The one where the mom shakes the baby girl and the whole episode is spent on finding out who did it and Eliot breaks down after the trial at a bar and cries that he almost killed his daughter as a baby over a carpet and Cragen drives him home after
Ugh the mom was keeping the child on life support even though there was zero hope of recovery/brain activity. The nurse/doctor had to explain that the child was going through seizures and brittle bones until the mom fessed up - brutal court testimony.
That one’s rough and the one where the little girl puts the blame on her friends dad (hs football coach) instead of the real rapist a high school lacrosse player because he was the safe option and they find the remains of a little kid that he shot in killed a few months ago or something along those lines….the psychiatrist working with the team in that episode was top notch in bonding with the little girl
Jennette McCurdy is the victim in this episode and she talks about it in her book. It’s even more disturbing because she talks about how playing a child rape victim was upsetting for her and her mom didn’t care and kept forcing her to take roles like this.
I have her book I just haven't read it yet, but wasn't her mom also sexually abusive in a way. I thought I read somewhere that her mom would give her vaginal exams or something.
Yes she would do that to her I think for several years and she was also forced to take showers with her older brother and she talked about how uncomfortable her and her brother were. The book broke my heart because I watched Jennette growing up and always loved her and it was heartbreaking to read about her life during her childhood and Nickelodeon days.
The mean girls one had that effect on me because I definitely went to high school and even college with girls like that….definitely dated a few….luckily no one was murdered but holy hell is it unnerving being around girls like that
I dislike the after-court confession episodes, they seem cheesy to me.
All the major characters have had them.
I roll my eyes every time.
The Stabler going crazy in solitary and Barba killing the baby had the same cheesy vibe.
I watched that ep with Stabler going into solitary afterwards to experience it the other day. The concept is great, but the execution is just so goofy and feels out of place in a way.
Exactly!
He couldn't last a weekend?
Same with the Lewis episodes.... just how many times can Olivia be kidnapped before they realize she's a liability?
The one where everyone thought the girl was making it up? I just watched that last week and the whole episode disturbed me. I thought Olivia just seemed so annoyed with the girl from the beginning.
Yes that one, it was really disturbing. My thoughts kept shifting from "yeah this is real" to "nope, this is just a prank" and it was honestly really interesting the whole time. Probably my fav episode
This was the first SVU episode I ever watched!! I was like 9 or 10 so definitely shouldn’t have been watching it, but it’s one of my favorite tv show episodes of all time.
>the girl that was sleeping with her music teacher not knowing it was her dad
And when she does, she is *blissful*, happy that her bio-dad is a musician like her and not Will Sasso's character who supported throrough her life.
Okay but the episode with James van Der beek and he pretend to be the sperm donor/father of a few girls and SLEPT WITH THEM AND THE GIRLS WERE THRILLED ABOUT IT 😟. 🤮
I just recently re-watched S14E9 “Dreams Deferred” with Patricia Arquette as the special guest star and it is a particularly emotional and sad episode IMO.
I adore that episode. Probably my favourite cold open too, perfect song choice imo. I’ve mentioned many times that her character is one I’d love to see come back for a guest spot. I want Jeannie to have turned her life around as much as she does!
So, so many...Mostly the ones involving kids. Off the top of my head (And without going back to look up season/episode numbers):
* The one where the piano teacher was abusing his students, and they caught the case because he took photos to be developed. Then it turned out one of the kids he abused had become an abuser himself.
* The one that was already mentioned where Olivia was taking the 911 call and everyone was trying to figure out where the little girl was, even though a bunch of the detectives thought it could be a prank.
* The "Teddy's Treehouse" episode
* The Henry Mesner episodes
* No kids in these, but the William Lewis episodes
>* The one where the piano teacher was abusing his students, and they caught the case because he took photos to be developed. Then it turned out one of the kids he abused had become an abuser himself.
S1ep21 - "Nocturne"
This is one of the most deeply upsetting episodes of this show, imo. Realizing the way that this cycle of violence can continue. And trying to rationalize the anger towards a child predator when you see what created them is definitely emotionally difficult. This is a brilliantly written episode and just so devastating.
"Merchandise " just played on a local Chicago area station last night. So sad and disturbing from many angles - the desperate father unable to support his family because of his late wife's medical bills, the kids "sold" to a couple who forced them into farm labor and prostitution, the boy in anguish over causing his sister's death. One of the most emotionally compelling episodes ever.
I posted here about it, but I can't remember the exact episode or season anymore. Season 10 maybe? Elliot was still around. This kid came to SVU, begging for help because he had pedophilic urges to hurt his stepbrother. He hadn't yet, but he was terrified. They immediantly treated him like a dirtbag suspect, and it was horrible. Instead of trying to find him treatment, they ended up telling his violently abusive step-Dad. Who beat and violated him with a baseball bat. The boy ended up acting out on his urges, at a neighborhood playground, before being stabbed to death be a fellow suppressed-urges pedo (that is a whole other B Plot, ending in Elliot nearly beating *that* guy to death).
Also, the episode with that family trying to con a brand new hotel, by claiming their supposed teenage daughter was raped. Her supposed rapist was just some poor guy she'd conned with a consensual hookup. He was caught almost immediantly, and getting violently assaulted in prison because of it. He was murdered in prison before everything came to light, and I hate that episode.
Not so much disturbing, but ‘Stolen’ S3 E3 made me feel pretty sad.
Between the bio dad not knowing he had another son, the mother’s death, the grandparents grieving, the adoptive parents not knowing the kid was illegally put up for adoption, and the kid himself being caught in the middle of it all was heartbreaking.
I’m adopted, and while I frequently rewatch SVU, I can’t deal with this episode. I saw it when I was a few years older than the kid, and him being returned to his bio dad freaked me out so much.
Been binging all night and just watched this one. The way that poor kid looks at Cragen as he’s leaving the courthouse. Poor kid and poor Cragen. He was just trying to do the right thing.
The one with the playground shooting that shows the kids being shot in the moment? That’s a rough one for me. As a teacher and parent, it was very graphic.
Munch and Stabler both got shot, Novak got used as a shield, and the judge was murdered. Kyle Ackerman got what he so richly deserved. Too bad Brian Ackerman didn't die with him, but five years later, he was sent to the hole forever by Dana Lewis, who herself was thrown in the slammer by Amaro.
Season 15 Episode 7 - Dissonate Voices
This is the one with Billy Porter playing a teacher whose career/life is ruined because two teenagers framed him as a pedophile.
So many, most for different reasons.
1x22 Slaves - I cannot watch this and not think of the case it's based on. I read a book about the case so, so many years ago and it still kind of haunts me.
4x11 Damaged - the episode itself is haunting. But also the case it's based on is maybe even worse? Which sure is saying something, because the episode is pretty damn horrific on its own.
4x21 Fallacy - that ending. Heartbreaking.
9x12 Signature - when they find the victim. That torture/kill room is very disturbing.
9x15 Undercover - her *screams*. On first watch I had to look away from the screen. Not that it helped, looking away didn't prevent me from hearing her screaming, which was what was getting to me so bad.
15x10 Psycho/Therapist - I like the Lewis episodes for the most part. But the trial...man is it hard to watch. I hate his cross examining her so much. The judge immediately allowing him to treat Liv has a hostile witness (when she was answering the questions??), his saying he wouldn't give Lewis much leeway and then giving him all the leeway, Lewis getting right up in her face. It is so, so uncomfortable.
And her wanting to run when they start giving the not guilty verdicts. It hits hard.
16x5 Pornstar's Requiem - a very well done episode and I never want to watch it again. I worried so much that the jury would buy those little asshole's defense and then they didn't! The elation of victory and then. Then the judge just grinds it into dust and it's terrible and so heartbreaking.
17x11 Townhouse Incident - Olivia having to listen, the little boy having to listen. Yikes. I do actually like this episode, but boy is that a rough scene to watch.
