Are there any episodes you watch whenever they're on?

[MarylandGirl]

This topic occurred to me because I was just flipping around and "Slaves" from Season 1 (ep 22) was on and I couldn't not watch it, even though I've seen it several times already. The mix of a case that's pretty screwed up, plus the detectives each having to talk to the therapist makes for some great TV. And that scene where they find Elena...chilling.

So what episodes do you never tire of watching?

[jcbrown]

I generally watch "Personal Fouls" and generally avoid any episodes with Nick Amaro. And I ALWAYS avoid any episodes with the William Lewis character. Plus I generally avoid any episodes involving the military. It might be easier for me to discuss which episodes I avoid...

[QueenMab]

I just caught today my fave episode and I'M HOME probably one of the best SVU ever offered. "Dreams Deferred" with Patricia Arquette as the old hooker who turns out to be quite a woman. Benson is all over the episode but her scenes are mostly with Arquette and MH just gets served. Arquette takes this episode and rocks it and shows THATS how you get an Emmy for a great TV performance. I'd forgotten what a good episode it was and I'm glad I caught it by happenstance again. This happened in 2012 during the Leight years and it shows how badly things have gone downhill since then.

I'm home? My phone is an idiot. IMHO. Geeeze.

[MarylandGirl]

13 hours ago, QueenMab said:

I just caught today my fave episode and I'M HOME probably one of the best SVU ever offered. "Dreams Deferred" with Patricia Arquette as the old hooker who turns out to be quite a woman. Benson is all over the episode but her scenes are mostly with Arquette and MH just gets served. Arquette takes this episode and rocks it and shows THATS how you get an Emmy for a great TV performance. I'd forgotten what a good episode it was and I'm glad I caught it by happenstance again. This happened in 2012 during the Leight years and it shows how badly things have gone downhill since then.

I'm home? My phone is an idiot. IMHO. Geeeze.

Agreed, that's a great ep.

[jcbrown]

Another one I just remembered, I always watch the episode, "Haunted." I like the Fin-centric ones.

[MarylandGirl]

"Closure Part II" and "Lowdown" are other must-watch ones for me.

[JyDanzig]

"Russian Love Poem," for the locations.  It'll pull me in at any point because I always want to see that last shot on the boardwalk with the Coney Island parachute jump in the distance.

"Guilt," for being my actual favorite Good SVU.

"Wildlife," for being my actual favorite Bad SVU.

"Missing Pieces" or "Presumed Guilty," if we're in the 6 weeks leading up to Halloween or Christmas.

Edited May 23, 2018 by JyDanzig

[QueenMab]

I think"Penetration" is the one I'm thinking of where we are introduced to Dana Lewis. The White Supremacists she's "infiltrated". Her interactions with Munch and Finn are so down and dirty but funny. They, in chickenshit fashion don't show it a lot because the racist epithets just fly. OMG! But Dana Lewis is awesome and her scene with Finn at the end when he's in the hospital bed and she starts to sincerely apologise, she was playing a part, etc. is so good because Finn just lifts his hand, cuts her off, and says "we're good". Yay Finn! 

[Broderbits]

5 hours ago, QueenMab said:

 

I think"Penetration" is the one I'm thinking of where we are introduced to Dana Lewis.

 

You're thinking of the episode "Raw". "Penetration" is the one where Dana Lewis is raped, but they both involve the same supremacist group. Both very powerful episodes.

One I never miss is "Shadow", with Sarah Paulson and Naveen Andrews. Sarah's character is worthy of an "American Horror Story" episode, she's so so cold.

[jcbrown]

46 minutes ago, Broderbits said:

You're thinking of the episode "Raw". "Penetration" is the one where Dana Lewis is raped, but they both involve the same supremacist group. Both very powerful episodes.

One I never miss is "Shadow", with Sarah Paulson and Naveen Andrews. Sarah's character is worthy of an "American Horror Story" episode, she's so so cold.

Oh yes, I forgot about "Shadow." Really well done (and I'd watch Naveen Andrews read a grocery list). I'd also forgotten "Raw," which is another of my faves. This is making me nostalgic for when the show was, well, good.

