"Over Here" was one of those 'Law and Order' episodes that could have been much more. 'Law and Order' in its prime is my personal favourite of the 'Law and Order' franchise, that 'Special Victims Unit' has gone on for longer may indicate otherwise but that show has not been the same for a long time. Seasons 1-10 had a small group of disappointments but the best episodes in each season were absolutely brilliant. While the show became less consistent post-Season 10, each season did have truly fine episodes still.
Really do wish that "Over Here" was one of those fine episodes. Unfortunately this was not to be, to me Season 17's penultimate episode was a disappointment and along with the next episode one of the season's weakest. A big disappointment after such an excellent previous episode in "Captive". It is certainly not a terrible episode and the idea was good, unfortunately the execution was just messy and the episode fairly average.
There are good things. The production values are still slick and suitably gritty (without being too heavy in it). The music is not too melodramatic and is not used too much, even not being too manipulative in revelations.
Some nice thoughtful moments in the script later on. The acting on the whole is very good, especially in the second half. Ben Curtis' performance is very powerful and hard hitting, deserved a much better episode.
However, there are quite a number of shortcomings. Have never cared for Cassady and Milena Govich on this show and the episode does absolutely nothing to change my mind, actually forgot what they contributed to the episode to be honest. The first quarter is routine with the chemistry on the bland side and does too little with the plot point that had the most potential. The story in general disappoints, with too little tension, not much emotion and a lot of jumping about structurally, which made the middle act feel very choppy.
Not to mention the predictability from the war veteran premise already been done to death (and much better) in previous episodes of the latter seasons. The momentum goes, the story thins out and there is some preachiness in the second half.
In summary, very conflicted on the penultimate episode to this season. 5/10.