'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' really did vary when it came to showing the detectives' personal lives. It did well with Stabler and Olivia in the early seasons, where there was some powerful storytelling that furthered their character development. Too many personal life stories however did come over as melodramatic and was focused upon too much, doing so while overshadowing the case, especially in the latter seasons.
Amanda Rollins has come on a long way since she was first introduced in Season 13, where it took until Season 14 for her to get some proper development and sadly that development wasn't particularly promising to begin with. Her personal life stories have varied wildly, more so than most of the SVU (only Olivia's have been more inconsistent), with her gambling and past job subplots being interesting but her dysfunctional family stuff never clicked. And it doesn't click here in the first below average episode of Season 17 "Maternal Instincts", which is also a lesser effort of the season.
"Maternal Instincts" isn't all bad. There are good things. The production values are solid and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting. The regulars are very good, with Kelli Giddish standing out.
Virginia Madsen also hits hard in her performance. Rollins' development was appreciated. The episode did start promisingly with a very intriguing opening.
On the other hand, there are too many shortcomings here in "Maternal Instincts" for me to recommend it. All the Rollins dysfunctional family stuff is poorly handled and that was always the case whenever her family life was explored. There is far too much of the subplot, which is full of overripe dialogue, soapy and tension free melodrama, truly obnoxious over-acting from Lindsay Pulsipher and was just not interesting. Kim is one of those characters that is impossible to engage with or invest in, her manipulation is too overt and there is just something off about her from the very start. What always strained credulity when any episode with Kim happens is how easily naiive Rollins is, which is overkill here.
This subplot is so dominant that the case was completely overshadowed, actually forgot what the story was meant to be about which is not a good sign. It is a case that is very thin and predictable as well as completely lacking in tension. The ending is abrupt and too loose end filled, while also not being a surprise, while the characters are underdeveloped and one dimensional and it was impossible to care for any of them. The supporting cast that are part of the main case do competently but nobody stands out because of their material being so forgettable.
Concluding, disappointing. 4/10.