Despite only being Season 1, which usually for most shows tends to be "finding its feet"/"taking time to settle" period, 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' has fared very well up to this point of it. Was disappointed personally in "Wanderlust" but the rest of the episodes were very good to wonderful, so mostly a consistently high quality that one doesn't always get with shows so early on in their run. Not everybody will agree with that and that's fine, just my thoughts.
"Sophomore Jinx" is another very good episode. Do prefer especially "Payback" (compared to a lot of first episodes this one compares very favourably) and "Hysteria", but it is a big improvement over the previous episode "Wanderlust". Which actually despite being disappointed by it had a lot of good qualities still. One might have noticed that with me when saying that something disappointed me, that doesn't mean that it's bad, merely saying that it didn't live up to higher expectations.
In my view, the victim could have had more development outside of what she was really like. The way she was written seemed on the one-dimensional side, meaning under-explored and unlikeable, which made anything to make one connect with her in any way emotionally very difficult.
There are a huge amount of good things, that far outweigh any reservations. The case is absorbing, with its fair share of twists and surprises that catch one off guard and being surprised when one thinks that something they thought they were certain about was not correct after all. It is disturbing at times, though not quite in an unpleasant aftertaste way. Did like Abbie Carmichael's appearances and yes Angie Harmon acts disgust more than adeptly. Stabler's personal life is touchingly done and doesn't feature too heavily or feel too irrelevant.
Script is thoughtful and sometimes hilarious, with Stabler having two of the best lines. One when at the memorial with Olivia and the other in response to a character's sperm sample refusal. The character writing for the regulars is not biased this time and Olivia is much more likeable here, having been put off by how she behaved in "Wanderlust". The gritty visual style is still here, as is the spare but not intrusive music. The acting is fine, with Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay being solid and a well matched pair. Richard Belzer is amusing.
All in all, very good. 8/10
