Law and Order - Special Victims Unit – Year Seven:
2005-2006 Season (Universal DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: B+
Though
the episodes of Law and Order: Special
Victims Unit seem to blend together after a while, Season 7 seems to standout as a breakthrough season. While fans all over the world were captivated
by the mounting excitement of each new and brutal case that the SVU team
headed, they may have been missing out on the tension that was building within
the department itself. More than ever
the officers of the Special Victims Unit are at wits end, the cases and their
personal lives having taken their toll and now their mental stability is
hanging on by a thread. The escalating
tension between partners Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Chris Meloni)
is obvious more than ever and it is only a matter of time until the pot boils
over.
No
significant cast changes (thank God) were done this season, but there were a
great number of guest stars. Guest stars
like Brittany Snow, Mark McGrath, Dean Cain, and the brilliant Marcia Gay
Harden all graced the SVU and managed to shine through without making it seem
like a campy variety hour.
Mariska
Hargitay gives the performance of her life this season, especially in the
episode 911. After the SVU team gets a disturbing call
from a molested 9-year old girl, they are pitted against the clock and multiple
dead ends as they try to find the girls location. Olivia (Hargitay) stays on the phone with the
girl the entire time as detectives try to close in on the victim. After being nominated in 2003, 2004, and
2005; in 2006 (Season 7) Mariska Hargitay finally won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She was also nominated in 2007. Chris Meloni was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in Season 7, but
did not win. If nothing else, the
multiple award recognitions plus the already outstanding reputation of the
series should stand as a testament to its greatness.
Law and Order: Special Victims
Unit is the best Law and Order series, period. It is solid, entertaining, heart wrenching,
and builds up such an unreal amount of tension that you at times forget it is
only television. The sad part is that in
many cases it is not ‘just television’ as the series tears arches right from
the headlines. In the scary world we
live in Law and Order: SVU does a
great job in helping us not to forget that there are many people, young and old
alike, who need our help. I can only
hope that there are real officers out there that are willing to put their lives
and sanity on the line for the countless victims out there.
The
technical features on this 22 episode, 5-Disc set are on par with many other
series’ releases and remain simple, but the SVU releases seem to be slowly upgrading with time. With the
series being filmed in 16:9 aspect ratio HD since 2003 the Widescreen 1.78 X 1
image once again looks very nice and has managed to fix most of the light/dark
issues that were viewed in previous seasons.
The detail issues could still stand to be fixed up a bit, though once
again better than previous releases. The sound quality just keeps getting
better than each previous release in its Dolby Digital 5.1 Surrounds, with
little too no distinct issues and only the occasional occurrence in which the
voices sound distant.
Sadly
there are no extras on this release, which is odd considering all of the hype
this season received; but maybe the next release will make up for this one’s
shortcomings.
This
unforgettable series is a must. Whereas
this series has been reviewed in the past as ‘lacking a rewatchable quality,’ Season Seven stands out as one of the
best, by pushing emotion and tension to its limits.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
For more SVU praises:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6870/Law+and+Order
