Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Granting Immunity (2015) User Reviews

This one gets personal for Benson

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 1 January 2016]

Now that Olivia Benson is both in charge of SVU and a single foster mother she's got a lot on her plate. A chance encounter with the son of the perpetrator arrested with baby Noah and her gives almost more than she can handle.

The squad investigates what the kids now term a Rainbow party where the girls get to wear different shades of lipstick and the boys get to see how many colors they can get on different parts of the body. All under age, all doing drugs, but there's something more deadly involved.

It's measles which I'm immune to since I had it when I was 7 and really wouldn't want to go through it again. But there are these idiot and insane anti-vaxers out there and the 'Queen Bee' of the Tribeca Prep parents is Missy Pyle who has made it a crusade. Her kid came in contact with baby Noah at the same time the investigation is going on.

Anti-vaxers are a pet peeve of mine so I can't be objective. This woman is not just an airhead, she's dangerous. Missy Pyle is both in this story, her scene with Mariska Hargitay at an elevator shows how stupid she is and what great restraint Hargitay was using in not laying her out.

Benson has changed her tune.

[marysammons-42220 · 6/10 · 5 January 2020]

The anti vaxxer mom is a nutcase and completely ill informed. Benson is worried about baby Noah having measles. A 180 from a few years before when Hillary Duff's baby died from measles after she came in contact with an unvaccinated child. Benson said maybe parents know what's best defending that anti vaxxer mom. However toward the end it seemed she might be rethinking it. Elliot told her many times unless you're a parent you don't understand in regards to various cases involving children. She used to get her panties in a wad over that. But I think her attitude change proves him right.

Pre Covid/ Post Covid

[anastasiaconstantinou · 8/10 · 31 October 2023]

I remember having seen this episode a while ago. And it's amazing how post covid how my views have changed.

I remember the first time I saw the episode being angry that the children were not vaccinated by their mother's using the excuse of choice. How times change.

Post covid all I can think is I wish I had the choice to be vaccinated and not be forced to into it.

I do think more of the episode should have been spent on the students and away from the whole do or don't with the vaccine. There is / could have been a powerful story to tell if they stayed on track with their first topic and didn't go off target.

This is a lesson

[jn-02940 · 10/10 · 14 November 2021]

This episode is a lesson in today's COVID-19 age we're The parents don't vaccinate their teenage children against diseases. Measles or COVID-19 in which one person speeds the disease to dozens of people.

Dumb other reviews

[kschols · 9 January 2022]

Don't compare the measles to covid , the measles is a A+ infectious disease with symptoms.

Very good acting but the measles is something way worse then a flu

This episode shows what is wrong with medical in general and how all the misinformation helps to get the people get sick

People are just a bunch of lab rats for the pharmaceutical to earn money.

Mid but okay, but also annoying.

[starswithnolight · 8/10 · 26 March 2024]

So, this episode starts with a musical scene which, they've tried a couple of times with this show and it's always a miss and kind of funny trying to make Law and Order anything "hip." As far as any episode goes. This one is pretty good. It's got good development, good acting, good scene work, all that. The bone I have to pick with it, is the repeated storyline and vax argument. SVU has been here before, done that. Season 10 they tied in the anti-vax argument with the Casey Anthony case. Guest starred Hilary Duff. And it makes it annoying when they try to make it out like Olivia is being some kind of tyrannical beast, doing her job, because she's got a kid now. But she had the same to little reaction on her stance then. So there is immediate proof it's not some personal vendetta. Then they just kind of drop that and go along with the rest of the story. Which ends fine. I mean there are some more annoyances. Amaro is annoying and overly emotional as ever, Carisi, Rollins and Fin do a lot of the leg work with the school and Dr.s and collecting the evidence and records, I like it because everyone is in it, it's got more of the squad feel the show used to have and is a good centralized storyline. So it sits at an 8 good, not fantasitc, but way better than some of the drivel they fall into.

Getting personal

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 25 August 2022]

Have always admired 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit's' tackling of various topics and issues and the episodes are very powerful when done well, meaning uncompromisingly but with enough sensitivity. The more relevant, more important and more hard hitting the subject the more it appeals, though the show has been prone in its later seasons to one-sided-ness and heavy-handedness and despite the addressing of a very relevant topic expectations were not high.

Due to it being a topic where it is easy to not see all sides and focus on too much of one and also because the heavy focus of personal life drama later on, despite it being related to the case directly Olivia's personal life subplots in the latter seasons varied more than any other SVU member. The one here leans towards being one of the misses. The topic in "Granting Immunity" is an interesting and still relevant topic, especially since anti-vaccination attitudes became a major problem last year, executed in an uninteresting and not particularly insightful way. If the episode did something right it did intensify my already intense dislike of anti-vaxxers, their selfishness, recklessness and their distasteful reasoning for being against it.

By all means, "Granting Immunity" is a long way from being a terrible episode. T is a visually slick episode, typical for 'Special Victims Unit' and the 'Law and Order' franchise, and one with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear with the theme tune still memorable. There are moments of solid direction.

As well as some tight and thought probing scripting in the first third. The acting is very good, Missi Pyle relishes playing a character one hates from the start, Olivia indeed was very restrained in her attitude towards her.

"Granting Immunity" fails in too many areas however. There is too much drama centered around Noah, which felt dragged out and lacked any real tension or urgency. Only Olivias genuine concern comes over as realistic or relatable in this regard. Too much of the episode is preachily written and lacks suspense, the measles situation dominates so much that one forgets what the case is. The episode offers little insightful or interesting to the vaccination debate, the anti-vaxxers side being very heavy handedly and distastefully written.

While it is scary that there are actually people like her in real life (ie. Kate Shimerani), pyles character is far too over the top and lacks any kind of dimension. The rest of the SVU are not used very well at all, especially Fin who is too much underused window dressing here. The pacing is dull, especially in the second half which severely lacks the tension the situation requires. The dialogue is too heavy handed and has no substance or insight.

Overall, underwhelming. Good idea that is not well executed. 5/10.