I don't know how most people feel, but for the past ten or so years Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has pounded itself into the mainstream, completely trumping on anything that the original show is doing as well as the mundane attempts by Criminal Intent.

The stories are harder hitting dealing with rape, murder, perversion, brutality, and all things unpleasant and the detectives that work on these cases are so developed (especially to this point in the ninth season) that you are truly moved by them. The Ninth Year came out on DVD in May, but is available for stream on Netflix. After a sick day in bed of watching this non-stop, 797 minutes, I can tell you that a) this is the best season of the show so far and b) I don't have a life.

If you're not familiar with the show, you follow the two main detectives, Benson and Stabler (Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni), and their allies Detective Munch and "Fin" (Richard Belzer and Ice-T) as they piece together the mysteries of a murder or rape or what have you in each episode. Superbly acted, these characters handle these situations with a realistic vibe and a nature that is respectful to the victims (of real-life trauma), but also hardnosed and not politically correct with the bad guys--and I love that.

In the Ninth Year, SVU pulls no punches--there are some seriously intense episodes where I found myself on edge for each one. Unlike previous seasons, there aren't any filler episodes or ones that lack any emotional integrity-this season does not mess around the subject matter is as powerful as every before.

One episode pits the team against a he said-she said battle between a student and a teacher who say they were raped by each other (Melissa Joan Hart guest-stars as the teacher and my childhood is shattered because this time Clarissa can't explain it all). Yet again there is another technology themed episode called Avatar dealing with a predator stalking an online role-playing game after a woman is kidnapped.

There's an episode titled Harm that's a really hard hitting one that has the story playing way outside the boundaries of the show relating to a psychologist getting arrested for her torture methods leading to the death of a former Iraqi prisoner--one of the saddest episodes here and one that hits close to home. A new FBI agent is added to the roster in Signature where a serial killer is tramping around NYC and has taken a prisoner-but will the team find her before it's too late?

Unorthodox involves the rape of a little boy and his fainting after the blood loss at school prompting an investigation into the crime--another episode that isn't for the faint of heart as it's very graphic. In the episode Blinded Stabler gets attacked by a serial rapist that causes short-term blindness. One of the most interesting cases is the one here called Paternity involving someone stealing a big bulk of cryogenically frozen fertilized eggs from a clinic-the team has to get them back before the embryos die and find out who is responsible, for what reasons.

Something weird that happened in the show was that Munch didn't have a lot of screen time, which was a disappointment because I find him to be the comedic relief in a show as dark as this and his ramblings make him one of the more entertaining aspects of the show.

He was replaced it seemed by Adam Beach as Detective Lake to be Fin's partner and while Adam Beach definitely was a worthy aspect of the show-especially in this season's finale (!), I miss the Munch.

And Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak is completely out of control this season where she gives the detectives a hard time every episode, gets blinded by her own priorities, and ultimately leads to a very big deal for her at the end of the season.

The character development is still awesome as can be with Benson and Stabler's working relationship at an all time high. I didn't find there to be a lot of sexual tension this season as Stabler is back with his wife (long story) and there is a huge turning point in the show involving all of that, which actually made me jump out of my seat and had me sweaty palmed for the remainder of the show.

Benson has a hard-hitting episode where she has to go undercover in a Women's Penitentiary to find out who's been raping and abusing the women there and it leads to one of the strongest climaxes of any of the shows available in this season with a very graphic sequence that gets your blood-flowing (and made me very antsy).

The best episode, by far on here, is Authority, which guest-stars Robin Williams (yes, THE Robin Williams) as a man who calls fast food establishments and forces the employees to conduct criminal activities under the guise of an authority figure. Williams acted superbly in this (has anyone seen One Hour Photo? Insomnia?) and the conflicts raised in this one hits the cast the most--though the ending was a bit/very lame.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is one of the best, grittiest shows on cable and while they have slowly gone the way of technology ("Oh, the A.D.A. just texted me with the results of...") and have started using more forensic science (a la C.S.I.), it still keeps things extremely fresh and edgy. My girlfriend always gives the format of the show a bunch of crap as "you can tell where the twists are going to be in the running time", "the first half is the investigation/the second half is the trial", "He's the bad guy!", blah blah blah, but this season is way different. The format keeps things very intense, surprising, and goes in directions in which the show has never gone before.

The only thing you need to know is that The Ninth Year is no different than previous years--it has spectacular episodes that eat at the heart of the viewer (without going into that hazy territory of manipulation), characters that you care for and root for, and stories that are very well told that may strike you off guard. While this is more of the same as far as the show is concerned, it's amped to a new level of graphic nature and you will definitely be satisfied and a bit moved by the time it's over. This is a must-buy as far as primetime television is concerned and it's urgent that you watch it.

© Jason Haskins, 2009

Recommended:
Yes