"Jersey Breakdown" didn't leave me that impressed on first watch when it first aired. It struck me as a well acted episode, lead and supporting, and showing the ugliness of the theme explored in an unflinching way. It also suffered from being too derivative, as a result of having a familiar premise and having nothing to make it stand out, and from being too personal drama dominant. It didn't strike me as a terrible episode, but just felt too bland and soapy.
My very conflicted to meh opinion on "Jersey Breakdown" is still pretty much the same, in overall reaction and for the same reasons positive and negative. Again, it is a watchable effort and is not terrible, but with the premise actually being an intriguing one despite its familiarity it could have been a lot better than it transpired. Season 15 was a very mixed bag of a season, with a fair share of episodes falling in both extremes of good and lacklustre at best and also plenty in between. "Jersey Breakdown" fits low down in the in between category.
Am going to begin with the good things. The acting from all the regulars is great with no exception. It is a case though of the supporting cast making an even bigger impression, Chazz Palminteri and particularly Stefanie Scott being terrific guest stars. Scott is very affecting and Palminteri proves again that he can do loathsome expertly.
Furthermore, as usual 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 ugliness of corruption is shown in an appropriately unflinching manner.
However, against all this, "Jersey Breakdown" could have been much better. There is too much focus on the team's personal life drama. It is fine if it concerns one character and not featuring prominently but doing it for most of the regulars and not at minimum is overkill. Especially Rollins. After the previous two seasons doing very well with him generally, Amaro's character writing this season was pretty patchy and this episode makes him borderline creepy. Did find the dialogue very soapy at times, especially with Amaro.
Despite the theme being done well in enough places, the case is very predictable and lacks tension and suspense with a particularly formulaic first third. Wasn't surprised by anything here. The corruption theme is not new territory for the show, it was done before notably in "Poison" and "Crush" (the latter having a quite unique ending). Watching this was like watching "Crush" times two except with a different corrupt character and different setting, with one of the oddest deaths in 'Special Victims Unit' history being the one slightly unique thing.
Overall, watchable but not particularly good. 5/10.
