For me, another top-line SVU episode. It has all the required elements, with a deeply unlikable, entitled villain, sitting smirking in court. We so want to see him taken down. It gives us sympathetic frustration with the victim as she sees her complaint brushed off by the rapist and buried by the police because of the Old Boys Network and "who'd believe a stripper anyway?" I feel the consequential rage driving Benson and Rollins. Finally it gives us a well deserved Guilty verdict, wiping the smirk off his face. Additionally, it gives us character development for Sonny Carisi, as he takes his first full trial in court and stands up successfully to Judge Barth for the defence. I have to say that I dislike the producers' policy of taking judges off the bench to defend clear villains. I'm OK where they're defending the innocent, to achieve justice, but to have someone who sat up there on the bench, supposedly dispensing impartial justice, come down and do what they can to distort the truth on behalf of a guilty client just doesn't feel right. I suppose, though, that this may happen in the US "system of justice" where judges may be elected and thrown out on their ear: they then have to make another course in life.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)
She Paints for Vengeance (2020)
User Reviews
Review this title9 Reviews
Carisi's First Trial
wrenleung18 January 2020
The episode started off slow but the court scene was lit. Carisi was getting clobbered on his first trial as the defence attorney and revered former judge, Elana Barth, was savage as expected. I watched that scene like a dozen times. Hope to see Barth more in the show.
Carisi is still pretty green and is not at the level of former ADAs yet (Cabot, Novak, Barba, etc.) but he has great potential and a lot to offer as an experienced cop.
Carisi is still pretty green and is not at the level of former ADAs yet (Cabot, Novak, Barba, etc.) but he has great potential and a lot to offer as an experienced cop.
Unrealistic police care
azmogroupon3 July 2020
I am a fan of this show, but I should say the older seasons were built much closer to the reality. This episode is one of the examples of the recent episodes/seasons showing unrealistic exaggeration of how detectives care about the victims. Litterally running after the victims and following the case even when the victims are reluctant, non-cooperative, rude, or doesnt care to follow up.
The police never cares more than the victim cares. This is the reality. They never run after victim and insist the victim to fight sepecially if the victim herself doesn't want to follow up the case.
Olivia Benson's character was very strong and adimrable during the entire show but recent episodes show her as more of a therapist than a detective, Which is so unrealistic.
Meh. What happened to the old SVU????
jasiegirl20 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This episode was one of the worst of season 21.....(right up there with the Machine Elves episode). It had nothing to do with the directing, but the storyline was far-fetched, unbelievable, and slightly random at times. For example, the paintings on the billboard and street....how the heck did she and her friend get up there without anyone noticing? The fact that the perp was found guilty with absolutely NO evidence just seemed like stretch to me. Especially since the victim would have been seen as "unsympathetic" because of her angry media outbursts and harassment of her attacker. All in all, it was just a very uninteresting, predictable episode, and I found myself just waiting for it to be over.
She Paints for Vengeance
bobcobb30126 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
At least they acknowledged how ridiculous it is that Carisi is immediately doing high-profile cases, but they still need to add a real DA to the cast. They are not trusting a new lawyer with important matters like this.
Less A Law & Order Franchise Episode And More A Lifetime Movie - With All The Flaws
seaofmilton21 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
To Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's credit, it's managed to last slightly over two decades, which is more than even the show's parent series accomplished. Often though, when a show lasts this long it's expected to see more and more weak storylines and awful characterization.
This episode contains both those sins in great amounts, amongst others.
The SVU (or rather Captain Benson and her adopted son Noah) come across a billboard drawn by a woman who works as an artist accusing a popular black athlete of rape (which somewhat reminds me of Three Billboards Outside Elbing, Missouri). Now, the funny thing with this is that it just so happens to be Benson who comes across this and thus leads to them investigating, even though this was likely to have been seen by other people in Manhattan and as such would've been reported by one of them.
The billboards were somehow placed up by a struggling female artist, who also happens to work as a stripper to make ends meet. The victim in question is someone hits all the hallmarks of "Unintentionally Unsympathetic" as she continually insults and belittles the Special Victims Unit for apparently not doing all they can to investigate the crime despite the fact she's saved absolutely no evidence to them, yells at and acts like a child with a temper tantrum at the press when asked questions and also makes threats and even attempts to attack the one she's making accusations against. And the sad part is, the story doesn't once acknowledge that her behavior isn't okay in the slightest. There's also the fact that the victim conveniently forgot to mention said stripping side-job and the fact she had business with said athlete she was accusing beforehand.
