Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Imprisoned Lives (2013) User Reviews

Captive in Greenpoint

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 12 January 2019]

The north tip neighborhood of Greenpoint turns out to be the scene of unimaginable horror as an abandoned young Xander Franco starts the SVU squad on a case to locate his family. Basically he's a truly undocumented child, there are no records of him anywhere.

The kid is traced to a home in Brooklyn where it is discovered that two other women have been locked up in that house for years. Agatha Nowicki had been snatched from a parochial school when she was about 7. Angela Christian was the perfect beaten and battered spouse, a textbook case.

This is Mariska Hargitay's first return to the job since being held captive by Pablo Schreiber. It's real up in the air as to how she's handling the pressure.

As for the one responsible, the most frightening thing about Michael Massee is his very ordinariness. He could be anyone's next door neighbor including mine.

How he's tracked down is for you to watch this fine episode to see.

Life imprisonment

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 1 August 2022]

'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' has always varied wildly when it comes to the ripped from the headlines type of stories, especially in the latter seasons. When it did this type of story well, the episodes in question were harrowing and moving emotionally and also managed to be tactful and explored relevant themes in an illuminating way. When not done well, the episodes in question came over as excessively predictable, exploitative and sensationalist, especially when so close to cases where feelings were still raw.

Which was the case with too many of the latter seasons of 'Special Victims Unit'. Luckily, "Imprisoned Lives" is one of the latter seasons ripped from the headlines type episodes that belongs in the former category. Which is amazing seeing as it is strongly based on the Ariel Castro case, which could have felt like too much too soon. And it also manages to be a truly fine episode on its own too, regardless of what type of story it is. Not as brilliant as the previous outing "Surrender Benson", but of a very inconsistent Season 15 "Imprisoned Lives" is one of the better episodes.

The case is handled in a way that pulls no punches and holds nothing back, while not being one sided, exploitative or reliant on gratuitous shock value. Really did appreciate that the story was almost all about the case and the victims, with hints of Olivia's feelings after her trauma in "Surrender Benson". Which thankfully didn't take over and brushed away my worry of Olivia being in action too soon.

It was remarkable to show Olivia's sympathetic reconnecting with the victims side while also showing her raw pain, the latter not dominating. Something that is amazing considering what she went through and that it was a case that would have hit home. Michael Massee is truly frightening, shocking that someone so normal looking would be capable of such evil (which was actually what was so unnerving about the Castro case). Did like what "Imprisoned Lives" had to say about media reporting in a on the nose and spot on way. Something that is even more relevant now than it was back then.

All the regulars are great, especially Mariska Hargitay with the meatiest material. The production values as ever have slickness and grit, with an intimacy without being claustrophobic. The music has presence when it's used but does so without being intrusive, some of it is quite haunting too. The direction is also understated but the tension never slips, the second half being full of it. As expected, the script is lean, even with a lot of talk, and incredibly thought provoking and gritty.

My only minor gripe was the hypocritical feeding frenzy quip.

Otherwise, excellent. 9/10.