Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Law & Order SVU: “Streetwise” Missed the Mark

I am not quite sure what I don’t like about SVU lately, but something is just wrong with this show. The episode that aired on January 1 – “Streetwise” – just seemed weak. I found myself getting distracted by all kinds of superficial things:

1. Olivia’s (Mariska Hargitay) hair – what’s the deal with it? Very unbecoming. If they are trying to make her look harsh, it’s working, but it’s also off-putting.

2. Benson and Stabler (Chris Meloni) both looked so tan to me. It was like they were both off for a few weeks in Hawaii. If one of them looked like that I’d just pass it off. But both of them looked sun-kissed in many scenes to me. Maybe they have a new makeup person?

3. That “father” that was leading the homeless kids was the cleanest looking homeless person I’ve ever seen on television. I mean really, for someone who said he’s lived on the street much of his life, he looked like he had perfect teeth. And the mother looked like she sure had a lot of money for makeup and hair dye. They were the best looking homeless people I’ve ever seen.

4. And will someone please make Chester (Adam Beach) and his frequent tidbits of knowledge just go away?

5. I know that the cops have to sometimes do devious things to get information, but c’mon, eating food in front of a kid who’s starving? That’s just plain torture, I think. I would never expect the "Special Victims" people to be so cruel to a kid.

On the plus side, I really enjoyed the street scene where Stabler chased the guy into the road and into traffic under a bridge. Great use of the city scenery, and they should do these kinds of shots more often.

The framework of the story was pretty good, but for some reason lately, Law & Order SVU seems to find a way to suck the life out of it. The dialog is flat and emotionless, and it’s no wonder that the actors seem to be going through the motions.

I hope that when the writers finish striking, that they come back with some decent, creative story lines for this show. And I also hope that the atrophy hasn’t spread to Law & Order The Mothership. We’ll find out tonight!

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I so agree with you, lately SVU has been boring.

Anonymous said...

I have enjoyed SVU Law and Order for years, but this season and the previous one have been very disapointing. It seems like they not only have to take plots from one story ripped from the headlines, but in some 2 or 3 stories ripped from the headlines. The writting seems to have suffered too.Maybe after so many seasons they have covered everything. I hope not. Wonderful actors like Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay really deserve better. Also someone wrote that the the main actors now seem meaner than the villans. It seems so now.Thanks for listening. Dave.

nygma619 said...

"
3. That “father” that was leading the homeless kids was the cleanest looking homeless person I’ve ever seen on television. I mean really, for someone who said he’s lived on the street much of his life, he looked like he had perfect teeth. And the mother looked like she sure had a lot of money for makeup and hair dye. They were the best looking homeless people I’ve ever seen."

So the mom and dad are clean and are consistantly robbing people to get money, but the kids are starving. Gee, I wonder where all that money WENT TOWARDS. Here's a clue, NOT FEEDING THE CHILDREN!

As far as tempting the kid with food, they deal with rape on a consistent basis but THIS, steps over the line? Now had they not given the kid ANY food after the coercion, than there could be room for complaints.

Personally I actually liked this episode. But maybe that's because I'm a big fan of Mae Whitman's (Arrested Development, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the new Tinkerbell) whilst playing a homeless person wouldn't have been my first choice for a character Mae does a pretty good job for what the role was.

Saranel said...

Someone who used to be a close friend of mine is now homeless. There is nothing I can do for her other than send her back to her spot with food. She does a lot of drugs and steals from stores to make money. She looks pretty dirty but her make up is flawless. Apparently make up and hair products are the easiest thing to steal.