Secrets Exhumed

Marcia Gay Harden as FBI agent Dana Lewis makes her latest appearance on an SVU episode where the FBI and SVU have a joint interest. Mariska Hargitay and Danny Pino are sent to Florida on an extradition when they find Harden there after the same guy.

It's Harold Perrineau who is in a wheelchair, but back 25 years ago he was a serial rapist and killer and two of the crimes where he was a suspect are in New York.

After a while it becomes abundantly clear that Harden has a more than average interest in this case. That's not easy to detect since SVU fans are already familiar with her dogged dedication.

Some of the evidence is in Cold Case where Sergeant Richard Belzer has been spending time and some of it is missing. He's got a Herculean labor to perform going through all those boxes.

I can't say more, but when retired Detective Stabler calls his old partner Detective Benson for the latest gossip will she have a tale to tell.

There is an old friend Dana Lewis in this story, and interestingly, no one was shot. She was Stabler's trouble-maker.

The interrogation scenes were great, so is the story.. It was theatrical and remarkable. Of course, a well-known character was needed for such a shocking finale.

Marcia Gay Harden performs so well as Dana Lewis, she's a strong character. I wish it wasn't her last appearance.

I even thought you'd hook up with William Lewis. A strong enemy can also emerge from the character of Dana Lewis. She can be a solid team member, too. I think Svu could have developed this character.

This is an "if you only see 20 of the 480 (so far) episodes, make sure this is one of them" episodes!

"Secrets Exhumed" is notable for being the final appearance of Dana Lewis, a very interesting, entertaining and tough as nails character who shone from her very first appearance in "Raw". Have always wished that she was in more episodes, and Marcia Gay Harden was always wonderful playing her. Fans were generally not crazy about the episode, some even panned it, criticising especially the way Lewis was written in especially the latter stages.

Really sadly do have to agree here. "Secrets Exhumed" is by all means not one of the worst episodes of Season 14, but it is one of the most frustrating ones considering the potential. A truly great recurring character deserved a far better final episode than this and also far better and less contradictory character writing. It was like 'Special Victims Unit' had forgotten what made the character so great to begin with, which is a shame seeing as Harden certainly hadn't forgotten.

Harden in fact is the main reason as to why "Secrets Exhumed" is still watchable despite the flaws, making for an intense but later oddly affecting presence without any over-compensating or under-acting. Mariska Hargitay also gives a strong account of herself and shines particularly in her interaction with Harden.

It was great too to have Munch back and in a role that isn't too under-utilised, he is amusing too in usual Munch style. Photography while very close up doesn't come over as too static or filmed play-like, while the production values are typically solid and have subtle atmosphere while not being drab and keeping things simple. When the music is used it is haunting and has a melancholic edge that is not overdone.

However, "Secrets Exhumed" feels rushed with too much going on and is also predictable. There is a real lack of suspense, was not at all surprised by the truth or the big secret. Lewis just seemed too off and too suspicious from the beginning. The writing lacks spark, coming over as bland, and the climax is overwroughtly written. Not the tense and moving one that was hoped for.

Actually did think on first watch it was those adjectives but that was when not paying as much attention to what made Lewis such a great character in her earlier appearances. Like other fans, the character assassination of Lewis was the biggest problem, the way she was written here just went against everything she stood for in the previous episodes and it was impossible to buy.

Overall, disappointing but not terrible. 5/10.