One of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit's' (well actually the franchise in general) biggest appeals has always been the handling of tough controversial subjects, with the show particularly excelling in the topics that are still big issues now (i.e. Racism, the dangers of the internet, influence, bullying and other forms of hate crime, sexual abuse) when in its prime. Which it hasn't been for a while, but there have still been a lot of good episodes since the show became more hit and miss.
"Revenge" had a lot of impressive elements (which is true for many episodes of 'Special Victims Unit'), as well as a few shortcomings. So a good but not great episode. Much better than the disappointing previous episode "Zero Tolerance", but not quite one of the best of the season. It does do quite a good job with this difficult subject that still needs addressing, and as far as the episodes that deal with the dangers of the internet go it's better than most, but there was room for it to go even deeper than it did.
Am going to mention the good things first. It is a visually slick episode, typical for 'Special Victims Unit' and the 'Law and Order' franchise, and one with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear past the early stages with the theme tune still memorable and the direction is accommodating yet tight enough.
The episode benefits further from an informative and punchy, if not fully developed, script which is a lot less heavy handed than the previous two episodes. As well as a suitably disturbing and well paced case, regardless of it not being innovative it is not too obvious and it doesn't feel convoluted either. The very hard hitting and creepy portrayal of the danger of incels agreed really does disturb. The acting is all fine as is the character interaction.
Having said that, "Revenge" had room for improvement. Much more could have been done with the whole dark web culture, it seemed to indicate that it was obscure when actually it is not actually that well hidden and is getting larger and larger. Which is what is so scary about it.
While the case is absorbing, it also did take a little too long to solve, too much time in particular is taken trying to find out the significance of Chad and Stacey and what they mean and it is frustrating that the viewer is ahead of the detectives, who behave irresponsibly here with giving out such personal information so freely to people that could have been potential suspects, here. The episode is solved and resolved a little too easily.
Concluding, well done but could have been more. 7/10.
"Revenge" had a lot of impressive elements (which is true for many episodes of 'Special Victims Unit'), as well as a few shortcomings. So a good but not great episode. Much better than the disappointing previous episode "Zero Tolerance", but not quite one of the best of the season. It does do quite a good job with this difficult subject that still needs addressing, and as far as the episodes that deal with the dangers of the internet go it's better than most, but there was room for it to go even deeper than it did.
Am going to mention the good things first. It is a visually slick episode, typical for 'Special Victims Unit' and the 'Law and Order' franchise, and one with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear past the early stages with the theme tune still memorable and the direction is accommodating yet tight enough.
The episode benefits further from an informative and punchy, if not fully developed, script which is a lot less heavy handed than the previous two episodes. As well as a suitably disturbing and well paced case, regardless of it not being innovative it is not too obvious and it doesn't feel convoluted either. The very hard hitting and creepy portrayal of the danger of incels agreed really does disturb. The acting is all fine as is the character interaction.
Having said that, "Revenge" had room for improvement. Much more could have been done with the whole dark web culture, it seemed to indicate that it was obscure when actually it is not actually that well hidden and is getting larger and larger. Which is what is so scary about it.
While the case is absorbing, it also did take a little too long to solve, too much time in particular is taken trying to find out the significance of Chad and Stacey and what they mean and it is frustrating that the viewer is ahead of the detectives, who behave irresponsibly here with giving out such personal information so freely to people that could have been potential suspects, here. The episode is solved and resolved a little too easily.
Concluding, well done but could have been more. 7/10.