Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) The Book of Esther (2018) User Reviews

A Religious Cult of Child Abuse

[audaciousness · 8/10 · 28 October 2018]

A phenomenal episode showcasing Kelli Giddish's spectacular talent as an actress, and perhaps the most heartbreaking episode of the season. It truly made me shed some tears, and was absolutely gut-wrenching.

The episode followed a religious family that acted as a cult, abusing their children even to the age of 27, malnourishing them, and chaining them up to radiators like animals. The man of the family is truly a despicable and evil character, and I completely sympathized with Amanda when she wanted to make him pay.

The shoot-out scene at the house was the most horrific, especially seeing all the dead children and those who had been locked away and treated like animals.

The agony of Amanda Rollins

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 21 March 2019]

This episode begins with young Rebekah Kennedy running away and catching the Long Island Railroad at Douglaston which is Northeast Queens for you non-New Yorkers and two people chasing her down unsuccessfully. When the train reaches Penn Station the conductor finds Kennedy frightened and silent in the train bathroom car. It's Ice-T and Kelli Giddish who have to talk with her and it takes a while but eventually the kid bonds with Rollins.

Turns out she's the daughter of this apocalyptic whack job played by Ray McKinnon and she looks like a juvenile because he and his wife have been starving their kids and she's been malnourished for years.

Sad to say there really are people like McKinnon out there. Just go on some of these rightwing religious websites and you'll see them posting. McKinnon thinks Jesus is due any day now and he's keeping his family out of a sinful society so they will be pure.

Kelli Giddish gives one of her best performances as Amanda Rollins in her history with SVU. Giddish and her character come from Georgia and she no doubt ran into characters like McKinnon in her life.

I can't go into it, but it turns into a gut wrenching tragedy for Rollins and Giddish is wonderful in how she demonstrates it.

A must episode for SVU fans.

Amanda Rollins Commits A Fatal Botch

[stp43 · 7/10 · 3 May 2018]

You have to hand it to the writers at SVU - Season 19 has delivered the old plot-twisting vinegar of the series' best moments and here it intensifies the twisting with a clever story where SVU itself doesn't come out well.

Amanda Rollins learns of a girl named Esther Labott and that she is effectively a prisoner of her deranged father (Ray McKinnon bearing a terrifying resemblance to Dennis Weaver). Rollins learns more about the Labotts and the more she learns the angrier she gets, to where her colleagues even notice her increased derangement. After talking to neighbors of the Labotts Amanda breaks multiple laws and is nearly shot by the father and Esther's mother when she finds a girl chained in the basement (curious the Labotts didn't shoot Amanda and bury her in the basement a la Whitey Bulger and Steve Flemmi). Amanda then brings in heavy reinforcement, and the result is a bloody siege, a siege that ends in disaster for Amanda and SVU in general, to where the demented father comes out almost as a hero, and Amanda comes out as not part of the solution, but a BIG part of the problem.

The botch by Amanda is so egregious that even though it is alluded in dialogue that she'll only get minor punishment one wonders if it's worth it for Amanda to still have a job at SVU.

An exceptionally great episode

[staylongloveyou · 10/10 · 15 August 2021]

10/10. The casting is perfect. Amanda Rollins is on a roll, she won't stop until the situation is resolved. She gets taught tough lesson throughout. The father of the family was perfect. I won't say to much because I want you to go watch it and see but just know I was entertained throughout. The intro was great & the ending....just WOW.

Detective "Rollins"

[joeylabrecque · 3 May 2018]

The actress that played Detective Rollins was ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR in this episode. She deserves an Emmy nomination----she deserves THE EMMY. HER PERFORMANCE WAS AMAZING. Joey Labreque

Not Amanda's fault and no religion bashing!

