I found this episode to be a great example of the old-school L&O bait and switch. You think it's going one way, then the evidence pulls the story into a completely different (and very disturbing, at least for me) direction. We start out with a couple (on the verge of a break-up, unbeknownst to one party) on the way to rent a movie, when one of them ends up shot during a robbery, which actually turns out to be a hit...on a first-grader. I must say it was nice to see Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years) again, albeit in a very heartbreaking role. Ari Graynor (a dead ringer for a younger Renee Zellweger) does a terrific job in a rather unsympathetic role. The plot thickens pretty quickly, and the victims pile up, on all sides.
5 Reviews
A soul damaged
TheLittleSongbird1 October 2020
This was another episode that really stuck with me on first viewing five or six years ago, the time when 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' on re-watches of later episodes was starting to grow on me (while still preferring the earlier seasons). Not an easy watch and left me very disturbed and saddened. As well as completely shocked by the big plot twist, one particular line and the amorality of the perpetrator. Of the Season 4 episodes, "Damaged" really stood out.
Of the twenty five episodes of Season 4, "Damaged" still is one of the best or at least one of my favourites of the season. It also is for me one of the best episodes of the early seasons and the best 'Special Victims Unit' episode since "Dolls" (am not sure how popular an opinion that will be). Everything that was memorable on first viewing about "Damaged" continued to be memorable in all six of my re-watches and would go as far to say that it got even better with each viewing.
What seemed like quite an ordinary case at first turned out to be increasingly not so ordinary, in a good way. The best of ways even. The twists and revelations keep on coming, each more unsettling than the other, until we get to a major plot twist concerning the truth of the responsible (both who and why) that is a strong contender for the most shocking of the season. It didn't even cross my mind that it was them on first viewing and the shock value of the truth hasn't worn off. Which is what is so striking actually about "Damaged" and what makes it such a memorable episode.
As said, the perpetrator is both chilling and fascinating. One could argue that, like Huang does, they are a tortured soul. Or if they are just amoral. Considering their actions, why the crime was committed and what lengths they went through, a large part of me would lean towards the latter, did think at first when they became suspected that it was the former but that changed towards the end.
Production values are as professional as usual and visually like the original 'Law and Order' and 'Criminal Intent' this aspect has come on quite a bit since the show's inception (and they were good to begin with). The music is haunting while not intrusive or overused. The writing is tight and thoughtful, with one especially unforgettable line. The "I'm already dead" line is one of those lines that chills one to the bone. The story as said is riveting and never gets obvious or confused, and we have a lot thrown at us throughout the course of the episode.
Can't fault the performances, all the regulars are strong and perfectly convey how much the case disturbs them. Ari Gaynor is terrific too especially later on.
In summary, wonderful and one of the season's best. 10/10
Of the twenty five episodes of Season 4, "Damaged" still is one of the best or at least one of my favourites of the season. It also is for me one of the best episodes of the early seasons and the best 'Special Victims Unit' episode since "Dolls" (am not sure how popular an opinion that will be). Everything that was memorable on first viewing about "Damaged" continued to be memorable in all six of my re-watches and would go as far to say that it got even better with each viewing.
What seemed like quite an ordinary case at first turned out to be increasingly not so ordinary, in a good way. The best of ways even. The twists and revelations keep on coming, each more unsettling than the other, until we get to a major plot twist concerning the truth of the responsible (both who and why) that is a strong contender for the most shocking of the season. It didn't even cross my mind that it was them on first viewing and the shock value of the truth hasn't worn off. Which is what is so striking actually about "Damaged" and what makes it such a memorable episode.
As said, the perpetrator is both chilling and fascinating. One could argue that, like Huang does, they are a tortured soul. Or if they are just amoral. Considering their actions, why the crime was committed and what lengths they went through, a large part of me would lean towards the latter, did think at first when they became suspected that it was the former but that changed towards the end.
Production values are as professional as usual and visually like the original 'Law and Order' and 'Criminal Intent' this aspect has come on quite a bit since the show's inception (and they were good to begin with). The music is haunting while not intrusive or overused. The writing is tight and thoughtful, with one especially unforgettable line. The "I'm already dead" line is one of those lines that chills one to the bone. The story as said is riveting and never gets obvious or confused, and we have a lot thrown at us throughout the course of the episode.