The whole trial against this athlete is one that's filled to the brink with illogical decision after decision that makes this episode seem nothing at all like something bearing the Law & Order name but something befitting a Lifetime Movie of the Week. Carisi is pitted up against this experienced defense attorney who was previously a judge and yet he comes out on top in the case, even though there's not the slightest bit of evidence that should make such a thing possible. Even worse is the fact that Benson of all people is the one who has to give him a pep talk. I understand she was his commanding officer, except for the fact that neither of them have all that much of a positive relationship with each other, especially with Benson's numerous unethical practices done when Cairsi was a member of SVU and after Carisi joined the D.A's office. The moment makes Benson look like a "black-hole sue" so to speak, alongside the previously mentioned discovery moment. The fact that he's not working with an E.A.D.A like how those from the classic series and even those from SVU's early days seems also suspicious, as again this is his first case and as we see during the trial he lacks the experience.
The most illogical thing is how the judge in this episode allowed the accused to go on the stand, even though there was no evidence (unlike in that Season 17 episode of Classic L&O involving that Girls-Gone-Wild expy where, as far-fetched as the conviction process went, it at least had a piece of evidence). This ends up giving Carisi his unfortunately-undeserved win when when he questions said athlete.
The episode then ends with a billboard of Benson and Carisi painted. The fact that it may have been painted sometime beforehand I can suspend my disbelief willingly for, but how the artist was able to do so with her antics throughout the episode, much less be able to put it up there is something that it does not extend to. Also, the idea of Benson being an angel with how she's turned out throughout this show's run is pretty damn laughable honestly.
All in all this was a poorly-written episode with shoddy reasoning that just manages to make the show look as though it's several years past it's due date.
Also on a personal note, the artist's "paintings" look like stuff you'd find on deviantART. No, scratch that. There are drawings and paintings done by other struggling artists on that site that look much better than the ones featured in this episode.
This episode contains both those sins in great amounts, amongst others.
The SVU (or rather Captain Benson and her adopted son Noah) come across a billboard drawn by a woman who works as an artist accusing a popular black athlete of rape (which somewhat reminds me of Three Billboards Outside Elbing, Missouri). Now, the funny thing with this is that it just so happens to be Benson who comes across this and thus leads to them investigating, even though this was likely to have been seen by other people in Manhattan and as such would've been reported by one of them.
The billboards were somehow placed up by a struggling female artist, who also happens to work as a stripper to make ends meet. The victim in question is someone hits all the hallmarks of "Unintentionally Unsympathetic" as she continually insults and belittles the Special Victims Unit for apparently not doing all they can to investigate the crime despite the fact she's saved absolutely no evidence to them, yells at and acts like a child with a temper tantrum at the press when asked questions and also makes threats and even attempts to attack the one she's making accusations against. And the sad part is, the story doesn't once acknowledge that her behavior isn't okay in the slightest. There's also the fact that the victim conveniently forgot to mention said stripping side-job and the fact she had business with said athlete she was accusing beforehand.
The whole trial against this athlete is one that's filled to the brink with illogical decision after decision that makes this episode seem nothing at all like something bearing the Law & Order name but something befitting a Lifetime Movie of the Week. Carisi is pitted up against this experienced defense attorney who was previously a judge and yet he comes out on top in the case, even though there's not the slightest bit of evidence that should make such a thing possible. Even worse is the fact that Benson of all people is the one who has to give him a pep talk. I understand she was his commanding officer, except for the fact that neither of them have all that much of a positive relationship with each other, especially with Benson's numerous unethical practices done when Cairsi was a member of SVU and after Carisi joined the D.A's office. The moment makes Benson look like a "black-hole sue" so to speak, alongside the previously mentioned discovery moment. The fact that he's not working with an E.A.D.A like how those from the classic series and even those from SVU's early days seems also suspicious, as again this is his first case and as we see during the trial he lacks the experience.
The most illogical thing is how the judge in this episode allowed the accused to go on the stand, even though there was no evidence (unlike in that Season 17 episode of Classic L&O involving that Girls-Gone-Wild expy where, as far-fetched as the conviction process went, it at least had a piece of evidence). This ends up giving Carisi his unfortunately-undeserved win when when he questions said athlete.
The episode then ends with a billboard of Benson and Carisi painted. The fact that it may have been painted sometime beforehand I can suspend my disbelief willingly for, but how the artist was able to do so with her antics throughout the episode, much less be able to put it up there is something that it does not extend to. Also, the idea of Benson being an angel with how she's turned out throughout this show's run is pretty damn laughable honestly.
All in all this was a poorly-written episode with shoddy reasoning that just manages to make the show look as though it's several years past it's due date.
Also on a personal note, the artist's "paintings" look like stuff you'd find on deviantART. No, scratch that. There are drawings and paintings done by other struggling artists on that site that look much better than the ones featured in this episode.
Remember When SVU Didn't Traffic in Caricatures and Pandering?
bkkaz14 April 2022
Someone made the comparison to Lifetime TV movies, and that's apt. They're nearly all the same plot, and they feature simplistic types (the "good girl," the "bad boy," "small town America" even though they're mostly made in Canada, absolutely no minorities except sometimes a close friend to show they're not racist, etc.). They're cardboard, with formulaic scripts and cardboard characters played by soap opera types with little depth or nuance.
That's this point in the arc of SVU's evolution from a semi-police procedural for years to tripe and melodrama. This episode is a good example. We get the struggling artist who moonlights as a stripper (or is it the other way around?), with her doofus-y skateboarder-type boyfriend. She's sexually assaulted by a hulking, arrogant professional athlete (oh, and he's Black and she's White). Of course, when she goes to report it, she's met by a blue wall of toxic masculine disdain, until she was must "Three Billboards" style take matters into her own hands and get the attention of the crusading SVU.
SVU is no longer an investigatory unit. You know, that goes in, does interviews and collects facts, and then makes arrests if warranted. They're an advocacy group. The victim is always right. False accusations never happen. No one is ever drunk, mentally ill, or suffering from faulty memories or confusion. It's crystal clear who the perpetrator is, and apparently, SVU's challenge is not in sorting through the many sometimes changing stories and questionable witnesses to find the truth but fighting an establishment determined to keep the victims -- invariably pretty women -- down. That they're part of that establishment seems to escape them, as does any hint they could ever do wrong. It's the stuff of comic books or Lifetime movies.
By the way, you can tell how maudlin and formulaic an episode will be if it starts with a semi-folksy pop music montage by a female vocalist.
That's this point in the arc of SVU's evolution from a semi-police procedural for years to tripe and melodrama. This episode is a good example. We get the struggling artist who moonlights as a stripper (or is it the other way around?), with her doofus-y skateboarder-type boyfriend. She's sexually assaulted by a hulking, arrogant professional athlete (oh, and he's Black and she's White). Of course, when she goes to report it, she's met by a blue wall of toxic masculine disdain, until she was must "Three Billboards" style take matters into her own hands and get the attention of the crusading SVU.
SVU is no longer an investigatory unit. You know, that goes in, does interviews and collects facts, and then makes arrests if warranted. They're an advocacy group. The victim is always right. False accusations never happen. No one is ever drunk, mentally ill, or suffering from faulty memories or confusion. It's crystal clear who the perpetrator is, and apparently, SVU's challenge is not in sorting through the many sometimes changing stories and questionable witnesses to find the truth but fighting an establishment determined to keep the victims -- invariably pretty women -- down. That they're part of that establishment seems to escape them, as does any hint they could ever do wrong. It's the stuff of comic books or Lifetime movies.
By the way, you can tell how maudlin and formulaic an episode will be if it starts with a semi-folksy pop music montage by a female vocalist.
This show needs to go
marysammons-4222022 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I had high hopes for this season because I thought the first episode was very good. But they've gotten steadily worse since. How do rape cases get to court with ZERO evidence? The victim was hardly sympathetic. She paints these ridiculous billboards. Frankly the actors are phoning it in. Even Mariska seems old and tired. Carisi is just flat out wrong as a DA. They should've just hired a new actor to do it or brought back Cabot or Novak. Kat is just annoying and Judge Barth a sleazy defense attorney? It's like what show am I watching? I see Ed Tucker makes an appearance in the next episode. One of the worst characters ever been on the show. If this is the best SVU can do now it's time to hang it up.
Just not that good
marysammons-4222017 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I don't know what it is but this season is just boring. Plus how do you justify arresting someone for rape without evidence? There was no rape kit, no DNA. Just a clearly unstable woman who cries rape by a famous celebrity. And she took money from him. I still don't think Carisi as a DA makes any sense. Bring him back to squad and get another ADA. I think this show should just hang it up after this season. It's tired and the stories are hackneyed.
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