[akicork · 9/10 · 20 May 2023]

No, in spite of what other reviewers suggest, this is not Christian bashing or any other religious bashing. It takes an attempt to use religion as a lever to do things that are clearly bad, and holds it up for what it is: perversion of real religion. Jesus preached love to all people, even your enemies. Mohammed (blessings and peace be upon him) taught restraint, generosity and mercy in all your doings. I could go on... but fundamentally every actual religion embraces our encompassing humanity, our responsibility for each other and our need to respond to that responsibility. I distinguish "actual" from "organised" religions. Once organisation creeps in so also does power, the manipulation of that power, and eventually politics. So we end up with the Crusades, Jihads, the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials (don't try to absolve religion of guilt there!), all the atrocities committed in the name of religion over the last 4000 years and probably more. But an organisation does not have to be large, like the Roman Catholic Church. Here we have an organisation which consists of a father and those he considers under him, his wife and nine children. The political power he wields is obvious. This whole episode is not about religion: it is about power and those who would wield it in order to maintain it. Amanda did not make a mistake here. She and her colleagues were fired upon and returned fire. Does no one ask how these people obtained possession of such lethal weapons? Were they members of a "well regulated militia"? Was their intention to defend the State? No? Oh dear. Come on USA, time to bring the Constitution up to date and decide what the Founding Fathers would have said were they living in the 2020s rather than 1789. As to the production, I thought the whole team was up to scratch, and this was a brilliant episode. Mariska Hargitay continues to justify her salary (look at any modern professional athlete or the gladiators of ancient Rome if you want a salary curve comparison!), but here I have to give the accolade to Kelli Giddish. Her grief as Amanda really came through to me. The outcome was not Amanda's fault: she had done more than her duty and responded as she was trained. Amanda still needs, perhaps more than anyone else in SVU, a ?mother? Figure that she can be held by. We have to see where the scriptwriters take us. In the meantime I send Amanda a supportive hug if she would like it.

Just to blow off steam...

[starswithnolight · 8/10 · 30 August 2023]

This is less about the episode, which is okay, but more about the Rollins, Benson relationship and it definetely showed in this episode how completely disconnected their characters are and it got really annoying in this one. But for that ending situation where Rollins draws her weapon and fires along with an entire ESU team but just HAPPENS to make, with a pistol, the headshot that kills the girl is so outrageously written it is frustrating. And for Benson to tell her that and give, not even a stitch of consoling, not even an arm around the shoulders, shows just how little she cared for her colleague. I've been bingeing the series a secons time the past couple weeks and they never gel. They never got along and Benson should have had her transferred out long ago and they could have put another female in but I doubt she would have made it either. Olivia's holier than thou attitude gets worse and worse over time... whether it gets any better the later it goes if it gets any better by the time Rollins rolls out I don't know (I haven't watched the last two seasons) but I can say it sours most of their interactions. Even though Rollins is a pain in the rear end with some of her antics, she still didn't deserve a boss who looked down on her like that. Especially when Olivia has done enough rogue bull herself.

The Book of Esther

[bobcobb301 · 6/10 · 10 May 2018]

Shootouts are usually compelling TV but it felt random and out of the blue in this episode.

The case itself is ripped from the headlines with the family that kept their kids essentially hostage for years, but it lacked the big time drama that plot should have had. Where was the court case? SVU should lead to a trial, not gunfire.

Not up to par

[futuretype · 6/10 · 3 May 2018]

This episode is kind of messed up. Although it was nice to see Kelli Giddish have a major role it seemed unlikely Amanda Rollins would have been undertaking her pursuit/survelliance without a partner. And would have called for back up before entering the house. Then the next scene the street is full of police vehicles. If this had been shown in a theatre I would suspect the projectionist skipped a reel.

The shootout seemed implausible. SVU personnel were against the escalation yet they quickly joined the shooting with their puny pistols against high powered long guns when the SWAT team returned fire. Wouldn't have stun grenades and more tear gas been an appropriate response first?

They were shooting from street level into an elevated home. The only hits they could expect would be upper body shots of those near the windows. Yet a body is found with an instant death shot through the forehead half way back through the house. That bullet would have had to pass through the brick wall and up through the floor to reach a person half way back.

The writing was not up to the usual standards and the guest roles were lacking in depth.

