Confession

Law & Order: SVU has done multiple versions of this narrative conceit over its multiple years on the air. SVU's versions all run a standard 44 minutes and all are told with terse character building, momentum, a few investigative dead ends, and a generally satisfying conclusion.

Confession takes a polar opposite approach. It is obvious from the get-go, moves at a glacial pace, talks the viewer's ear off to no revelatory end, is repetitive, filled with detectives, prosecutors, and lawyers who do and say very stupid things, and winds up where it began -- on a bridge to a conclusion that's been traversed countless times. Needless to say, the issue under discussion is important; the execution and storytelling lackluster.