Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Mercy (2003) User Reviews

The tragedy of Tay Sachs

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 20 May 2014]

The SVU gets a heart breaking case in this episode. An infant is found in a cooler floating in the Hudson by two guys kayaking. The squad follows a false trail for a bit involving a teen who was getting an abortion, but Medical Examiner Tamara Tunie tests for Tay-Sachs disease which is prevalent in the Ashkenazic Jewish population according to Wikipedia.

In fact Wikipedia's article may well have been the source for this story as it describes as the episode the tragic and short life that kids with Tay Sachs have. To spare her daughter a maximum life of 4 years with a lot of pain, Elizabeth Mitchell tranquilizes her to death.

Bearing some responsibility, but not enough for a criminal charge is her pediatrician Judd Hirsch.

It might be a mercy killing although it's hard to wrap your mind around the concept of a mercy killing for an infant. It's a tough case that ADA Stephanie March is faced with.

A heart breaking episode about a heart breaking disease.

Sad episode

[marysammons-42220 · 7/10 · 8 September 2019]

This was very sad but Warner stated both parents would have to carry the gene. The last name was Brown. These geniuses couldn't figure out sooner he wasn't ethnically Jewish and probably wasn't the father?

Heart-breaking mercy

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 1 October 2020]

"Mercy" was another Season 4 episode of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' that struck a chord with me emotionally on first viewing and wasn't an easy episode to forget in a hurry. Just the devastating subject matter alone is enough to move one to tears, even those that don't have children (like me). Not that this surprised me though because the show often is a harrowing watch, because of its unyielding approach to tough topics which has always been one of its, and the franchise's, most admirable traits.

This was a brilliant episode, after a slight quality dip with "Rotten" (which still wasn't a bad episode) the season and show are back on form with "Mercy". It explored its theme very sensitively and in a non-biased way and had a lot of emotion, one of the most emotional episodes of the season. As far as Season 4 goes to, "Mercy" is for me, and always has been, one of the best episodes. Anybody about to sit down for the first time watching the episode should be warned about not expecting it to be an easy watch, though actually considering the subject and the show itself that can be expected.

As always, it's a slickly made episode, the editing especially having come on quite a bit from when the show first started (never was it a problem but it got more fluid with each episode up to this stage). The music is sparingly used and never seemed melodramatic, the theme tune easy to remember as usual. The direction is sympathetic enough without being too low key on the whole.

Furthermore, the script is thoughtful and flows well. Munch (who has a bigger role here, yay!) has some truly powerful dialogue, that is very different from his customary dry humour, and has great exchanges with Cabot that sees him feeling very strongly about the case (understandably), as does the always-a-pleasure-to-watch Donnelly. That was one hard-hitting closing argument too from Cabot. The story is truly heart-wrenching and the most emotional parts devastating, was actually welling up even in the first scenes which just shows how much and how quickly the subject connected with me.

Have no issues with the acting from any of the regulars. Or from a nuanced Elizabeth Mitchell (who later went on to give one of the latter seasons' best guest performances in Season 12's superb "Totem") as an interesting character that is not one-dimensional or obvious.

Concluding, brilliant and very affecting episode. 10/10

Goofs-Continuity

[klworley-10051 · 9 July 2020]

As mentioned in another comment "Sarah" Brown does NOT testify, this is incorrect. "Andrea" is the mother that testifies to feeding her infant drug-laced formula PRIOR to breastfeeding her infant "Sarah" Brown. The names are incorrect in the comment as well as the statement that the continuity is incorrect in that the mother state in one instance that she fed the infant formula, and breastmilk in another statement. She testified to feeding the infant BOTH breastmilk AND formula. This obviously incorrect comment should be disregarded and deleted!