Agony

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 31 January 2023]

Anybody who has read any of my other reviews for for example individual episodes of the 'Law and Order' shows, am slowly working my way through writing reviews for all the episodes of 'Law and Order, and 'Special Victims Unit' (also 'Criminal Intent' until late 2021), with a long way to go, will know already how much admiration there is from me for anything that tackles difficult and controversial themes and issues. The topic here did sound interesting.

But it deserved much more interesting and stronger execution than what is seen in "The Book of Esther". The guest turns are truly great and one of the biggest reasons to see the episode as a one or two time watch, but "The Book of Esther" joins the fairly long list of 'Special Victims Unit' episodes where the episode overall is nowhere near as good as the guest turn. The plot is too much of a weird mix of what were major flaws in the worst of Seasons 10-12 and what were also major flaws post-Season 14 or so.

"The Book of Esther's" best aspect is the acting, namely the guest acting with an affecting Rebekah Kennedy and a terrifying Ray McKinnon. Kelli Giddish is also a strong presence, despite not liking how Rollins is written here (but am blaming the writing here not Giddish). The episode also starts off quite well and unsettlingly, but the episode is at its best dramatically with the unspeakably gut-wrenching aftermath of the climax.

Furthermore, it 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 past the early stages with the theme tune still memorable.

However, "The Book of Esther" does have significant drawbacks. Did not like Rollins here, her handling of the case is all over the place with lots of dumb decisions and she comes over as very unsympathetic, like tempting the victim with food trick but in a way that was more distastefully taunting in body language than caring. Olivia seems very nonchalent and indifferent in her attitude towards the case and how she interacts here.

Despite the aftermath of the climax being gut wrenching, the climax itself is wildly implausible. Which really lacks tension and has some truly odd and sloppy police work. The story is dull generally and lacks tension and anything surprising (with everything being too easy to figure out). The character writing for the perpetrator tended to be more neurotic than anything else, while the dialogue is generally bland and overwrought especially in the latter stages.

In conclusion, watchable but nothing special here. 5/10.

Carrie

[mariarammstein · 7/10 · 25 February 2023]

Episode with a pretty good story, great acting by Giddish and McKinnon, the Esther character has an extremely high "Carrie" vibe, a bit of an unnecessarry stereo typing, and some other things that were way too "out there". Asking a dumpstore salesman for a list of buyers of a certain type of coat is also not very believable and is more of an administrative, desk job, and I really don't mind that some episodes are kind of based om stories you once read in the paper or saw on the news. It makes you look up some cases you may have forgotten about long ago.

It's just that the times Rollins is going rogue is getting old.

Was it really necessary?

[Edu_Cuervo · 1/10 · 12 May 2018]

After nineteen years, it has been firmly established that if you want neat happy endings "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" is not the series to go to. And I for one appreciate it, because in real life, the good guys don't always win. The Perry Mason formula of a landslide court win every week may be nice to watch, but it's too good to be true.

So the L&O franchise has made us used to losing cases, and to the idea that justice is not always served. But if things don't go well, it'd usually be because the bad guys find a legal loophole to get away with it, or the police officers and the attorneys are human, and have flaws that a good lawyer knows how to exploit, or red tape gets in the way, or superior officers care more about their careers than about justice, or simply because the case at hand has no solution that can be viewed as a victory: whatever the outcome, someone will suffer. So, losing is shown as a part of the system, and when they are defeated, it is always by the rules of the game. Only when a case involves some mafia organisation, you know you can expect things to go unreasonably bad, because on L&O mafias always beat the police.

But this time it was too much. The victim of the week is an innocent girl through and through. She's not hiding anything, she didn't do anything wrong, not even forced by circumstances. She hasn't even lied. And she is not so messed up she can't tell right from wrong, which on occasion has made some victims kill their victimisers or some third parties. But not here. This victim is just a victim.

