Sometimes when an episode is influenced by real life headlines, it can make it more interesting. Sometimes the real life story sucks the life out of the episode by telling the story far better than could fiction. The latter was the case with Law & Order SVU “Girl Dishonored” which seemed to draw from the recent Steubenville (Ohio) High School rape case. That news story received plenty of nationwide news coverage, and, as a result, this episode of SVU seemed all too familiar. It wasn’t helped by a pedestrian story, which, despite the unfortunate suicide of a rape victim late in the episode, seemed like something we’ve seen many times before on SVU. I suppose there are only so many ways to tell the story about rape on college campuses, which sadly has been an issue for decades.
I’ll be the first one to admit that I prefer story lines that include a little action in them and this episode had zero. Thankfully, we did have Raúl Esparza to bring some snap to the legal scenes. No fault of his, but even those scenes plodded along, suffering from predictable dialog. Raúl is a wonderful addition to SVU; he can bring even the most dull scenes to life. Case in point: when Barba questioned the Dean in front of the grand jury, Raúl made Barba’s disgust very evident.
I’m a little confused about what I assumed was a hospital to which Lindsay was first taken after the rape. Would a hospital nurse really take instructions from a campus security man saying it was OK for a possible rape victim to shower before doing a rape kit? Even if this was some sort of campus clinic, I can’t imagine a nurse taking instructions or advice from non-medical personnel.
There were important messages embedded in this episode that we’ve heard before but bear repeating: No means no, don’t record your bad behavior, and crime should never be swept under the rug. This episode seemed geared toward the younger end of the targeted demographic and one can only hope that some of these messages will hit home. As crimes like this continue to occur and people still used their cell phones to record inappropriate behavior, I am not optimistic the messages will always stick.
The end of the episode included scenes inspired by
Project Unbreakable that works with survivors of sexual assault, photographing them holding a poster with a quote from their attacker.
Here is the recap:
Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Detective Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Richard Belzer – Sergeant John Munch
Dann Florek – Captain Don Cragen
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino - Detective Nick Amaro
Guest stars:
Raúl Esparza - ADA Rafael Barba
Skyler Day - Renee Clark
Colby Minifie – Lindsay Bennett
Robert Clohessy – Leo Barth
Carrie Coon - Talia Blaine
Maryann Plunkett – Eileen Bennett
Christina Haag – Dean Meyerson
Lenny Platt – Travis Holmes
Alice Ellis – Alyson
Ryan McGinnis - Joe
Linda Emond – Dr. Emily Sopher
Laurine Towler – Counselor Melissa Braxton
Julia Udine – Erica
Jake Boyd _ Wesley Grimes
Ben Hollandsworth – Carter Pressman
Hayley Griffith - Hannah
At the SVU squad, Benson is getting ready to leave and Rollins comments that she looks nice, asking if she has a date with Cassidy. Benson replies “Sort of” - they are taking his mom out to an early bird dinner, and that Cassidy will make it up to her later. Rollins asks if they are getting serious, and Benson explains that she wouldn’t say they are picking out China patterns but it is a nice fit. Benson asks what Rollins will be doing and Rollins replies she will be at home picking out China patterns; she is still refurnishing her cleaned out apartment and her neighborhood on Friday night is a bunch of college kids getting drunk.
Elsewhere, a group of girls, dressed only in bras and panties, are going through a sorority hazing ritual for Nu Iota Pi to be NIPs – or “nipple girls.” One girl, Lindsay Bennett, looks less than happy about what she has to do. Later, the girls arrive at a party and is not wearing green as she is supposed to. She’s told it is a traffic light party, red means you are taken, yellow mean maybe, and green is DTF. A guy puts a green sticker on Lindsay’s chest. Another girl points out Travis to Lindsay and reminds her that she wanted to pledge. Lindsay takes a drink for courage. Afterwards, in another room with Travis, he obliges her taking a photo of his genitals for her pledge to her sorority. He explains their pledges have to do worse, they need video of “poonspeeding”, adding that she doesn’t want to know. But when she moves to leave, he asks her what’s the hurry, she’s cute, and green means go. He kisses her and then lays her on the bed and invites two of her friends in and they rape her.
Later, a couple walk out of the party onto the roof of the building and Joe hears crying. He sees Lindsay on the ledge and asks her to get down. She asks which way is down. He begs her to come down but she moves to step off the ledge as he yells “Don’t!”
At the hospital Leo Barth, campus security director, greets Rollins and Fin who want to speak with Lindsay. He tells them he will save them the paperwork, it is hell week for the frats and she were drunk, walking around a roof ledge and a good Samaritan grabbed her but she is fine now. Fin explains that they got the call so they have to follow up, Leo says she is pretty “stoonad.” Lindsay’s mother Eileen approaches them who says she is the one who called as she thinks Lindsay has been raped. Leo tells her it is a campus security matter but she wants her to talk to real police and Lindsay is now lucid. Fin tells Leo they will keep him in the loop.
Eileen explains to the detectives that Lindsay called at 2AM and was in hysterics and crying that she wanted to come home. Lindsay said she had sex and did not want to, explaining that Lindsay is shy and home schooled and she should have know Lindsay was not ready for the parties, the city, drinking. Fin walks off with Eileen.
Rollins speaks with Lindsay in the hospital room and is surprised her mom called the police, she doesn’t recall what she told her. All she recalls is that she was talking to Travis in the room, the door was opened and he asked to kiss her. He started to move too fast and she asked him to slow down as she never went all the way before. She said stop and two other guys came in, and after that it happened to quickly, they were on top of her. The boys are in the frat – she thinks Carter and Wesley – she did not get a god look at their faces. She tried to say no but Travis forced her mouth open and the other two – one in front and one in back and it hurt so much. She heard them laughing and high fiving each other. She asks Rollins not to tell mom there were 3 of them. Rollins tells Lindsay to get a rape kit and then she can shower and get cleaned up. Lindsay explains that she already showered, the campus security told the nurse it was OK. He never asked if she had been raped. She had marker on her body and she wanted to get it off, it is part of hell week, the sisters circled her body fat. If she makes trouble they will not let her pledge.
At the Nu Iota Pi sorority house, Benson speaks with a sorority member who says Lindsay had to get a picture of Travis’ “thing” and maybe Lindsay got embarrassed because she got slutty. Another girl explains to Amaro it is hell week and some girls get too drunk.
Back at SVU, Rollins explains that Lindsay is a freshman, was home schooled from upstate, she was a virgin, was hazed by her sorority, she drank too much and was gang raped by 3 Tau Omega brothers. Benson adds that her sorority sisters admit Lindsay was assigned to get a photo of Travis’ ”package” and they are slut shaming her for anything else that happened. Amaro adds that Travis is a Rhodes scholar heading to Oxford. Rollins adds that once Lindsay got her trophy pic, he put the moves on her, got aggressive, and two other brothers came in out of nowhere. Lindsay is pretty sure of the ID – Wesley Grimes and Carter Pressman. Fin said she was very drunk and the rape kit is a mess, the nurse let her shower before they got there and campus security was doing their best to make this go away. Cragen adds they have seen this before; the school circles the wagon and the frat boys laugh it off. Cragen says no more, go after them hard.
At the Tau Omega frat house, Amaro speaks with Travis who admits they hooked up but it was not his proudest moment. But he adds Lindsay came into his room wearing green and she asked him to unzip for a photo and she was DTF. Amaro asks if he checked with Lindsay before they triple teamed her, and Travis says a walk of shame is one think but calling it rape?
Benson speaks with Wesley who says Lindsay wanted it and that she said no as is “no don’t stop, please don’t stop. ”
Fin speaks with Carter who said Lindsay got three guys off and thinks these girls get wasted so they can experiment sexually and she is embarrassed. Fin says she is not embarrassed, she was raped. Carter said she went into Travis’ room and got down on all fours on his bed. Fin asks if that was before or after she invited him and his buddy in. Carter says that was the invitation, the door was open.
Travis tells Amaro whatever that girl told her mother or the cops, she was into him. Amaro says they are going to confiscate their cell phones, iPads, etc. Travis shows Amaro a topless photo of Lindsay that was from Snapchat and he took a screen grab and thinks Lindsay wants some more.
Rollins speaks with Lindsay about the photo and Lindsay says he asked her to and he said he wanted to hook up again. Rollins rolls her eyes and Lindsay explains the photos was supposed to disappear in 7 seconds. Rollins replies that nothing disappears from the Internet ever. Lindsay says Travis posted it on TSU underground and they are calling her a slut and saying she is spreading STDs. Rollins says they can try and make that stop but cautions her not to contact those guys again. Lindsay frantically tells her the whole frat is texting her and she shows Rollins the messages. Lindsay says she can’t do this, she made a mistake and what happened last night she wanted it and that pressing charges will make it worse and she knows what happened to Renee. She explains that Travis Holmes happened to her, last year, everybody talked about her and how she cried rape and the school did not believe her and she went crazy and they locked her up in a psych ward.
Back at SVU, Benson informs them that the photo that Lindsay snap chatted went viral at TSU marked “slut of the week.” Cragen thinks there goes their case, and Fin says she is backing off her complaint. Amaro says the frat guys also posted photos of Lindsay flirting with Travis at the party. Benson notes Lindsay is clearly drunk, and Cragen says the photos do not help her story. Benson replies “so boys will be boys and girls get raped?” Rollins adds that Lindsay is scared and told her there was a girl last year, Renee, who last year alleged rape and no one believed her and according to school rumor she has been institutionalized. Cragen asks what they know about Renee. Benson finds something from last spring, another photo similar to Lindsay’s marked “slut of the week” . Cragen tells them to find her.
At LaGuardia Psychiatric Hospital, Rollins tells Benson that Renee Clark committed herself in January. Dr. Emily Sopher stops them and says they just got their message and today is not a good day. Benson explains Renee is a potential witness in a rape investigation. The doctor says not now, and, through a window, shows them that Renee has already been sedated, today is her first round of ECT, Rollins asks if electro-shock therapy will affect her memory, and the doctor replies it is a possibility Benson tells the doctor to stop it now, and the doctor informs her it is not up to her, Renee asked for this therapy, it is her choice. They watch as the procedure begins,
