Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) The Five Hundredth Episode (2021) User Reviews

500 And Counting

[shelbythuylinh · 8/10 · 26 November 2021]

Really that it was flashbacks of how Olivia started in the SVU and that she now is captain as her former boss and Captain Cragen says it is nice to call her that.

And that in the 500th episode where Nick Amaro comes back after six years gone to reopen a cold case that came under Cragen and with help over from a former boyfriend of Olivia's a podcaster.

The podcaster that is not whom he seems to say he is. And that an innocent man that may had been rotten in jail for it.

Glad they had some oldies but goodies castmates there and who would ever thought that Olivia would become a PD Captain?!

Great episode; glad to see some of the earlier faces of SVU

[Trivioid · 10/10 · 22 October 2021]

I won't bore you with the excellent plot for the 500th episode, but it was so nice to see Danny Pino, Dann Florek, Peter Hermann, and also Diane Neal (at least through flashbacks to prior episodes) on SVU again. I just wish we could also have had Munch, Alex Cabot, and Rafael Barba in this episode too!

Brilliant concept for the 500th episode

[rossdanbruen · 10/10 · 22 October 2021]

I was expecting a bunch of cameos, even if shoehorned in. But what we got was incredible. Olivia has never felt more like a real person with a history before. They actually found a clever way to utilize the show's past, both in celebration of the 500th episode, but also in a way that allowed Mariska to show some new sides of Benson we haven't seen in awhile, if ever. I'm sure this episode was an Emmy submission. Even the cinematography of the episode felt like a little more effort was put into it.

Hard to watch, but really solid

[TIN-370-918327 · 23 October 2021]

Finally dealing with Liv's trauma after all these years. Her realizing that while she advocates for victims, she's never advocated for 16 year old Olivia, was so hard to watch. But, I'm really glad that it was finally addressed after all these years and SVU really surprised me with this. I was not expecting it.

Missed Nick and I really loved seeing him on my screen again. Loved the throw back to the actors Cold Case days.

Really great episode in a great season. It's weird to say that a show that's had 500 episodes has had some of its best this season, but that's where they are!

Just Wow

[schirbab · 10/10 · 22 October 2021]

This is the best SVU episode I've seen in a long long time! And I love the show but the newer seasons don't grasp me as much as the old ones normally. This episode had so many great surprises and they really brought out the big guns. So many great guest stars. Am I the only one who was so sad to see Amaro go? I loved Liv's flashbacks and am now trying to remember if those episodes existed and I forgot about them after so many episodes (even rewatches). Definitely a great one. The episode felt really well shot and I loved the character development, especially after we've known her for so so long.

I can't believe it's just been 500 episodes...

[sammy-2006 · 10/10 · 7 March 2022]

What a great episode! I loved seeing old characters cameos, but I especially liked the exploration of Olivia. If you liked this episode, you should definitely check out the movie The Tale (2018) with Laura Dern. Without spoiling it, the theme is along the same lines. Definitely worth a watch!

Familiar faces

[cricri7 · 10/10 · 23 October 2021]

It was so nice to see actors from previous seasons, especially the captain, and they should do this more often! They should do more flashbacks like they did in this episode. It brings us back to other episodes of this excellent series.

Perfection

[teresasoeldner · 10/10 · 12 January 2022]

Mariska is fantastic at what she does... I really hope svu goes on for a couple of seasons more.

The story was written perfectly. And the guest star to play Burton was a perfect fit.

Redemption Arc for a Rapist, Really?

[whoneedsascreenname · 6/10 · 28 August 2022]

Let's see: Your show reaches a massive milestone in television, 500 episodes over 23 years, all while raising vital public awareness of rape, abuse and other crimes that were mostly hidden from view before SVU came to be in 1999.

So what do producers do to mark these accomplishments?

As if aiming to deliberately disappoint viewers, they write a redemption arc for a rapist (a story that concludes toward the end of this 23rd season).

Also preposterous is that producers felt any need at all to introduce an entirely new pivotal character (the rapist is a predator from Olivia's teen years) during an hour that should have been warm and nostalgic -- not filled with strained dialogue to populate an unfamiliar back-story.

Yeah we get it; producers didn't want the cliches that sometimes sink 'milestone episodes.' But if your writing team is competent that would never be the case.

Inventing someone new in Benson's life (a rapist we're supposed to pity!), now, when they've already got 10,000+ characters in the show's bible, many of them intriguing and worth revisiting, was a total head-slapper.

By this point Stabler had been back in Benson's life via Law & Order Organized Crime for six months, yet neither show has offered a single substantive conversation between these enduring characters.

And if they're gonna write a redemption arc for anyone, doesn't Stabler -- an actual pivotal person in Benson's life -- outrate an unknown?

Also, can the people in charge of this thing give Olivia Benson just one day of happiness? Why is everything 24-7 trauma around this woman? And would Olivia Benson really throw plastic litter into one of the city's lakes? C'mon, make it make sense.

All that aside, Hargitay gives an outstanding performance here. She's crushed, mad and subdued in all the right places. And it was great to see Danny Pino as Nick; made us wish he'd come back full time.

Cragen (Dan Florek) also drops in -- via FaceTime, a mostly wasted appearance that plays like producers' apology for not doing the episode they should have done.