Can't fault the performances, all the regulars are strong and perfectly convey how much the case disturbs them. Ari Gaynor is terrific too especially later on.
In summary, wonderful and one of the season's best. 10/10
Pretty poison.
johngmurray-5796825 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
One of the best fourth season episodes. A little girl shot and.lefy brain dead in a video store robbery is discovered to have gonorrhea. The SVU detectives ,working the case with Detective Deuthorn, arrest Joey Fields after the older sister claims he raped her and the little one. They are shocked when a videotape appears showing big sis orchestrating the abuse of little sis. There's a good scene where Cabot persuades Judge Petrovsky to tank the immunity deal that Missy's weaselly lawyer Roger Pressler got for her, after which Petrovsky reams out Cabot for not having a murder indictment against the girl yet. Joeys lawyer dad helped Cabot after the DA dropped the death penalty against his son. The final scene where you see Missy's true colors is chilling. The performances are good from the regulars and frequent flyer Judith Light as Donnelly. The guest cast is also good, especially Dan Lauria and Glynnis O'Connor as Missy and Rebecca's devastated parents. Michael Gaston is also good as Malcolm Fields. But the topper is Ari Graynor,who delivers a riveting,chilling turn as beautiful but coldly sociopathic Missy.
Great writing!
akicork20 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Another brilliant episode: I salute all the writers who keep producing interesting, complex stories time after time, often over decades. They labour on this series and its family, NCIS, CSI and their offshoots, Dick Wolf's other venture in the "Chicago" universe, The L Word, Blue Bloods, and many other series in the US. And it's not just Hollywood doing the work - in the UK Silent Witness has been running for 26 years, and there are many others. Casualty/Holby City, Midsomer Murders, Dr Who, Dixon of Dock Green, where to stop? Not to mention the Granny of all TV series, Coronation Street, after which Peyton Place was productionally modelled in the US, and on UK radio The Archers, which is now broadcasting somewhere about its twenty thousandth episode. Sorry for that blurp - I was just overcome by a realisation of the effort from the writers that drives all these series. Back to this era! Here we have a trilogy of evil. In these three last episodes, Juvenile, Resilience, and Damaged, we are presented with these three, child, adult and adolescent faces of pure evil. Time to stop - we are done.
One amoral sociopath
bkoganbing28 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Ari Gaynor stands out in this SVU episode about an amoral teenage sociopath who orchestrates a hit on her 6 year old sister. Part of her problem is that she was a foster child whom parents Dan Lauri and Glynis O'Connor adopted while the little girl was their natural child. But that's only part of the issue.
The hit-man in this case was young Christopher Denham a mixed up and horny teen who was the clerk behind a video store counter. He was going out with Gaynor while she was also going out with another guy who was a street kid whom she set up to kill the little girl making it look like she got into the crossfire. Forensics totally discredits that story.
And Stephanie March initially backs the wrong horse charging Denham with the crime with poor Denham taking the full weight of the crime. And if you think that that is the end of Gaynor's depravity you would be wrong. This girl is as evil as Jane Greer from Out Of The Past.
Erik Palladino makes the first of two appearances as David Duethorn, a homicide detective who works this with the SVU squad. Why are they in this in the first place. That's part of Gaynor's depravity.
The hit-man in this case was young Christopher Denham a mixed up and horny teen who was the clerk behind a video store counter. He was going out with Gaynor while she was also going out with another guy who was a street kid whom she set up to kill the little girl making it look like she got into the crossfire. Forensics totally discredits that story.
And Stephanie March initially backs the wrong horse charging Denham with the crime with poor Denham taking the full weight of the crime. And if you think that that is the end of Gaynor's depravity you would be wrong. This girl is as evil as Jane Greer from Out Of The Past.
Erik Palladino makes the first of two appearances as David Duethorn, a homicide detective who works this with the SVU squad. Why are they in this in the first place. That's part of Gaynor's depravity.
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