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 watching the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)
“PTSD” Season 10. Wikipedia summary is: “Benson and Tutuola get a first-hand look at how women in the military are treated when they respond to the murder of a pregnant marine who was raped by one of her fellow marines in Iraq. The two find a suspect (Ryan Kwanten) and become convinced of his guilt, but Greylek faces difficulties when the Navy Commander (Frank Whaley) threatens to shut down their investigation. Benson discovers new evidence and the real rapist (Dominic Fumusa) is identified along with his wife (Amy Spanger) who committed the murder. During the proceedings, Benson's prior sexual assault stirs up painful memories.”
First, there’s one brief anti-death penalty statement by the ADA.
It’s generally about sexual assault in the US military. About 5-15 years ago I read 1-2 articles about that and got the impression that the military doesn’t handle the issue very well. In this episode a military officer says that the national average rate of conviction for rape is 13% and it’s 10% in the military. This episode also highlights the fact that a service member who accuses a superior officer without evidence will be court-martialed. With that in mind I can only imagine how often a woman in the military is raped by a superior officer who gets away with it.
At one point a military officer asks detective Benson if she likes the military and she says she doesn’t because of the problem of rape in the military. I’m going to keep this fairly brief but I have mixed and mostly negative thoughts about the military. I feel pretty good about what they did during the Civil War and during WWII and I used to be sort of positive about what they did in Somalia in the early 1990s. I imagine a small majority of people in the US military are good people. I believe it’s possible that they can do something good in the future. More of my thoughts about the US military are scattered throughout posts here.
“Hothouse” Season 10. Wikipedia summary is: “When the body of a fourteen-year-old girl (Juliet Brett) is found floating in the Hudson River, Benson and Stabler think she was smuggled into the country by sex traffickers. Tutuola discovers her exceptional academic success and suspects that this had something to do with her murder. The detectives find out that the girl's father (George Tasudis) uses violence to coerce their other daughter (Aya Cash) into non-stop studying, and their mother (Funda Duval) is afraid to stop him. The killer turns out to be a high school student (Sarah Hyland) who obsesses over impressing her mother (Enid Graham). Mitigating circumstances come into play when the SVU discovers that she suffered from sleep deprivation and overdosed on drugs used to treat ADD.”
The Medical Examiner, who is a main character in some seasons and recurring in other seasons, says that sleep deprivation is a form of torture.
“Transitions” Season 10. Wikipedia summary is: “When a man (Frank Grillo) is found badly beaten in a strip club parking lot, a fake fingernail leads the detectives to believe that the attacker is female. The victim awakes in the hospital with no memory of what happened, but brings the attention to his ex-wife (Wendy Makkena) and their thirteen-year-old transgender daughter (Bridger Zadina). She makes it no secret that she hated her father for not accepting her as a girl, causing the detectives to suspect her as well as her transgender boyfriend (Daniela Sea). The perpetrator is eventually revealed to be a guidance counsellor (Aisha Hinds) who has her own painful memories regarding gender identity.”
This is an episode about transphobia. It’s about a teenage transgendered girl named
Hailey transitioning to being female. I get the impression that there are often state laws in this country that prevent minors from going through that transition. At one point the viewer thinks Hailey has tried to kill herself and that reminded me of something. In the Republic of Ireland, if a female is diagnosed as suicidal by two psychiatrists, she can have an abortion (abortion law sucks there). The LGBTQ community and their allies might demand something similar if there’s no way that a state will allow minors to transition- allow them to transition if the state’s refusal makes them suicidal. If it’s either that or nothing, I think what I’m suggesting as a compromise is better than nothing.
Two other notes:
1) The transgender teacher who supports Hailey is Black.
2) The bouncer at a strip bar seems to be a gay woman.
“Selfish” Season 10. Wikipedia summary is: “When a woman (Gail O'Grady) reports the disappearance of her 11-month-old granddaughter, the detectives suspect the girl's mother (Hilary Duff) of killing her daughter. The detectives however find out that the baby actually died of measles because another mother (Anastasia Barzee) refused to vaccinate her son. After Cabot puts the evangelical mother on trial, she is found not guilty of manslaughter, prompting the baby's grandfather (Mike Pniewski) to take the law into his own hands.”
About halfway through the issue in this episode switches from a murdered baby to the issue vaccinations. I want to say a few things about vaccines. I think that they should be optional in a lot of cases, maybe all of them. But I think there should be an effort to encourage people to get them. That’s basically how I feel about the COVID-19 vaccines. Although I’m worried that they were rushed because of Trump putting pressure on the medical science industry (because he thought his elections chances would go up with vaccines being ready for use) and there might be problems with them, Dr. Fauci has said that they’re good and I really want to see America return to normal as soon as possible, and I encourage people to get them and I’m going to get one as soon as I can.
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