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. The topic here did sound interesting and quite brave.
"Storm" on the most part was terrific on re-watch, with almost everything being done to exceptionally high quality. It didn't amaze me on first watch and seemed on the confused side, but this is a strong example of an episode that has grown a lot on me. It is an important subject and a scenario that stands out from the rest and it is handled extremely well. "Storm" is not one of the best episodes of Season 7 to me, "Raw" and "911" are fine examples of ones that were better, but it was great to see a near-return to form for 'Special Victims Unit' after a quality decline between "Raw" and this.
It was quite gutsy seeing the episode being this critical of the government's handling of the case and the federal government itself, which is not something we see everyday on 'Special Victims Unit' (well certainly at this time), but to me the episode emphasised this a little too heavily. The government definitely aren't immune from mistakes and decision making that many strongly object to in ways similar to Olivia and Cragen, but they are not just heavily criticised but villified, which was a little far.
Having said that, "Storm" is a great episode in many ways. The production values are typically slick with the right amount of grit, nothing is too fancy or too gimmicky. Nor is anything too static, drab or garish. The music is not too constant or emotionally manipulative, meanig not over-emphasising the emotion to make one think that's how we should be feeling. The script is intelligent and tautly structured, with a little levity on occasions to avoid the episode from being too over-serious considering the subject matter. Namely Fin's reference to Munch's conspiracy theories, here regarding government cover-ups. Would have been nice if we heard one from Munch himself though.
The story is immensely engaging throughout, with some nice tension with the anthrax that didn't turn into nonsense. Was rooting for the victims and the episode does so well in making one feel truly angry towards the responsible. It didn't come over as strange this time and was much easier to follow, the reason why it came over the opposite was because it was first watched when much younger, when first getting into the show and franchise and when not knowing what to expect.
Really liked the character writing for Olivia in another personal case for her, in a subplot that doesn't come over as too soapy. The chemistry between her and Jackson Zane features heavily but doesn't feel like it dominates too much. Zane grew on me a good deal as a character too, he and his arrogance were difficult to warm to at first but he did become more interesting and likeable and by the end of the episode he came over as one to admire. The acting is excellent, with Mariska Hargitay giving another fine performance (though not quite "911" level), Matthew Settle being very strong later on and Russell Hornsby and especially Leo Marks being unsettling.
Overall, terrific. 9/10.
"Storm" on the most part was terrific on re-watch, with almost everything being done to exceptionally high quality. It didn't amaze me on first watch and seemed on the confused side, but this is a strong example of an episode that has grown a lot on me. It is an important subject and a scenario that stands out from the rest and it is handled extremely well. "Storm" is not one of the best episodes of Season 7 to me, "Raw" and "911" are fine examples of ones that were better, but it was great to see a near-return to form for 'Special Victims Unit' after a quality decline between "Raw" and this.
It was quite gutsy seeing the episode being this critical of the government's handling of the case and the federal government itself, which is not something we see everyday on 'Special Victims Unit' (well certainly at this time), but to me the episode emphasised this a little too heavily. The government definitely aren't immune from mistakes and decision making that many strongly object to in ways similar to Olivia and Cragen, but they are not just heavily criticised but villified, which was a little far.
Having said that, "Storm" is a great episode in many ways. The production values are typically slick with the right amount of grit, nothing is too fancy or too gimmicky. Nor is anything too static, drab or garish. The music is not too constant or emotionally manipulative, meanig not over-emphasising the emotion to make one think that's how we should be feeling. The script is intelligent and tautly structured, with a little levity on occasions to avoid the episode from being too over-serious considering the subject matter. Namely Fin's reference to Munch's conspiracy theories, here regarding government cover-ups. Would have been nice if we heard one from Munch himself though.
The story is immensely engaging throughout, with some nice tension with the anthrax that didn't turn into nonsense. Was rooting for the victims and the episode does so well in making one feel truly angry towards the responsible. It didn't come over as strange this time and was much easier to follow, the reason why it came over the opposite was because it was first watched when much younger, when first getting into the show and franchise and when not knowing what to expect.
Really liked the character writing for Olivia in another personal case for her, in a subplot that doesn't come over as too soapy. The chemistry between her and Jackson Zane features heavily but doesn't feel like it dominates too much. Zane grew on me a good deal as a character too, he and his arrogance were difficult to warm to at first but he did become more interesting and likeable and by the end of the episode he came over as one to admire. The acting is excellent, with Mariska Hargitay giving another fine performance (though not quite "911" level), Matthew Settle being very strong later on and Russell Hornsby and especially Leo Marks being unsettling.
Overall, terrific. 9/10.
