Law & Order SVU “Promising Young Gentlemen” Recap, Review, Discussion

There is one constant in the Law & Order universe: Hudson University is still a cesspool of debauchery.  Despite the fact that it is implied that closing down the Bishop Club will stop the sexual assaults happening at Hudson, we have to believe it will never really get better.   It must remain a fountain of bad acts as fodder for the Law & Order universe!

I feel like we’ve had more than one episode with a similar story line with SVU or with Law & Order in general. This one, however, toyed with the idea of attaching hate crime status to the rape charges.  Sadly,  while this would have made for an interesting legal fight, it died on the vine and primarily served as a stick to get the rapists to take a plea.  

Chief McGrath interacts with Benson and admits he’s trying to manage his affect and express himself without projecting anger. I’m glad they’re trying to smooth out the character a bit...we’ll see how long that lasts.  

Rollins finally meets Carisi’s mom Serafina, played by Beverly D’Angelo, now making her an official “repeat offender”. Personally I preferred it when she played attorney  Rebecca Balthus in 5 SVU episodes.   She was a little edgier and less the cookie-cutter mom character. We’ve never seen Carisi’s dad (as far as I can recall), and I am pulling for Chevy Chase to play that role (just kidding). 

It's a shame how far Elena Barth has fallen.

Jason Biggs fit into this episode very well, and I find myself wishing he was a permanent cast member.  By the way, where is Detective Velasco?  

Here is the recap:

Two girls, Sarah and Annabelle get ready for the Bishop club formal dinner on the party bus. Mia tells them to have fun but be careful.

Carisi takes Rollins to meet his mother, Serafina, driving through his old neighborhood. Carisi’s dad had to drive to Connecticut to fix Carisi’s sister’s flooded bathroom. She thinks Rollins need to eat.  Carisi’s niece Mia arrives. 

Meanwhile, the girls party on the bus with the guys and play a drinking game called Zoom Schwartz Parlato-Goldstein. They get the girls to drink. The arrive at a steakhouse and are told to leave their phones, coats, and bags on the bus.  Inside, they continue to drink more. 

Meanwhile,  Rollins, Carisi, and Mia are still at the Carisi household and talk after dinner.  Mia is a campus advocate for sexual assault awareness at the campus. 

The men and girls  then adjourn to the separate Bishop Club and told all they can take home is memories and are told to swear an oath.

Back at home, Carisi gets a call from his dad and hears that his mom liked Amanda.  He gets another call and it’s Mia, who is with a sobbing Annabel,  and asks Carisi for his help. He tells her to take her Mercy emergency room and he will meet her there.  He tells Rollins one of the girls from her dorm was raped. 

Mia explains that campus police told her to go to the student clinic but she came there instead. Annabel is getting a rape  kit, but she took a shower. Mia told her to bag her dress in a paper bag.  Benson arrives and continues to ask questions.  Later, in the hospital room, Benson and Rollins speak with Annabel.  She admits to being drunk and it was at the Bishop Club. She explains about leaving the purse on the bus. They got her to go upstairs to get it; Austin took her into an upstairs room. She passed out and when she woke up Austin was raping her and two guys, called Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, held her down. 

Back at the dorm, Rollins and Fin speak with Sara, saying they were like lambs to the slaughter. She left early to meet her boyfriend. She mentioned the “scavenger hunt” led by Austin to find their stuff.  The Tweedle guys were Jacob and Brad, they kept refilling her wine glass. She thinks they think she wasn’t wasted enough. She just wanted to see the inside of the club – she is an anthropology major. 

At the Bishop Club, Fin and Rollins talk their way in to check out the place, mentioning the rape, and mentioning it is a crime scene and could take on a life of its own.   Oscar, one of the workers is cleaning the room. Fin and Rollins ask to speak with Austin Drake, Jacob  Hoffman, and Brad Calloway and every member there last night.  When they are told they are at the library, Rollins says they can meet them at the precinct or they can drag them out of the library in handcuffs. 

Later, at the precinct,  Fin and Rollins speak with Jacob, Brad, and Austin and they seem to blame the girls, saying they hate men.  Benson watches with Carisi and Benson says this is what they expected, and Carisi says they put themselves in the room and are not denying the sex.  Carisi does not think they have enough for a conviction.  The boys’ parents have arrived and Benson and Carisi speak with them and one says if they question them again it will be with a lawyer present. Benson says if they do come in again they will need one. Benson advises them to not have their sons leave town. Afterwards they discuss that it is not just the three of them and it was coordinated.   When Carisi says they will not turn on one another, Benson suggests talking to the people who work in the club, drive the bus, etc. as they don’t see the help.

Fin and Rollins speak with Lloyd at the steakhouse and when threatened with serving alcohol to a minor, he explains the instructions were no empty glasses, they wanted the girls to stagger out of the place.  The speak with the bus driver and the guys called leaving the stuff on the bus “club rules” and they all get it back at the club. He drives the stuff to the club and then takes it to Oscar and he takes it from there.  They then speak with Oscar at the Bishop Club and he saw them take the girl upstairs and she was crying when she left. They give them the sweet stuff so they don’t get sick.  He asked Austin the next day and she said she was fine.   When Oscar moves to take a call, they see a painting of Detective Andy Parlato-Goldstein on the wall.

Back at SVU, Benson,  Rollins and Carisi speak with Andy who said when he was there is was still like a gentleman’s’ club.  He said the room they took her to was the “boom-boom” room and there is so much DNA in there forensics won’t help.  They will also not talk to outsiders, and he suggests  he go in. 

