Sergeant John Munch has been my favorite character since the first episode. He will be sorely missed. And it has been mentioned a couple of times recently that Captain Cragen is nearing mandatory retirement age. He is my second favorite on the show. I hope they put that story line off as long as possible. A goodbye salute to you Munch. You did a great job.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)
Wonderland Story (2013)
User Reviews
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Detective John Munch: Homecide... I mean the SVU
yazguloner3 August 2021
John Munch: Svu's stamp of humor and theorist... There is a phenomenon called Munch humor and Munch Theory.
While watching Svu from season 13 onwards, I thought it was a little bit of a main character. I watched the old episodes. He also played a little. So in Cragen...
Now they are retiring and entrusting their place to new ones. Munch chose Amaro for this. He's so right :)
Olivia is just like in the first season with her hair and looks as she reads about her first day at Svu in her diary. And Munch is very, very right when he calls it the heart of Svu.
I learned later. In most series he is John Munch years before Svu; that he's been in the law and Order universe for a long time, and that he's touched X files as well... I've admire him exponentially with all that.
Goodbye old wolf... See you... I will miss you so much Munch and your humor...
While watching Svu from season 13 onwards, I thought it was a little bit of a main character. I watched the old episodes. He also played a little. So in Cragen...
Now they are retiring and entrusting their place to new ones. Munch chose Amaro for this. He's so right :)
Olivia is just like in the first season with her hair and looks as she reads about her first day at Svu in her diary. And Munch is very, very right when he calls it the heart of Svu.
I learned later. In most series he is John Munch years before Svu; that he's been in the law and Order universe for a long time, and that he's touched X files as well... I've admire him exponentially with all that.
Goodbye old wolf... See you... I will miss you so much Munch and your humor...
Rehashing Old Storylines
marysammons-4222020 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Not only do they use the same victim again, Sarah Walsh, they use the same story from a season 10 episode of a woman being assaulted and not even knowing it. Olivia gives her same speech about his telling her makes her a victim. Everyone else disagrees so they tell her. Sarah Walsh isn't sympathetic even though you can understand her anger. It all worked out in the end of course. Also the victim lives in Brooklyn. If she was raped in her home Brooklyn SVU would handle the case not Manhattan.
Not a wonder
TheLittleSongbird1 August 2022
It makes me sad saying that, especially considering that "Wonderland Story" should really have been a good episode. Have never gotten enough of Munch, his dry humour, wry one liners and wild conspiracy theories and he did deserve a good final episode that fully utilised him. Especially with him being so underused for so long (Richard Belzer's health was the main reason from understanding), where there were too many episodes where his screen time is too little.
"Wonderland Story" could have been a lot better. There are far worse episodes of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' and of Season 15, but "Wonderland Story" was one of the bigger disappointments. With it having a promising idea and that it was also saying farewell to a beloved character (or meant to, as this aspect for me was not done particularly well and two major things being done differently would have made it better).
There are good things. Photography and such as usual are fully professional, the slickness still remaining. The music is used sparingly and is haunting and non-overwrought when it is used, and it's mainly used when a crucial revelation or plot development is revealed.
Furthermore, it is a very well acted episode all round. And the ending is beautiful and from the heart.
Unfortunately, for me the case was too thin and predictable and has too little tension and atmosphere. Which made it feel dull. It's also an inferior episode and a big problem when the characters one is supposed to be rooting for are not rootable at all, which was the case with Sophia here. Later seasons did this aspect of unsympathetic victims worse, but still. The dialogue lacks tautness and only in Munch's dialogue is there much spark.
Particularly underwhelming is how Munch is used. For a farewell episode, this did not feel like one because there is nowhere near enough of Munch. "Wonderland Story" would have been a much better episode if it was a revisiting of a past case that he himself worked on with him playing a substantial role in the solving, an extended cameo doesn't cut it.
Overall, watchable but should have been better. 5/10.
"Wonderland Story" could have been a lot better. There are far worse episodes of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' and of Season 15, but "Wonderland Story" was one of the bigger disappointments. With it having a promising idea and that it was also saying farewell to a beloved character (or meant to, as this aspect for me was not done particularly well and two major things being done differently would have made it better).
There are good things. Photography and such as usual are fully professional, the slickness still remaining. The music is used sparingly and is haunting and non-overwrought when it is used, and it's mainly used when a crucial revelation or plot development is revealed.
Furthermore, it is a very well acted episode all round. And the ending is beautiful and from the heart.
Unfortunately, for me the case was too thin and predictable and has too little tension and atmosphere. Which made it feel dull. It's also an inferior episode and a big problem when the characters one is supposed to be rooting for are not rootable at all, which was the case with Sophia here. Later seasons did this aspect of unsympathetic victims worse, but still. The dialogue lacks tautness and only in Munch's dialogue is there much spark.
Particularly underwhelming is how Munch is used. For a farewell episode, this did not feel like one because there is nowhere near enough of Munch. "Wonderland Story" would have been a much better episode if it was a revisiting of a past case that he himself worked on with him playing a substantial role in the solving, an extended cameo doesn't cut it.
Overall, watchable but should have been better. 5/10.
Some can smell vulnerability
bkoganbing31 December 2014
It's Sergeant John Munch's retirement party, but in the midst of Richard Belzer's remarks the squad gets called out. One of Benson's former cases texted her that she's been victimized again, she thinks by the same person.
That proves not to be the case, but as remarked perpetrator predators smell vulnerability and they zero in on it. Finn Wittrock who is a rich and charismatic individual thinks he's the ideal female fantasy and he sets about giving them what they want. But he's got some nice drugs working for them and the joke is they're not sure it ever happened. Wittrock is one frightening figure.
In any event Richard Belzer's parade was showered on and Mariska Hargitay gets some interesting news of her own at the end.
That proves not to be the case, but as remarked perpetrator predators smell vulnerability and they zero in on it. Finn Wittrock who is a rich and charismatic individual thinks he's the ideal female fantasy and he sets about giving them what they want. But he's got some nice drugs working for them and the joke is they're not sure it ever happened. Wittrock is one frightening figure.
In any event Richard Belzer's parade was showered on and Mariska Hargitay gets some interesting news of her own at the end.
They can't even give Munch a decent send off!
bpete33330 January 2020
SVU has been notorious for ignoring the supporting characters of this show. Which is why most of the longtime regular actors have left (BD Wong, Stephanie March, Diane Neal, Dean Winters, Danny Pino and so on). Only Ice T has stayed and he has said in various interviews that as long as he gets paid he'll stick around. Richard Belzer has played John Munch for about 20 years, first in Homicide: Life on the Street and now on SVU (making cameos on various other shows in between). Now he leaves and all he gets is a few minutes in the beginning and a final bookend to finish the show. It's a real waste of a great character. They only get a few bonus points for having Clark Johnson (Meldrick Lewis from Homicide) and a scene from the pilot of Homicide as a flashback. If they only could have harnessed that kind of interesting admiration for the past throughout the show.
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