Law and Order Special Victims Unit – Quick Review of the 500th Episode – It Did not Disappoint!

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I have been watching Law & Order and all of its spin-offs since the original first started back in September of 1990.
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit began in September of 1999 and is now in its 23rd season.
The milestone (a pretty big one) 500th episode aired last Thursday night 10/21.

A few former characters made an appearance and the episode did a deep dive into Olivia’s past. Anyone who has watched and followed the show for any amount of time knows that Olivia Benson is a character who had a difficult relationship with her Mother. But her experiences allow her to empathize with many of the victims of rape, domestic abuse, etc. who come to her for help. She began in the show as an SVU detective and is now the Captain of her unit.

There was a lot going on this episode with a couple different storylines but they pulled it off really well with flashbacks to much earlier episodes to tie things together. I don’t want to give too many details but there is a twist in the story and it causes Olivia to rethink her past relationship with her first love when she was a teenager. Burton Lowe (played by Aidan Quinn) is a podcaster who is trying to get a wrongfully accused man freed from prison and Olivia’s former fiancée. Olivia’s mom was a college professor and he was one of her students. Olivia was 16 and he was 21. This former relationship isn’t revealed until further into the episode. Initially Olivia just introduces him as an old friend. But it forces her to relive unpleasant parts of her relationship with her Mom.

Characters who made reappearances included:

Nick Amaro (Danny Pino), Dr. Melinda Warner ( Tamara Tunie), and Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) who appeared on video chat with Olivia Benson.

What does it say about a show that makes it to 500 episodes? They have to be doing something right. At least that is what I would think.

Now there is talk about bringing back the Original Law and Order next year. OMG I wonder how many of the original characters they’ll get to come back for it. I am biased too. I will watch anything that has the Wolf Studios brand attached to it.