Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Paternity (2007) User Reviews

An amazing hour of television

[bowlingchick77 · 9/10 · 1 December 2007]

Whilst some may think that this episode is based too much on the lives of the detectives...I, a loyal viewer, think this may be one of the best episodes in SVU- no,-television history.

The acting by Isabel (Kathy Stabler) and Mariska (Olivia Benson) in this episode was brilliant. Emotional scenes, dramatic scenes...all will leave the viewer on the edge of their seat.

And then, of course, there is the hug with the two lead detectives- Stabler and Benson- which will leave fans of the show- and the shipping- thrilled.

Definitely worth watching...and waiting through several mediocre episodes this season.

This is AMAZING

[Yelrac7 · 10/10 · 28 November 2007]

This was the best episode of SVU I have ever seen and possibly the best episode of any TV series I have EVER seen. It was amazing and thrilling. My heart was racing the entire time and the ending was perfect.I loved every bit of this episode especially the chemistry between Elliot and Olivia. I adored the fact that Cathy decided that she wanted to name the baby after Elliot and I'm really impressed with all of the acting. The writing was absolutely perfect and I loved the fact that Olivia actually helped with Cathy and the birth. I hope that the rest of SVU is as good as this episode. Anyone who didn't like SVU before watching this episode is probably in love with it now. It was AMAZING.

Superb!

[leerichey · 10/10 · 12 December 2007]

I completely disagree with anyone who thought this was a bad episode. It was a terrific episode and one I wish I had recorded. The "Special Victims Unit" of Law and Order is my favorite of the Law and Order series, mostly because I find all the characters more interesting. I like the teaming of Hargitay and Meloni and find them both very human and very resilient. I also like Dann Florek's character. I have enjoyed every episode I've seen but especially this one. The acting, directing, and camera work was excellently done and I was moved in every moment. Like Night Heat in the 1980s, and The Practice, this Law and Order is one of the most interesting crime dramas. All-in-all, both this episode and this series is one of my favorites!

Hooked From Day One

[ameliahay · 10/10 · 25 April 2008]

I LOVED THIS EPISODE!

Yeah some parts were stretching the truth, but that's why they call is drama not documentary. Overall it was favourite episode, so far.

I was fantastic to see the characters developed, and I loved the humanity that was brought to the show, in this episode.

I would be thrilled to see more episodes like this one. It was a good change of pace, yet it still retained the same flavour we love about SVU.

I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

Was I imagining it, or was there something more than a "Thanks" in the hug between Stabler & Benson?

good, but not perfect

[wdstarr-1 · 8/10 · 19 December 2020]

A quite good episode, but with some unintentionally silly or just plain dumb bits that dragged it down, starting with the visual silliness of the kid being attached to Stabler like a static-electricity-charged balloon early on in the episode. The bit where Stabler loudly -- I mean, *loudly* -- blabbed a big secret in a crowded hallway which included the person it was being kept from felt like something out of a bad sitcom, and all the drama of the aftermath of a major car crash was somewhat deadened by the script's ridiculous shoehorning of Olivia Benson into the middle of the action when she should have been sidelined while the rescue experts, the firemen and the EMTs, handled everything. (And P.S., Olivia: you *don't* move a crash victim's head unless a medical professional tells you to. Broken necks don't show on the outside.)

And yet, for all those flaws I'm still giving the episode a rating of eight out of ten stars -- it'd be eight and a half if that was allowed -- because all of it that wasn't badly done was done *very* well indeed. And special praise for Isabelle Gillies for nailing the childbirth scenes.

Very suspenseful. Amazing acting.

[barbararush-95830 · 10/10 · 28 September 2021]

This could not have been easy to film. Kudos to the crew. Also to the characters Kathy, Mariska, and Elliott.

Critic

[yazguloner · 10/10 · 16 June 2021]

The episode was good, but not liking the episode is also a choice. If there is no intent. I'm not mad at people who don't like it.

Cause, Criticism is a constructive force, a collaboration. Taking the right steps in the future is necessary to be better. It's like looking at yourself in the mirror. It's a kind of reverse empathy.

Ps Accident scene was performans so good.

Drastic comparison to today's SVU episodes

[sale-39151 · 10/10 · 8 June 2023]

I've seen the entire SVU series and kept on watching through the current ones. Same with SVU.

These older episodes really illustrate how limp and unimaginative today's writing has become. They pretty much go: > Crime happens > A tech pulls data from technology > Detectives run and have a car chase and find some perps > Court happens the next day END

This episode was one of the best of the best! Starting at point A, you'd never guess how it would twist and turn to the end. Very exciting and engaging.

The characters, unlike today's, are deeply developed with complicated home lives and pasts that affect their work.

I just wonder how today's TV writers have lost all imagination, and why nobody ever goes back to the best old episodes for inspiration.

"Paternity"

[allmoviesfan · 9/10 · 25 October 2023]

An interestingly structured episode in that the main crime - a Mormon babysitter is found murdered in the house where she works - discovered just after the opening credits, turned out to not be the main focus of what followed. Instead, a complicated situation surrounding the wife of the couple who hired the babysitter, and the paternity of her young son.. Some of the scenes were a little cliched (the clash between the jilted lovers, for example) but it also opened up an interesting situation between Stabler and his pregnant wife. Those scenes are very well written and acted. And the end of the episode is very dramatic and memorable, reminiscent, actually, of a season finale cliffhanger.

