It's hard to believe what a shell of its former self SVU is these days. At one point, the writing was pretty solid, featuring both complex stories and complex character. Now it's one-dimensional preaching to audience and pandering to causes. In this episode, a religious nut is attacking prostitutes under the guise of saving them. Through the course of their investigation -- well, it's more like a series of confrontations and slip ups -- the SVU squad finally catches the guy, but in twisting the arm of one of the witnesses, gets involved with a pregnant prostitute. From there, the story becomes one of trying to convince the mother to do the best for her child. But this episode, as with so many in the middle of SVU's run, takes the time to chastize Benson and Stabler for their do-gooder strong-arming of victims and perps, pointing out ably that it's so easy for them to moralize when they put up nothing and have nothing to lose. This episode ends with Benson, having confronted the prostitute mother so many times it's almost bullying, left to make a decision that finally makes her do more than lecture. The problem, of course, is the episode ends without resolving just what effect that has, which ordinarily would be a dramatic way to conclude but given how many times Benson and Stabler have pontificated, seems a true cop out.
