Have always found Marcia Gay Harden never less than watchable and at her best brilliant. That adjective is the perfect one to describe her acting consistently in her recurring role of Dana Lewis, right from her scene stealing in Season 7's "Raw" all the way through to "Secrets Exhumed" (didn't like the way the latter episode wrote Lewis but had no problem with Harden). So her third appearance was much anticipated on first watch and satisfied immensely.
It still immensely satisfies on re-watch, of which there have been a few which is true for all the show's episodes. "Penetration" is not a great or perfect episode, with one plot strand being significantly weaker than the rest of the story. But there are a lot of truly fine things and it is good on the whole for Harden and the final quarter. Not one of the best episodes of Season 12 ("Locum", "Totem", "Behave") but also not one of the worst ("Dirty", "Spectacle", "Bang").
"Penetration" is at its weakest with the terrorist subplot. It is a relevant issue that is always worth addressing and debating, but it did to me feel very heavy handed and could have done with a lot more tension.
The beginning didn't feel needed and the whole first quarter is nothing out of the ordinary, pretty standard territory. After the first five episodes being more realistic about the way the SVU conduct their cases, it is sad to see a return to the excessive unprofessionalism that marred too many of the cases in Seasons 10 and 11.
So much is great however. The best aspect is the wonderful performance of Harden, starting off sassy and hard as nails like her previous appearances and then she becomes very moving later. Love her chemistry with the equally strong Christopher Meloni. They are very funny together, with Stabler having some fun lines that was so refreshing after tiring of his loose cannon personality that was throughout Season 11.
Along with Harden, "Penetration" is also worth seeing for the truly powerful final quarter, what is described hits hard vividly and Harden's delivery of it is goosebump inducing. Everything with the rape is handled a lot more tactfully, as well as more harrowingly, than everything with the terrorism. The production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The direction is sympathetic but also alert. The script is taut and intelligent.
Overall, good if not great (though Harden and the final quarter are the latter). 7/10.
It still immensely satisfies on re-watch, of which there have been a few which is true for all the show's episodes. "Penetration" is not a great or perfect episode, with one plot strand being significantly weaker than the rest of the story. But there are a lot of truly fine things and it is good on the whole for Harden and the final quarter. Not one of the best episodes of Season 12 ("Locum", "Totem", "Behave") but also not one of the worst ("Dirty", "Spectacle", "Bang").
"Penetration" is at its weakest with the terrorist subplot. It is a relevant issue that is always worth addressing and debating, but it did to me feel very heavy handed and could have done with a lot more tension.
The beginning didn't feel needed and the whole first quarter is nothing out of the ordinary, pretty standard territory. After the first five episodes being more realistic about the way the SVU conduct their cases, it is sad to see a return to the excessive unprofessionalism that marred too many of the cases in Seasons 10 and 11.
So much is great however. The best aspect is the wonderful performance of Harden, starting off sassy and hard as nails like her previous appearances and then she becomes very moving later. Love her chemistry with the equally strong Christopher Meloni. They are very funny together, with Stabler having some fun lines that was so refreshing after tiring of his loose cannon personality that was throughout Season 11.
Along with Harden, "Penetration" is also worth seeing for the truly powerful final quarter, what is described hits hard vividly and Harden's delivery of it is goosebump inducing. Everything with the rape is handled a lot more tactfully, as well as more harrowingly, than everything with the terrorism. The production values are slick and have a subtle grit, with an intimacy to the photography without being too claustrophobic. The music isn't used too much and doesn't get too melodramatic. The direction is sympathetic but also alert. The script is taut and intelligent.
Overall, good if not great (though Harden and the final quarter are the latter). 7/10.