Family annihilation is not new territory for 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' and also not for the franchise. Examples coming to mind being the original 'Law and Order's' "Invaders" and 'Special Victims Unit's' "Annhilated" and "Home Invasions", "Invaders" and "Home Invasions" were excellent and "Annihilated" was rather average. My feelings on first watch of "Caretaker" were rather mixed and a strong example of the guest star being better than the episode itself.
My feelings are pretty much the same. Was bowled over by the main guest turn and found her character fascinating and unnerving, but "Caretaker" is another episode in a long line of Season 20 episodes where one half was significantly better than the other. In this case, it started off great, but once the truth is revealed it fell apart and became ridiculous rather than the disturbing case it started off as. "Caretaker" is not a terrible episode, though it may have been a poor one if the guest star wasn't so brilliant, but it could have been a good deal better and has the same problems that other family annihilation episodes in the franchise have.
"Caretaker" has good things. The best thing about it is the absolutely unforgettable performance of Sasha Alexander, a strong contender for the best guest star performance of the season and actually in some while. She convinces movingly as a grieving mother but is even better and gives the creeps when the truth is revealed, and absolutely loved how psychologically fascinating her character was. Truly brilliant and deserving of a better episode. Did like her big scene with Mariska Hargitay's Olivia, which could be mistaken for a scene from the Seasons 7-10 period.
The episode starts off incredibly well, cannot remember seeing a more graphic opening scene of the show for a long time and it is tense, dark and intriguing up to a point. The production values are slick and professional, not ever resorting to cheap or untested gimmicks or anything, and liked that the photography was intimate without it being claustrophobic. The music is haunting in the right places and isn't constant or too loud.
However, "Caretaker" could have been so much better. The second half is nowhere near as good, and a big part of the problem is the all over the place pacing. Events of the legal scenes move too quickly but the lack of suspense or emotion make the second half feel pedestrian. After such a promising first quarter, the case came over as too predictable and bland. It was too clear too prematurely who was responsible which took away immediately from the suspense when revealed, just something about their manner if you have seen the franchise's other family annihilation episodes and real life headlines stories of this type of crime (i.e. Manling Tsang Williams). The motive while actually not unheard of was to me ridiculous and didn't make sense with how the perpetrator was behaving.
Did feel that the regulars seemed tired here, including Hargitay and Phillip Winchester is still not working as Stone. Who also comes over as neurotic and making remarks that are unprofessional, on a side note to me his behaviour in dealing with his sister's death has been very inconsistent throughout the season. A lot of the dialogue is over-heated and cliched, primarily in the second half.
In conclusion, started great but fell part. 5/10.
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