plus whatever the PI got. Hang you're brain up for an hour and you might enjoy it. Writers would be better on Star Trek.
They just couldn't *not* overcrank the melodrama, could they?
wdstarr-121 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
No *specific* spoiler information here, just that they had a perfectly good eight-star episode going until the very end when they just *had* to overdo it for a big super-shocking tragic ending that was so over-the-top that it undermined the quality of the whole story. Bleah. (Not to mention that they had to have the authorities make a ridiculous error just so that the ending they wanted could be possible in terms of having the right people in the right place at the right time. Again, bleah.)
disappointing...
nart_adnil18 May 2008
This episode was full of the typical SVU ways - accusing innocent people and drawing incomplete conclusions based on insubstantial evidence. I like to know what happens on the show and that is why I end up watching the entire thing but this episode was not worth the time. The silly deductions from every single bit of new evidence was irritating - and the ruthlessness of the detectives just becomes hard to watch. The ending was by far, the worst I had seen on this show (and I used to be a zealous SVU fan). Too much drama and too many angry people. I typically like SVU but the more modern the episodes, the more dramatic and mean the characters are to everyone, victims and criminals alike.
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