The episode where Casey Novak shows her teeth for the first time. You will be amazed at the struggle between a judge (Oliver Taft) and a deputy prosecutor (Casey Novak). Hat-off acting from Tom Skerritt and applauded performance from Diane Neal.
4 Reviews
Legal poison
TheLittleSongbird13 January 2021
Personally liked Season 5's penultimate episode "Poison" a good deal better than the previous reviewers, while understanding in a way where they're coming from. Actually wasn't that crazy about the episode first time, felt the bias was taken to extremes and found Taft too one-dimensional with not enough motivation. Which first time was actually a bit of a shock to me, mind you this was when first getting into the 'Law and Order' franchise which was in my mid-teens.
On a few re-watches since, "Poison" is one of those episodes that has grown on me. We're not talking about by a little, we're talking by quite a lot. My initial problems are sort of still there but the episode was a terrific showcase for Casey Novak and when she was the most rootable and most interesting in the whole of Season 5. The story is not novel elsewhere conceptually, but for 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' it was actually unlike anything seen before at the time.
"Poison" did miss an opportunity to give a reason for why Judge Taft behaved the way he did and what drove him to be the way he was. It did come over like he was the way he was for the sake of being that way.
His bias also doesn't always make sense, his different treatment of the women who had actually committed similar actions (so really should have been judged in the same way) was too contradictory and hypocritical.
The slick, subtly gritty and intimate production values still remain though, while not going too far on the intimacy that it becomes too drab. The music lets the writing do all the talking without over-emphasising the emotions, while the direction is subtle without being bland or leaden. The script deals with a tough subject on the whole with tact and raises interesting questions with Novak's handling of the case and how she handles Taft's treatment of her. The story really shines in this tension between those two, the second half nail-biting. Anybody that doesn't always like Stabler's at times defiant attitude to authority may find themselves completely on his side here, because he has good reason to be here.
Diane Neal is wonderful in her best performance in the season, she has really grown into the role the more interesting and easier to like Novak has become. Absolutely adored that Novak was in "you go girl" mode, loved that she stood up for herself and against Taft and questioned the way he behaved (on the same wavelength here). All the other regulars are very good. Personally thought that Tom Skerritt did very well as Taft and made him interesting, in full command of the character and a formidable authority figure. It is not a subtle performance, but in all honesty with Taft being written the way he was that would have been hard.
All in all, very well done episode despite a character that could have been written with more depth. 8/10
On a few re-watches since, "Poison" is one of those episodes that has grown on me. We're not talking about by a little, we're talking by quite a lot. My initial problems are sort of still there but the episode was a terrific showcase for Casey Novak and when she was the most rootable and most interesting in the whole of Season 5. The story is not novel elsewhere conceptually, but for 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' it was actually unlike anything seen before at the time.
"Poison" did miss an opportunity to give a reason for why Judge Taft behaved the way he did and what drove him to be the way he was. It did come over like he was the way he was for the sake of being that way.
His bias also doesn't always make sense, his different treatment of the women who had actually committed similar actions (so really should have been judged in the same way) was too contradictory and hypocritical.
The slick, subtly gritty and intimate production values still remain though, while not going too far on the intimacy that it becomes too drab. The music lets the writing do all the talking without over-emphasising the emotions, while the direction is subtle without being bland or leaden. The script deals with a tough subject on the whole with tact and raises interesting questions with Novak's handling of the case and how she handles Taft's treatment of her. The story really shines in this tension between those two, the second half nail-biting. Anybody that doesn't always like Stabler's at times defiant attitude to authority may find themselves completely on his side here, because he has good reason to be here.
Diane Neal is wonderful in her best performance in the season, she has really grown into the role the more interesting and easier to like Novak has become. Absolutely adored that Novak was in "you go girl" mode, loved that she stood up for herself and against Taft and questioned the way he behaved (on the same wavelength here). All the other regulars are very good. Personally thought that Tom Skerritt did very well as Taft and made him interesting, in full command of the character and a formidable authority figure. It is not a subtle performance, but in all honesty with Taft being written the way he was that would have been hard.
All in all, very well done episode despite a character that could have been written with more depth. 8/10
Decent but flawed
fbupdates11 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
A judge let's a woman off for poisoning her daughter because he's biased toward upper middle class mothers. He wrongfully convicted a poor woman for the same thing years earlier. Something didn't make sense to me. Rosalind's baby had crystals in her brain that the hospital concluded had to be from anti freeze. Rosalind is arrested and convicted. ME Warner did a test that proved the baby had MMA but she said the crystals were actually caused by an ethylene drip to treat the anti freeze poisoning but it was the wrong thing for MMA. So the head CTs she looked at weren't done prior to the drip which would not have shown any crystallization if what she said was true?
Casey gets on the judge's case
bkoganbing8 February 2013
This episode of SVU belongs to Diane Neal as ADA Casey Novak who loses a case because of a biased judge and the victim, a little girl later dies because of her mother's acquittal in a bench trial. Christopher Meloni has a score to settle with that judge because he gives him some time in the slammer for a contempt citation. Tom Skerritt plays the judge just likely to elicit a little contempt.
Sad to say though Skerritt's performance was a bit too broad and possibly due to the writing. This judge was obviously influenced by what John Forsythe did in the Al Pacino classic And Justice For All.
Possibly the hour format did not allow for a character to be drawn with accuracy. Forsythe played the same kind of judge who got to think he was God Almighty on the bench. Skerritt though never was given a reason to behave as he does.
Check out And Justice For All and see what I mean about which character you think was better portrayed.
Sad to say though Skerritt's performance was a bit too broad and possibly due to the writing. This judge was obviously influenced by what John Forsythe did in the Al Pacino classic And Justice For All.
Possibly the hour format did not allow for a character to be drawn with accuracy. Forsythe played the same kind of judge who got to think he was God Almighty on the bench. Skerritt though never was given a reason to behave as he does.
Check out And Justice For All and see what I mean about which character you think was better portrayed.
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