Prior to my first watch of "Assaulting Reality" when it first aired, it was the episode that in all honesty this reviewer was looking forward to the least. Primarily because of the premise and my intense dislike of reality shows and what they represent. The 'Law and Order' franchise have ventured into stories revolving around reality shows and with very mixed results, mostly actually not too great (one of the exceptions being "Sweeps" from the original).
"Assaulting Reality" doesn't really do anything to change my negative opinion of reality shows, if anything it reinforces it, and it's the third disappointing episode in a row. Again there are good things here and it is not unwatchable, thanks to the guest stars namely, but it just didn't come together and makes the mistake too of feeling out of place tonally. Of Season 17, to me "Assaulting Reality" is in the bottom five episodes along "A Misunderstanding", "Melancholy Pursuit", "Maternal Instincts" and "Community Policing".
There are some things that make it watchable. The 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. The regulars are very good.
Even more so are the guest cast, with Wendy Malling and Michael Gross having a ball in their roles. Larisa Oleynik also does her best with what she has. Some of the outsmarting is very amusing.
However, much is wrong. The story is very thin, with no suspense or surprises. Everything is easily foreseeable some way off before it happens and the case is overshadowed by the over the top-ness of the writing and the setting. The writing for my tastes was far too goofy, even for the more comedic vibe it just felt like too much and jars a lot with the serious subject. The dialogue did have times where the corniness was intentional, like with the show contestants, but with pretty much all the dialogue being corny (even in the many parts intended to be serious) it felt like corn and goofy overkill.
Like what was said a couple of sentences ago, the subject is a serious one, but the over the top goofiness and corn really jarred and like the subject was being poked fun at. Olivia and Tucker have no chemistry together and the relationship between them is not ringing true yet, given Tucker's history. Didn't feel that much for the victim, she does a lot that makes it less easy to sympathise with her.
Overall, underwhelming. 5/10.
