Crush (5 May 2009)

Over the course of a complex "sexting" case involving an abused teenage girl, the team encounters a corrupt family court judge who hands down unusually harsh sentences for borderline sexual offenses.

Director:

Peter Leto

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Jonathan Greene

Stars:

Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Meloni	...	Detective Elliot Stabler
Mariska Hargitay	...	Detective Olivia Benson
Richard Belzer	...	Sergeant John Munch (credit only)
Ice-T	...	Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola
Michaela McManus	...	A.D.A. Kim Greylek (credit only)
BD Wong	...	Dr. George Huang
Tamara Tunie	...	Dr. Melinda Warner (credit only)
Dann Florek	...	Captain Donald Cragen
Swoosie Kurtz	...	Judge Hilda Marsden
Carly Schroeder	...	Kim Garnet
Ezra Miller	...	Ethan Morse
Noel Fisher	...	CSU Tech Dale Stuckey
Scott Bryce	...	Bill Garnet
Kellie Overbey	...	Mrs. Garnet
Alexander Nifong	...	Steve Walker

Storyline

Over the course of a complex "sexting" case involving an abused teenage girl, the team encounters a corrupt family court judge who hands down unusually harsh sentences for borderline sexual offenses.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 May 2009 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, Universal Media Studios (UMS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Quotes

Kim Garnet: Who are you?
Kathleen Stabler: Kathleen. I'm a friend of Olivia's. I was sitting in here a couple of months ago.
Kim Garnet: She put you in jail too?
Kathleen Stabler: Yeah! And my dad's Detective Stabler.
Kim Garnet: How could you do that to your partners, Kat?
Kathleen Stabler: I'm glad she did. Helped me stop hating my self.
Kim Garnet: What makes you think I hate my self?
Kathleen Stabler: Because I was a lot like you. I let boys use me, have sex with me, even hit me. Kim, I was too scared and too ashamed to say anything. Things got so bad, I went to jail. But I finally let someone help me. Same ...
[...]

User Reviews

One of Law & Order SVU's signature tricks kind of results in a dud this time

One move that SVU seems to pull quite frequently as part of its regular MO is to have its A story, the story that's advertised, run for around 35-40 minutes before a surprising B story that is tangentially related to the first comes in to fill the rest of the time. This often can make for a fulfilling episode - certainly it was a good decision in the previous episode "Selfish."

Here, though, it takes away from a compelling and true-to-life seeming story for something that is goofy and over the top. They could have done a lot more with the A story of a girl refusing to name her attacker, which could be one of two boys she'd been linked to. Less is often more. Instead, we get a ridiculous and cheesy B story about a corrupt judge. The climactic scene with Stabler, Huang, and the guest ADA du jour putting on a fake trial to ensnare the judge *was* well done, but ultimately I think the episode would have been better sticking with the A story to the end. Save the over the top stuff for another episode when you've got such a strong and true-seeming A story.