Olivia discovers that a case involving a troubled foster child is tied to a cold rape case from her past, and it could be the missing link that could help catch a serial rapist. Meanwhile, O... Read allOlivia discovers that a case involving a troubled foster child is tied to a cold rape case from her past, and it could be the missing link that could help catch a serial rapist. Meanwhile, Olivia is haunted by her sexual assault in prison.Olivia discovers that a case involving a troubled foster child is tied to a cold rape case from her past, and it could be the missing link that could help catch a serial rapist. Meanwhile, Olivia is haunted by her sexual assault in prison.
- Special Agent Dr. George Huang, M.D.
- (as B.D. Wong)
- (credit only)
- ME Dr. Melinda Warner
- (credit only)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIt is revealed in this episode that Detective Olivia Benson is experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome after nearly being sexually assaulted by Captain Lowell Harris in the season nine episode Undercover (2008). She is barely sleeping at night, and is seeing a shrink for her problems. She is also having flashbacks, which are shown in clips from that episode.
- GoofsADA Greylek says that she got the defendant to plead guilty on the charge of rape in the first degree, and that he got the maximum sentence. She says she was able to get him to agree to it because she was planning on charging him with a hate crime enhancement which would give him a sentence of 25 years. However rape in the first degree is a class B felony, the maximum sentence for that is already 25 years.
- Quotes
Sergeant John Munch: Captain, Fin and I are thinkin' of going in on a bar. You wanna buy in?
Captain Donald Cragen: Well gee, John, I don't know. Let me run it by the guys at my next AA meeting.
- ConnectionsFeatures Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Undercover (2008)
It took some time to find its feet, with the first great episode being "Persona", and it did have some wonderful episodes in its middle period such as "Hothouse", "Ballerina" and "Liberties" ("Transitions" has fantastic things too) before ending badly with "Zebra". "Trials" was, or at least it struck me as on subsequent rewatches, a less than promising start for Season 10. It is not a terrible episode by all means and it is better than "Cold". By 'Special Victims Unit' standards, which was at its best brilliant in Seasons 1-6 and had many flashes of brilliance since, this was disappointing regrettably.
"Trials" did have good things. It does look good, with the usual slickness and subtle grit. Really liked too that the photography was simple and close up but doing so without being claustrophobic. The music has presence when used, and luckily it isn't constant, and when it is used it doesn't feel over-scored. Some of the direction is quite good, if more early on than later.
All the regular and guest performances are excellent. Mariska Hargitay particularly is good of the regulars and Jae Head frightens and at times moves. The episode starts quite promisingly, Olivia's personal life subplot was touching and there is some taut scripting.
Not much else works sadly. It is agreed too convoluted and far-fetched, especially everything after the perpetrator is figured out and how to go about proving it. The conclusion is one of the wildest (to an excessive degree) of the early-mid seasons. The truth is shocking due to the nature of the crimes, but it was considered by me a possibility some time before. What shocked me more was the naivety of one character when it's revealed. Most of the time "Trials" is too slow going. Most of the personal life stuff felt too much like padded filler, Stabler's was pure soap opera that doesn't say much new and doesn't see any of the characters come off positively. Only Olivia's trauma struggles interested or made sense, as well as making emotional impact, even that felt like it was setting things up.
Some of the writing is taut, but most of it is too exposition heavy, especially the newly introduced Greylek's, and talky. Speaking of Greylek, she doesn't make a good impression at all and she did nothing for me throughout her stint on 'Special Victims Unit'. She is too full of herself and aloof, with everything to do with the plea being far too rash a decision (something that Cabot and Novak would never had considered) and unrealistic. Micaela McManus plays her with the emotions of a robot.
Concluding, disappointing. 5/10.
- TheLittleSongbird
- Oct 27, 2021
Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD