Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Downloaded Child (2014) User Reviews

Watched by thousands

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 3 September 2015]

The SVU squad responds to a 911 call about a young girl being stuck on an apartment balcony in one precarious position. It seems like a slam dunk to charge the mother who left her kid alone with child abuse. But the things Meghann Fahy reveals in interrogation shows that this woman has been a victim all her life of abuse and she wins Mariska Hargitay's support and resources.

Fahy is just brilliant as the battered and abused woman who's been abused since she was in single digits. The worst being was the fact that her stepfather took film and stills of her having sex with adults and put in on the internet for profit. Turns out the FBI has a whole file on her and the thousands that have downloaded her images.

Best scene in the film is watching Danny Pino and Ice-T interrogating her dumb redneck husband Daniel Stewart Sherman into confessing all kinds of abuse for which he thinks he's innocent because they're married.

Fahy is brilliant at all levels showing a light year range of emotions in her performance. Not to be missed because of her.

Vulnerable child

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 4 August 2022]

One of the biggest selling points of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit', and the 'Law and Order' franchise overall, is its tackling of controversial and sensitive topics and in its prime or at least in the earlier seasons the show's approach to them was far from sugar coated while not preaching. The latter seasons were less successful on this front, where episodes did become one sided and heavy handed (particularly the ripped from the headlines type of story).

"Downloaded Child" has one of Season 15's toughest topics that is as topical now as it was back then and actually perhaps even more so. This was one of the episodes that did have a good deal of potential and came over as pretty good but not mind blowing on first watch. My feelings now are pretty much the same, its handling of the topic was not done too badly at all and while the case was rather wanting there are a lot of good things about "Downloaded Child".

Those good things are going to be mentioned first. Meghann Fahy's performance is very moving, despite Jenny making some bad decisions that would frustrate many, her clear vulnerability hit hard. The regulars are very good. The 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, the direction has a lot of nice tension while keeping things steady, without going too far the other way. The writing is intelligent and although, like the show in general, there is a lot of talk it doesn't feel long-winded. Did not think that the topic was done heavy-handedly or simplistically, while not being particularly insightful, and on the whole the story did grip and is a heart-breaker that also made me feel angry.

However, "Downloaded Child" has its issues. The story execution isn't perfect, it did feel rushed and too easy at points (especially how quickly it got to court and how quickly any decision was made) and other parts were a stretch, personally found the Amaro and Fin interrogation rather odd and silly with one of the show's stupidest husband characters.

The Olivia and Cassidy stuff is shoe horned, dull filler that ends vaguely. The SVU do behave too much like social workers here, in fact the whole episode felt like a social workers case and not SVU.

Concluding, pretty good but not enough to blow the mind. 7/10.

Um, no

[melanie-73522 · 9/10 · 13 July 2021]

Really? The women didn't have an inkling of how it would sound to tell her the men should pay for watching her? As if that wouldn't naturally sound like she was a paid "performer"? That poor damaged girl/woman.