Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Patrimonial Burden (2015) User Reviews

Meet the Bakers

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 1 March 2020]

I'm glad that a previous reviewer mentioned the Duggar family on which this episode was clearly based. Could not remember the name, but the family had to give up their show as too many scandals were attributed to them to sustain the all important ratings.

The Duggars were from Arkansas, the Bakers are from upstate New York and there are places upstate that are as primitive as the Ozarks and have people like Christopher Sieber and Geneva Carr and their children who number their kids in double digits.

These two have a reality TV show and during the taping their 13 year old daughter collapses and it's revealed she's pregnant. The aims of SVU to find a child rapist and the family and those associated with the show is damage control.

This was a great episode and when the perpetrator is unmasked it isn't a surprise, but it still will creep you out,.

Creepy burden

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 22 September 2022]

One of the biggest appeals of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' has been the topics it addresses and issues that come with the topics addressed. Also with how they are explored, the execution more often than not was hardly sugar coated or trivialised and was often pull no punches in quality. This definitely stood out as one such episode on first watch, one of those topics that could have executed harrowingly or too sleazily and the episode didn't hold back.

While not quite one of the very best episodes of Season 17, with it being no "Institutional Fail" (or quite) comparing it with the previous episodes, this is significantly better than the very underwhelming "Maternal Instincts" that immediately preceeded it. While not one of the season's very best episodes, it is one of the better faring episodes of the first half (which was an inconsistent one when it comes to quality). Really admired that it took on the subject, was impressed with how it tackled it.

By all means, it's not perfect. The identity of the perpetrator is easy to figure out straightaway and wasn't all that surprised by the truth.

Did feel as well that Dodds doesn't really fit in yet.

However, there is a lot that is done right. The production values are slick, gritty and professional. The music is haunting while not spelling out the emotions too much. The direction is accomodating while still having edge and momentum. It also has a thought provoking and pull no punches script and a creepy story that isn't too simple, thanks to a quite intricate last act, or convoluted. The Duggars are a truly reprehensible lot to a scary degree.

Have really enjoyed Rollins and Carisi's chemistry on the whole this season and it is fun to watch while also with the right amount of edge and respect. The acting all round is very good.

In conclusion, very good. 8/10.

The least of these

[jeffstonewords · 9/10 · 23 August 2021]

This episode focuses on determining who impregnated a thirteen-year-old girl, a member of a religious family that does a lot of mission work and is the subject of a reality TV show. "Patrimonial Burden" is intriguing for several reasons even though the episode is focused mostly on law enforcement and investigation, as opposed to courtroom law.

Despite the lack of courtroom drama, there is plenty of scientific investigation, legal maneuvering, and speculation about the guilty culprit-who appears to be on the cusp of covering his crime as detectives converge. Because it operates like a small community or an extended family, the relatively closed and close (i.e, confidential) nature of the family and its crew limit the pool of suspects to a degree, but also create an unlikely pool and lead to some intense situations.

This episode deserves lots of credit for exposing the acute dangers of monsters who hide in plain sight. Especially when they are skilled manipulators, these are the most dangerous monsters of all because so many people believe they are too intelligent, sophisticated, wise... to be duped.

The story also deserves lots of credit for handling a particularly sensitive issue deftly, per norm for the series, and for showing multiple sides of the same coin. A quote by Carisi near the end of the episode, which isn't shared here because it might be a bit of a spoiler, really accentuates this strength.

Creepier than you'd think

[amckee-64063 · 8/10 · 21 December 2017]

Let's be honest. A family so slavishly devoted to a priest that they would marry their thirteen-year-old daughter to him would not sever all ties just because the cops tell them some things about him, no matter how horrible those things are. Overall, though, it was a decent episode. The squad is forced to investigate all the dark, juicy secrets of a picture-perfect tv family in order to find the man who molested their young daughter. The supposedly flawless Bakers (clearly based on the equally scandalous Duggars from 19 Kids and Counting) have naively surrounded themselves with all sorts of unpleasant characters, ranging from a peeping-tom cameraman to the aforementioned priest. But even the Duggars, while not pedophiles themselves--unless you count their eldest son, who has trouble keeping his hands off of his sisters--are still very creepy. Mrs. Baker can't conceive of a world where the heavily pregnant Rollins isn't married, while the Baker children are raised with a bizarre system of Virtue Balls and strictly regulated courtship (also, what is so sinful about soda that the kids can't drink it?) The show takes some pains to not cast the Bakers in an absolutely ghastly light, so as not to offend their real-life counterparts, but I don't know why they bother. From what I've read about the Duggar family, they would probably consider a show like SVU far too "inappropriate" to watch in the first place. Still, it would be interesting to know how they would react if they saw this episode. Would they be horrified by the rape of a child or just upset that Lane wasn't married when she conceived?

Excellent!!

[Marynewcomb2013 · 10/10 · 13 January 2019]

This excellent episode is not just about a holier than thou family going to agree for their pregnant 13 to marry a reverend because he got her that way, it's also about how religion can really be wrong!! Just because they are a part of this religion/occult does not mean you look the other way when wrong doings are happening!! The whole town was involved in this so much that they do everything to cover up truths to protect their religion & followers!! This was another episode that showed the country how wrong religion can be and is if people will just come forward!! To live for the father & son doesn't not mean you have to be religious or be involved in a church!! You can live for them on your own!! Example, when you pray, you pray alone!! When you ask for forgiveness, YOU do that alone!!! God wants us to come to him as individuals, not as a group!! That's what the town in this episode forgot!! In the Bible it talks of the sins of the flesh and sins of man!! This episode shows those go deeper than what Christians want you to believe!!! Very well done team SVU!!

Andy Karl

[vantamn2 · 8/10 · 13 June 2021]

What does he do to his face? Botox? Does not seem normal.

Glad to point out families like the Duggar's have definite problems.

Hmm

[claireaschaefer · 6/10 · 15 September 2021]

Pretty interesting but A) benson is so pushy that it's painful to watch B) way to poke fun at people who are religious And C) teen pregnancy isn't necessarily a crime. In this case, it was, but when a teenage is pregnant, the police can't just insert themselves into the situation.