"Collective" was another episode of Season 4, the others being "In the Dark" and "View From Up Here" (both uneven episodes that started off very well but went off the boil) where one could tell from the plot synopsis that it was going to be something of an odd episode. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it is always very dependent on the level of oddity and how it would be executed, whether it would be intriguing and just about make sense or go well overboard that it becomes absurd.
There are elements of both those extremes in "Collective", which to me was decent enough but uneven. A promising start and very atmospheric but for my tastes it became silly later on and a little too bizarre. A long way from being one of the worst episodes of 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent', which was brilliant at its best and at its worst better than a lot of shows with their not so great episodes. But as far as Season 4 goes, it's a lesser episode.
Production values as ever are slick and with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear with the theme tune still memorable and the direction is accommodating yet tight enough. As said above, "Collective" started off on a very intriguing and atmospheric note with some great ideas present, enough of the story is very clever and its portrayal of the femme fatale broke away from conventions of this kind of character and fascinated.
A good deal of the script is thought-provoking and puts a smile on the face. The acting is very good from all involved and "Collective" is well worth seeing for the wonderful scene in the toy store with the multiple-purpose gun, seeing Goren all nostalgic and childlike-happy was refreshing.
Did feel that the case wasn't quite as strong later on. It did intrigue but wasn't as focused and could have gone into more detail with what is revealed, which made things become muddled. The atmosphere was more bizarre than creepy and the suspense goes.
The ending was a bit hasty and silly too in my view.
But a decent episode overall and worth seeing especially for that aforementioned scene. Not a consistent one at the same time. 7/10
There are elements of both those extremes in "Collective", which to me was decent enough but uneven. A promising start and very atmospheric but for my tastes it became silly later on and a little too bizarre. A long way from being one of the worst episodes of 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent', which was brilliant at its best and at its worst better than a lot of shows with their not so great episodes. But as far as Season 4 goes, it's a lesser episode.
Production values as ever are slick and with the right amount of muted grit, the photography doesn't try to do anything too fancy or gimmicky while not being claustrophobic and keeping things simple. The music doesn't overbear with the theme tune still memorable and the direction is accommodating yet tight enough. As said above, "Collective" started off on a very intriguing and atmospheric note with some great ideas present, enough of the story is very clever and its portrayal of the femme fatale broke away from conventions of this kind of character and fascinated.
A good deal of the script is thought-provoking and puts a smile on the face. The acting is very good from all involved and "Collective" is well worth seeing for the wonderful scene in the toy store with the multiple-purpose gun, seeing Goren all nostalgic and childlike-happy was refreshing.
Did feel that the case wasn't quite as strong later on. It did intrigue but wasn't as focused and could have gone into more detail with what is revealed, which made things become muddled. The atmosphere was more bizarre than creepy and the suspense goes.
The ending was a bit hasty and silly too in my view.
But a decent episode overall and worth seeing especially for that aforementioned scene. Not a consistent one at the same time. 7/10
