The premise is not an appetising one on paper, of all the premises for Season 20 the one for "Brothel" is a contender for the least appealing and the most potentially distasteful. On first watch though, it was better than expected and had a lot of good things while not blowing me away. Was hoping when rewatching all of Season 20 that it would be a dramatic improvement over the hugely disappointing "Part 33", which had a lot more promise conceptually but failed in too many areas.
Luckily, this is a dramatic improvement from that episode. It is not one of the best episodes of Season 20, being not one of the few great ones in the way "Alta Kockers" and "Dear Ben" were. "Brothel" to me was quite good and intriguing, and a lot more engaging and tasteful than the plot synopsis makes it sound. Which implied it would be sleazy and sensationalist, but actually it wasn't really either. It is flawed when it comes to continuity and doesn't always make sense, but there is a lot that is good.
Am going to talk about what the episode does well. Visually it is well made, especially the intimate photography. It looks stylish and slick with a more refined look than when 'Special Victims Unit' first started all the way back in 1999, while maintaining the show's grit. The music doesn't overbear and is not overused. The script is thought provoking and doesn't hold back, while also not being exploitative. Good, even great, performances are a big strength. Particularly good were Ice-T, unsettling John Rothman and suitably wounded Jennifer Esposito.
It was absolutely great to see more focus on Fin, which was refreshing after seeing him underused for too many latter seasons episodes. The story is admittedly flawed, but is on the whole absorbing. The truth of the responsible was a surprise and the ending was heart breaking.
"Brothel" isn't perfect though. The continuity is sloppy, with it feeling like "Part 33" never happened. Due to them seeming to move on very quick when what happened in that episode would have been traumatic. Rollins is really insensitive here, and this is a situation where one would think she would be very sympathetic.
While the perpetrator was a surprise, their motives and what they were up to did not make sense to me. Considering what drove them to do what they do, what they end up doing would actually realistically be the last thing and the complete opposite of what they do.
Overall, better than expected if flawed. 7/10.
Luckily, this is a dramatic improvement from that episode. It is not one of the best episodes of Season 20, being not one of the few great ones in the way "Alta Kockers" and "Dear Ben" were. "Brothel" to me was quite good and intriguing, and a lot more engaging and tasteful than the plot synopsis makes it sound. Which implied it would be sleazy and sensationalist, but actually it wasn't really either. It is flawed when it comes to continuity and doesn't always make sense, but there is a lot that is good.
Am going to talk about what the episode does well. Visually it is well made, especially the intimate photography. It looks stylish and slick with a more refined look than when 'Special Victims Unit' first started all the way back in 1999, while maintaining the show's grit. The music doesn't overbear and is not overused. The script is thought provoking and doesn't hold back, while also not being exploitative. Good, even great, performances are a big strength. Particularly good were Ice-T, unsettling John Rothman and suitably wounded Jennifer Esposito.
It was absolutely great to see more focus on Fin, which was refreshing after seeing him underused for too many latter seasons episodes. The story is admittedly flawed, but is on the whole absorbing. The truth of the responsible was a surprise and the ending was heart breaking.
"Brothel" isn't perfect though. The continuity is sloppy, with it feeling like "Part 33" never happened. Due to them seeming to move on very quick when what happened in that episode would have been traumatic. Rollins is really insensitive here, and this is a situation where one would think she would be very sympathetic.
While the perpetrator was a surprise, their motives and what they were up to did not make sense to me. Considering what drove them to do what they do, what they end up doing would actually realistically be the last thing and the complete opposite of what they do.
Overall, better than expected if flawed. 7/10.
