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.