Of the first half of the Season 6s of the original 'Law and Order', 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent', 'Criminal Intent's' (the show was also beginning to become very uneven) was easily the worst in my view. The best being 'Special Victims Unit's', where all the episodes were very good and more. 'Law and Order's' was high quality too, but felt less settled with a major character change. 'Criminal Intent's' though was very inconsistent, especially Logan and Wheeler's outings.
There were some disappointing Goren and Eames outings though as well. "Rocket Man" is one of them. It is not a terrible episode, all their episodes are at least watchable, and their characters and chemistry are definitely strengths. There were though not many episodes of Season 6 to leave me very mixed while veering into the disappointing category. "Rocket Man" is one of those episodes though and it is one of the weakest of Season 6. It is sad that the season went from one of its best episodes to one of its worst in so short a time.
"Rocket Man" does have good things. The production values on the other hand 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 and the direction is accommodating yet tight enough. The acting is without problems throughout from all the cast.
Script has enough thoughtful and well meaning moments. Goren and Eames' chemistry is always a pleasure. The episode does start intriguingly.
It is a shame however that "Rocket Man" lost its way too early and never found its footing again. The story is not always easy to follow, with a lot of characters and relationships here and a lot thrown at us with not enough time to digest completely keeping up was not always easy. Other episodes do a lot better at not being predictable and being continually interesting. Here in "Rocket Man", the truth was not that hard to figure out. Did so early on myself and there were dull stretches in the middle.
Also did think that the episode was on the bland side from not having enough tension and some of the sleaziness is too in your face and a bit thick on the smut. The script could have been tighter in other places and the characterisation while not personality-free or non-existent is not very meaty.
Overall, watchable but not too great. 5/10