Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Spousal Privilege (2014) User Reviews

A smoking gun, but no corroboration

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 5 April 2015]

This SVU episode concerns former pro football player and now broadcaster Chad Coleman who decked his wife Meagan Good in a parking lot stairway. The video was part of security footage from the parking lot and the folks who ran it realized its value to the prurient. SVU got involved because Ice-T saw it on the Internet.

The problem is that Meagan Good absolutely refused to cooperate with the authorities. A smoking gun, but no corroboration. Nevertheless ADA Raul Esparza goes through with the prosecution. His summation to the jury is the highlight of the story.

Seeing the credits role I had to look twice but the David Dinkins who played the arraignment judge is the former mayor of New York City. I guess that acting is something he does in his retirement years. Leslie Odom,Jr. makes an appearance as Reverend Curtis Scott a would be Al Sharpton. He defends Coleman as many defended OJ.

Did the criminal justice system have the right to get into this domestic situation without a complaint from the victim? You'll have to answer that for yourself after seeing this story.

Worst One Yet, Poor Writing

[blacksurf-568-308857 · 6/10 · 30 November 2014]

Based on the star review for every episode since season 13 episode 1, this has been deemed the worst. And honestly I am compelled to agree. The only good thing in this whole episode is Barba's court scenes and his amazing closing statement. In the real world, they would not stay on this case for so long when the victim wasn't cooperating. And I've noticed that the writers are frequently changing characters and avoiding plots as the episode seems fit. Example: 2 of the detectives are dating and they haven't said dick about it other than fin making a sarcastic comment, and them having eye contact and being close to each other. Oh excuse me, there was that one time when a psycho asked if they were having sex but there was never an answer. And that bar scene in this episode was totally out of character for Rollins. I get they are supposedly setting up for what happened to her in Atlanta (the whole some of US don't want to be victims) but that doesn't explain it now. The writers need to step up. And the plot of the episode was just subpar over all. Hoping next episode can help. I guess every season has the one episode that's really bad. At least we knocked it out early on. I hope anyway.

They should have dropped the case

[brueggemanntami · 6/10 · 31 January 2020]

I seldom feel this way, but they should have let this one go. The victim adamantly did not want to pursue it. She fought them every step of the way and begged SVU to leave her family alone. She loved her husband and wanted everyone else to stay out of their business. Their private life was just that, private. They should have respected her choice. It was her life and her decision to make. They forced her to become a victim against her will, and that was not fair. SVU continually pushes the fact that a woman has a right to say no to a man. In this case, the woman had the right to say no to them.

Rollings

[mariavgreen · 9/10 · 2 August 2022]

You know, I know that Amanda has "evolved" in her years with SVU, but this episode highlighted the fact that she really wasn't a nice person. Her treatment of Nick, trying to provoke him, was downright awful. I never quite liked her and even now, I don't really enjoy when she's onscreen.

Truly, an SVU detective is trying to provoke a fellow detective to...what? Hit her? Scream at her?

And what is with her excusing DV???? She's in the wrong unit if that's how she really feels. "He learned his lesson". No, sweetie, that's not how abuse works. Abusers don't "learn their lesson".

Lacklustre privilege

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 23 August 2022]

Season 16 did quite a number of ripped from the headlines type episodes, most of the previous episodes were. The execution varied throughout the season, with most falling in the too over-familiar, too faithful to the case (some still being fresh in the mind) and heavy handed category. On first watch, "Spousal Privilege" fell into this category, though not one of the worst examples, and it didn't do much for me as an overall episode of 'Special Victims Unit' or for anything.

My feelings are still the same unfortunately, overall, positives and negatives. By all means, "Spousal Privilege" is not a bad episode (it takes a lot for me to call an episode for anything that) and it has its good things, such as the supporting cast. It is also not particularly good, with a lot of issues to be had with the story, and is to me one of the season's lesser episodes, though still better than "Decaying Morality", "Parent's Nightmare" and "Intimidation Game".

The episode is elevated by the very strong supporting turns of Elizabeth Marvel, Chad Coleman and Maegan Good. Raul Esparza has lost none of his sparkle and delivers his lines with his usual zing, while Danny Pino has the right amount of steel. Kelli Giddish has her moments.

Furthermore, the photography and such 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. There is intrigue once the case comes to trial and Barba's closing statement made me go wow.

However, the story is far too predictable, does nothing to set itself apart from the case it's ripped from and lacks suspense as a result. It needed much tighter pacing, especially in the latter stages where the plotting got thinner and then copped out with an ending that made me feel frustration towards the victim. Could totally see her point of view for most of the episode, but her decision considering how she was treated didn't ring true to me. Olivia to me was a lot less appealing once she was promoted and her sanctimoniousness and pushiness is taken to extremes here.

Rest of the regulars phone in, we need more from Mariska Hargitay than world weariness. Actually rate her acting in the previous seasons very highly and she still does have moments of excellence, but there have been too many instances of her character writing working against her. The bar scene is much too forced and does see Rollins out of character. The episode's writing can feel heavy handed, with the exception of the dialogue for Barba. Not an easy subject and it should have been handled with more nuance. Amaros personal life subplot and anger control had gotten stale last season, it now feels exhausted even with being on his side of the dilemma. Generally, the personal life drama takes over too much, Rollins' development is also starting to feel dragged out.

In summary, didn't do much for me. 5/10.

Opposite Effects

[padraig1979 · 1/10 · 29 November 2022]

Olivia and the detectives probably did the right thing but I think the verdict had the opposite effect in that it strengthened the bond between the accused and the victim. Well that's the impression I got from the end of the episode.

I think it's good to show that sometimes you are attacked for trying to help rather than thanked. Unfortunately, that happens a lot in the world. That's my opinion. The world is not exactly black and white.

Maybe they might return to these characters in future episodes and see what became of them. Are they still together or not? Hopefully the latter but that might be wishful thinking.