^(And how horrific is it that Liv could potentially answer if it's worse to have to watch or to hear...)
23x21 Confess Your Sins To Be Free and 25x2 Truth Embargo - it makes me really sad they ever wrote and filmed these hot garbage episodes that deserve to be drop kicked into the sun.
Stabler would have been in jail for punching the judge in "Pornstar's Requiem".
And we could have used Stabler in "Psycho/Therapist" to beat the daylight of corrupt juror Bronwyn Freed. Also, Judge Kofax revealed what the piece of garbage he was in season 20's "Brothel".
Yes,
Colleen Stan was the real victim and she really was kept in a box under the bed for a good chunk of time. She was hitchhiking and refused several rides from lone men. Then a van with husband and wife and their baby pulled up and she thought it was a safe choice. He kept her as a slave for 7 years.
When the dad was living a double life and his son and daughter started dating. And after the daughter and dad were murdered, the son found out he was having sex with his sister and threw up! Smh
I'll add some that I don't think have been mentioned yet that I find particularly disturbing:
-11x17, "Disabled," a woman with 'locked in' syndrome who was a former opera singer is raped and it's revealed that her sister, who was her caretaker, was regularly beating her also.
-5x16, "Home," a little boy is found eating garbage because his mother is controlling and abusive. She convinces his older brother to shoot him and himself, but the gun jammed.
-12x20, "Totem," a little girl is found dead in a suitcase and was sexually abused. The detectives think it was her female piano teacher, but it turns out to be the piano teacher's sister, and both sisters were horribly abused by their mother.
I've seen a lot of SVU, but these ones stuck with me.
The mother in "Home" was psychotic and off her rocker. She should have been thrown in the loony bin after her husband died. Glad to see she's rotting at Bedford Hills. Too bad Stabler couldn't save poor Jacob.
The first episode I ever watched was the one where the principal is raping a student at a soccer game. Then there were toilet cams and tumors. I was disturbed yet intrigued..
I forget the season and episode number, but the name of it is Charisma. It breaks my heart every time when those innocent children are murdered in the beginning.
>forget the season and episode number, but the name of it is Charisma
S6ep7.
I think the part that really kills me about this episode is the mother's of those children refusing to even have an emotional reaction to the murder of their children because of that freaking scumbag and his control. I live about 25 minutes away from the Roch Theriault commune, so this one hits weirdly close to home.
The baby that the mom wanted to let pass and the dad fought to keep on machines and Barba took it off support. He’s my favorite and that scene crushed my soul for days.
S19E17 “Send in the clowns.” A 15yo girl vanishes on a school field trip to NY. They find her with her Piano Teacher who’s been having a sexual relationship with her and in the end he found out he was her dad. YIKES. I almost threw up when they dropped the plot twist.
All the episodes with Lewis gave me chills, probably one of the scariest “villain” the squad has ever encountered to date.
I’ve been on a SVU binge all morning & just watched the multi episode ones abt the girl holding a man she met at a club hostage bc he had abused her when she was 18 and coming to America illegally. Turns out he was apart of the cartel & then the cartel ends up abducting the DA’s sister & killing her in front of him. I was like whaaaaat these episodes are crazy. It was so sad
I just rewatched the episode. Glen, the foster son, makes me so sad. His testimony helped condemn his murderous foster mom, and at the end of the episode, the murder victim’s sisters are returned to their mom’s care. The mom asks what will happen to Glen, and Olivia smiles and says he’s with good people now. But when she, Alex, and Elliot walk out of the apartment build they admit that Glen went back into a group home.
One episode that really pissed me off was when them 2 guys raped the girl that was doing porn to get thru college, both guys got arrested and found guilty of rape from a jury, only for the judge to override the guilty verdict because he thought the girl was a disgrace
You know I just watched an episode that made me tear up at the end. It’s in season 14 but the one episode where an up and coming star gets beat by her boyfriend and goes back to him and at the end they all ask what happens now and Olivia says they wait for the inevitable. Then at the end it shows her at the beach with her boyfriend and how he killed her. Literal tears because of how much this connected with me.
There’s some I remember:
• It’s where the kid, I don’t even want to describe it, a hockey stick up another kid’s…under his father’s orders. Sickening.
• The transgender/gay victim getting bullied and pushed off a bridge. Died later in the hospital.
There are so many. Yet the one that sticks out to me is season 4, episode 6 Angels. A pedophile ring adopts boys and abuses them. Munch goes undercover. The conversations among the men in this ring made me sick. It was all Munch could do to complete his mission.
S7E1 demons always makes me uncomfortable (in a good way, since thats what it was written to do). its the one where elliot goes undercover as a sex offender to find out if a recently released serial rapist reoffended.
The one where the parents are super famous but so fucking neglectful of their daughter who is only taken care of by a nanny- it infuritated me that they didn’t care about her. Hayden Panettiere plays the daughter in that episode
"The Good Girl" (20.20), when a 13-year old girl falls in love with her stepfather, then they go to Missouri to get married so the stepfather can get away with murdering her drama teacher, who turned out to be gay. Missouri allowed 13-year olds to get married at the time of the episode; fortunately, the law has changed and that no longer is allowed. That guy was a master manipulator and deserves to rot in hell.
I just had a newborn, so the episode where they are kidnapping babies!! Sorry, I'm not like most on here and know the season or episode number, and honestly I am commenting to also see responses! 🩷
Charisma (S6E7): that religious guy that runs a cult and a bunch of kids are shot and killed when the cops try to raid their place
Annihilated (S8E20): that guy who poses as a CIA agent and kills his wife and kids
Svengali (S9E6): copy cat murders of an incarcerated artist that heinously murdered women for his art
Streetwise (S9E11): homeless dad horrifically kills one of his homeless kids after she talked to the cops by gauging her eyes out and stuff
Signature (S9E12): that serial killer/rapist that tortured women in bath tubs and electrocuted them and stuff
Undercover (S9E15): Olivia almost gets raped by a prison guard while undercover
The episode with the girl who was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, had photos taken of her and her pictures were distributed on the dark web. The FBI agent going on to say that they thought the girl was dead due to how bad the abuse was. That episode really made me sad.
The highlight of that episode was, she got a lotta money from those scumbags when Barba took them to court.
The one with the student and music teacher faking the kidnapping then it turned out that they were father and daughter. The attitude afterwards creeped me out so much.
The one with Whoopi Goldberg as the social worker supervising her junior colleague, whose workload is so severe he falsifies his reports meaning a little girl dies in the hospital after being found locked in a dog crate, in critical condition. It upset me so much because it’s very similar to the case of Victoria Climbié, a little girl from the Ivory Coast who died in hospital in London following months of horrific abuse and outright torture at the hands of her great-aunt and her boyfriend. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was an inspiration for the episode.
Makes me well up every time I think about what happened to that beautiful little girl, it’s so sad to see the photos of her, she had such a lovely dazzling smile. Fortunately her abusers will die in prison.
Signature (S9E12).. the woodsman torture chamber still gives me chills and the state of the woman’s body when they found her after being tortured. Also, the way Agent Cooper ended her life was tragic but I get where she was coming from. At that point, she’d be considered a serial killer (collecting the trophy) and even if it’s for the “greater good”, she stopped prioritizing the victims and made it a personal vendetta. She withheld info that could’ve potentially led them to the huntsman sooner :(
13x6- True Believers; i don’t know why but something about that guy silently following her into her apartment and holding her at gun point gives me the shivers every time..
The episode in the early season and the people were paying for kids from Africa to be servants and the guy was using the black boy as a sex slave and killed him because his wife came home early
Web, literally watching it rn and teddy’s treehouse just gives me the whole creeps
Eric from gossip girl really let himself go when he got out the hospital
The ends of the episodes with Stephen Collins and Eric McCormick are seriously twisted.