Fatherhood

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 15 September 2021]

It does pain me to provide a seemingly contrarian opinion (well here it seems, actually know fellow fans that dislike the episode) on "Paternity". There are plenty of highly rated episodes of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' that are that good, but there are also some that are not all that. The most memorable part of "Paternity" has always been the big dramatic event that dominates the final quarter, the part that is the most talked about amongst the fandom (though strongly divided).

"Paternity" for me is one of the highly rated episodes that sadly isn't that good and closer to being in the category of lesser outings than the best ones of Season 9. Really wanted to be one of those people that loved it, and while there are a lot of good things there are some big debits as well. "Paternity" is an episode that has always left me mixed, the final quarter is definitely very powerful but one main subplot and the character writing of one character brings things down considerably.

There are definitely a good deal of strengths here. The photography while very close up doesn't come over as too static or filmed play-like, while the production values are typically solid and have subtle atmosphere while not being drab and keeping things simple. When the music is used it is haunting and has a melancholic edge that is not overdone. The direction is suitably uncompromising in the second half and the beginning likewise.

Speaking of the beginning, it is certainly attention grabbing. The final quarter, despite the annoying medical inconsistencies often picked up upon, is very powerful and does not shy away when it comes to the tension and the emotion. The acting from the regulars is great, especially Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay. Their chemistry is cute and the chemistry between Olivia and Kathy is poignant, it is very clear who much Olivia cares about Kathy's welfare.

One aspect is uneven. The script does have some thoughtful moments but it also has some forced corn.

As much as it saddens me to say so however, "Paternity's" case goes downhill quickly after a promising start. The story generally is very predictable and is neither complex or suspenseful. What really brings the episode is the paternity conflict, which is a ridiculous, over-heated soap-opera mess. Ruined further by the senseless way the characters behave and the near-irredeemable unlikeability of Leah, a character that one despises once the truth comes out and hates even more the bigger the hole she digs for herself by what she says gets.

Really did not like the scene in the hallway either, that couldn't have been a more worse way of finding a secret out and Stabler should have been more tactful, it is also another case of him getting away with far more than he should have done. The support acting generally is unexceptional, with the character of Leah being over-acted. Isabel Gillies' hard hitting acting in the final quarter fares best in this respect.

Concluding, quite a lot of very good things here but didn't come completely together for me. 6/10.

Is this even Law and Order?

[yoshinorimike · 1/10 · 27 November 2007]

This was the most amateurishly produced, directed and written hour of television I think I have ever seen in my entire life. I know that might sound like blatant hyperbole, but I assure you, sadly it is NOT.

The parody of a television show that I just witnessed defies description. Literally, my wife and I spent the last hour alternating between hysterical laughter at each preposterous and implausible plot twist that unfolded, and complete disbelief at the utter crap that was coming out of the characters mouths.

I realize I've barely said anything about the actual plot or given some evidence as to why it was so bad. Watch the episode. You'll see. Anything I could say here would pale in comparison to what will play out on your TV screen. The details of the plot don't matter. What matters is the utter inanity that infuses *every* *detail* of this episode. It truly is staggering.

On a positive note, I am confident this episode will go down in history as a kitsch classic. It's a must-see for all the wrong reasons.

Perhaps a little too personal

[xredgarnetx · 6/10 · 1 April 2008]

PATERNITY takes SVU into soap opera territory, as the paranoid Stabler wonders if his pregnant wife's baby might be someone else's. They were separated for a time, after all, and both took up with others. Before the episode is over, the wife and Olivia are involved in a horrific car crash (which I could see coming a mile away, in fact as soon as Olivia volunteered to take Mrs. Stabler to her doctor's appointment while Elliot pursues a felon to upstate New York). The rest of the episode is pretty predictable. Not the worst episode, but too personal and chummy and not enough going on otherwise. Also, Olivia, God bless her, is starting to show her age.

This was pretty bad

[gina-reino · 4/10 · 27 April 2024]

Starting with 9.5 Hurt, which I could not finish to this episode...not good. I hope season 9 gets better.

These episodes are lame at best. I had to fast-forward through the previous 4 as I was so bored.

This one...what kind of idiot discusses a case where anyone, including the subject of the conversation can hear? That whole plot with the Mormon nanny turned bad girl and the mother boinking some dude for years and her husband doesn't know he's not the kid's father let alone that his wife is an adulterer? C'mon.

Now to Olivia taking Kathy do the doctor? What? Eliot couldn't go? Why? Because he is THE only cop who can arrest the non-daddy? No. If I was Kathy. I'd have said, "Olivia can go arrest that guy, you are going to the doctor with me. Period."

Now this crash. As mentioned by another, Olivia should know by now to NEVER move the head of a crash victim around like that. Head injury =assumed neck injury. Oh, and now Olivia, who is not a medic, gets an IV stick, on a dehydrated trauma victim on the first try? Added bonus...let's do a video call in the middle of extracation. I call BS on this whole scene.

I'm gonna give Law and Order a rest for a day and hope the remaining episodes get better.