Overall an excellent episode: a twisted love triangle is to blame for a beautiful woman's death, but as Benson and Stabler unravel the relationships and deception at play among a married couple and the wife's dance instructor, it is their relationship and the way they ease back into their roles upon Olivia's returns that brings the episode to life. I have long been a fan of Benson and Stabler, and seeing them as people who have to readjust to working together after her months-long absence. The only thing that could improve the episode would have been appearances from Fin or Dr. Huang — not seeing Dr. Huang for an entire episode is quite disappointing, no matter the episode's topic.
And I would be remiss not to mention the great guest performances by Bob Saget and Catherine Bell, who really shines as Naomi. They are introduced as happy, New York yuppies, but hey, this is SVU, and you know there's more to them than meets the eye. His career in microchips leads to a very cool "creepy technology" twist in the story, which, despite inciting the standard lecture on Big Brother from Munch, brings up some interesting questions and really does add something original to the episode. The whole business at the end with the stereotypical overworked, extremely conservative corrections bureaucrat is pretty clichéd, but don't let that stop you from enjoying this highly entertaining episode of SVU.
And I would be remiss not to mention the great guest performances by Bob Saget and Catherine Bell, who really shines as Naomi. They are introduced as happy, New York yuppies, but hey, this is SVU, and you know there's more to them than meets the eye. His career in microchips leads to a very cool "creepy technology" twist in the story, which, despite inciting the standard lecture on Big Brother from Munch, brings up some interesting questions and really does add something original to the episode. The whole business at the end with the stereotypical overworked, extremely conservative corrections bureaucrat is pretty clichéd, but don't let that stop you from enjoying this highly entertaining episode of SVU.