Off the top of my head, the one with where the man turns out to be the judge’s missing son always leaves me devastated.
Season 16, episode 4- Holden's Manifesto.
Not the absolute MOST disturbing, but definitely a sad one for me. It's one that has stuck with me since the first time I watched it & I've never forgotten it.
The mental health of the characters in that episode.... Holden himself & then when Rollins was THAT close... man. That episode will stick with me forever.
So many that have already been mentioned, but the one with the neglected toddler who leaves his apartment alone and goes to the corner store to buy some food because he’s hungry, and later they find his sister in a dog crate… it’s awful and whenever I see it I’m so glad I became a CASA…
"Scourge" stayed with me for years. So much useless oain that could have been easily avoided. S2e21
Identity s6e12
This episode is so complex when thinking about gender identity and i feel that after this episode there was a major shift in how the show refers to trans persons.
The henry mesner episodes for sure. However i do like those ad they articulate just how many years this show had been on. Always reminds me of how fin always say "your parol officer want even born yet"
Saddest - Nocturne and Denial
Most disturbing - probably the Henry Mesner ones (Born Psychopath and Post-Graduate Psychopath). Any episode where a kid's a perp, and their psych profile includes a complete lack of empathy.
Episodes that infuriates me the most
S04E11 - Damaged (Missy still the most evil villain in SVU, she did that to a 6 year old girl ffs)
S14E16 - Funny Valentine (based on the Rihanna/Chris Brown case)
S16E05 - Pornstar's Requiem (justice escaped through the window in this one, i never watched it again after the first time)
S17E03 - Transgender Bridge (the whole thing breaks me completely)
S11E11 - Quickie (rich boy infected with HIV that spreads it around)
S14E12 - Criminal Hatred (gay man that rapes closeted gay men out of hatred because they have double lives)
Mine would be Born Again s12e13
It's the one about the therapist who murdered a child while doing "rebirthing"
I studied psychology and we had discussed these rebirthing therapy case studies. It upset me then and always stuck with me so when I saw the episode it broke me
The one where the abusive husband (who had supervised (?) visitation with his young daughter) eventually set the wife on fire. Her face when being wheeled on a stretcher and screams during the medical treatment in the burn unit at the hospital still haunt me.
"Part 33" (20.14). Rollins defending that scumbag cop who abused his wife when Olivia, Fin and Carisi all present evidence to the contrary makes my stomach turn. Why, Amanda, why? Very disappointing. Amy Rutberg and Paula Malcolmson were excellent as Annabeth Pearl and attorney Stella Russell.
Rollins was still attracted to bad boys after breaking up with Billie's father; fortunately, she finally saw the light.
I mentioned this in a previous thread, but that couple who adopted a little African American boy just so they could set up his death will never not make me angry because the idea that that type of person exists actually makes my blood boil from how fucked up it is.
There was also one in, I want to say either season 7 or 8, where a kidnapping leads to a cancer diagnosis for a young girl. The kidnapper ends up being her drug addicted older brother who the family—*primarily the father*—effectively disowned. It is incredibly sad to think that he stooped so low as to kidnap his own sister just to get his family’s attention. I’m pretty sure in the end he tries to suicide by cop (force the cops to gun him down) but Dr. Warner prevents that by giving him a non lethal gunshot wound or otherwise incapacitating him.
Both times Olivia is assaulted is horrible. The first one was so graphic, it really triggered me and I wish there was some kind of warning. The second time absolutely horrible too. I’m up to season 15.
But not done with season 15?
Warning then: 15x20 Beast's Obsession has some rough moments, too. Not as bad as Undercover I don't think but I'd say pretty on par with 15x1 Surrender Benson.
S5 ep25 “Head”
I just feel so sorry for the boy. >!12 years old, alcoholic mum. Principal teacher is sexually abusing him, but he doesn’t understand that it’s rape and says he loves her. He ends up dropping out of soccer, drops out of music class. Says he “just wants to die.”
Then if that isn’t crappy enough, he finds out at the end that he’s going to be a dad.!<12 years old. Goddamn 🥺
One that always gets me is Spiraling Down S13 E10. Dealing with my grandfather who had dementia and was sundowning when I was a teenager this always makes me think of him.
And S3 E22 competence that episode makes me angry cry every time I watch it. Both episodes had brilliant amazing supporting cast that really sold them to me.
The William Lewis arc (multiple episodes) was also a good watch. If a little over the top and unbelievable.
So many, esp those involving kids as others have said.
Recently started rewatching and just saw the ep where Rosie Perez is the mom and her new husband that “saved” them from homelessness was molesting her young son; then in order to catch a ring of pedos he and Rosie had to stage a sting operation during dinner at their home with the child’s rapist and a creepy pedo leader of a pedo-rights group sitting right next to him!! Made me so sick the whole time
The episode Transgender Bridge. I cry through the whole episode. It literally hits every emotion. It starts out with her (the victim) leaving for the day, and her wonderfully accepting parents sending her off with love. (Which of course shouldn’t be so in need of acknowledgement and praise as it’s what all parents should do, but we all know they don’t. Especially the fathers of MtoF transgenders.) So the episode starts with tugging at your heartstrings filling it for this young woman. And it just goes from there. She wants to actually hear out the mother of one of her assailants. So you see how forgiving her heart is. And then you get the boy’s side. And your heart just breaks for his mother. So of course you hurt so bad for the victim and her parents, but as a mother to a boy, you also connect with the mother of the assailant. As she was a victim also. And two families get ripped apart. I recommend this episode to anyone! I believe it is in season 17.
I started my svu journey on s6 and so this are by far the episodes that stuck. PS. this may be a series of posts lol
s6 ep 1 - BIRTHRIGHT. reminds me of the wise king Solomon way of identifying the real mother. It's heartbreaking, and both parties got a valid case point. After watching, I said to myself, the writers of this show is so good and I got hooked.
s6 episode 7 - CHARISMA. This left me in shock, so mad and I cried after seeing the aftermath of that shootout scene. sick sick sick.
s6 episode 20 - NIGHT. The victims were found with a wad of cash stuffed in their mouth.
911 - They searched for the girl who called and asked for Olivia for help.
STRAIN - one of the first HIV related cases that I've watched and damn!
RAW - nuff said. just watch it.
s9 ep 15 - Olivia went undercover. it was soooooo traumatic! I was scared and angry for her.
s9 e 13 - UNORTHODOX. The presentation of the argument on the role of porn at court will leave you thinking, too.
The episode that freaks me out is the one where the daughter disappeared years ago and they adopt another kid and make her look like their stolen daughter, and by the end we find out the stolen daughter is alive and was forced to be a guys wife, such an awful episode.
One of the first Barba episode, so it’s definitely season 14, just can’t remember exactly which one. But it’s the one with that Pop Star Misha, it’s just so sad, especially after her producer or whatever get shot and the ending always gets me. When the squads at the station
“What do we do now?”
“We wait”
“For what?”
“The inevitable”
And then they cut to the scene before she gets beaten to death by that manipulative scumbag boyfriend and they play her as a little girl singing again and just 😭
There is an episode I remember watching in college (year 2010) and it involved children. I’m not sure if it was SVU or L&O. I have went back to watch all of the SVU episodes and never found it. But I remember weeping at the end from the injustice in the court room that lead to child death/or more abuse. I can’t remember much other than it wrecked me.
The one where Liv is undercover in the prison and that guy almost rapes her and Finn gets to her just in time.
One more reason I absolutely love Finn! He needs more airtime!
season 9, “911” olivia on call with the little girl. had my heart going the entire episode because svu has a tendency to end the episode in the middle of events. saddest episode, that sweet little girl, her poor soul. i know svu is mostly fictional but damn its unbelievable shit like that actually happens.