[wknt3]

10 hours ago, JyDanzig said:

"Wildlife," for being my actual favorite Bad SVU.

"Wildlife" is everyone's favorite bad SVU! Despite all of the wonderful and terrible things they have done I don't think anything they have done is as memorable as this moment...
 

[WendyCR72]

11 minutes ago, wknt3 said:

"Wildlife" is everyone's favorite bad SVU! Despite all of the wonderful and terrible things they have done I don't think anything they have done is as memorable as this moment...
 

*Shakes head, walks away*

[Fiero425]

I like episodes where the squad and the ADA have to really work because the perp is so smart, charming, or clever! Loved the episodes with Fred Savage and Robin Williams where it was so evident they were guilty of the crimes they committed, but they were able to defend themselves and make the cops and prosecutor look like fools; "Futility" & "Authority" respectively! ;-)

[WineCheeseChocolat]

The Best of the Best

1) Countdown

2) Guilt

3) Manhunt

4) Desparate

5) Mercy

So Bad It’s Good

1) Wildlife

2) Wet

3) Zebras

Favs Post-Stabler

1) Hunting Ground (although too much HCJ but I’ve followed LISK loosely so it’s interesting to me)

2) True Believers (for Ellis, miss him!)

3) Criminal Hatred (Barba FTW)

4) The whole hooker scandal end of 13/beginning of 14 (somewhat cheesy but action packed and relationships among the squad were interesting)

5) Finale of S15 (Murphy FTW)

[Ions Earring]

Avatar- The Vixi Platinum's Underage Wonderstage episode.

[Xeliou66]

Here are some of the best episodes IMO

Manhunt

Legacy

Painless

Tangled

Stolen

Chat Room

Folly

Honor

Remorse

Angels

Futility

Resilience

Soulless

Mother

Limitations

And there are many other great ones as well, almost all of seasons 2-5 are rewatchable over and over and a lot of season 1 is as well, and 6/7/8 are pretty good as well. Seasons 9-12 sucked, then the show picked back up in 13, took a dip in 15, 16 was a slight improvement, 17 was good, 18 sucked, 19 was better but had issues. 

Here are some of the best of the more recent seasons

Rhodium Nights/Lost Reputation/Above Suspicion

Twenty Five Acts

Girl Dishonored

Learning Curve

Valentine’s Day

Criminal Hatred

Traumatic Wound

Institutional Fail

Parole Violations

Guardian

Transgender Bridge

The Undiscovered Country (just for McCoy+the tribute to Ben Stone) 

Here are some of the “so bad it’s good” episodes

Wildlife

Hammered

Bully

Bedtime

Bang

Wet

And here are the worst of the worst episodes 

Branded

Vanity’s Bonfire

Swing

Zebras

Imposter

Comic Perversion

In Loco Parentis

Intimidation Game

Turmoil

Anchor

Paternity

[cfinboston]

On 5/22/2018 at 2:38 PM, jcbrown said:

Another one I just remembered, I always watch the episode, "Haunted." I like the Fin-centric ones.

 I love Haunted. The ending where he's holding the baby and saying "There's grandma" is precious. I also loved "Raw" and can hatewatch the ridiculousness that is "911" forever. That episode literally bookends stupudity....starting with Liv being called away from her date because nobody else in the entire squad can talk to a kid on the phone, and ending with said kid being alive after she was buried in a plastic bag.

[The Wild Sow]

Liberties was just on - one of my favorites!  Wonder how Judge Koehler and Tyler/Marshall's reunion played out?  I kind of love how the actors even look alike.

Then Zebras! Liv slapping the heck outta Elliott is just so much fun to watch.

And Unstable - one of the most hilariously AWFUL endings ever!  OK, so Foster is dead (either took himself out the window or Wentworth Miller gave him a little boost.)  So, he can't testify in court (never mind that they have his confession ON TAPE exonerating Victor Tate.)  And Sonya keeps shooting down all their ideas for getting Victor out of prison now.

