User Reviews

This is ridiculous. Completely unbelievable. A flash mob infiltrates a Special Victims Unit and the captain tells everyone to lower their weapons because the perpetrators are juveniles. Of course, I'm wondering how they were able to get in at all. I've never seen a major police department that can be accessed without being either buzzed in or using a key code. I guess the NYPD has an open door policy for visitors. This entire episode was even less believable than the previous. This show has been going downhill for the last four or five seasons but last season and this have been the fastest downhill run ever. It's quickly getting to the point that things can only get better. We're not there yet but we're fast approaching. I've watched every episode of every Law & Order (SVU, UK, Criminal Intent, etc.) and this might be the first time that I stop watching one of the series before the series end.

I get what the writers were trying to do in this episode but, boy, did they fumble it badly. What were they thinking?

The episode is trying to highlight how, when youthful offenders go into the prison system, it hampers their prospects of rehabilitation. It toughens and hardens them and increases the chances of recidivism. True.

But this episode presents it through the prism of a victim feeling white guilt that the perpetrator was a young black man, feeling that if he goes to jail it will forever impact his ability to rehabilitate and lead a proper life, whereas she has money and can afford therapy to "get over it". I know rape victims react in a multitude of ways to sexual assault, but does this really ring true? "Oh, don't send him to jail, he might be a nice guy underneath it all." Huh???

The episode seems to treat this offender's actions as, "Oops, he made some bad judgement calls. He shouldn't be punished for that." No! He made a conscious decision to *CHASE* a woman into a changeroom and rape her. He only pleads guilty because he realises he won't win the trial. That's not rehabilitation. That's covering your ass.

How the prison system deals with the rehabilitation of prisoners is something this show can explore. But they fumbled it horribly here.

So the rape victim isn't a victim at all she is a privileged lady and she thinks that the teenager who raped her didn't mean it and he shouldn't be put in jail for rape or go to trial cause he has less then her, so she would feel bad if he went to prison.. cause the lady the real victim has health insurance and stuff so she can go to the psychologist sooo she is all like please don't put my rape victim on trial or send him to jail! Cause I'm more privileged then him and he just doesn't understand cause he is less educated then her. This is legit the episode it's crazy asf. I'm like really!!!!!! Olivia has been raped in the show also and they made that one the most dramatic seasons. Now they are just like it's whatever don't send no under privileged teenagers to jail for rape that's worse then the crime it's self! This is soo crazy this was even on TV.

This was a controversial episode for a lot of reasons. A lot of people probably did not like the behavior of the victim and how she responded along with her wife, but the thing is that there are people that would actually act like that. There are people who might be so woke that they would not want their attacker to pay.

SVU clearly has its political leanings, but they also presented an argument that many are probably making. That makes for good TV if they present these kinds of debates to viewers, even if I expect networks like Fox News to take hold of this and end up mocking it on their programming.

Okay I even kinda defended the #gamergate episode and have never rated an episode less than a 7, but this one was rough. It didn't upset me as much as most, but it was definitely frustrating. I'm also a married lesbian and my wife and I were both dumbfounded through this. I've been raped by three different men- they all happened to be white but one of them was a stranger-rape. I didn't press charges but that was only because I was homeless at the time and lots of other factors but it definitely wasn't because I felt bad for him (he was also homeless but much older than me and was already much further away from getting back on his feet than I was before the assault. We stayed around the same area so I'd seen him before but he was still very much a stranger.)

ANYWAY, after qualifying myself on the subject - I should probably also add that I'm definitely a leftist and "woke". Personally, in addition to a probable 95% of people with similar histories and views, we would never take our "wokeness" this far; it is a bit insulting. Rape is perhaps the worst violent crime you can commit against a person, maybe short of torture, I would never protect someone who raped me (unless it was a very niche DV situation where I'd be in more danger if I didn't).

BUT FINALLY to the point I wanted to make but would sound much more callous if I didn't preface it, I do honestly believe that there are some victims/survivors that would act this way - especially if it were in a legitimate attempt to prove a point about our justice system. We live in such divisive times right now that I do believe people could go this far. I don't think it was the major slap in the face to fellow survivors that others think it was, personally speaking. I think this is an actual legitimate scenario that could happen, unfortunately.

A victim of rape is a victim of rape and the person who raped the person is a rapist. That's the end of the story.

Demographic characteristics should NEVER be part of the equation. Unfair treatment of blacks and other minorities in the judicial system is also a huge issue. I have no problem with story lines that focus on this.

Conflating the two into this storyline does an injustice to victims of sexual assault regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age, etc.

There was a time not long ago when wives could not charge their husbands for rape because they were married.

It's 2024 so why does a show that focuses on victims of sexual crimes decide to throw this in the mix? It's bad enough that most victims on sexual assault never report - how is this going to help that? It's not, it is detrimental to victims.

As a victim myself, this has interfered with my sleeping - nightmares.

Having investigated actual sexual assaults for many years this episode really got to me. The criminal is made to be a victim himself when he is the one who committed the crime. The color of a victims skin doesn't matter or does the color of a criminal skin. Rape is a crime of violence regardless of any other factor and this episode may cause just one victim not to report she has been raped and that's on the uninformed writers and producers who put this crap on the air. Someone who is uninformed may believe this nonsense. The only things victims worry about is having to face their rapist and relive the trauma all over again or in some cases possible retaliation. I have always been a fan of SVU but I was the end for me. I am only sorry they can't use this program to help not hurt victims.