"Betrayal's Climax" was another one of the uneven episodes of Season 15 on first watch. Liked the first half and some individual components but the second half had too much of a tried too hard feel. The concept is another one of the familiar but also interesting ones that could go either way in execution, just to say that revisiting familiar territory doesn't automatically mean something is bad but it is dependent on whether the execution does anything new or special with it.
The good news is that there are far more over-familiar and derivative episodes of 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' than "Betrayal's Climax" and there are a lot of things done well. Did think that the episode started off well. Just like what was felt on first viewing, the second half isn't as strong. To me, one cannot accuse the writers of not trying with "Betrayal's Climax", if anything with the second half the episode was more of a try too harder than a non-trier.
Am going to begin with the good. Cannot fault the acting, especially Mariska Hargitay, like in her reaction to being threatened, and poignant Fiona Robert. Really rooted for Avery, Manny and their chemistry, the shocking turn of events concerning one of them is truly saddening and one of those wish it had never happened events.
Production values are still fully professional, the slickness and subtly gritty style still remaining. The music is sparingly used and is haunting and thankfully non-overwrought. The direction shows some nice tension in the middle act. There is genuine ension due to the responsible being legitimately menacing, with a touchy subject done more tactfully than expected. Olivias promotion was heart warming and after initially worrying about it being too much too soon this convinced me she was the right person for the job.
On the other hand, "Betrayal's Climax" tries to pack in too many elements in the story and only succeeds properly in the central relationship, everything else is not delved into enough for my liking. Also did find it over-stretched later and felt that the dialogue could have been tauter.
Furthermore, Barba (who on the whole was one of the best things about the latter seasons and one of the main reasons as to why the show was still stuck with) infuriated me here just as much as he did in "Psycho/Therapist" and makes stupid decisions for reasons that are vague, especially with the tape. The moment he dismissed it, this was enough to throw the case out with too little to go on and where the episode could easily have stopped. Rather than filling out the second half in a bloated way, which did make the story momentum suffer.
In summary, slightly above average but uneven. 6/10.
