On first watch, "Plastic" had some serious issues and was very uneven in terms of how the case is written but was a decent episode elevated by the guest support acting. It was a case of the guest support acting being better than the episode itself and also a case of being more appealing than the premise, which sounds a bit on the thin and sleazy side but wasn't either luckily. Was hoping that it would be similar or maybe even better on rewatch, after seeing episodes of shows overtime that went down in my estimations.
"Plastic" fared the same on rewatch, for pretty much the same reasons in regard to both strengths and flaws. Season 20 was not a great season, and while not a great episode and again very uneven in story execution "Plastic" fares better than a lot of the season's episodes and certainly better than most of those from the season's first half. While also not being one of the best, with it being a let down after the wonderful "Alta Kockers" and not being as good as that and "Dear Ben".
Beginning with the good things, the 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. The regular cast are all fine, as is the cohesive team interaction and it was great that Olivia didn't annoy me as she did do too often since her promotion.
Even better is the guest turn, with a truly creepy Mark Feurstein dominating. Alyssa Sutherland is both unsettling and poignant in the second half. The script is thought provoking and punchy and not soapy. While the story was a long way from perfect, it did boast a tear inducing ending and a surprising twist.
However, "Plastic" does fall short in other areas. It is rather predictable on the whole, with it being too obvious too early who the perpetrator was in a case with too few suspects. Not everything felt necessary, everything with Ceci didn't add an awful lot and confused the story a bit.
Furthermore, there is some very sloppy legal and policing errors, especially the search warrant (the way it was conducted it most likely would have been deemed inadmissible at trial) and the murder charge. The pacing is uneven, taking a bit of time to get going and then tries to do too much in the final third.
Worth seeing, though falls well short of greatness. 6/10.
"Plastic" fared the same on rewatch, for pretty much the same reasons in regard to both strengths and flaws. Season 20 was not a great season, and while not a great episode and again very uneven in story execution "Plastic" fares better than a lot of the season's episodes and certainly better than most of those from the season's first half. While also not being one of the best, with it being a let down after the wonderful "Alta Kockers" and not being as good as that and "Dear Ben".
Beginning with the good things, the 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. The regular cast are all fine, as is the cohesive team interaction and it was great that Olivia didn't annoy me as she did do too often since her promotion.
Even better is the guest turn, with a truly creepy Mark Feurstein dominating. Alyssa Sutherland is both unsettling and poignant in the second half. The script is thought provoking and punchy and not soapy. While the story was a long way from perfect, it did boast a tear inducing ending and a surprising twist.
However, "Plastic" does fall short in other areas. It is rather predictable on the whole, with it being too obvious too early who the perpetrator was in a case with too few suspects. Not everything felt necessary, everything with Ceci didn't add an awful lot and confused the story a bit.
Furthermore, there is some very sloppy legal and policing errors, especially the search warrant (the way it was conducted it most likely would have been deemed inadmissible at trial) and the murder charge. The pacing is uneven, taking a bit of time to get going and then tries to do too much in the final third.
Worth seeing, though falls well short of greatness. 6/10.