'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' had a high quality first season, and while the second season wasn't quite as good or as consistent there is a lot to recommend and a lot of the episodes are good to fantastic. Another reason to see "Consent", other than wanting to see all the show's episodes, is the subject, one that is still scarily current now and really hits hard when covered. It is not easy to explore it with tact and for anything to try it should be applauded.
"Consent" is no exception. Actually think it did very, very well with its story, did the subject with tact and didn't in any trivialise the full impact of what happened. Much of it, like a lot of 'Special Victims Unit', was not easy to watch which is not at all a bad thing, it should be uncompromising and not be an easy watch. Did find myself learning a lot from "Consent", was even touched by some of it and it does put one off fraternity parties either momentarily or forever.
The slickness of the production values continues to be present, with nothing looking cheap or jarring. Never was the music annoying or bland either, the show more often than that was careful to not go over the top on the orchestration and not use it excessively. An easy thing to do in more dramatic moments. The theme tune is memorable still. The script is tight, without being overly so, and with a lot of intrigue and poignancy. Everything with the investigation is very well written, but especially well done in this regard are the moments between Olivia and Kelly. They have such touching interaction and Olivia was absolutely the right person to that situation, being the most sympathetic character.
While their scenes are what lifts "Consent" to a higher level, the case always grabs the attention and never felt too obvious or crowded. The second half is a little better, being tighter in momentum and being more eventful, than the first, but there are a lot of surprises, the high number of suspects and motives keeps one on their toes and guessing until the very end and nothing is what it seems. Mariska Hargitay and Tammy Blanchard, as one of the season's most easy to invest in victims, fare best in the acting stakes.
Not an awful lot wrong here. Just could have been a little tighter to begin with and the revelation regarding the date drug unsatisfied a bit. Coming too out of nowhere with not enough prior-development to it.
Overall, very good. 8/10
