Reviews & Ratings for
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" Zebras (2009)

18 out of 24 people found the following review useful:

Redemption Or Retribution? Guess Which One This Episode Has...

Author: Christopher T. Chase (cchase@onebox.com) from Arlington, VA.
1 July 2009

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

If you've been watching this particular extension of the L&O franchise, you know the writers' M.O. all too well - any characters, especially new or recurring ones, are never inserted into an episode or a particular story arc without a reason; even if that reason is to do little more than serve as one of those classic "McGuffins" - a temporary distraction from the REAL focus of a story.

When the insufferable, obnoxious, almost ridiculously irritating character of CSU rookie Dale Stuckey came barging into the cast at the top of this season, I should've suspected something. As cute as a puppy and as infuriating as that same puppy who won't stop doing his business on your brand new Persian rug, Stuckey...well, STUCK OUT like a sore thumb whenever he'd show up, trying the patience of everyone within his proximity, but especially the man in charge of "reigning him in," senior forensics tech Ryan O'Halloran (Mike Doyle).

With each episode featuring key scenes that included Dale, you suddenly began to get the feeling that something was up...some ominous event or series of events coming together, building to some climax that usually caps one of those classic season-ending cliffhangers that this franchise is notorious for.

And wonder of wonders, we fans found out that our gut instincts were jaw-droppingly correct. In "Zebras", TERMINATOR movie alum Nick Stahl (also from HBO'S chilling fantasy series CARNIVALE) delivers a knockout performance as the most dangerous kind of paranoid schizophrenic: one who has a knack for making use of survivalist tactics from the internet. Killing innocent people he suspects are "agents who are out to get him", Liv and Elliott have their hands full trying to bring him in while not getting killed themselves, in the interest of keeping him from racking up more victims.

Enter Dale Stuckey, (you KNEW this was coming!), who in a blunder of mind-boggling proportions, manages to foul up evidence so badly that it gets Stahl's character released. Supposedly to kill again.

Naturally, the demoralized CSU ne'er-do-well is galvanized to take action in order to make things right. But even on a series known for pulling bloody rabbits out of its hat kicking and screaming, I can promise you that the denouement for "Zebras" is something you won't see coming. Yes, it puts our favorite detectives in peril, as any good slam-bang finale always should (and does in this case), and as an appeasement to the "Ratings Gods," a likable and solid character you never realized you liked so much will be sacrificed with bloody, shocking speed - another sad tradition of season-enders of this type.

But the biggest surprises of all to be found here lie with the way the writers maintained the quality and continuity of a story arc with an importance that was cleverly concealed until the eleventh hour, and the dawning realization that actor Noel Fisher, whose character seemed little more than peripheral at best, has been acting his butt off the entire season, just waiting to sink his teeth into this memorable finale. The caliber of acting from the principal cast is something I've always come to expect and everyone delivers as expected, but to Mr. Fisher especially, I have to say: Well-played, sir.

14 out of 20 people found the following review useful:

One of the best episodes ever

Author: bryannielson18 from United States
16 June 2009

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is probably one of the best SVU episodes I have ever seen. The ending was pretty unexpected and my mom was sitting there grabbing my arm every time Elliot was cut by Dale. We both were really disappointed the forensics guy died- my mom was sad 'cause she thought he was cute.

This episode had a lot of twists and unexpected surprises. The only other episode I really remember (other than this one) was the one where Liv gets a call from that girl being held in a basement. (She was forced to do kiddie porn and they eventually found her in a plastic bag in that abandoned lot where the burger place used to be.) Anyway- I'm really looking forward to the next season and hope all the cast reprises their roles. Each character brings something to SVU that just can't be replicated or taken away.

6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

"What a way to end!"

Author: Reginald D. Garrard from Camilla, GA
5 June 2010

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The above line is the last one, delivered by Stabler (Chris Meloni), and it best sums up this, the final episode of SVU's tenth season. One of the most riveting and surprising ever made for a show known for its twists and turns, "Zebras" has powerful performances from recurring actor Noel Fisher as Stuckey and guest Nick Stahl as murder suspect Peter Harrison.

Not only is the episode the "swan song" for Fisher's character, it also sees the departure of fan favorite Forensics Tech Halloran, played by Mike Doyle.

The show also features a memorable guest turn from Carol Kane as Munch's ex-wife and Judith Light returns as Judge Donnelly.

This is a tightly-wound installment and is gripping from beginning to end.

6 out of 26 people found the following review useful:

Ridiculous plot hole

Author: bigtimepeace from United States
9 December 2009

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Surely this was a good episode in the "it will attract a lot of viewers" sense (given the sensationalism and the knowledge that a known character would die), but I must point out one way in which the plot was absolutely ridiculous. Ridiculous! Law and Order shows often contain ridiculous plot lines, but this one had a doozy (spoiler follows obviously).

So the paranoid killer guy gets let go by the judge, and then Fin and Munch are tailing him as he leaves the courthouse. As that starts to happen, Olivia points out to the tech dweeb dude Stuckey that the killer is being followed as a way to comfort Stuckey for screwing up the case. In order for the plot to make sense we have to believe the following happened in Stuckey's mind at that exact moment: "They're following him? Hmm, I know, I'll follow them too! Right this second! Maybe they'll lose him and then I can kill someone else wherever it is that happens (hopefully it will be crowded, like Coney Island!) and then later I'll come back and fake some evidence so it looks like the paranoid dude did the killing but really I did it. Oh shoot! There they go I better run after them right now before they get away!"

Luckily Olivia apparently sprinted away from the courthouse at that exact moment and thus did not notice Stuckey hurriedly following Munch and Fin following the paranoid dude, because if she saw that she would have found it pretty weird and probably remembered it later. Stuckey also must be a fast runner because those other people had a major head start, but somehow he caught them and followed them all the way to Coney Island without them noticing. It's not clear if he had a knife or something with him already at the courthouse as he ran off (that would be lucky!) or if he just found something laying around on the boardwalk at Coney Island, picked it up, and then hoped the paranoid guy would lose the detectives so he could kill some random woman (and then I guess run away and go back home and change or something and then come back again to where the woman he just killed was--he must have lived in Brighton Beach or somewhere else right by Coney Island in order to get back to the crime scene in time!).

This would have been hard to pull off in real life, but thankfully the action all took place in a poorly written TV episode, so you can pretty much throw out the rules of logic.

I can see why some people would enjoy the drama and blood and all that, and of course it's just a TV show, but hopefully even fans of this episode could admit that the implausibility factor was rather hilarious.

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