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.
(Now that I’m getting into some of the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)
“Scorched Earth” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “The detectives of the Special Victims Unit are called to the scene when a hotel maid (Anika Noni Rose) reports being assaulted by an Italian diplomat (Franco Nero). Bureau Chief ADA Cutter and ADA Cabot prosecute the high-profile case, which quickly grows more complicated as the maid's credibility is publicly questioned. Detective Amanda Rollins joins the Manhattan SVU from Atlanta, while Detective Benson struggles to cope with the fall-out from the shooting in the precinct.
Inspired by the New York v. Strauss-Kahn case.”
There’s a lot of stuff about the Sudan that I’m going to ignore because I don’t know which conflict it’s about and I’m no longer familiar at all with any of them. There is some good class stuff. The rapist says about the charges against him: “on the word of a maid?” and Finn says “my grandmother was a maid.”
“Personal Fouls” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “As a long time coach (Dan Lauria) is inducted to the Metro Basketball Hall of Fame by former students, an ex-player (Aaron Tveit) accuses the coach of sexually abusing him as a child. Detective Nick Amaro transfers into the SVU squad from narcotics and is thrown onto the case. The detectives interview former players but no one admits to abuse, forcing Detectives Benson and Tutuola to dig deeper into the coach's most successful player (Mehcad Brooks) and his manager (Heavy D).”
There’s one significant anti-homophobic statement by Finn and Rollins (Finn mentions that his son is gay and is the bravest man he knows for being out), with Finn saying that it’s still a big problem in the Black and Latino communities. I’m not sure why it is worse in those communities but I’ve gotten that impression before. I think it might be the strength of homophobic churches in such communities.
“Official Story” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “The CEO (John Doman) of a private military contractor is confronted by Occupy Wall Street protesters and later found drugged and sexually assaulted in a park. Benson and Amaro begin their investigation, but find the victim unwilling to cooperate. A much larger crime and conspiracy in Iraq is unveiled when the SVU squad and the new Executive ADA, David Haden (Harry Connick, Jr.), learn that the attack was retribution by a father (Holt McCallany) for the rape of his daughter (Megan Ketch). Meanwhile, Benson begins to develop feelings for Haden as they work the case.”
This is an episode where a corporation becomes the bad guy, and even better, it’s one taking over military functions from the military, something that I oppose. It’s responsible for a horrible crime and and is referred to as being “above the law” and commits serious crimes in its efforts to cover-up its original crime.
“Child’s Welfare” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “Benson's half-brother Simon Marsden (Michael Weston) turns up in New York after a five-year absence and says that Child Services is threatening to take his children away from him. Benson asks defense attorney Bayard Ellis to represent her brother, but the seemingly simple case turns into a disaster for Ellis and his client. As Olivia tries to balance her personal life, the unit lands a case where a homeless couple finds a newborn baby abandoned near a hospital. Munch, Tutuola, Amaro and Rollins follow the evidence to a shocking discovery: a couple (Danielle Straastkad and Graham Anderson) abducting women and imprisoning them so they can give birth to girls, while abandoning boy babies.”
The part of the episode about Benson’s half-brother is anti-racist because he’s married to a black woman (and is the step-father of her son and the father of her daughter) and that plays a role in his problems because she's present when he gets stopped by police. His problems with social services begin when he is stopped for a traffic issue and the police officer learns that he has a joint on him, and there’s a pattern of non-white people getting treated more harshly in that situation than white people are. There’s also a judge with a similar attitude. There’s even talk by a civil rights attorney about a class-action lawsuit in relation to part of this.
“Justice Denied” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “A rape victim (Cynthia LaForte) is brought to the hospital after a harrowing hours-long ordeal, and Benson recognizes the suspect's M.O. from a case she solved eight years ago. The jailed suspect (Guillermo Diaz) confessed to Benson after a tough interrogation in 2004, but has been claiming his innocence ever since his conviction. The SVU is forced to reopen Benson's old case to determine if they are dealing with a copycat or a case of wrongful imprisonment. Re-interviewing a past victim (Samantha Soule) reveals that she may have been raped by someone else, causing Benson's detective work to be challenged and scrutinized. Olivia's personal relationship with Haden is also placed in jeopardy when Bayard Ellis gets involved with the case.”
It turns out that the man originally convicted IS innocent. It’s an important episode because it shows that even good detectives like the characters on this show can get innocent people prosecuted and convicted. On the other hand, it wasn’t done intentionally and although I’m sure that frequently it IS intentional, with a TV show like this there’s no way that Benson would do that. It kind of reminds me of the John Grisham book “The Confession” about a young black man wrongfully convicted and executed based on a confession that was gotten after several hours of questionable interrogation techniques. Apparently the police can lie to people they’re interrogating. Although I’ve heard of worse, that seems very questionable, if not just wrong- it seems like the goal is to manipulate someone into a confession based on nothing but the suspect allegedly having motive instead of using an interrogation to sort out the facts and determine guilt (in this episode they did have other evidence, but in the Grisham book all they had was an alleged motive). At the very least I would say lying to susepcts should be done sparingly and there should be publicly-known criteria for when it can be done. In the Grisham book it was wrong. I wonder how often rich people with a team of high quality lawyers are wrongfully convicted? I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the time when someone is wrongfully convicted they have a public defender.
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