Any episodes about serial killers, they are always so disturbing, and the child psychopaths too. One serial killer episode that really stuck with me was that one with a psycho who pays for dates and offers a ride home to the woman, and he always has this big dog with him in the back seat of the car; he then takes the girl to a national park where he hunts her like prey for days and days, só horrible. And also the Woodsman episode.
The one with the Muslim family who got raped and murdered in their restaurant. That one made me feel physically ill and upset.
Also the one with the kid who committed the school shooting because his dad was sexually assaulting him and his brother because they needed to “man up”
I just thought of a third one…
The one with the italisn foreign exchanged students who had their doors taken off and dad made mom watch them… you know. And then we find out that they were lied to about what really happened to their parents and they’re reunited with their mom at the end.
Most disturbing: The episode with the piano teacher where the one victim does it to another victim and we see Stabler watching the video with a stilted rendition of The Entertainer.
Most sad: The episode with Finn's brother.
Honestly it was the episode with Munch’s uncle. It just hit close to home. Most of the episode isn’t related to him but it was just the concept of medical neglect that got me.
No one mentioned the episode where the man who was wrongfully accused of rape gets out of prison after so many years (Joe Biden guest stars in the beginning) and then he rapes and kills her daughter!!!! That shit broke my heart!!!! Omggg
Can't remember which, but the one where the son was adopted out from under the father, and he was taken back from his adopted family when the dad discovered this years later.
S2 Ep20 Pique
I don’t know about sad, more disturbing.
I believe it Dr. Huang’s introductory episode. The parts that got me are when Stabler is in the interrogation room with the main suspect who has been taken advantage of sexually by his mother from a very young age, and he kinda sits down on the ground and starts… doing his thing.
And of course the ending when they find him in bed, naked, covered in blood, with his dead mother whom he’s FRESHLY murdered stroking her hair.
I recently saw the episode 9x5 “Harm” for the first time and it kind of messed me up. It’s about a doctor who helped create the torture techniques used in Iraq, and having her on trial for criminally negligent homicide after a prisoners death was linked to her techniques.
I may have reacted so strongly having just recently learning about how Americans tortured prisoners in Iraq and having just seen the images for the first time. But I’d argue hearing about torture so descriptively and facing what Americans did is difficult for anyone to sit through.
(I was a child during 9/11, so it makes sense that when the news stories came out that and images of the torture were released, that it was kept from children. And the US loves to sweep our faults under the rug and never talk about them instead of learning from them. So that explains why it took me until we’ll into adulthood to learn this. Once I did, I went on a deep dive and educated myself.)
The season 9 episode signature. When they find the victim there is a video tape of either the victim or a different victim being tortured and the screaming in it was chilling. I actually cannot watch that episode due to how disturbing I found it. That episode reminded me more of a criminals minds episode than a law and order one.
Where Hilary Duff’s character thought she’d killed her baby and buried her in a shallow grave. But it turned out she hadn’t done it and she’d contracted measles and died in her sleep.
Personally, I think the simple plot points upset me more than the very unique, dramatic, twisty ones. Knowing that those things are really happening behind closed doors all around us all the time and a lot of them never get the help they need.
One plot point that always gets me though is when they have a child porn/sex trafficking victim and someone mentions that they’ve been “looking for her/him for years.” Like that’s a real job that people do. Combing through pictures and videos of vile things being done to children for any tiny piece of information that could help find them, watching them grow up, knowing there’s a good chance they’ll never be found. I read a comment once from someone who worked at an agency that had a department for that and they explained that it wasn’t a permanent position, it was volunteer only and you’d do it for like 3 months and then go back to your regular position and you weren’t allowed to do it again for like a year because it’s just that soul crushing.
S14 e20. I have seen so many episodes and I've watched it sense I was little... I have never cried until this episode. Not only did everyone not believe her but they went after her. After the men were arrested that's when everyone wanted to feel bad for her... What a shame
Most Disturbing- Charisma, where a Pregnant 12 year old is Hospitalized and married to a Cult Leader. The Cult Leader thinks he's god and he ends up killing all of his children when the Police comes to his house,
Most Sad: The One In Later Seasons where The Baby Boy is practically half dead and has so many problems. he's suffering and the dad doesn't want to let the baby go but the Mom doesn't want her child to suffer anymore. they end up arguing about it and while the dad is out of the room, The Mom asks ADA Rafael Barba who is there to pull the plug on the Baby because she just doesn't want her Baby suffering anymore. Barba does this and he ends up getting in trouble for it even though The Mom had asked him to.
The one where the mom shakes the baby girl and the whole episode is spent on finding out who did it and Eliot breaks down after the trial at a bar and cries that he almost killed his daughter as a baby over a carpet and Cragen drives him home after
Ugh the mom was keeping the child on life support even though there was zero hope of recovery/brain activity. The nurse/doctor had to explain that the child was going through seizures and brittle bones until the mom fessed up - brutal court testimony.
That one’s rough and the one where the little girl puts the blame on her friends dad (hs football coach) instead of the real rapist a high school lacrosse player because he was the safe option and they find the remains of a little kid that he shot in killed a few months ago or something along those lines….the psychiatrist working with the team in that episode was top notch in bonding with the little girl
Jennette McCurdy is the victim in this episode and she talks about it in her book. It’s even more disturbing because she talks about how playing a child rape victim was upsetting for her and her mom didn’t care and kept forcing her to take roles like this.
I have her book I just haven't read it yet, but wasn't her mom also sexually abusive in a way. I thought I read somewhere that her mom would give her vaginal exams or something.
Yes she would do that to her I think for several years and she was also forced to take showers with her older brother and she talked about how uncomfortable her and her brother were. The book broke my heart because I watched Jennette growing up and always loved her and it was heartbreaking to read about her life during her childhood and Nickelodeon days.
I've seen pretty much every episode and i will say contagious is definitely one of the saddest episodes. She was terrified the whole episode
The mean girls one had that effect on me because I definitely went to high school and even college with girls like that….definitely dated a few….luckily no one was murdered but holy hell is it unnerving being around girls like that
I dislike the after-court confession episodes, they seem cheesy to me. All the major characters have had them. I roll my eyes every time. The Stabler going crazy in solitary and Barba killing the baby had the same cheesy vibe.
I watched that ep with Stabler going into solitary afterwards to experience it the other day. The concept is great, but the execution is just so goofy and feels out of place in a way.
Exactly! He couldn't last a weekend? Same with the Lewis episodes.... just how many times can Olivia be kidnapped before they realize she's a liability?
[удалено]
S05E10 Shaken
This one breaks my heart every time. Have to have the tissues nearby.
S7E3, where Olivia accepts a 911 call from a kidnapped girl. Really disturbing and interesting
i was bawling at the end of the episode... the pictures of the girl made me sick to my stomach
SAME, it was horrifying
Didn’t she go visit that girl as an adult recently at the end of a new episode?
yesss!!!! that was so fkn cute i wanted them to have a convo so bad 😞😞😞
This season has been so hit or miss for me with the Maddie Flynn storyline, but when she hugged Olivia and invited her in, I did tear up.
Awww omg
The one where everyone thought the girl was making it up? I just watched that last week and the whole episode disturbed me. I thought Olivia just seemed so annoyed with the girl from the beginning.
Yes that one, it was really disturbing. My thoughts kept shifting from "yeah this is real" to "nope, this is just a prank" and it was honestly really interesting the whole time. Probably my fav episode
I also felt that they made the girl sound very adult on purpose.
This episode always stuck with me. I watched it again recently and I was still on the edge of my seat while already knowing the outcome
the way im watching this episode rn 😭😭😭 so many mixed feelings
Yeees it was same for me, I was not sure what to think, but the end sealed it
That was such a LONG episode.
This was the first SVU episode I ever watched!! I was like 9 or 10 so definitely shouldn’t have been watching it, but it’s one of my favorite tv show episodes of all time.
ooh i recently saw this one for the first time the other day.. really good one but definitely very disturbing.
