My feelings on first watch for "Valentine's Day" was mostly positive, without being wowed over by it. To me it was one of those episodes that started off very well and intriguingly, while feeling that it tried too hard and there wasn't really anything that shocked me. There are many other 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' episodes that made me feel this way or similar on first watch, and on rewatch there was a mix of better, worse and pretty much the same.
"Valentine's Day" is in the pretty much the same group. The first half grabbed my attention, but the second half didn't feel as focused. And there was one aspect this time that annoyed me, an aspect that actually oddly enough didn't bother me massively on first watch. "Valentine's Day" is an example of an episode that is pretty good if not great and is neither one of the best or worst episodes of a not bad at all Season 13 (somewhere in the middle).
There is a lot good here in "Valentine's Day". It's well made, intimately photographed and slick with no signs of under-budget or anything. The music didn't sound melodramatic or too constant and the direction is accomodating while still having pulse. The writing doesn't ramble, although as usual there is a lot of dialogue to digest, and really provokes thought.
Furthermore, on the whole the story did grip and started off very well with a suitably suspenseful opening. It was great to have Novak back and in more than just a cameo appearance. The teamwork is cohesive and well connected and Amaro has settled very well, his character is also coming on without his personal life being dominant or too soapy. The regulars are extremely good and Chloe Sevigny is unsettling in her role.
However, the ending (the aspect that annoyed me, though there are a lot worse endings in the show's history) is another one of those unsatisfying and feeling wrong and cheated ones, especially with the truth being so blatantly obvious. It did get predictable when the ransom demand started ringing alarm bells in how little sense it made and the second half does have a few too many red herrings.
Really did not buy the juror's reason for his decision and was convinced there was more to it than that, that aspect of the plot could have been delved into more. Boyd came over as inconsistent in how he was written, feeling awful for him in the first half but far too naive in the second.
Pretty good episode overall. 7/10.
