Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Sin (2007) User Reviews

I like current events!

[zachleclair · 8/10 · 28 March 2007]

I thought "Sin" was an overall good episode. I always enjoy it when a solid show decides to play in somewhat current events. I think it adds a little something extra to the viewing experience.

I also loved seeing guest star Tim Daly (Wings is one of my all time favorites) and Kathy Baker is always good.

I particularly enjoyed the scene where Reverend Jeb Curtis' son, Paul Curtis, (played by guest star Corey Sorenson) was confronted by Detectives Stabler and Benson about his sexual orientation. I thought it was a well acted scene that helped the story line turn a very important corner.

One out of 10

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 December 2013]

Did the SVU squad ever have this one wrong, at first. When a young man is found in a churchyard stripped and dead with lots of drugs, the squad thinks its a drug deal gone bad, maybe someone looking to send a message. But later on they think this was a crime to conceal.

The victim was an aspiring actor who did a little male trade to pay the rent. The investigation takes Benson and Stabler to a fundamentalist church that's just this side of Freddie and the Inbreds Westboro Baptist Church and it is pastored by the Reverend Tim Daly and his wife Kathy Baker. They've given the world and their religion 10 children all of whom participates in some way in the church including the rather gruesome guerrilla theater they have to win souls.

However there's a gay person involved as one of the 'actors'. And just who was involved with the late victim.

As several states including mine are taking up the anti-gay conversion therapy ban laws that California and New Jersey have already passed, this episode takes on a needed relevancy. Corey Sorensen's story here has been echoed countless times in real life.

Make sure to see this SVU episode.

Sin or suppressed emotions

[yazguloner · 10/10 · 8 June 2021]

Good chapter on religious obligations and sexual preferences.

Sins of the father

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 28 July 2021]

Anybody who has read any of my other reviews for for example individual episodes of the 'Law and Order' shows, am slowly working my way through writing reviews for all the episodes of 'Law and Order, 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent' with a long way to go, will know already how much admiration there is from me for anything that tackles difficult and controversial themes and issues. Which is certainly the case in "Sin", with a subject that should hit hard but also should be approached carefully.

"Sin" is one of the early seasons 'Special Victims Unit' episodes that didn't do much for me on first watch and it hasn't gotten much better on rewatches. It is definitely a watchable episode, but it has always left me with conflicted feelings and could have handled its difficult subject more tactfully and in a way that engaged more. It is like a loose mix of Season 3's "Silence" and Season 5's "Abomination", subject-matter wise, but both those episodes are infinitely better in most ways.

There are bad things here in "Sin". It is very predictable from having similar plot elements to those two aforementioned episodes, and also can be slow going. Especially in the early stretches. The case could have done with a lot more tension and could have handled a difficult subject with more subtlety, instead of making it too clear what its stance on the subject matter is.

Which would have been achieved if there wasn't such a heavy emphasis on the word sin and if religion was not brought into it and as heavily as it was. Kathy Baker also seemed rather wooden.

Having said that, there are good things about "Sin" as well. The slick, subtly gritty and intimate production values are still present, while not going too far on the intimacy that it becomes too drab and closed up. The music lets the writing do all the talking without over-emphasising the emotions and the direction doesn't come over as leaden.

Furthermore, Tim Daly is suitably loathsome as a loathsome character without being a one-dimensional stereotype. Corey Sorenson is affecting and his story has a lot of relevance and will resonate. The outcome of the case has always touched me and the changes of heart were just about convincing and not too random, the most tactful the episode was. Stabler and Olivia are great together, especially when posing as doctors. The scene between Paul, Stabler and Olivia is tasteful and hard-hitting. All the regulars are great.

Overall, watchable episode but has always left me very conflicted. 5/10.

Perhaps, there are too many "trips to the well"

[garrard · 5/10 · 28 March 2007]

As one watches "Sin," one gets a feeling of deja vu. That is understandable inasmuch as producer Dick Wolf's other series in the L & O franchise have tackled similar territory: a defrocked minister accused of sexual misconduct with a male prostitute. The original L & O had "Church," which aired in early February, while "Criminal Intent" offered "Brother's Keeper," with guest star Tom Arnold, during the same month.

"Sin," actually, is the weakest of the three, with not much of a mystery, and barely passable performances from guests Tim Daly ("Wings," and the recent remake of "The Fugitive") and Kathy Baker ("Picket Fences"). Both are fine actors but they just don't have the right chemistry as the pastor and his overzealous wife.

As far as the regular cast is concerned, Meloni's trademark intensity was nowhere to be found, Hargitay's part was at a minimum, and Belzer had primarily a "walk on." This season has not made an effective use of the latter, as well as Ice-T, two of this viewer's main reasons for watching the show.

With three series on the air, it's understandable that their plots may overlap. But to have the same happen within a single season is an insult to the discriminating fan.