User Reviews

I know defendants need good representation, but some of the defense attorneys on this show go way overboard in re-victimizing the victims. Makes one wish the writers would come up with some karma...

'Welcome to Sex Crimes. Look, Stone, there are no perfect witnesses. They leave out part of the story. They can't remember. They feel guilty, change their minds. They blame themselves. They think it's their fault, but that's why we're here. To fight for them. And the less perfect they are, the harder we fight. Look, nobody asks a robbery or a homicide victim if she wanted it. Nobody says, "Hey, why was she walking down the dark alley?" Why was she wearing the dark skirt? "Nobody implies that the crime was somehow her fault.'

'You have the victim's word. We go to trial so the victim, the survivor, can look her rapist in the eye and tell the world her truth. We go to trial so she can be heard. The truth, that's what she heals. If you're going to trial because you want to win, you're in the wrong place.'

The stone is between the rock sections. Svu stone chapters are one of the dark gray stories that I will put in my box and keep.

At the center of the story is Carisi, and he is wonderful. In game performance, all players rise individually. Carisi, Olivia, Squad and Peter Stone. And Teresa Carisi, Mia, Eli, the lawyer Heller are all terrific.

It was good to watch Uncel Sonny. Especially in court cross-examination, uncle Sonny and Svu detective Carisi clash is a good performance.

His niece Mia is very good at portraying the personality that tells everyone what they want to hear.

Claims, passes, court, interrogations and music are in full Svu style.

On first watch, which was when it first aired pretty much, "In Loco Parentis" definitely stood out. Sadly not for the right reasons and not in a good way. It was one of quite a number of episodes of Season 19 to not do much for me, in a season where its best episodes were merely very good and the worst pretty weak. While not finding it a terrible episode, just too many things on first watch bothered me and it is a shame because when this show was at its best it was brilliant (which only came in spurts in the latter seasons).

"In Loco Parentis" didn't do much for me on rewatch either, for pretty much the same reasons as before. Again, it didn't strike me as a bad episode and there are worse episodes of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' (including from this season in fact). At the same time, "In Loco Parentis" also wasn't particularly good and is heavily flawed story and character writing wise. When an episode fails in two of the most crucial areas for anything in visual media that is not a good sign.

By all means, there are good things. The production values are suitably slick and gritty, with photography that is reliant on close ups that have an intimacy without being too claustrophobic. The music is didn't come over as too melodramatic or like it was emphasising the emotion too much.

The acting was also mostly fine, some of the best work coming from Peter Scanavino.

A lot on the other hand is wrong with "In Loco Parentis". After liking her a lot in the previous episode, Olivia is back to the sanctimonious judgemental character she was for most of the season. In an episode full of trite, awkward and less than concise dialogue, her preachy, condescending dialogue is particularly borderline cringe-worthy. There is an exception to the acting, and that is Phillip Winchester who continues to fall drastically flat as personality free Stone.

Didn't buy Carisi's lack of objectivity, he doesn't usually have this problem, and is far too personally involved. His advice to Mia was dumb. The case lacks tension and found it mostly predictable and thin, the twist was not a surprise actually for me. The outcome feels very far fetched and incomplete.

Concluding, mediocre and one of the weakest of the season. 4/10.

Found this episode and some of the dialog laughable and it made me mad. Sometimes the speeches about the victims just bleeds into the next story... There are much more compelling episodes.

Making a television show involves a lot of people and many contributions have to be taken into consideration into the final product.

In this episode developing Carisi's arc, the intention was clear however the execution could have been clearer.

Compared to similar episodes exploring the lives of series regulars, this one was strange. While Detective Rawlins' sister and family drama was always suspenseful and riveting, this one was confusing.

The StoryMind of the episode was incomplete and the Grand Argument that was being made suffered from this incompleteness.

They could have gone for a Double Jeopardy angle like the movie with Ashles Judd. That may have made for some interesting interactions between the characters.

In the end of the episode there's an ambivalence towards everything that transpired, rather than the intense emotions of relief or shock that we've come to love this series for.

I had a lot of problems with this episode. I knew instantly that Mia was lying about the first rape. Yet all the SVU people automatically sided with her because that's what you do: the woman is always right and the man is always the criminal. As Eli points out, "All it takes is one girl to say you looked at her funny and that's it. It's all over."

Then Carisi tells her, you can make this right. Any reasonable adult would have then scheduled a formal meeting between Mia and Eli in a neutral place with parents and university representatives present. But he doesn't do that. Instead, he leaves Mia to her own devices, which have her calling Eli up and inviting him to her dorm room to talk. Geezum Crow.

I simply don't believe at that point that Eli would have done anything wrong. He's a bright, intelligent guy. Sure, he's been hurt in an unfair and reprehensible fashion, but I doubt that his anger would have gotten the best of him. Notice how he had accepted his fate and kept on telling his parents to do the same.

The episode ends all touchy-feely way with the women all happy and the future doctor's life in ruins. Now that's reprehensible.

N. B.: That was going to be the end of my review. As I thought about it, I remember one thing Eli said on the witness stand: She set me up. I'm thinking about his anger and Mia's lie that got him kicked out of the university. It does now feel that his anger could have indeed gotten the best of him. I'm not justifying it, of course; I'm just thinking that a book-smart college kid might not use his best judgement when in that situation. He probably reasoned, My life is over anyway, so what the hell? This is what she accused me of anyway.

That still doesn't let Mia off the hook. Due to her first lie, she ruined Eli's academic career. A person falsely claiming rape can face civil or even criminal charges. And filing a false police report can put you in jail. Her only punishment? She leaves the university on her own "for a while." Geezum Crow squared. Not only did she ruin Eli's life, she lied to university officials. And this didn't get her kicked out? Geezum Crow cubed.

Bottom line: Mia should have been charged for lying about the initial rape and punished. The case should have ended there. Eli would have gone on to become a doctor. Instead, she takes some time off and he ends up rotting in prison. Nice going, SVU.