The episode spends an hour trying to get you to sympathise with the girl. And when they think they've succeeded, BANG! She gets killed as the attempt by the police to save her turns into an unexpected shooting. Some of her equally innocent little siblings are also killed in the process. And in the final scene, when you are hoping for a last minute twist that will help you make it through a harsh episode, you learn the bullet that killed her was fired not just by the police, but by the one detective who put her soul and heart to try to save the girl for the entire episode! She was the one who wouldn't forget the case when it seemed there was nothing else to do, the one who got too personally involved with it and forced the final bloodshed, with the honest intention to release the victim from a horrible life. No hidden agenda. No personal obsession clouding her better judgment. No poetic justice punishing her for something bad she had done before. Yes, the detective did break almost every rule she could in this episode. But she didn't do so for herself, but for the girl's sake. So there was really nothing to make us expect this ending. It was just plain and simple out of the blue extremely unlikely bad luck. And the detective will have to live with the fact that she destroyed the life she wanted so eagerly to save. Isn't that too much?

All the Law & Order series have been praised for depicting the police and the legal system as nuanced and convoluted, far from the usual black and white picture Hollywood had been serving us so far, where the good guys were unblemished heroes, and the villains were evil beyond redemption. A completely unreal depiction. But if that scenario was artificial, so much so is this one in which everything that can go wrong, will go worse than you expected.

Besides, all the Perry Masons, the Jessica Fletchers and the Columbos of old school "too perfect" crime TV fiction, unbelievable as they were, would at least leave you with a sweet aftertaste in your mouth.

Unrealistic

[jendarden · 4/10 · 20 May 2020]

This episode seems to completely overlook the facts that Rollins is not only out of her jurisdiction she's totally out of line. How does she end up in the suburbs with no back up, even breaking into the home with no warrant and ultimately kiling a child with seeming no remrimand. Yes, the father is a horrible person, the cult-like atmosphere is reprehensible but come on! There's no question that a detective-level cop could get away with this. Too off the wall and unrealistic for my taste even if it's based on a fairly recent situation that it miirrors. I disagree that it's supposed to be Randy Weaver, there's a much more recent situation that this episode reflects. Again, what the heck is Rollins doing going totally off the rails?!?

Complete overkill

[billcarr31 · 4/10 · 28 January 2022]

We are asked to believe that the police open fire on a house full of children with automatic weapons, riddling it with bullets and Rollins who has no target discharges her pistol without any possibility of hitting a target at that range, yet kills the very young woman she has been trying to save!

I usually find L&O fairly credible. However, this is the worst episode I have ever seen.

More Christian Bashing

[marysammons-42220 · 4/10 · 28 October 2019]

Sunday School indoctrination. That's what Rollins calls it. So Christianity is a cult to these left wing asshats. I'm so sick of this show and it's political agenda. Christians are always portrayed as nutcases. Not just the father Here but apparently just going to church according to Rollins.

Stereotypes Rule in a Stilted Depiction of Religious Extremism

[bkkaz · 3/10 · 14 December 2020]

The Book of Esther, a heavy-handed retelling of David Koresh and other lunatic cults, has moments where it almost reaches dramatic realization. Instead, it's often melodramatic, starting with the Dennis Weaver-like cult leader himself. There's little nuance here -- he's clearly nuts and confrontational. Had this episode been made in SVU's heydey (it more or less was but it was a cult leader with house full of kids), the levels would have been greater and the performances more subtle. The subplot involving Rollins trying to save one of the cult's members is marred by a cop out -- it's Rollins' bullet that kills the woman, which could have been a powerful character moment. After all, Rollins followed them around and even broke into their house, precipitating the shootout in the first place. Instead, as with most SVU episodes and especially those within the last five years, there are no repercussions. It's acknowledged, there are some blank stares that are meant to be dramatic, and then the series moves on to next week.

Spectacularly bad writing

[sharonphoenix · 1/10 · 31 August 2020]

Story could have been so much better. The writer's interpretation of an actual event was sh@t beyond the telling of. I dare say these writers ever get caught up in a real life terrifying event they wouldn't have a clue what to do as they aren't smart enough. Minus score.

Ruby Ridge

[sneef79 · 21 March 2019]

This episode is kind of a twist off Randy Weaver and the Ruby Ridge incident in Idaho. There were casualties and mistakes by both sides.