Reviews & Ratings for
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" Pandora (2003)

8 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Nice plot, shame about the script, 7 October 2006

Author: Peter Hall from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

It's probably best that non of this episode was filmed in the Czech Republic as the cast and crew would have been in danger of being lynched by angry Czechs.

Despite taking place more than ten years after the fall of communism and being set in what was always one of the most liberal and cosmopolitan former Warsaw Pact countries the writers trot out all the Cold War clichés, children can be bought and sold for a couple of dollars, the police are either incompetent or corrupt and everyone wears a fur hat.

The writers also seem to have no idea of how law enforcement occurs or how police act outside of the USA. The idea that a European police force is going to let armed foreigners run around arresting people, that interviews are done in what looks like a dingy cellar without a representative of the local force being present and, most of all, that visiting American coppers are going to be permitted to beat information out of a suspect is ridiculous to the point of stupidity.

They also seem not to have spared five minutes to perform a google search into what Europol is. The organisation is depicted as some sort of trans-national FBI whose agents travel Europe undertaking investigations and making arrests when in reality it's nothing more than an information service for Europe's national police services.

This episode had a strong central idea but to anyone outside the US and probably more than a few inside it the amateurish effort that ended up on the screen is a major letdown.

4 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Not the US Embassy?, 30 July 2009

Author: kkeither1 from Portland, OR

I'm 99% sure that was not the US Embassy. I lived in Prague for 4 months and went there twice. The embassy does not have a view of the Charles Bridge as the bridge is almost directly east of the embassy, lengthwise, and other buildings block the view. The camera angle they used would have you believe that the embassy was right on the river either north or south of the bridge. You can walk to Charles Bridge in 5 minutes from the embassy. I would like to know what building they used. Granted, the building they used looked a lot nicer than the actual embassy. I never heard of the other town they mentioned. I guess I'll look it up.

0 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Agree it was not that good but not that bad!, 24 October 2009

Author: ShelbyTMItchell from Seymour Tennessee

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Wonder if the Czech Republic will sue as you know how Hollywood can be about the way they act. Meaning that they don't take into consideration. As we only see Liv in the first five minutes or less. Then she disappears. Elliot is working with a temporary partner from homicide since that is his turf. As the feds are working with a young girl to help them nab a child predator distributing porn. And that how can the US Attorney's Office obtain a passport when in fact, only the State Department can do that. Liked the temporary partner despite him being a jerk in the beginning. He mellowed out considerably during the end. Also Pam Grier's character whom I didn't like in the first time we saw her, also mellowed out a bit. And was a lot more nicer and helpful. Guess US Attorney's Office seems to show a better than thou attitude as Hollywood would love to portray them to be.

4 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Clumsy, lazy writing, 4 June 2009

Author: finnbarius from United Kingdom

I have to agree with the Peter Hall's review.

This is a poor episode of an otherwise pretty good series.

The patronising and, frankly, insulting portrayal of the Czech Republic is a travesty. Any Czech watching this episode would probably wonder if the writers could be sued for such a pejorative and offensive distortion.

There are so many other little things wrong, too, which make it lack credibility.

Example : The supposed Europol detective/agent/employee is clearly meant to have an English accent rather than American, yet she says "entrepen-oor". Only somebody who spoke American English would use that pronunciation. The English pronounce it "entrepen-urr", as the French do.

It may seem trivial, but it's the lack of attention to minor details like this which draw attention to the clumsiness of the appalling clichés.

If you can suspend your disbelief to the required degree, you'll probably enjoy the episode, but I advise you to have a large pinch of salt handy to take it with.

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