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Richard Belzer, Dann Florek, Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Stephanie March, Christopher Meloni, B.D. Wong

The Law & Order franchise is second only to the Simpsons to be the longest running television show. Through its success, the police drama has spawned three similar productions that crossover into different realms of the criminal world and guardians of the law. One of the descendants from the original series is Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, also known as SVU, which deals sensitive crimes of sexual nature. Each episode follows the complete circle of the crime. From the crime to the legal consequence portrayed through the eyes of the prosecutors. However, the focus of the series seems to rest on the investigators in the SVU and their investigative work, which reveals gruesome crimes such as rape and incest. ***

The opening of the second season brings an episode, Wrong is Right, that possess all the intrigues necessary to continue to fascinate the audience, as it did during its initial season. It simply continues where season one left off, as the repercussions of a psychological evaluation where two of the main characters shared their thoughts and actions. Detective Stabler’s (Christopher Meloni) work begins to drastically affect his personal life, as his daughter witnesses a gruesome crime. Meanwhile, Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Detective Munch (Richard Belzer) continue to work with dreadful crimes while Captain Cragen (Dann Florek) helps his squad whenever needed. During this initial and difficult episode of SVU, Detective Tutuola (Ice-T) arrives after having been transferred from the narcotics department. ***

The first episode helps set up the rest of the season, which ends with the season finale where a serial killer is on the loose. Every episode in between also contains grisly themes such as stalkers, child molesters, and prostitution among many other crimes that fall under the SVU jurisdiction. All episodes present some level of discomfort, as the audience gets to experience how the main characters reacted to the crimes and how they confront these crimes. The SVU is the most controversial of Law & Order’s off-shoot, which with its dreadful themes attracts attention to why people commit such ghastly crimes. It also provides an interesting perspective on the human psyche, as it affects the characters in the series. Ultimately, the second season of SVU presents a very good experience that provides suspense and drama. *** ---

A decent image will help improve the value of this DVD collection of SVU season two, as color and details are clear and distinct. However, there are some edge enhancements and shimmer present when viewing the DVD. The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sounds fine with easily comprehensible dialogue and clean action sounds when needed. The DVD does not require any extensive surround sound, even though there are moments when some rear sound could helped enhanced the suspense. *** ---

There are two interviews present in the DVD set and both are very brief. In the first interview, Mariska Hargitay talks about how she transitioned from ER to SVU and how it is to work with a subject matter as tough as what is applied in the SVU series. Christopher Meloni provides the second interview and he shares the same information, as Hargitay. Sex Crimes and Storylines presents comments and insight of the cast in regards to the SVU’s theme and how difficult it is to work with these controversial issues. In the Fun Set extra, behind the set footage and interviews offer a little light on what happens when they do not shoot and how they manage to have fun regardless of the tough stories that they film. A real portrayal of the life of a SVU detective is shown through the Real SVU feature, which helps the audience understand how tough it must be to work with these kinds of crimes. Due to time constraints a televisions series can only be a certain amount of time, and in the deleted scenes section the audience can see a number of these scenes that did not made it past the editing table. *** ---

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - The Second Year is a terrific television series that offers some light on a segment of the police profession that most people desire not to hear about. Nonetheless, NBC has been brave enough to create a TV series that discusses the dreadfulness of sex crimes in a clever and lawful manner. Those initiated to SVU should know that this show is definitely worth a viewing, as each episode will provide something new and ghastly. Yet, awareness could maybe help these crimes from surfacing and prevention could maybe be a little easier, as understanding for the victims is augmented through this excellent television show. ***