Plot
So right up until the last quadrant of this episode, I was enjoying it. It tagged straight on from the last season, answered all the burning questions people had about the end of the cliffhanger, and had a dramatic yet meaningful start to what will undoubtedly be a season full of dramatic episodes. Lewis was set up as a thoroughly unpleasant and really quite terrifying sociopath; they used all the tricks of the trade to get him to appear absolutely revolting and it worked. Right near the end, though, it started to get sloppy. The entire conversation between Lewis and Olivia was completely unnecessary. It was silly, awkward, contrived and made no sense in terms of the plot. Sure, she might have wanted to stick around and get revenge, but as a police officer who works closely with the legal system she should know all of the reasons why that was a bad idea. Attacking him while he's handcuffed to a bed? Not covered under self-defence. In fact technially that's a whole other case of abuse - only it's her abusing him. He's already escaped the legal system umpteen times, something which frustrated her - why on earth would she provide him with another loophole to use? It seemed completely out of character for her, and turned her into a strong woman who'd just escaped her captor to a whiny child who stuck around and cried for no reason. It made me incredibly annoyed and sort of ruined my perception of the end of the episode, because it felt so out of character and completely wrong.
Music
I noticed a few moments where the music was pretty supreme, and I enjoyed it. It was also used to good effect in the scene where Lewis was singing - but other than those few moments it was more-or-less your basic 'scary dramatic' music. Still, it certainly wasn't bad.
Acting
This is a bit of a tricky one, and I'm wondering if I should change this to 'Acting & Directing' because honestly, actors don't do that much thinking for themselves (sorry, but it's true) in terms of their performance. They're told what to do and they do it, so it's really just judging someone on how well they follow instructions. That said, I did feel that most of the acting here, while good, seemed wrong for the situation. The reaction of Olivia's coworkers when she was recovered didn't feel like the relief of someone who's been searching desperately for almost five days. Olivia's beating up of Lewis felt strange and jarred with her attitude during the rest of the episode, and Lewis himself became weird during that scene. But out of character is less acting and more directing or writing, right? I honestly don't really know, but that was my perception of it anyway.
Scenery
Mostly in the precinct and Olivia's apartment, a few extra places but they didn't last long. I loved the stretch of road where Lewis killed the police officer, mostly because it just looked so beautiful (not because he killed a police officer there). The shack where Lewis kept Olivia towards the end confused me a lot. A maid showed up, so obviously it was an actual house, but in the room where Lewis and Olivia were most of the time it seemed dirty, the furniture looked shabby and the walls looked... weird. Hence the name 'the shack', but I did think it was strange for a house to look that way.
Sexism
None that I noticed, which is a good sign. I mean unless you think it's sexist for a man to go around raping only women - personally I don't think that counts. It's incredibly rude and horrific and should be punished, but it doesn't seem sexist. Men rape other men too, so there's all sorts of weird and wacky ways people can be sexually deviant.
Bechdel Test
1. It includes at least two women, (Yes)
2. who have at least one conversation, (No)
3. about something other than a man or men. (No)
I had a bit of trouble working this one out. Technically, there was an interchange of speech between Olivia and the maid, but since the maid didn't actually say anything and Olivia was basically bossing her around, I considered that to be instruction instead of a conversation. Since one of the two main female leads spent most of the episode being kidnapped, I hope this will change later on in the season. 1/3
2. who have at least one conversation, (No)
3. about something other than a man or men. (No)
I had a bit of trouble working this one out. Technically, there was an interchange of speech between Olivia and the maid, but since the maid didn't actually say anything and Olivia was basically bossing her around, I considered that to be instruction instead of a conversation. Since one of the two main female leads spent most of the episode being kidnapped, I hope this will change later on in the season. 1/3