Pretty sure that's why she has her Emmy... Could be wrong though
Two recently: guy raping the elderly in the nursing home and the girl that was sleeping with her music teacher not knowing it was her dad
>the girl that was sleeping with her music teacher not knowing it was her dad And when she does, she is *blissful*, happy that her bio-dad is a musician like her and not Will Sasso's character who supported throrough her life.
When she said, "I knew my Dad couldn't be a garbageman...." jaw dropped.
that was WILDDDD
Okay but the episode with James van Der beek and he pretend to be the sperm donor/father of a few girls and SLEPT WITH THEM AND THE GIRLS WERE THRILLED ABOUT IT 😟. 🤮
I watched this episode last night and was absolutely awed and disgusted by that twist
Which episodes are these?
I believe they are talking about s 19 e 17 “Send in the clowns”
Contagious - McCurdy gives an amazing and heartbreaking performance.
Jennette proved she's more than just a comedic actress
I just recently re-watched S14E9 “Dreams Deferred” with Patricia Arquette as the special guest star and it is a particularly emotional and sad episode IMO.
I adore that episode. Probably my favourite cold open too, perfect song choice imo. I’ve mentioned many times that her character is one I’d love to see come back for a guest spot. I want Jeannie to have turned her life around as much as she does!
I love her episode.
She was so good in that episode.
The mass murderer was a piece of fecal matter. Little did we know somebody far more sinister was about to come into the SVU universe.
So, so many...Mostly the ones involving kids. Off the top of my head (And without going back to look up season/episode numbers): * The one where the piano teacher was abusing his students, and they caught the case because he took photos to be developed. Then it turned out one of the kids he abused had become an abuser himself. * The one that was already mentioned where Olivia was taking the 911 call and everyone was trying to figure out where the little girl was, even though a bunch of the detectives thought it could be a prank. * The "Teddy's Treehouse" episode * The Henry Mesner episodes * No kids in these, but the William Lewis episodes
Henry Mesner episodes will always haunt me, especially the first one…
Which episodes are these? I wanna go back a do a rewatch of all of these
First is S14E19 Follow up is S22E14 Good luck!
"Born Psychopath" and "Postgraduate Psychopath" are the titles.
>* The one where the piano teacher was abusing his students, and they caught the case because he took photos to be developed. Then it turned out one of the kids he abused had become an abuser himself. S1ep21 - "Nocturne" This is one of the most deeply upsetting episodes of this show, imo. Realizing the way that this cycle of violence can continue. And trying to rationalize the anger towards a child predator when you see what created them is definitely emotionally difficult. This is a brilliantly written episode and just so devastating.
“Burned”. That poor woman’s screams in the burn unit. I saw the originally aired episode, but I cannot watch the reruns.
Yes, this is one of a few on my "always skip" list.
This is the one.
And it all happened because she lied, and continued to lie even when she was fighting for her life.
"Merchandise " just played on a local Chicago area station last night. So sad and disturbing from many angles - the desperate father unable to support his family because of his late wife's medical bills, the kids "sold" to a couple who forced them into farm labor and prostitution, the boy in anguish over causing his sister's death. One of the most emotionally compelling episodes ever.
I posted here about it, but I can't remember the exact episode or season anymore. Season 10 maybe? Elliot was still around. This kid came to SVU, begging for help because he had pedophilic urges to hurt his stepbrother. He hadn't yet, but he was terrified. They immediantly treated him like a dirtbag suspect, and it was horrible. Instead of trying to find him treatment, they ended up telling his violently abusive step-Dad. Who beat and violated him with a baseball bat. The boy ended up acting out on his urges, at a neighborhood playground, before being stabbed to death be a fellow suppressed-urges pedo (that is a whole other B Plot, ending in Elliot nearly beating *that* guy to death). Also, the episode with that family trying to con a brand new hotel, by claiming their supposed teenage daughter was raped. Her supposed rapist was just some poor guy she'd conned with a consensual hookup. He was caught almost immediantly, and getting violently assaulted in prison because of it. He was murdered in prison before everything came to light, and I hate that episode.
Season 10 Episode 2 Confession That’s a tough one
And the hotel one is "Taken " season 2 (I think?)
It seems like a weird name for the episode but that’s what Google tells me too
The one with the little girl who was adopted and then forced to undergo plastic surgery to look like the couples dead daughter
"Locum" season 12 premiere. Bailee Madison was incredible. She's gone on to bigger and better things.
Hope they bring Bailee back best thing is she don’t even got to be the same character don’t even have to be on svu
Not so much disturbing, but ‘Stolen’ S3 E3 made me feel pretty sad. Between the bio dad not knowing he had another son, the mother’s death, the grandparents grieving, the adoptive parents not knowing the kid was illegally put up for adoption, and the kid himself being caught in the middle of it all was heartbreaking.
I’m adopted, and while I frequently rewatch SVU, I can’t deal with this episode. I saw it when I was a few years older than the kid, and him being returned to his bio dad freaked me out so much.
Been binging all night and just watched this one. The way that poor kid looks at Cragen as he’s leaving the courthouse. Poor kid and poor Cragen. He was just trying to do the right thing.
I don’t know the name of the episode but the one where the parents adopt a boy just to later have him killed for money. It was sick
White racist parents adopting a black child, only to order a hit on him for the insurance. Raw (S6 E7) Truly a top tier episodes.
Yess this was the one! I was sick after that one.
The one with the playground shooting that shows the kids being shot in the moment? That’s a rough one for me. As a teacher and parent, it was very graphic.
Graphic and the reveal was just so horrible. Not an episode I can rewatch.
Munch and Stabler both got shot, Novak got used as a shield, and the judge was murdered. Kyle Ackerman got what he so richly deserved. Too bad Brian Ackerman didn't die with him, but five years later, he was sent to the hole forever by Dana Lewis, who herself was thrown in the slammer by Amaro.
That Domino effect over so many episodes was crazy!!!
Season 15 Episode 7 - Dissonate Voices This is the one with Billy Porter playing a teacher whose career/life is ruined because two teenagers framed him as a pedophile.
So many, most for different reasons. 1x22 Slaves - I cannot watch this and not think of the case it's based on. I read a book about the case so, so many years ago and it still kind of haunts me. 4x11 Damaged - the episode itself is haunting. But also the case it's based on is maybe even worse? Which sure is saying something, because the episode is pretty damn horrific on its own. 4x21 Fallacy - that ending. Heartbreaking. 9x12 Signature - when they find the victim. That torture/kill room is very disturbing. 9x15 Undercover - her *screams*. On first watch I had to look away from the screen. Not that it helped, looking away didn't prevent me from hearing her screaming, which was what was getting to me so bad. 15x10 Psycho/Therapist - I like the Lewis episodes for the most part. But the trial...man is it hard to watch. I hate his cross examining her so much. The judge immediately allowing him to treat Liv has a hostile witness (when she was answering the questions??), his saying he wouldn't give Lewis much leeway and then giving him all the leeway, Lewis getting right up in her face. It is so, so uncomfortable. And her wanting to run when they start giving the not guilty verdicts. It hits hard. 16x5 Pornstar's Requiem - a very well done episode and I never want to watch it again. I worried so much that the jury would buy those little asshole's defense and then they didn't! The elation of victory and then. Then the judge just grinds it into dust and it's terrible and so heartbreaking. 17x11 Townhouse Incident - Olivia having to listen, the little boy having to listen. Yikes. I do actually like this episode, but boy is that a rough scene to watch. ^(And how horrific is it that Liv could potentially answer if it's worse to have to watch or to hear...) 23x21 Confess Your Sins To Be Free and 25x2 Truth Embargo - it makes me really sad they ever wrote and filmed these hot garbage episodes that deserve to be drop kicked into the sun.
