Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Girls Disappeared (2014) User Reviews

Baby Noah gets justice

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 14 February 2015]

Olivia Benson is now in charge over at SVU until someone higher than Sgt. Benson is brought in. This episode gives her a chance to bring to justice the killers of Baby Noah Porter whom she is now the foster mother of.

It all happens accidentally and coincidentally when Danny Pino who has been busted down to uniform and working Queens traffic busts john Lenny Venito getting serviced by an underage illegal girl. It turns out she is part of a highly organized prostitution ring with a steady pipeline for underage girls from Mexico.

It takes them a while to discover just who's behind all the trafficking and just what his cover is, at least on this side of the border. I will say that this individual has no hesitation in killing anyone he even thinks is a threat. He orders accounts settled the way Michael Corleone did at the end of three Godfather films.

It was nice to see baby Noah get justice for his mother killed in the previous season.

Solid quality hasn't disappeared

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 22 August 2022]

Season 16's premiere "Girls Disappeared" is most notable for it being the first episode of Sonny Carisi. On the whole, he was a refreshing addition to 'Special Victims Unit', when it was starting to need that refreshment, and one of the best things about a very uneven but generally not too bad (despite having one of the show's worst episodes in it) season. Didn't like every appearance of his in later seasons, but like his character very much on the whole.

He makes a very promising first addition in a very good season opener that made me excited for what was to follow. Even better was to follow in Season 16, though there were few outstanding episodes, with "Holden's Manifesto" and the underrated "Pattern Seventeen" being the season standouts ("Undercover Mother" comes close). But as far as Season 16 goes, "Girls Disappeared" is among the better episodes and is well worth seeing.

A lot is good and even great. Most of the production values are still slick and suitably gritty (without being too heavy in it). While the music is not perfect this time, it is generally not too melodramatic and is not used too much, even not being too manipulative in revelations. The direction lets the drama breathe while making sure that the tension and emotion never slipped. The script is tight and thoughtful, while the talk is a lot it didn't feel rambling.

"Girls Disappeared's" story is gripping, suspenseful and twist filled and that the perpetrator is truly despicable (one of the most despicable of the season) helps quite a bit. It really hits hard, no sugar-coating here, and the difficult subject matter is also handled with sensitivity, which is not always easy to do. The character writing is pretty much on point, with a sympathetic Barba and Fin at his most firey and most intense in a long time standing out most. Carisi's first impression is very promising and already showing the signs of one of the better things about the season.

Was really worried about Olivias subplot dominating too much but it turned out to be heartfelt, realistic and also not irrelevant to the case. The performances all round are very good to great.

However, "Girls Disappeared" does have a very out of place musical montage that goes on for far too long and is rather cheesy.

Moreover, some of the editing was lacking in cohesion at times.

Very good episode overall and shows a lot of potential. 8/10.

Weirdly off-tone for the series

[smoofsig · 6/10 · 25 May 2019]

This is a weird episode in that it isn't outright bad, but it doesn't feel like an episode of SVU, new or old. The bizarre musical montage in the middle was really the nail in the coffin for me. Not a bad story, and full of the sorts of dramatic and personal twists I've come to expect, but the way its shot, edited, and put together doesn't really make a ton of sense. There's some odd character moments too, as some of what Finn and Nick are up to, even if explained, are acted so different than their characters have been through the rest of the series. Most episodes of SVU kind of blend together for me in a relatively pleasant way - this is a show that's familiar, and though dark, there's a certain comfort to knowing the formula. of the series. Episodes that have broken that formula are the ones that stick out in my mind, either because they're above and beyond what I've come to expect, or because they feel out of place. Unfortunately, for the most part, this feels more like the latter than the former.

Too much

[patrickphair · 4/10 · 14 June 2022]

This episode was so disjointed that it seemed like several episodes rolled into one. I had to check to see if I had dozed off Aside from a poorly written story this episode was when we get our first exposure to Olivia and her whisper. It is beyond annoying. Add the fact that she's speaking to an infant and it's all too much.