This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.
“Missing” Season 20. Wikipedia summary is: “The Special Victims Unit are called in after a little girl is found in the trunk of an abandoned car. The girl says her kidnapper wore yellow the same color as Big Bird and the detectives discover that she was adopted by two gay men after a surrogacy arrangement. After interrogating many suspects, the detectives find the girls kidnapper but they also learn that her kidnapper may not be who he claims to be and uncover a years kept secret kept by his mother, who may not be as innocent as she says she is.”
There is a gay male couple and this time it goes a bit further than the normal anti-homophobia of the show, because they have a child (one artificially inseminated a surrogate and the other adopted). Although that stopped being controversial about 15 years ago, it still is more significant than if they were child-less.
“Dearly Beloved” Season 20. Wikipedia summary is “The Special Victims Unit are called in after a woman crashes a wedding claiming that the groom, a therapist, raped her. The detectives talk to several people, who claim that the woman has stalked them at times after sending inappropriate messages on Facebook and Instagram, which challenges the woman’s integrity. However, when it is discovered that the woman is pregnant with her alleged rapist's baby, the woman confides to Benson that she doesn’t know if she can have the baby due to being unable to love it and an upset Benson tells Rollins something that she overheard her mother say years ago.”
There are two minor things and one bigger thing worth commenting on. First, the villain, a white man, is at the beginning about to get married to an Asian-American woman. Second, there a brief appearance by another Asian-American woman who is gay.
The episode kind of brings up the subject of rape and abortion, even though there is no attempt made to stop a rape victim from having one. As I wrote elsewhere on this blog,
“I’m pro-choice for the following reasons: I don’t know whether or not the fetus is alive but I am sure that A) women should control their own bodies, B) without the right to choose they can’t have full equality, and C) if men could also get pregnant there would be a massive pro-choice majority in this country.”
If I were a pro-lifer, I would believe in making some exceptions and the very first one would be for rape survivors. As the show states, some survivors who get pregnant by their attacker choose to have then child, but if they choose to have an abortion that should be an option. It’s one reason I support Sinn Fein, now the largest party in Ireland. I’m not sure what their current position on abortion is, but they used to be the kind of pro-life party that made a lot of exceptions, including for rape.
“The Good Girl” Season 20 Wikipedia summary is: “The Special Victims Unit are called in to investigate a complicated pregnancy case involving a thirteen year old girl. Benson works to try and find out who the baby’s father is, but getting the answer becomes complicated when the teenage girl is reluctant to expose the baby’s father. She refuses to speak to Benson and the Special Victims Unit, prompting Benson to believe that the baby’s father might be someone close to the teenage girl who may have taken advantage of her.”
There’s a bit about homophobia where a gay teacher at a Catholic Middle School is in the closet because he would be rejected by them. It’s also noteworthy that he’s a white man in a relationship with a black man.
I also learned something pretty sick. In Missouri, adults can marry children, I think starting at around 10. It’s sick.
“Diss” Season 20 Wikipedia summary is: “When a pop star is assaulted in her own home, the Special Victims Unit are called in to investigate what happened. The detectives soon find out that the pop star’s husband had a heated public feud with another competing recording artist, which could easily have been the motive for the assault. Just as Tutuola gets deep into the case, it is discovered that his family ties to one of the suspects of the assault and as a result, Stone, who is taking the case seriously, orders Benson to take him off the case.”
One of the characters is a bi-racial man and another is his mom. I know that’s not as unusual as it was 20 years ago, but still…. There’s also some stuff about how cops treat black people.
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