Ending with, "I dunno, do either of you know the governor?"  Wait, Sonya -- you're an ADA.  You know your boss.  Your boss knows his/her boss, who is Jack McCoy.  And Jack McCoy most certainly knows the governor!  You also know a bunch of judges.  Who also know the governor.  You KNOW people who know the governor!

So WHY is Victor Tate still in prison?  Actually, should be getting out about now since the ep was almost 15 years ago!  Maybe they should revisit him again?

 

 

[Xeliou66]

47 minutes ago, The Wild Sow said:

Liberties was just on - one of my favorites!  Wonder how Judge Koehler and Tyler/Marshall's reunion played out?  I kind of love how the actors even look alike.

Then Zebras! Liv slapping the heck outta Elliott is just so much fun to watch.

And Unstable - one of the most hilariously AWFUL endings ever!  OK, so Foster is dead (either took himself out the window or Wentworth Miller gave him a little boost.)  So, he can't testify in court (never mind that they have his confession ON TAPE exonerating Victor Tate.)  And Sonya keeps shooting down all their ideas for getting Victor out of prison now.

Ending with, "I dunno, do either of you know the governor?"  Wait, Sonya -- you're an ADA.  You know your boss.  Your boss knows his/her boss, who is Jack McCoy.  And Jack McCoy most certainly knows the governor!  You also know a bunch of judges.  Who also know the governor.  You KNOW people who know the governor!

So WHY is Victor Tate still in prison?  Actually, should be getting out about now since the ep was almost 15 years ago!  Maybe they should revisit him again?

 

 

I’ve said the exact same thing about Unstable, that’s a terrible episode because of the ending, it made no sense and was just done to give Stabler more angst. They had overwhelming proof that Tate was innocent, and like you said they knew people who had power and influence who could get Tate freed. It seemed like with the new evidence all Tate’s attorney would have to do is petition for a new trial, and the DA’s could just decide not to retry the case and Tate would be freed. Also as you said Jack was DA and knew a lot of prominent people and he had fought to release innocent people before, in circumstances more challenging than this (I’m thinking back to the Mothership episode Bronx Cheer), and also there would be media outrage over the situation which would likely force the governor to pardon Tate if nothing else. So yeah the ending was epically stupid. This was during a time when SVU sacrificed realism and logic for shocking twists and angst for the characters. Idiotic episode.

Liberties is an interesting case, it is a weird plot but it was pulled off well. It was a tragic episode, both the judge and his son would be doing some prison time, hopefully they would be okay but who knows.

Zebras is just another one of those bonkers episodes. The Stuckey character was a huge mistake and should never have been brought on, and what really pisses me off about Zebras is how they killed off O’Halloran, who was an awesome recurring character, and then didn’t even acknowledge his death, that really pissed me off, if they didn’t have time in that episode to mourn O’Halloran, then something should’ve been said about him in the next episode, such as the detectives visiting forensics and saying it’s different without him or something, just something to pay tribute to him and show that people were sad about his death. If they hadn’t killed off O’Halloran, the stupid Stuckey bullshit wouldn’t get on my nerves so much but as it is it’s one of the worst mistakes SVU ever made.

[Toonces464]

Raw and Shadow. I just love all the guest stars in both episodes. And Bang...Chris Meloni and John Stamos together? Yes please!

[MarylandGirl]

On 7/9/2023 at 6:51 PM, Toonces464 said:

Raw and Shadow. I just love all the guest stars in both episodes. And Bang...Chris Meloni and John Stamos together? Yes please!

Yes, Raw and Shadow are both great!

[Xeliou66]

On 8/31/2023 at 8:37 PM, MarylandGirl said:

Yes, Raw and Shadow are both great!

Raw is just chilling with some evil perps and it was a great twist that Dana was an FBI agent, even if they ruined the character later. I love the Munch/Fin scene in the hospital in Raw. 
Shadow is definitely one of the better later Stabler episodes - so many of the season 9-12 episodes were just over the top bonkers or bogged down with soapy crap. Shadow is definitely one of the best from those years. 
Bang though was one of those bonkers episodes - one of those “so bad it’s good” episodes - it’s where they used the phrase “reproductive abuser” a billion times and it was just all around bonkers. Entertaining but not exactly a high quality episode IMO.