Wednesday, March 26, 2008

"Law & Order: SVU" Recap & Review - "Snitch"

Law & Order: SVU
"Snitch"

Original Air Date: December 4, 2007

Kara - TwoCents Reviewer

When the first line of an episode is "Welcome, everyone, to the East River," you know you're in for a crazy episode. Eco-friendly activists find the body of a fifteen year old Nigerian girl, Nikkiel Kwambe and Benson and Stabler are quickly at the scene. The M.E. alerts them that Nikkiel has a circumcision scar and that she's in the country on a short term family visa so the next stop is to her family's address. A girl tries to tell them they'll have to come back later but they hear screaming and Benson and Stabler run towards the screams, only to discover a female circumcision about to be performed. They save the girl from that horror and find out where Nikkiel actually lives. A man claiming to be her husband flees and is caught and they come across a boy in the house wearing a shirt that says Lie or Die across a fake blood splatter.

Continue reading...

5 comments:

  1. Law and Order: SVU
    "Snitch"
    Original Air Date: December 4, 2007
    Kara - TwoCents Staff Writer

    When the first line of an episode is "Welcome, everyone, to the East River," you know you're in for a crazy episode. Eco-friendly activists find the body of a fifteen year old Nigerian girl, Nikkiel Kwambe and Benson and Stabler are quickly at the scene. The M.E. alerts them that Nikkiel has a circumcision scar and that she's in the country on a short term family visa so the next stop is to her family's address. A girl tries to tell them they'll have to come back later but they hear screaming and Benson and Stabler run towards the screams, only to discover a female circumcision about to be performed. They save the girl from that horror and find out where Nikkiel actually lives. A man claiming to be her husband flees and is caught and they come across a boy in the house wearing a shirt that says Lie or Die across a fake blood splatter.

    And so we get to the main storyline of the episode. Nikkiel's husband, Chuckwei is a witness against gang member King, played by Method Man. The neighborhood is flooded with shirts displaying messages like Lie or Die and they're used to warn people from telling the police about any gang activity they might see. There's also a website which posts pictures of witnesses and their addresses and most of those listed don't last a week after their address goes up. King is soon arrested at Nikkiel's funeral for lurking around and generally being arrogant enough to piss off the mild mannered detectives of the Special Victims Unit. His court case involves the least intense conversation between two lawyers in front of a judge that has ever been on TV and I had to remind myself they were discussing a case and not where's the best place to send your dry cleaning.

    Now the big shocker, the mid episode SVU twist that Chuckwei doesn't just have one wife, no, he has three! It would have been more of a shock if it wasn't plainly listed in the description that the episode was about a polygamist but it seems to be custom with SVU to give away the big twists in the descriptions or commercials. The ad will say "A twist you won't see coming!" and then it'll wait a second and Benson or Stabler will say something like "She was your sister!" It never fails.

    Chuckwei goes back and forth on whether or not to testify as a threatening note slipped under his motel door leaves him rattled. From the note we learn that, in theory, you can find out who sent a printed death threat by matching the printer roller marks on the paper and not through fingerprint analysis and magic, like I previously thought. Good to know. Turns out Sarah, one of Chuckwei's wives sent the note to get her family more police protection. She also killed Nikkiel after threatening to have her deported and beat up wife #2, Almani, so badly that she ended up in the hospital. That Sarah's a busy girl.

    Chuckwei decides to testify after all and at the trial, King flips out and flips the table over, lunging at Chuckwei, screaming that he'll kill everything he loves. On the way out, Benson asks Chuckwei if he's okay and Chuckwei says, "Yes. I am no longer afraid." Really? Because I'd be more afraid than ever. Your one wife is dead, another wife killed her and went crazy on your other wife and a big time gang member with access to the worldwide snitch archive is threatening the lives of your last remaining wife and all your kids. I would think that now, more than ever, would be the time to be afraid.

    All in all, it was not a very good episode. Part of the problem lies in the NBC ad department giving everything away but really, the story wasn't too interesting. Also, Stabler didn't kick down one door and I always find an episode lacking when that doesn't happen. He doesn't have to be trying to get into a suspect's apartment either. General anger towards a completely unsuspecting, undeserving door works just fine for me. So, NBC and SVU and any other three letter abbreviations that might apply here, I officially request more door destruction and less giving away your major twists.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Whoa, it turns out that Sarah, one of Chuckwei's wives sent the note to get her family more police protection. She also killed Nikkiel after threatening to have her deported and beat up wife #2, Almani, so badly that she ended up in the hospital.

    Order taking services

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not only that but the writers of SVU need to do better research before they decide to film episodes. I found myself growing increasingly irritated with this episode it's misleading, and shows the incompetence of the writers. First of all Circumcisions don't take place in Nigeria. the girl they found doesn't even posses a Nigerian name.. it's like the writer's just googled female African names and opted for the first one that popped up. they spelled and pronounced her husbands name wrong. the only people who have multiple wives are Muslims.. and they are the only ones who are legally allowed to do so. the song the women at the funeral were singing was off, not only that but it was Yoruba..judging by the names of the characters portrayed the writer's were trying to depict Igbos..way to group all of us into one category. the show sucked and just showed the immensity of ignorance on behalf on writers and producers of the show.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The girl at the front desk of the shop had a horrible accent, reminded me of Will Smith trying to be Dr.Bennet Omula(Concussion) I was iffy about continuing the episoede. As soon as I saw the women wearing dresses made out of Kente but they were trying to portray traditional Nigerians I needed to see if they would continue being ignorant or if what I had already seen was the extent. From the looks of these comments it isn't so I'm not going to finish this episode. It's sad this episode had potential but details are extremely important when portraying another culture, especially one that has been negatively.

    ReplyDelete

TheTwoCents Comments Policy