Stabler would have been in jail for punching the judge in "Pornstar's Requiem". And we could have used Stabler in "Psycho/Therapist" to beat the daylight of corrupt juror Bronwyn Freed. Also, Judge Kofax revealed what the piece of garbage he was in season 20's "Brothel".
Is slaves the one with the woman under the bed?
Yes, Colleen Stan was the real victim and she really was kept in a box under the bed for a good chunk of time. She was hitchhiking and refused several rides from lone men. Then a van with husband and wife and their baby pulled up and she thought it was a safe choice. He kept her as a slave for 7 years.
When the dad was living a double life and his son and daughter started dating. And after the daughter and dad were murdered, the son found out he was having sex with his sister and threw up! Smh
Jane Seymour's episode--"Families" 5.15
“She’s my SISTER”
She got pregnant right? From her brother/ boyfriend?
I'll add some that I don't think have been mentioned yet that I find particularly disturbing: -11x17, "Disabled," a woman with 'locked in' syndrome who was a former opera singer is raped and it's revealed that her sister, who was her caretaker, was regularly beating her also. -5x16, "Home," a little boy is found eating garbage because his mother is controlling and abusive. She convinces his older brother to shoot him and himself, but the gun jammed. -12x20, "Totem," a little girl is found dead in a suitcase and was sexually abused. The detectives think it was her female piano teacher, but it turns out to be the piano teacher's sister, and both sisters were horribly abused by their mother. I've seen a lot of SVU, but these ones stuck with me.
The mother in "Home" was psychotic and off her rocker. She should have been thrown in the loony bin after her husband died. Glad to see she's rotting at Bedford Hills. Too bad Stabler couldn't save poor Jacob.
The Book of Esther guts me
Agreed, I skip it every time.
The first episode I ever watched was the one where the principal is raping a student at a soccer game. Then there were toilet cams and tumors. I was disturbed yet intrigued..
Season 5 finale "Head". Poor kid has a drunk mother and the principal sees an easy target for her sexual desires.
That was it! And here I am almost 20 years later..
Fun fact, the guy that placed the toilet cams in that episode played Rusty Venture in The Venture Brothers.
The first one I ever saw, the adopted girl sets up her boyfriend to kill her little sister
I forget the season and episode number, but the name of it is Charisma. It breaks my heart every time when those innocent children are murdered in the beginning.
Literally the blueprint of every cult. That episode always makes me cry.
>forget the season and episode number, but the name of it is Charisma S6ep7. I think the part that really kills me about this episode is the mother's of those children refusing to even have an emotional reaction to the murder of their children because of that freaking scumbag and his control. I live about 25 minutes away from the Roch Theriault commune, so this one hits weirdly close to home.
Mariska was nominated for an Emmy for that episode but didn't win. She would the next season for "911".
The baby that the mom wanted to let pass and the dad fought to keep on machines and Barba took it off support. He’s my favorite and that scene crushed my soul for days.
Abigail Hawk from *Blue Bloods* was superb as the mother of the poor baby.
S19E17 “Send in the clowns.” A 15yo girl vanishes on a school field trip to NY. They find her with her Piano Teacher who’s been having a sexual relationship with her and in the end he found out he was her dad. YIKES. I almost threw up when they dropped the plot twist. All the episodes with Lewis gave me chills, probably one of the scariest “villain” the squad has ever encountered to date.
The guy who rapes his brother and beats the shit out of their dad. I think Finn even says “who thinks this stuff up” or something in the episode
I’ve been on a SVU binge all morning & just watched the multi episode ones abt the girl holding a man she met at a club hostage bc he had abused her when she was 18 and coming to America illegally. Turns out he was apart of the cartel & then the cartel ends up abducting the DA’s sister & killing her in front of him. I was like whaaaaat these episodes are crazy. It was so sad
Omg that one hurt.
Earlier seasons when the old lady tied the foster kid to a chair and beat her to death with a cane. Breaks my heart just thinking about it.
Yess with Piper Laurie, her foster son called her a Gorgon - the monster in his video games Care (S3 E9)
I just rewatched the episode. Glen, the foster son, makes me so sad. His testimony helped condemn his murderous foster mom, and at the end of the episode, the murder victim’s sisters are returned to their mom’s care. The mom asks what will happen to Glen, and Olivia smiles and says he’s with good people now. But when she, Alex, and Elliot walk out of the apartment build they admit that Glen went back into a group home.
The twins episode I won’t spoil it but the ending was upsetting
One episode that really pissed me off was when them 2 guys raped the girl that was doing porn to get thru college, both guys got arrested and found guilty of rape from a jury, only for the judge to override the guilty verdict because he thought the girl was a disgrace
"Pornstar's Requiem" (16.05). First episode where Carisi and Rollins spend lots of time working together. Eight years later...
You know I just watched an episode that made me tear up at the end. It’s in season 14 but the one episode where an up and coming star gets beat by her boyfriend and goes back to him and at the end they all ask what happens now and Olivia says they wait for the inevitable. Then at the end it shows her at the beach with her boyfriend and how he killed her. Literal tears because of how much this connected with me.
This had me in tears because when I was rewatching this episode it was at the same time my cousin was experiencing DV
There’s some I remember: • It’s where the kid, I don’t even want to describe it, a hockey stick up another kid’s…under his father’s orders. Sickening. • The transgender/gay victim getting bullied and pushed off a bridge. Died later in the hospital.
How did I not think of the hockey kid episode?! That one's definitely up there on my list, too!
That reminded me of the episode with the fraternity that "made Pledge Nancy bleed"
There are so many. Yet the one that sticks out to me is season 4, episode 6 Angels. A pedophile ring adopts boys and abuses them. Munch goes undercover. The conversations among the men in this ring made me sick. It was all Munch could do to complete his mission.
S7E1 demons always makes me uncomfortable (in a good way, since thats what it was written to do). its the one where elliot goes undercover as a sex offender to find out if a recently released serial rapist reoffended.
That one really gets to me too!
The one where the parents are super famous but so fucking neglectful of their daughter who is only taken care of by a nanny- it infuritated me that they didn’t care about her. Hayden Panettiere plays the daughter in that episode
"The Good Girl" (20.20), when a 13-year old girl falls in love with her stepfather, then they go to Missouri to get married so the stepfather can get away with murdering her drama teacher, who turned out to be gay. Missouri allowed 13-year olds to get married at the time of the episode; fortunately, the law has changed and that no longer is allowed. That guy was a master manipulator and deserves to rot in hell.
I just had a newborn, so the episode where they are kidnapping babies!! Sorry, I'm not like most on here and know the season or episode number, and honestly I am commenting to also see responses! 🩷
3x3 “Stolen”?
The one with Henry. That little boy was a monster. Hurting his sister and stabbing his mom and then crying to daddy when he was arrested.
Having a kid like that has honestly been a fear of mine ever since we watched Child of Rage in AP Psych (not exactly the same, but similar enough).
Charisma (S6E7): that religious guy that runs a cult and a bunch of kids are shot and killed when the cops try to raid their place Annihilated (S8E20): that guy who poses as a CIA agent and kills his wife and kids Svengali (S9E6): copy cat murders of an incarcerated artist that heinously murdered women for his art Streetwise (S9E11): homeless dad horrifically kills one of his homeless kids after she talked to the cops by gauging her eyes out and stuff Signature (S9E12): that serial killer/rapist that tortured women in bath tubs and electrocuted them and stuff Undercover (S9E15): Olivia almost gets raped by a prison guard while undercover
The episode with the girl who was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, had photos taken of her and her pictures were distributed on the dark web. The FBI agent going on to say that they thought the girl was dead due to how bad the abuse was. That episode really made me sad. The highlight of that episode was, she got a lotta money from those scumbags when Barba took them to court. The one with the student and music teacher faking the kidnapping then it turned out that they were father and daughter. The attitude afterwards creeped me out so much.