Later, Andy uses the secret knock and gets in to the club.  They are thrilled to see him, and he brought food.  Back at SVU they watch from the secret camera and that the drinking game was named for him.  They go into the boom-boom room which they call the Grand Prix room now, like the chess opening.  He sits in the “throne” and they sing the new pledge song which talks about how they hate and abuse women.  He tries not to act appalled but they look shocked at the SVU.  Carisi thinks he has seen enough and will charge all of them with conspiracy to commit rape 1. 

Benson visits President Freeman of Hudson University and explains what has transpired. They discuss the boys have a different story and that it happened off campus. Benson explains the arrest warrants for all of the club and they are executing a search warrant for the club as they speak.   

At the club, Andy helps with the arrests.  Carisi speaks with Mia, who is watching. She says she came back to Hudson to make a difference.  Fin reads a group of them their rights and they act flippantly. 

Benson speaks with McGrath about the raid, who was shocked about not knowing beforehand.  She was giving him plausible deniability. She says this is a conspiracy, they were all involved and wants to see all of them on the register,   He thinks this looks punitive, like cancel culture on steroids.  He tells them to pick the cases she can make, they don’t want to make political statements.  He asks how was that, and when she says understood, he says not the content, the delivery.   He is trying to manage his affect and express himself without projecting anger, adding he is on the road to Damascus.  Benson haltingly says he is getting there, 

The men are arraigned – 16 defendants, and they are defended by Elena Barth.  They all plead not guilty. 

Later,  as SVU, along with with Andy, watch, Barth speaks with the press about it being open season on these men.  They discuss her being a former judge and Fin thinks she just wants the payday times 16 now. The judge granted bail.  Rollins gets a call from Carisi saying that Mia’s advocacy group staged a march at the Bishop Club and they were attacked. 

At the scene, they are told by an officer some of the boys were waiting. She adds the protesters initiated contact and went on to their property.  There are anti-women signs all over the outside of the building.  Mia tells Carisi and Rollins it was peaceful and confirms the men were waiting for them, screaming at them. The men maced them.   They went to get hoses and the girls tried to grab them away and got sprayed down.  Annabel complains to Benson and Andy that they got maced and they put her face on a blow-up doll.    Later, Benson, Fin, Rollins, Carisi, and Andy discuss the situation and Andy wonders why they don’t charge this has a hate crime, and Benson thinks it may be time. 

Later,  Hudson President Freeman speaks with McGrath, Benson and Carisi about this, and she doesn’t like how they handled it. Benson thinks her intentions are good but there is a lot of history here. Freeman looks forward to a better relationship with Hudson than she had in the past. After Freeman  leaves, Fin and Benson gives McGrath an update about the hate crimes charge because of the men's bias against women, and McGrath agrees. 

Carisi later speaks with Benson and Andy;  Maxwell had reminded him there is no precedent and it is risky.  Benson thinks it sends a message. Carisi says they need evidence Annabel was targeted because of her gender.  Benson says they need language that shows their motivation.  Andy says TARU found the men were texting pictures to one another.

Benson, with Rollins,  shows Annabel photos of her with words like “slut” and “whore” written on her  unconscious body.  She recalls someone writing and scrubbed herself.  Benson wants to go after them for more than rape, suggesting a hate crime.  Annabel wonders what she did but Rollins explains she did nothing.  

In Motions court,  there is a motion to dismiss the hate crimes enhancement on the three charges of rape 1.  Barth argues for her clients and Carisi argues point for the hate crime. Carisi states they don’t have to prove the underlying crime to attach the hate crimes enhancement. Barth does not agree, saying this is showboating.  The judge says she will make her  judgment shortly. 

In  the courthouse hall, Barth tells Carisi to keep piling it on, it will look like a vendetta. He then speaks to Benson, Rollins, Fin and Andy about Barth’s denied motion. Jacob’s father approaches and says he won’t let his son be charged with a hate crime, and Jacob says he knows what happened and is willing to testify. 

In the conference room with his lawyer, Jacob tries to explain himself and is sorry.  He explains how Annabel got into the Grand Prix room and Austin’s involvement, with Brad, himself, Chuck and Trey, who watched. Jacob says he held her arms while Brad wrote on her breasts and Brad held her legs while Austin “did the deed.” He swears he didn’t rape her, but Benson says he helped them and he will have to live with that the rest of his life. 

Fin and Carisi speak with Brad who will not turn against his brothers and his lawyer wants to talk to him.  Andy and Carisi speaks with Austin and Barth, the latter who brings up the drinking game named after Andy.  He admits they weren’t angels but didn’t target women for rape. Austin  makes a comment that his dad said they should have never let Jews in, and when he keeps mouthing off, Barth tries to silence him.  Carisi tells him to keep going and he’ll put hate crimes back on the table.  He asks Barth if she wants to talk with her client.

Later, at the club, the throne and other items are being moved out of the club as it has been closed.  Mia tells Carisi and Rollins that Annabel wanted her to thank them.  Carisi says they are glad they can spare her from going to trial.  Mia says Annabel will take the semester off and go home for a while. Mia says she can’t believe this is happening, and Andy says they are permanently shuttering the club. He asked that the Bishop alumni and trustees signed off on that, and Carisi explains yes, for dropping the conspiracy charges, adding it was a difficult negotiation.  Benson adds that President Freeman made it crystal clear if they wanted their kids to have any chance of getting in to Hudson U or getting a recommendation upon leaving they’d have to sacrifice the club.  Mia thanks Benson for hearing them, saying she doesn’t know what it means to be actually heard.  Benson says she actually does. As they watch a group of  women protesting outside the club, as things are being moved out, the women chant “get them out” as we fade to  black.