The subject does on paper sound quite interesting and hard hitting and seeing Casey Novak return is enough to have fans of her in rapture. Have always been blown away by the previous episode "Totem" and have always considered it one of my favourites of the season and one of the few outstanding episodes of it. A few of the previous episodes in my view are real misfires, as were two of the three after and am also not a fan of the character of Dekker.
"Reparations" is a mixed bag of an episode. Have never minded that only two SVU members are in the episode (Stabler and Fin), and luckily it is a teaming that has always worked quite well. Was really looking to seeing more of too often underused Fin but Stabler's character writing was very up and down in Seasons 8-12 and it is hard to not want an improvement. "Reparations" is much better than "Dirty", "Spectacle" and "Bully" but was a letdown after "Totem". Ranking it with the rest of Season 12's episodes, it's one of the middling outings and in the middle category.
Beginning with the good, "Reparations" hardly wastes Novak. It was so great to see her again and she has lost none of what made her such a great character in the first place, a character that Diane Neal always portrayed extremely well and more. Christopher Meloni and Ice-T are also very strong and Stabler and Fin work very well together and it was hard to have a change once in a while.
Production values are fine, have always liked the photography's intimacy and grit and the look of the show has come on a good deal over-time (and it was good to begin with). The music doesn't intrude and has a haunting quality, have not always remembered to say that the theme tune is easy to remember and holds up. Lorna's backstory is extremely harrowing.
However, there are in "Reparations" too many loose ends and things left unanswered, making the story feel incomplete and confusing. Other flaws in the story are dull pacing, a very flimsy case and too many implausibilities in the rape case to make it stand up in court and that it is unbalanced (legal scenes over-emphasised, great to have them but they could have been more compelling, and not enough detective work).
Also have always found that Terrence Howard is a miss as Dekker, he in general underplays, especially the line delivery, but also overdoes Dekker's arrogance. The tension is severely lacking and the dialogue is less than tight and quite awkward sounding. Stabler's perfect summing up of Dekker is the one line that is great.
Overall, mixed feelings here. 5/10.