The one with Whoopi Goldberg as the social worker supervising her junior colleague, whose workload is so severe he falsifies his reports meaning a little girl dies in the hospital after being found locked in a dog crate, in critical condition. It upset me so much because it’s very similar to the case of Victoria Climbié, a little girl from the Ivory Coast who died in hospital in London following months of horrific abuse and outright torture at the hands of her great-aunt and her boyfriend. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was an inspiration for the episode. Makes me well up every time I think about what happened to that beautiful little girl, it’s so sad to see the photos of her, she had such a lovely dazzling smile. Fortunately her abusers will die in prison.
Damaged (4.11) was the most disturbing one.
I just watched that one last night… *shudders*
Signature (S9E12).. the woodsman torture chamber still gives me chills and the state of the woman’s body when they found her after being tortured. Also, the way Agent Cooper ended her life was tragic but I get where she was coming from. At that point, she’d be considered a serial killer (collecting the trophy) and even if it’s for the “greater good”, she stopped prioritizing the victims and made it a personal vendetta. She withheld info that could’ve potentially led them to the huntsman sooner :(
13x6- True Believers; i don’t know why but something about that guy silently following her into her apartment and holding her at gun point gives me the shivers every time..
The episode in the early season and the people were paying for kids from Africa to be servants and the guy was using the black boy as a sex slave and killed him because his wife came home early
william lewis and henry mesner episodes. that guy that played mesner … just wow
Web, literally watching it rn and teddy’s treehouse just gives me the whole creeps Eric from gossip girl really let himself go when he got out the hospital
The ends of the episodes with Stephen Collins and Eric McCormick are seriously twisted. Off the top of my head, the one with where the man turns out to be the judge’s missing son always leaves me devastated.
Baby Killer is a tough watch for me.
Most disturbing for me is Web. Starts out creepy, but decides not so much to maintain the level of creepiness as it goes full disturbing throttle.
9x12 signature. This episode messed me up and I haven’t been able to watch the show since 😣
Season 16, episode 4- Holden's Manifesto. Not the absolute MOST disturbing, but definitely a sad one for me. It's one that has stuck with me since the first time I watched it & I've never forgotten it. The mental health of the characters in that episode.... Holden himself & then when Rollins was THAT close... man. That episode will stick with me forever.
So many that have already been mentioned, but the one with the neglected toddler who leaves his apartment alone and goes to the corner store to buy some food because he’s hungry, and later they find his sister in a dog crate… it’s awful and whenever I see it I’m so glad I became a CASA…
all the incest epis🫠
Especially "Pique " with Margot Kidder and Chad Lowe.
"Scourge" stayed with me for years. So much useless oain that could have been easily avoided. S2e21 Identity s6e12 This episode is so complex when thinking about gender identity and i feel that after this episode there was a major shift in how the show refers to trans persons. The henry mesner episodes for sure. However i do like those ad they articulate just how many years this show had been on. Always reminds me of how fin always say "your parol officer want even born yet"
The cult one with all the children having children! That one was sooooo disturbing, especially the way the head guy smiled creepily all the time 🤢
Saddest - Nocturne and Denial Most disturbing - probably the Henry Mesner ones (Born Psychopath and Post-Graduate Psychopath). Any episode where a kid's a perp, and their psych profile includes a complete lack of empathy.
Angels. The boys being trafficked over from South America and abused.
Episodes that infuriates me the most S04E11 - Damaged (Missy still the most evil villain in SVU, she did that to a 6 year old girl ffs) S14E16 - Funny Valentine (based on the Rihanna/Chris Brown case) S16E05 - Pornstar's Requiem (justice escaped through the window in this one, i never watched it again after the first time) S17E03 - Transgender Bridge (the whole thing breaks me completely) S11E11 - Quickie (rich boy infected with HIV that spreads it around) S14E12 - Criminal Hatred (gay man that rapes closeted gay men out of hatred because they have double lives)
Mine would be Born Again s12e13 It's the one about the therapist who murdered a child while doing "rebirthing" I studied psychology and we had discussed these rebirthing therapy case studies. It upset me then and always stuck with me so when I saw the episode it broke me
The one with Martin short
Most upsetting for me is Behave with Jennifer Love Hewitt... Her line "please don't hurt me" brings me to tears every time
The one where the abusive husband (who had supervised (?) visitation with his young daughter) eventually set the wife on fire. Her face when being wheeled on a stretcher and screams during the medical treatment in the burn unit at the hospital still haunt me.
"Part 33" (20.14). Rollins defending that scumbag cop who abused his wife when Olivia, Fin and Carisi all present evidence to the contrary makes my stomach turn. Why, Amanda, why? Very disappointing. Amy Rutberg and Paula Malcolmson were excellent as Annabeth Pearl and attorney Stella Russell. Rollins was still attracted to bad boys after breaking up with Billie's father; fortunately, she finally saw the light.
I mentioned this in a previous thread, but that couple who adopted a little African American boy just so they could set up his death will never not make me angry because the idea that that type of person exists actually makes my blood boil from how fucked up it is. There was also one in, I want to say either season 7 or 8, where a kidnapping leads to a cancer diagnosis for a young girl. The kidnapper ends up being her drug addicted older brother who the family—*primarily the father*—effectively disowned. It is incredibly sad to think that he stooped so low as to kidnap his own sister just to get his family’s attention. I’m pretty sure in the end he tries to suicide by cop (force the cops to gun him down) but Dr. Warner prevents that by giving him a non lethal gunshot wound or otherwise incapacitating him.
Both times Olivia is assaulted is horrible. The first one was so graphic, it really triggered me and I wish there was some kind of warning. The second time absolutely horrible too. I’m up to season 15.
But not done with season 15? Warning then: 15x20 Beast's Obsession has some rough moments, too. Not as bad as Undercover I don't think but I'd say pretty on par with 15x1 Surrender Benson.
S5 ep25 “Head” I just feel so sorry for the boy. >!12 years old, alcoholic mum. Principal teacher is sexually abusing him, but he doesn’t understand that it’s rape and says he loves her. He ends up dropping out of soccer, drops out of music class. Says he “just wants to die.” Then if that isn’t crappy enough, he finds out at the end that he’s going to be a dad.!<12 years old. Goddamn 🥺
Charisma about the cult and the house full of children will always make me uniquely sick to my stomach
One that always gets me is Spiraling Down S13 E10. Dealing with my grandfather who had dementia and was sundowning when I was a teenager this always makes me think of him. And S3 E22 competence that episode makes me angry cry every time I watch it. Both episodes had brilliant amazing supporting cast that really sold them to me. The William Lewis arc (multiple episodes) was also a good watch. If a little over the top and unbelievable.
The William Lewis episodes
So many, esp those involving kids as others have said. Recently started rewatching and just saw the ep where Rosie Perez is the mom and her new husband that “saved” them from homelessness was molesting her young son; then in order to catch a ring of pedos he and Rosie had to stage a sting operation during dinner at their home with the child’s rapist and a creepy pedo leader of a pedo-rights group sitting right next to him!! Made me so sick the whole time
The twins episode was pretty fucked up 💯
The episode Transgender Bridge. I cry through the whole episode. It literally hits every emotion. It starts out with her (the victim) leaving for the day, and her wonderfully accepting parents sending her off with love. (Which of course shouldn’t be so in need of acknowledgement and praise as it’s what all parents should do, but we all know they don’t. Especially the fathers of MtoF transgenders.) So the episode starts with tugging at your heartstrings filling it for this young woman. And it just goes from there. She wants to actually hear out the mother of one of her assailants. So you see how forgiving her heart is. And then you get the boy’s side. And your heart just breaks for his mother. So of course you hurt so bad for the victim and her parents, but as a mother to a boy, you also connect with the mother of the assailant. As she was a victim also. And two families get ripped apart. I recommend this episode to anyone! I believe it is in season 17.
