Longtime fans of L&O: SVU already know that this show is no merry-go-round ride at the Mickey D's play yard. But here we are, just the second episode into Season 10 of this enduring hybrid of the original L&O, and the rough stuff is already on hand...not that the season premiere was any less bumpy. But if you thought that Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) having to deal with her near-rape experience from last season was tumultuous enough, then you don't know Dick. As in Wolf.
This one finds the team dealing with a perfect storm of perps - drunken frat boys, disgruntled football fans plus the usual everyday humps. And Captain Craigen (Dann Florek) has to deal with the new ADA, whose already coming across as a pure-D pain in the ass for everybody.
Oh, but it hasn't gotten GOOD yet. That's when a young teen (Marshall Allman, late of PRISON BREAK) drags himself into the squad room and makes a horrific confession to Liv: he's been having intense sexual cravings for his pre-school aged stepbrother. Cravings he's been able to control...but he doesn't know for how much longer.
The revelation galvanizes Liv, who's unable to do very much for him within the limits of the law (of course), and of course it tears apart the boy's already splintered family. But it gets worse as only SVU can, when it comes to light that the tortured teen pedophile-to-be has a malevolent mentor: a self-professed "pedosexual" (the brilliantly creepy Tom Noonan), who runs a website that aids both budding and practicing pedophiles by providing them with pictures of young kids (clothed but still young), tips on how to stalk them and watch them, and one overarching rule: "look but don't touch."
I can't even tell you about the rest without getting more than a little queasy, but let's just say that it involves heartbreak, betrayal, a gruesome murder, and the involvement of Elliott Stabler in a way that you don't see coming...not that the same can be said for how he reacts to the event that gets him involved.
There are going to be some real top-of-the-line performances this season - you can already tell from last week, but this week pours it on especially. Teri Polo is heart-wrenching as Allman's mother, bewildered and horrified by her son's confession, and Tom Noonan, whom viewers may remember well from Michael Mann's MANHUNTER, does what he does best and gives a performance that out-creeps anything I've seen this season so far. And Allman is pitiful. pathetic and yet also sympathetic as the kid who just wants to stop what's going on in his head before he really hurts someone. You know he's doing a great job when you feel the same way Polo does as his mother...you want to get him some help, but you want him to be locked safely away from other kids while he's doing it.
Does it happen? Is there a happy ending if possible? Hey, it's SVU. Watch and find out for yourself.
This one finds the team dealing with a perfect storm of perps - drunken frat boys, disgruntled football fans plus the usual everyday humps. And Captain Craigen (Dann Florek) has to deal with the new ADA, whose already coming across as a pure-D pain in the ass for everybody.
Oh, but it hasn't gotten GOOD yet. That's when a young teen (Marshall Allman, late of PRISON BREAK) drags himself into the squad room and makes a horrific confession to Liv: he's been having intense sexual cravings for his pre-school aged stepbrother. Cravings he's been able to control...but he doesn't know for how much longer.
The revelation galvanizes Liv, who's unable to do very much for him within the limits of the law (of course), and of course it tears apart the boy's already splintered family. But it gets worse as only SVU can, when it comes to light that the tortured teen pedophile-to-be has a malevolent mentor: a self-professed "pedosexual" (the brilliantly creepy Tom Noonan), who runs a website that aids both budding and practicing pedophiles by providing them with pictures of young kids (clothed but still young), tips on how to stalk them and watch them, and one overarching rule: "look but don't touch."
I can't even tell you about the rest without getting more than a little queasy, but let's just say that it involves heartbreak, betrayal, a gruesome murder, and the involvement of Elliott Stabler in a way that you don't see coming...not that the same can be said for how he reacts to the event that gets him involved.
There are going to be some real top-of-the-line performances this season - you can already tell from last week, but this week pours it on especially. Teri Polo is heart-wrenching as Allman's mother, bewildered and horrified by her son's confession, and Tom Noonan, whom viewers may remember well from Michael Mann's MANHUNTER, does what he does best and gives a performance that out-creeps anything I've seen this season so far. And Allman is pitiful. pathetic and yet also sympathetic as the kid who just wants to stop what's going on in his head before he really hurts someone. You know he's doing a great job when you feel the same way Polo does as his mother...you want to get him some help, but you want him to be locked safely away from other kids while he's doing it.
Does it happen? Is there a happy ending if possible? Hey, it's SVU. Watch and find out for yourself.