Florek's two additional appearances in the franchise this season -- a coupla fatherly turns on OC, did thankfully hit the perfect nostalgia note.

All in all SVU 500 was just more uncoordinated filler from a franchise squandering some of television's most engaging personalities. Really hoping they get it together soon, so they can wrap it up the way it deserves, not on a whimper with cancellation looming.

Law and Order SVU 500: These are their stories Dun Dun

[yazguloner · 10/10 · 24 October 2021]

What I learned from svu:

*Justice

*Welcome to the gray area

*"No means no"

*Don't blame the victim, blame the rapist.

*Not a perfect victim, but what they're going through is real.

*I will not turn my back on any victim.

*When your house is on fire, you can see the sky more clearly.

*Never give up...

*It's not what happens to you, it's how you deal with it.

*law enforcement *System decision units * Bringing conscience to the system.

*she said he said case

*Compassion is a better choice than pain.

* If you are under attack, you will take cover.

*If you are defeated, prepare for the second round.

*Rape is not about sex. It's about power and anger.

* Law without empathy does not help anyone.

*maybe we... we are all victims of our past.

*Families are complex. * Marriages are complicated

*What happens to you does not define you.

* Unfortunately, it is easier to arrest the bad guy than to deal with the victim.

*...they don't think they're doing harm. Like a rapist. They never think of the victim.

*Do not fight monsters, otherwise you will become a monster and if you look into the abyss, the abyss will also look at you.

*We are still in the wild west in this century in Law."

*It takes a lot more courage to talk about... problems.

*...are you saying that in order for a woman to have control over her own body, she has to be a victim?

*Love used to be simpler.

* Playing politics with the law is going down a slippery slope. An eye for an eye blinds the whole world.

*Those who work in adult entertainment are human

*If you adapt yourself to the criminal's worldview, the attitude of that view will be what you will receive in return.

*Truth is stranger than fiction.

*The doctor is a licensed dealer...

*Social outcasts

* Police, intellectuals and academics should be subjected to higher punishment standards.

*Anyone can memorize words, Father. It doesn't make them right people.

*The frightened, crumpled garbage that uses God to justify his bigotry.

* Just because others don't sue doesn't mean they're less exploited. As the government grows, it shrinks the individual.

*If you hear hooves, think of zebras, not horses

*gender bias *delayed indication

*The cost of equality

*What really disgusts me is that you make women "feel good" about themselves. Powerful. You make them addicted to feeling invincible".

*Nobody asks a murder victim, "Hey, why was he walking down the dark street?" he doesn't say. "Why was she wearing a short skirt to her rape victim?" she asks.

*We are here to fight on behalf of victims who feel guilty.

*"... they are predators. They seek light, seek goodness and try to steal it. Promise me you will not blame yourself for this."

*The sign of the time... You can always tell the priorities of a society by looking at its bestsellers. It is "The Joy of Sex" in the 70s. The 80s are getting rich. The 90s stay young.

*Wars worth fighting for are those you can't win.

* But rape is rape. We cannot invent our victims or our criminals. We listen and investigate evidence

*I have seen that people who have had unjust, terrible experiences have great willpower.

*Be patient with yourself

*Sometimes justice is about compassion, not punishment

*"...black and white became different shades of gray... Before I knew it, blues, greens, yellows and reds were formed. Now I was you, Liv, I became you. You opened my heart and I thank you for that."

Happy Birthday Svu, Happy Birthday Olivia... Happy New Years when we will face more justice and more Law & Order.

I love you Olivia(Mariska), I love squad, cast, Wolf entertaiment Lots of thanks, Regards, Proud, Loves...

Uuuuu... Dun Dun.

Episode 500

[bobcobb301 · 6/10 · 24 February 2022]

SVU has had an incredible run and has become a show loved by generations. I'll forgive a flimsy story tonight to celebrate that milestone.

Hopefully we get 100 more.

The Usual Dreck These Days

[bkkaz · 1/10 · 25 October 2021]

Another soap opera episode where the lives of police officers somehow must be connected to the case they're investigating. For real? Since the show now is really the Hargitay Hour (or 40 minutes, given the length of TV these days), it has to be about her. An old flame comes back to help close a case -- and, of course, he's a clueless, alcoholic, unapologetic one-dimensional rapist. And not just a rapist, but a serial one. And not just a serial one, but one creepy enough to apparently give all the women the same music he likes. And apparently any interaction someone 40 years ago years later must have been carefully planned "grooming."

The show continues along the lines where no one has agency and someone else is to blame for their decisions, and yet, it forgets that the characters themselves have had sexual relationships with truly questionable boundaries -- through her job, Benson herself has slept with ADAs, other detectives, the guy from Internal Affairs, a federal agent working with them, a reporter investigating SVU and cases, and so on. These were not relationships that compromise the integrity of her job? Is there no moment of reckoning for Benson in her self-righteousness? There's some visits from old cast members smart enough to have retired before the show got this bad. That's about it.

Good! Except...

[cbouchard-53837 · 10/10 · 25 October 2021]

Good episode except isn't it a little weird that Olivia...SVU captain...sleeps with a man that she would have arrested since he was 21 and she was almost 17? Idk...didn't sit right...