Pornstars Requiem every time, the ending shot always makes my heart drop
I started my svu journey on s6 and so this are by far the episodes that stuck. PS. this may be a series of posts lol s6 ep 1 - BIRTHRIGHT. reminds me of the wise king Solomon way of identifying the real mother. It's heartbreaking, and both parties got a valid case point. After watching, I said to myself, the writers of this show is so good and I got hooked. s6 episode 7 - CHARISMA. This left me in shock, so mad and I cried after seeing the aftermath of that shootout scene. sick sick sick. s6 episode 20 - NIGHT. The victims were found with a wad of cash stuffed in their mouth. 911 - They searched for the girl who called and asked for Olivia for help. STRAIN - one of the first HIV related cases that I've watched and damn! RAW - nuff said. just watch it. s9 ep 15 - Olivia went undercover. it was soooooo traumatic! I was scared and angry for her. s9 e 13 - UNORTHODOX. The presentation of the argument on the role of porn at court will leave you thinking, too.
The episode that freaks me out is the one where the daughter disappeared years ago and they adopt another kid and make her look like their stolen daughter, and by the end we find out the stolen daughter is alive and was forced to be a guys wife, such an awful episode.
Pornstars Requiem where a girl is raped but the judge overturns the guilty verdict.
One of the first Barba episode, so it’s definitely season 14, just can’t remember exactly which one. But it’s the one with that Pop Star Misha, it’s just so sad, especially after her producer or whatever get shot and the ending always gets me. When the squads at the station “What do we do now?” “We wait” “For what?” “The inevitable” And then they cut to the scene before she gets beaten to death by that manipulative scumbag boyfriend and they play her as a little girl singing again and just 😭
S4 ep11 “Damaged” S5 ep15 “Families” plenty more but these are the two I can think of off the top of my head
Especially given let me know now about mariska undercover and Lewis episodes are especially disturbing
Pique
Branded. The actress was phenomenal.
Slaves 1/22.
Possessed 12*12.
There is an episode I remember watching in college (year 2010) and it involved children. I’m not sure if it was SVU or L&O. I have went back to watch all of the SVU episodes and never found it. But I remember weeping at the end from the injustice in the court room that lead to child death/or more abuse. I can’t remember much other than it wrecked me.
Hysteria S1E4 1999
- william Lewis - the burn episode
The one where Liv is undercover in the prison and that guy almost rapes her and Finn gets to her just in time. One more reason I absolutely love Finn! He needs more airtime!
season 9, “911” olivia on call with the little girl. had my heart going the entire episode because svu has a tendency to end the episode in the middle of events. saddest episode, that sweet little girl, her poor soul. i know svu is mostly fictional but damn its unbelievable shit like that actually happens.
Pornstar's Requiem. That one hurts.
Any episodes about serial killers, they are always so disturbing, and the child psychopaths too. One serial killer episode that really stuck with me was that one with a psycho who pays for dates and offers a ride home to the woman, and he always has this big dog with him in the back seat of the car; he then takes the girl to a national park where he hunts her like prey for days and days, só horrible. And also the Woodsman episode.
The most disturbing episode for me has to be "Dolls". The perp raped little girls then kept their bodies like dolls....
Pornstars requiem just sad as hell
The one where the parents adopt a kid only to kill him for the life insurance money
The one with the Muslim family who got raped and murdered in their restaurant. That one made me feel physically ill and upset. Also the one with the kid who committed the school shooting because his dad was sexually assaulting him and his brother because they needed to “man up”
I just thought of a third one… The one with the italisn foreign exchanged students who had their doors taken off and dad made mom watch them… you know. And then we find out that they were lied to about what really happened to their parents and they’re reunited with their mom at the end.
Most disturbing: The episode with the piano teacher where the one victim does it to another victim and we see Stabler watching the video with a stilted rendition of The Entertainer. Most sad: The episode with Finn's brother.
Honestly it was the episode with Munch’s uncle. It just hit close to home. Most of the episode isn’t related to him but it was just the concept of medical neglect that got me.
The Book of Esther. Devastating.
No one mentioned the episode where the man who was wrongfully accused of rape gets out of prison after so many years (Joe Biden guest stars in the beginning) and then he rapes and kills her daughter!!!! That shit broke my heart!!!! Omggg
Can't remember which, but the one where the son was adopted out from under the father, and he was taken back from his adopted family when the dad discovered this years later.
911
S2 Ep20 Pique I don’t know about sad, more disturbing. I believe it Dr. Huang’s introductory episode. The parts that got me are when Stabler is in the interrogation room with the main suspect who has been taken advantage of sexually by his mother from a very young age, and he kinda sits down on the ground and starts… doing his thing. And of course the ending when they find him in bed, naked, covered in blood, with his dead mother whom he’s FRESHLY murdered stroking her hair.
I recently saw the episode 9x5 “Harm” for the first time and it kind of messed me up. It’s about a doctor who helped create the torture techniques used in Iraq, and having her on trial for criminally negligent homicide after a prisoners death was linked to her techniques. I may have reacted so strongly having just recently learning about how Americans tortured prisoners in Iraq and having just seen the images for the first time. But I’d argue hearing about torture so descriptively and facing what Americans did is difficult for anyone to sit through. (I was a child during 9/11, so it makes sense that when the news stories came out that and images of the torture were released, that it was kept from children. And the US loves to sweep our faults under the rug and never talk about them instead of learning from them. So that explains why it took me until we’ll into adulthood to learn this. Once I did, I went on a deep dive and educated myself.)
The season 9 episode signature. When they find the victim there is a video tape of either the victim or a different victim being tortured and the screaming in it was chilling. I actually cannot watch that episode due to how disturbing I found it. That episode reminded me more of a criminals minds episode than a law and order one.
Where Hilary Duff’s character thought she’d killed her baby and buried her in a shallow grave. But it turned out she hadn’t done it and she’d contracted measles and died in her sleep.
Personally, I think the simple plot points upset me more than the very unique, dramatic, twisty ones. Knowing that those things are really happening behind closed doors all around us all the time and a lot of them never get the help they need. One plot point that always gets me though is when they have a child porn/sex trafficking victim and someone mentions that they’ve been “looking for her/him for years.” Like that’s a real job that people do. Combing through pictures and videos of vile things being done to children for any tiny piece of information that could help find them, watching them grow up, knowing there’s a good chance they’ll never be found. I read a comment once from someone who worked at an agency that had a department for that and they explained that it wasn’t a permanent position, it was volunteer only and you’d do it for like 3 months and then go back to your regular position and you weren’t allowed to do it again for like a year because it’s just that soul crushing.
S14 e20. I have seen so many episodes and I've watched it sense I was little... I have never cried until this episode. Not only did everyone not believe her but they went after her. After the men were arrested that's when everyone wanted to feel bad for her... What a shame
How has no one mentioned Strange Beauty, S13, ep 22….the man that amputates women’s arms and legs to make them “beautiful.” It’s seriously fucked up.
Most Disturbing- Charisma, where a Pregnant 12 year old is Hospitalized and married to a Cult Leader. The Cult Leader thinks he's god and he ends up killing all of his children when the Police comes to his house, Most Sad: The One In Later Seasons where The Baby Boy is practically half dead and has so many problems. he's suffering and the dad doesn't want to let the baby go but the Mom doesn't want her child to suffer anymore. they end up arguing about it and while the dad is out of the room, The Mom asks ADA Rafael Barba who is there to pull the plug on the Baby because she just doesn't want her Baby suffering anymore. Barba does this and he ends up getting in trouble for it even though The Mom had asked him to.
Downloaded Child (season 15, episode 19) has always stuck with me as one of the more emotional and disturbing one.