Decided three years ago to review all the episodes of the original 'Law and Order' and 'Special Victims Unit' ('Criminal Intent' too, but that lasted 10 seasons compared to the original's 20 and 'Special Victims Unit' still going), being someone who really likes both shows in their prime/early years. Really loved a lot of the early seasons episodes of both shows, while also finding both less consistent later on. With the original not feeling the same post-Briscoe and even began to lose consistency in Season 11.
"Zero" is a long way from being zero quality as an episode. The complete opposite, to me it's absolutely brilliant and one of the best episodes of a season that this reviewer was not expecting to like as much as they did. A lot of tough topics were dealt with in Season 18 and that for "Zero" is no exception to this. Mostly they were executed very well indeed and even brilliantly in the best cases, with some quite hard hitting episodes in the season. Very few of them disappointed. "Zero" is one of the hard hitting episodes and one of the finest examples.
Production values continue to remain high, while the direction lets the dramatic intensity of the second half to blister. The music doesn't sound melodramatic and the direction has momentum while also having enough breathing space when necessary. The acting is very good all round, especially in the legal portion. Best of all and the best thing about "Zero" is a superb Ned Beatty on commanding and unsettling form.
Story is absolutely riveting, pulls no punches and never comes over as too simple or over-complicated. Especially the legal scenes. The tension and emotion factors are high. The characters are written well and don't feel like stereotypes. "Zero" never comes over as dull and it doesn't feel routine, and the improvement seen in Lupo and Bernard's chemistry hasn't been lost.
All in all, brilliant. 10/10.
