Anybody who has read any of my other reviews for for example individual episodes of the 'Law and Order' shows, am slowly working my way through writing reviews for all the episodes of 'Law and Order, 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent' with a long way to go, will know already how much admiration there is from me for anything that tackles difficult and controversial themes and issues. That for "Snitch" is another tough and courageous one.
"Snitch" on the whole does a very good job with it. It easily could have been too much of a strange episode, or a confused or preachy one. On the most part though, it isn't. It is not one of the very best episodes of this mixed bag of a season, of the Season 9s between this, 'Law and Order' and 'Criminal Intent' this one was the most inconsistent. It is also not one of the worst, despite being inexplicably the lowest rated. "Snitch" though is closer to being in the better half when ranking Season 9 though.
It's not flawless. The story is at times jumpy and sprawls about, and it would have been better if it didn't try to cover so much and it would have made the plotting consistently clearer. Sometimes less is more.
There is though a huge amount to like about "Snitch". The production values are still slick and suitably gritty (without being too heavy in it). The music is not too melodramatic and is not used too much, even not being too manipulative in revelations. The direction lets the drama breathe while making sure that the tension and emotion never slipped.
Moreover, the script is tightly structured, made me think and as usual had an uncompromising edge. It also flows very naturally and doesn't feel rambling, sleazy or over-serious. It is also insightful in what it has to say about polygamy. The story is over-stuffed and more complicated at times than it needed to be, but it is also very absorbing, very harrowing and did scare me. There are a few difficult subjects tackled here and they are far from sugar-coated while also not done too heavily. The twists and turns are far from few and they are not unexpected, actually thought that the truth was one of the more shocking ones of the season.
All the regular performances are great and Hakeem Kae-Kazim unsettles in his supporting turn as a very well fleshed out character. Hateable to begin with but later fear is felt for him.
Summing up, very good. 8/10.
"Snitch" on the whole does a very good job with it. It easily could have been too much of a strange episode, or a confused or preachy one. On the most part though, it isn't. It is not one of the very best episodes of this mixed bag of a season, of the Season 9s between this, 'Law and Order' and 'Criminal Intent' this one was the most inconsistent. It is also not one of the worst, despite being inexplicably the lowest rated. "Snitch" though is closer to being in the better half when ranking Season 9 though.
It's not flawless. The story is at times jumpy and sprawls about, and it would have been better if it didn't try to cover so much and it would have made the plotting consistently clearer. Sometimes less is more.
There is though a huge amount to like about "Snitch". The production values are still slick and suitably gritty (without being too heavy in it). The music is not too melodramatic and is not used too much, even not being too manipulative in revelations. The direction lets the drama breathe while making sure that the tension and emotion never slipped.
Moreover, the script is tightly structured, made me think and as usual had an uncompromising edge. It also flows very naturally and doesn't feel rambling, sleazy or over-serious. It is also insightful in what it has to say about polygamy. The story is over-stuffed and more complicated at times than it needed to be, but it is also very absorbing, very harrowing and did scare me. There are a few difficult subjects tackled here and they are far from sugar-coated while also not done too heavily. The twists and turns are far from few and they are not unexpected, actually thought that the truth was one of the more shocking ones of the season.
All the regular performances are great and Hakeem Kae-Kazim unsettles in his supporting turn as a very well fleshed out character. Hateable to begin with but later fear is felt for him.
Summing up, very good. 8/10.
