Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Facing Demons (2019) User Reviews

Reliving the past

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 14 June 2023]

"Facing Demons" is most interesting for seeing Cassidy return and having some character development for him, which was needed. Cassidy was a character that started with great potential, but the romantic relationship between him and Olivia never properly got off the ground. Was also a bit apprehensive though, because the latter seasons have really varied with the personal life subplots and very few in Season 20 worked properly (one of the few that did was surprisingly Stone's in "Dear Ben").

Cassidy's in "Facing Demons" is another example of a personal life story that works. It was a very illuminating look at him and his past and saw me appreciating him more as a character. It is one of those episodes where one story is better than the other, and in this case Cassidy's story worked really well while the case was less consistent (mostly it was fine, but loses lustre later on). "Facing Demons" is a good episode for Season 20, but not a great one that is neither among the season's best or worst.

It is lifted significantly by the compelling tortured performance of Dean Winters, bringing gritty intensity and poignancy to Cassidy in a way not seen before to this extent. Mariska Hargitay is strong sympathetic support and the two surprisingly smolder together, the most convincing their chemistry has ever been. As said what makes "Facing Demons" is Cassidy's character development, which is truly illuminating and provides the necessary answers to questions thought of from his previous episodes. Including an explanation for why he blew up on the stand of a previous case.

The script has a lot of punch and is not melodramatic or too talky. As ever, the photography and such are fully professional, the slickness still remaining. The music is used sparingly and is haunting and non-overwrought when it is used, and it's mainly used when a crucial revelation or plot development is revealed.

However, it could have been great and just missed out on that. The story is nothing ground breaking and is quite thin, pretty much secondary to Cassidy's development. It is a case of starting off well but running out of steam later. The ending unsatisfies, it would have been much more powerful if Cassidy was the character it focused on and would have made more sense that way too.

Phillip Winchester is very flat in personality and doesn't look comfortable, apart from his surprisingly good performance in "Dear Ben" he and the character of Stone never really ignited.

Overall, good but not great. 7/10.

Brian Cassidy relives bad times

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 2 January 2020]

Dean Winters relives some bad moments in his past and for the first time we learn that he was a child victim almost 40 years ago.

Mariska Hargitay finds a picture of him when he was a kid and on a sports team coached by suspect William Sadler. Being that they were involved she's upset that he never disclosed.

Winters helps the squad find more victims from the past. It isn't easy however as his friends from those days are as reluctant as he is to talk.

Good episode with outstanding work from Dean Winters as Brian Cassidy.

Phenomenal.

[audaciousness · 10/10 · 16 July 2019]

An absolutely riveting episode from start to finish.

I must admit, I was never a big fan of Cassidy's arcs in the past seasons, but this was absolutely phenomenal. In a case that started out as something so predictable, it slowly became more and more layered as we delved into Cassidy's past and learned more about why he is the way he is - including why he blew up on the stand last year. In the final moments when Cassidy finally had the courage to speak out against his coach, shivers ran through my body and I shed several tears.

This entire episode was beautifully written and acted, and it's undoubtedly one of my favorites from this season.

Best Redemption for Cassidy

[bldamien · 10/10 · 22 February 2019]

Dean Winter runs Mahem in this episode. Awesome to see him again, his struggle to find ANYONE ELSE (besides himself) to be THE witness. He is "Oz" and "Homicide: Life on the Street" worthy and strong! Keep him on this show!!! And P.J. Marshall - so strong - thank you!! Somebody put Cassidy and Rollins together soon!! They deserve each other and some kind of happiness together.

Facing Demons

[bobcobb301 · 6/10 · 7 March 2019]

Stop bringing back Cassidy. "Mayhem" from those commercials is just annoying.

Weak case here and absolutely predictable if you have ever seen an episode of SVU before.

Too much introspection

[nick-blakemore · 5/10 · 7 March 2019]

Firstly I love this programme overall. I have watched every episode from series 1 to 20.

However following on from the odd recent episode with just 4 result characters, I found this one also to be far too much about the regular characters and too little about the cases. That was always the strength of this series - deep and interesting stories and cases. In this the case was just background.

Maybe they've run out of ideas, or the writers/producers are too close to it and in love with the details of their creations.

Maybe The Most Force-Fed SVU Story Ever Written - And Given Its 20 Years, That's Saying Something.

[mjkerkau · 1/10 · 23 February 2019]

You know...over the years, I've been on and off the train of thought that SVU has just completely lost its way so much that it was begging to be cancelled. After this latest episode, I think I'm firmly back on that train.

This may be the most force-fed of an SVU story I've ever seen. If not THE most, it's certainly up near the top.

How so? Let me count the ways!

Let's start with Cassidy. When we first saw him all the way back at the beginning, he was this guy who came off as pretty naive about most things involving sex that strayed anywhere away from the basics. He even transfers out following the episode "Disrobed", after having been asked to check in with a victim and discovering the brutality she'd been put through in the first place. By the time we see him again, in the three-part Season 13-to-Season 14 bridge, he's hardened up quite a bit. Given the time and surely, experiences, since then, that fits well enough. His appearances since then have more or less kept him in that mold. But slotting him now into being someone who was a childhood victim? Given how he started out, even if you make the argument of him being someone who buried that all these years (which this episode makes pretty plain), it still just doesn't ring true.

On that note. Literally every one of Cassidy's old friends that we see talked to, this episode might as well have shouted from the rooftops that they were also victims. Granted, that's pretty much TV Writing 101, where anyone who actually wouldn't have been a victim, we don't see them because that just wastes episode time. Which, I get that - but damn if that approach doesn't make it seem like every single applicable person the accused may have come in contact with, without exception, was also a victim. I'm pretty sure I could look up Everyone's A Victim! and find that it's a TV trope.

And then there's Stone - who, when we last saw him, he was a complete jerk, being a completely unfeeling, soulless prosecutor, to the point of, among other things, his line to Olivia: "keep your bleeding heart out of my courtroom". (And how sweet it is, that that episode is the most hated here in some time.) Now, Olivia has overdone it herself from time to time, but Stone wasn't willing to entertain even the slightest notion that would dare threaten his precious case. And now, he's supposed to be this guy who cares, who gets to be the guy that gets confided in, who gets to more or less be something of a White Knight. Like...really? Please. You know what, Philip Winchester has never really fit that well on this show - it seems like he only was given the role because NBC decided to ax Chicago Justice, plus Raul Esparza decided he wanted out here.

Frankly, if this is what passes for SVU stories these days, then it just needs to end already. It's been long enough.

P.S.: It's also pretty apparent what the original source is behind the whole "young guy commits suicide and leaves a note saying he's sorry, leaving behind pictures of young boys" at the beginning of this. About a month and a half ago, a high school band teacher up in Whittemore-Prescott, Michigan - about an hour or so north of where I live - did that exact thing, only minus the pictures. But don't take my word for it.

I'm not even going to fault SVU for this one because, to be fair, they've been pulling from real life cases since...well, pretty much ever. It's not really a flaw that this one is no different. It just so happens this time that I not only recognize it, but that the real life event is something that happened so close to where I live.