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The "Law & Order" franchise has been surprisingly sturdy.
Usually shows like this (a good example is the "Star Trek"
universe with too many spin-off's and a resulting fall off
in quality) doesn't do as well as its parent series. Perhaps
it’s the focus for "Law & Order: SVU" that makes the show
work so well. Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Stabler
(Chris Meloni) and Munch (Richard Belzer in a role carried
over from "Homicide: Life on the Street") tackle a number
of fascinating cases during the sixth season of the popular
show. For those who haven't seen the show the detectives
here investigate crimes of a sexual nature (hence the "Special
Victims Unit" subtitle). The couple of episodes of season
six were strong and the rest of the season although a bit
predictable and uneven was also worthwhile. The first episode
focuses on a kidnapping of a six year old girl. In the process
of the investigation it's discovered that a fertility doctor
used stolen embryos to make some of his clients pregnant.
This prompts a custody battle between the birth mother and
the child's biological mother. The second episode has the
detectives uncover a prostitution ring where women are smuggled
into the country and made into sex slaves. ***
As you can see the show doesn't shy away from controversy.
What makes the show work so well though are the strong performances
by cast members Chris Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard
Belzer and Dan Florek (with able support from B.D. Wong
and Ice-T). The other element that keeps the show from becoming
routine are the strong stories which seem ripped from the
headlines (they're inspired by them or so the producers
claim). The taunt direction and formula of the series acts
as comfort food for fans so that no matter how bad things
in the story, the show has a structure that provides for
fans to feel comfortable with the story and its outcome
(even if it is a negative outcome). ---
Image & Sound:
As with previous seasons, Universal has done a good
job with the transfer. Image quality is solid throughout
although occasionally a digital artifact will pop up but
it's so infrequent on this set that it is hardly worth noting.
Audio sounds quite good with dialogue crisp and clear. ---
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