Babes
- Episode aired Nov 11, 2008
- TV-14
- 1h
The grisly murder of a homeless man leads detectives to four high school girls with a pregnancy pact. But after their pact is revealed, somebody drives the girls' ringleader to an apparent s... Read allThe grisly murder of a homeless man leads detectives to four high school girls with a pregnancy pact. But after their pact is revealed, somebody drives the girls' ringleader to an apparent suicide.The grisly murder of a homeless man leads detectives to four high school girls with a pregnancy pact. But after their pact is revealed, somebody drives the girls' ringleader to an apparent suicide.
Photos
- Special Agent Dr. George Huang, M.D.
- (as B.D. Wong)
- (credit only)
- Donald 'Dizzer' Zuccho
- (as Geoff Wigdor)
- Trial Judge Siburt
- (scenes deleted)
- Fidelia Vidal
- (as Jessica Varley)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMark's long-time recurring character, defense attorney Barry Moredock's, played by John Cullum, first appearance after being appointed as a New York State trial Judge.
- GoofsWhen Forensics Tech Ryan O'Halloran shows the lighter found at the crime scene to the detectives, he is holding it without gloves on.
- Quotes
John Munch: [pretending to be a homeless person] They're watching us! The CIA! Brain waves!
Elliot Stabler: I've got to say, the man does crazy good.
Odafin Tutuola: Good? That's the same old crap he says every day, only louder.
On a few more subsequent rewatches over-time, my feelings on "Babes" are pretty much the same, meaning finding the same strengths and flaws, apart from disliking Greylek even more and feeling more strongly about its depiction of online media (while liking its depiction of cyber bullying). "Babes" is not an awful episode, none of the episodes of the generally underwhelming first quarter of Season 10 are, but it's also not really all that great either and it could easily have been.
"Babes" does have things it does well. Is well made, intimately photographed and slick with no signs of under-budget or anything. The music didn't sound melodramatic or too constant and some of the direction has tautness. The episode does do a good job showing a chilling and "brought a lump to the throat"-worthy depiction of the evils of cyber-bullying. Munch as a crazed homeless man was very funny.
Most of the performances are very good, that certainly applies to the regulars with one glaring exception. Also strong are the performances of Debi Mazar and Jesse McCartney, with Mazar playing a character that one roots for her to be sent down. The truth is a shock and very sad, the part with Tina at the end is also touching. The episode starts off very well too and does a good job at making one disturbed and left thinking.
However, a lot of issues were here. The second half after a very dramatic change of events is not near as strong and was where "Babes" became heavy-handed and had too much of a too many cooks vibe. "Babes" would have fared quite a lot better with less characters and tried to do less, the story later on feeling like a patchwork of over-heated ripped from the headlines ideas that had a feeling of too much too soon. Like the previous episode, the dialogue feels dumbed down, overwrought and ham-handed.
While it was admirable that "Babes" made a conscientous effort to tackle the issue of cyber-bullying and the dangers of online media, the portrayal of online media is too simplistic and one-sided. Giving the message that all online/social media is bad, which is not entirely true, cyber-bullying and trolling absolutely does exist but not everybody is guilty of it. Nearly all the supporting characters are unsympathetic and don't feel like real people, even the victims. Max is pretty much the only one one feels any kind of sympathy for (and Tina eventually at the end), due to the way he is treated. Greylek as a character has not in any way improved, a mess of over-exaggerated character flaws and one that is woodenly acted by Micaela McManus. Was mixed by what she says at the end, feeling that what she said and her wording was completely inappropriate for her job while finding too that she also had a very good point.
In conclusion, conflicting feelings here. 5/10.
- TheLittleSongbird
- Oct 28, 2021
Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD