Review: 'Law & Order: SVU' "Father's Shadow", An Emmy-worthy Episode

I don't want to spend a whole post recapping, so I'll send anyone who flies through here to All Things Law and Orders Recap/Review of "Father's Shadow".

My simple review of "Father's Shadow" is, The best Law & Order: SVU episode of the 13th season and likely Mariska's best in 5 years! Writers Warren Leight & Julie Martin, kudos! 5 very high points of this episode:

Miranda Lambert's debut, she delivered some very believable acting, I was shocked to see she was only seen in two scenes, she did marevelous for someone who's never acted before! And a plus, she's a fan of SVU (who could blame her).

Kelli Giddish, a few of us have seen her on the NBC canceled Chase, so we know what she can do. She was seen minimally this episode (she has a Rollins-centric episode next week) but I feel in this episode she's doing a LOT better playing Rollins (even if it were short scenes) than she has in earlier episodes in the season. Don't shrug on Kelli just yet folks.

Danny Pino, a few good men, the writers should write Nick Amaro like the did last night, he seemed to "come out" more in "Father's Shadow". He got smart with BC Mike Cutter (Linus Roache) and he just seemed to be playing the SVU equivalent of his Cold Case character, Scotty Valens (not Elliot Stabler, Chris Meloni). Hope we see more of this from Amaro in the future.

Cameron Monaghan (Shameless) portrayed a disturbed teen named Eddie Sandow in Law & Order: SVU episode, "Father's Shadow".

Guest star Cameron Monaghan really shocked the world (or almost 7 million people at least) in "Father's Shadow", I think I'm going to start watching Shameless. His portrayal of the "rocked" teen Eddie Sandow was tops, best performance of someone young on SVU we've seen in a while. Monaghan was very believable and I found myself questioning his character and even in the end, feeling sorry for him. He had a selfish bastard rapist father (who doesn't, your lucky if you don't have to use any of those three words about your father) and his mother abandoned him. His scenes with Mariska Hargitay made me feel moved to applaud (the whole episode really). He deserves some kind of award for this episode of SVU!

Mariska Hargitay and Harry Connick, Jr. in the beginning of the SVU episode "Father's Shadow".

Star Mariska Hargitay; need I say anything? Mariska has done top notch work on SVU since the show's first seasons, even when the writing made you want to chunk your television set out the window! But "Father's Shadow" is proof of why Mariska Hargitay is frequently nominated for awards with her portrayal of Detective Olivia Benson. Mariska's delivery last night was simply breathtaking (again, moved to applaud), I was disappointed when the episode ends. It's episodes like "Father's Shadow" that shows Mariska Hargitay hasn't "lost her groove" after 13 years and that she and SVU itself still have life.

Even the ratings show that, SVU is likely the only NBC drama (excluding Smash premiere) that pulls well above 2.0 in the 18-49 age demo, even with the blasted competition from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS and Revenge on ABC. A big mistake for these 3 shows to be on on the same night at the same time. In final ratings SVU pulled 2.0 (18-49) and 6.55 (million viewers total).

To quote David Letterman back when NBC had that "Leno-O'Brien Tonight Show" issue in 2009-2010, NBC has the 10 o'clock dramas "that will leave you staring at your TV for days." I felt that when my local news came on. Now NBC's currently fairly good dramas are Law & Order: SVU, Grimm, and Parenthood really. Still shaky about Smash, Awake yet to premiere (looks pretty good, SVU's B.D. Wong is in it).

SVU, "Father's Shadow", 9.5/10, I'd recommend this episode for any SVU fan!

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs Wednesdays 10PM/9c on NBC.

Chris Meloni is NOT Replaced on 'Law & Order: SVU'

Everyone's got an opinion, and that's fine. 1st Amendment, Freedom of Speech/Religion/Opinion. I'm not trying to shut people (L&O: SVU Elliot Stabler/Christopher Meloni fans) up... but I am trying to stop people from judging Law & Order: SVU as it is now without watching it (more than 2 episodes in season 13).

Chris Meloni portrayed Detective Elliot Stabler since the series premiered in 1999, he left after season 12. Stabler shot a young girl in the sqaud room (episode "Smoked") and chose to quit in season 13 (episode "Scorched Earth").

People are quick to judge the show now without former lead Christopher Meloni aka "Stabler". Mimicry here: "I ain't watching SVU anymore. No Stabler, No Me. Hope SVU is canceled." Yeah, I follow the Twitter/Facebook feeds, you know who you are. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is not, "The Christopher Meloni/Elliot Stable" Show, it never was, even if the writing suggested it (thanks a lot Neal Baer, but he can't be totally blamed, he gave SVU some of it's best episodes in the earlier seasons).

Law & Order: SVU is about showing how detectives in the actual NYPD Special Victims Unit investigate some of the most shocking and brutal crimes - sex related crimes - and how those detectives interact with the district attorney's office and the Assistant DA's who prosecute these obviously careless offenders. It's not about one certain detective, it never was. All the Law & Order's from their inception have had casting changes, and expect them. (Even Law & Order: Trial by Jury and Law & Order: LA had cast changes in their first and only seasons).



Danny Pino (left) and Kelli Giddish (right) in the episode "Double Strands". They joined the cast of Law & Order: SVU as Detectives Nick Amaro and Amanda Rollins.

Danny Pino ("Cold Case") and Kelli Giddish ("Chase") - Detectives Nicholas "Nick" Amaro and Amanda Rollins - are NOT coming to SVU to replace Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay, they are there to be another set of detectives in the squad room with Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Fin Tutuola (Ice-T) being the lead detectives, and this season Sargeant John Munch (Richard Belzer) and Captain Don Cragen (Dann Florek) sharing the commanding officer duties. Pino and Giddish have slowly but surely warmed up to me, they ARE NOT Meloni and Hargitay, but if Mariska was to leave (God forbid, she's said she's staying with the show for now) I think I could watch them be the lead team.

Chris Meloni CHOSE to opt out of his contract, he CHOSE NOT to return. Sad as that is (I liked Stabler too) it's life, and life goes on. He's going to be in the 5th season of HBO's "True Blood". Meloni wanted to do other projects, he's portrayed angry Elliot Stabler for 12 years, he deserves a break! Will Meloni return to close out Stabler? - I hope so, but I'm not going to go all over the Internet and bitch and beg about it! If Meloni was fired, maybe, but Meloni left ON HIS OWN!

It's time to watch SVU go into the future. Bob Greenblatt has said; NBC's had "a bad fall" (he is to blame from canceling Law & Order: LA and not trying to revive it or the original flagship Law & Order). SVU is one of NBC's highest right now (which says something). We ALL (Stabler/Huang fans) need to support SVU, we need to see it get renewed on NBC for the next 20 years (not exaggerating).

I understand watching the show to see your favorite actor/actress, but if the show was that good with them and is still that good without them (thank you Warren Leight), why on Earth would you stop watching?! I know FOR A FACT that Chris Meloni wouldn't want fans to stop watching Law & Order: SVU JUST because he left! I used to watch CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for William Petersen's Grissom, I watched CSI after he left, but after he left; CSI's new writers didn't capture the same "pizzazz" the show used to have, to this day I can't stand to watch CSI or CSI: Miami.

But come on everyone, let's be a little smarter than this. I can't force people to watch, but I'm not going to sit idly by and let people not watching SVU bad mouth it because Stabler is out. And yeah, I hope NBC renews Law & Order: SVU season 14 (and more), they'd be even more foolish not to.

We've all heard the rule: "If you don't have something nice to say about someone, don't say it at all." Don't bad mouth the new SVU if you're not even watching it.

Everyone who's watching knows Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs Wednesdays 10/9c on NBC.