User Reviews

And no, I'm not just saying that. Although it's out there as far a realistic set up, I love the cheesy stuff they say and the guy at the end creeps me the hell out. I've been using the Wit Billions screen name for years because of this episode. It's a fun ride, if you don't take it seriously.

Another reviewer has labeled this episode the "Spock's Brain" of L&O:SVU, and yes, it really is that embarrassingly bad. The red-herring sleepwalking sex bit, somewhat derided in at least one other review here, actually did make sense, but nothing that came after it did. The story felt like it was written by a bunch of adults who are trying to be "hip" about stuff that today's youth are doing but actually have no idea what they're talking about. And the final scene, in which poor Kevin Tighe was called upon to make a laughably insane premise seem plausible... oy.

(P.S.: For those who don't get the reference, Spock's Brain (1968), the first episode of the third and final season of Star Trek (1966) (1966-69), is widely considered, to the point of having become something of a cliche, to be the rock-bottom worst episode of the entire series.)

"Avatar" is one of the very few earlier season episodes of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' episode to do next to nothing for me on first watch. The idea already had turned me off as there was the worry of it being ridiculous, strange and exploitative, but on first watch the episode struck me as one that started off well but quickly lost its way and got worse with each minute. Watched it recently again, like most 'Special Victims Unit' episodes, for the third time as there have been episodes that grew on me quite a bit on re-watch.

Sadly, "Avatar" is not one of those episodes. Actually thought the flaws were more noticeable this time and even more problematic than before and noticed more along the way. It is such a shame that Season 9 went from a very solid season opener, with one of the show's best guest star performances, to one of the worst episodes of the early seasons and the worst since Season 7's "Alien". As said, the idea was not a promising one to begin with and the execution of the idea was everything that was feared would be the case and worse. So my mind was not changed in any way.

By all means, "Avatar" was not an irredeemable episode as such. Kevin Tighe brings out every ounce of mileage he could and gives a quite creepy performance, more so than the episode and character deserved. The acting actually on the whole is very good, no problems with the regulars. As said, the episode does start off promisingly and surprisingly quite graphic for 'Special Victims Unit' at this stage of its run.

The production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The direction is quite taut to begin with.

It is really infuriating though that the first ten minutes were rushed through and then completely discarded, what was the point of it if you were going to do nothing with it and do nothing with an issue that is a complicated and divisive one in itself (and also would have made for a much more interesting episode). Sadly, the rest of the story is a choppy, ridiculous and erratically paced mess that has no tension or suspense. When it comes to surprises too, only the identity of the perpetrator at first was a shock and the surprises were actually too few. Beyond the first ten minutes, "Avatar" fails to come to life with a dull pace, some jumping about and a real ignorance of virtual technology.

Furthermore, the case is more excessively strange than disturbing and gets more and more ridiculous with each minute. Some of it even gets very confusing and too reliant on coincidences, one of the biggest offenders being the very melodramatic and contrived ending. The script can be very ropy and lacks tautess and flow. The police work is truly sloppy and unprofessional, such as Olivia's confidentiality breach. As bad as this sounds, "Avatar" also didn't make me root for the victim as much as ought once it is revealed what she was up to.

Overall, very underwhelming. 4/10.

The rape of a young woman by the sleepwalking boyfriend of her sister turns into an investigation of kidnapping when said sister is kidnapped. I can't believe sleepwalking or not there ain't some culpability here.

But as to the main focus of the episode it turns out that the victim was into these virtual reality games and a person she was playing with decided to take into the real world. Kevin Tighe who used to save live on Emergency in his later years has taken to playing some despicable villains and quite well. Usually these characters Tighe plays are clever but truly demented.

Tighe is very good but he's asked to carry a very heavy load in this SVU story. And the ending is really quite off the wall.

Not one of the better episodes.

This is the kind of episode that happens when the writers are OUT of ideas. It's a very silly premise. It's almost cartoon like Mariska must have been embarrassed having to say those lines Now that I'm rethinking it I'm wondering if a (1) would have been more appropriate Love L&O Hate this episode Can this be the last line please?

Apparently not so let me restate it so that I can finish filling out this form. This episode is terrible. It's not insightful or compelling. There is one actor, the abductor, I forget this name but he is good in the episode and maybe the girl they find but the dialogue is trite and stupid. Can I please be done with this review now that I have 10 lines?

First, can't believe this show is still running. Ice T shod be running the show and not Benson. Anyways, during this episode Detective Benson committed a serious crime. Not sure if she's aware that she cannot disclose any health information about a person to strangers or people not privy of knowing. She disclosed the kid's health information to the girl's father without the kid's consent. Shaaammme on you Benson.

I love SVU, it is my comfort show, but I had to put it out somewhere how bad this episode is, doesn't make any sense, the acting and idea are awfully executed, it is all over the place, so far from the quality that this show has, my suggestion, better to skip it and if I could I would erase it or something, I could even say that it is the worst episode I have ever seen from any series ever, I think any riverdale episode makes more sense than this.

I need to include more words so I will keep ranting about how horrendous this episode is, I hope whoever wrote this episode had some sort of illumination and changed careers, because this is just an act of terrorism to television.

P. S. PLEASE DO NOT WATCH.