A spiritual healer is accused of using hypnosis to sexually assault a client.A spiritual healer is accused of using hypnosis to sexually assault a client.A spiritual healer is accused of using hypnosis to sexually assault a client.
Ice-T
- Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola
- (as Ice T)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAt the beginning of the episode, the building where the woman goes to see the healer is the same one where the website owner lived and was confronted by Olivia in the previous episode. You can tell from the entry with stairs and the red light next to the door.
- GoofsNear episode's end, Carisi shows Benson and Barba something incriminating he discovered against Trask and says it occurred 18 years earlier. When Barba calls the arresting officer as a rebuttal witness, he tells the defense attorney and the judge that the incident occurred 22 years earlier.
- Quotes
Odafin Tutuola: NYPD.
Declan Trask: What's going on?
Amanda Rollins: Look deep into my eyes. You're under arrest.
Featured review
Nothing spellbinding
Quite the opposite unfortunately. "Spellbound" actually had a very interesting concept, one of the most interesting of Season 18 and quite unique for 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit'. Really this is an episode with this good a concept that should have worked. Season 18 had a mix of interesting topics/concepts, ones that didn't sound appealing and ones that could go either way in execution, "Spellbound" did sound promising on paper.
But it sure didn't deliver on the execution. While not quite the worst episode of Season 18 (not quite as bad as "Imposter", "Heightened Emotions", "Rape Interrupted" and "Conversion"), but one of the lesser episodes for me and the biggest potential waste. A prime example of having such a promising idea and doing practically nothing with it in a poorly paced and sloppily executed episode with some of the worst legal portions in a long time for 'Special Victims Unit'.
"Spellbound" has its moments. Visually, it is a slick episode, typical for 'Special Victims Unit' and the 'Law and Order' franchise, and one with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear past the early stages with the theme tune still memorable.
The beginning intrigues. Also thought that the acting from lead and supporting was good and successful in rising above what they were given to do.
However, a lot of things could have been done better. As said earlier on in the review, "Spellbound" has an interesting concept but practically nothing is done with it. What too little there is of a story is flimsy, confusing and with nothing unique. The pacing is all over the place. Far too long is spent on scenes that serve little to no relevance, scenes that drag, the opening is overlong, while the courtroom scenes are rushed and completely lack tension. The writing is tepid at best and lacks tautness. Olivia's dialogue is incredibly condescending here and after feeling for her in the excellent previous episode "Real Fake News" she is every bit as intolerable as she was in "Imposter".
Did find the courtroom scenes a bit of of a disaster actually other than the chemistry between Barba and Culhorn. The prosecution case itself is extremely weak to the point that the case could easily be thrown out and so many mistakes are made in how the case was conducted. Such as having too few witnesses, the lack of an expert regarding the hypnotising, not proving the validity of the recording and relying on the perpetrator to testify was one big risk. Barba is unrealistically incompetent, he doesn't usually make such rookie errors when building a case for the reasons already listed.
Overall, nothing spellbinding here. 4/10.
But it sure didn't deliver on the execution. While not quite the worst episode of Season 18 (not quite as bad as "Imposter", "Heightened Emotions", "Rape Interrupted" and "Conversion"), but one of the lesser episodes for me and the biggest potential waste. A prime example of having such a promising idea and doing practically nothing with it in a poorly paced and sloppily executed episode with some of the worst legal portions in a long time for 'Special Victims Unit'.
"Spellbound" has its moments. Visually, it is a slick episode, typical for 'Special Victims Unit' and the 'Law and Order' franchise, and one with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear past the early stages with the theme tune still memorable.
The beginning intrigues. Also thought that the acting from lead and supporting was good and successful in rising above what they were given to do.
However, a lot of things could have been done better. As said earlier on in the review, "Spellbound" has an interesting concept but practically nothing is done with it. What too little there is of a story is flimsy, confusing and with nothing unique. The pacing is all over the place. Far too long is spent on scenes that serve little to no relevance, scenes that drag, the opening is overlong, while the courtroom scenes are rushed and completely lack tension. The writing is tepid at best and lacks tautness. Olivia's dialogue is incredibly condescending here and after feeling for her in the excellent previous episode "Real Fake News" she is every bit as intolerable as she was in "Imposter".
Did find the courtroom scenes a bit of of a disaster actually other than the chemistry between Barba and Culhorn. The prosecution case itself is extremely weak to the point that the case could easily be thrown out and so many mistakes are made in how the case was conducted. Such as having too few witnesses, the lack of an expert regarding the hypnotising, not proving the validity of the recording and relying on the perpetrator to testify was one big risk. Barba is unrealistically incompetent, he doesn't usually make such rookie errors when building a case for the reasons already listed.
Overall, nothing spellbinding here. 4/10.
helpful•132
- TheLittleSongbird
- Nov 2, 2022
Details
- Runtime43 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD
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