Law and Order Special Victims Unit - Review - Mid Season Recap

Law and Order opened this season with a strong season premiere and has continued to last weeks episode of Pornstar's Requeim. This season so far has touched on very important issues that they have covered in previous seasons but in a different way. As well as newer issues including a college student getting raped because she is a pornstar and her rapist get off. The beauty about this show is that the writers take real life issues and turn them into an episode. It shines a new light on the issues for people, so they can understand them. Its sad really, we could read about something in the newspaper or see it on the news but we really don't understand it until we see it on our favorite TV show.

The season premiere Girls Disappeared opened with Benson on the mission to find her foster son's birth mother's killer. Elli Porter, a working girl who tried to turn it around for her son but only to get ganged raped and burned alive. This episode tied all the loose ends from season 15. Amaro's punishment for assaulting the photographer in the park he was back working traffic beat in Queens. Although when Benson asked him to help them with this case, he got a chance to win some good points with the chief. Benson asked Amaro to go  undercover as a dirty cop, trying to dig up some information, unfortunately it backed fired and it set off a chain of events. Several witness were killed and there was a warning hit put out on Benson's baby. But little did either parties know that would lead to the killer, Angel.

This episode was not only about finding Elli Porter's killer but it was about the dangers of human trafficking. And how easily it is for drug dealers and other groups to kidnap girls from other countries promising them a whole new life in America.

The second episode American Disgrace has to do with something that we see in the media far too much. An athlete being accused of raped, a black man raping white women either unless. But this episode took a big twist towards the end when Barba and Rollin's where prepping one of the witnesses for trial, she kept changing her story. Then she said "just have Bauer pay me as much as the other girls and I'll say whatever you want me to say." Well as you could imagine that throw up a red flag with Barba and Rollins so they began to ask more question on that matter. Finally the girl said " Look, all I know I was paid to say Sharkir raped me".

Barba and Rollins knew just what that meant.  They did some digging and found out that there were more broken links in the investigation.Things just weren't adding up. So when they went back and talked to Bauer the truth finale came out. He paid those women to have sex with Sharkir and then have them say that he raped them. Only because Bauer found out that Sharkir was seeing Bauer's daughter and got her pregent. Bauer wanted more than anything was to have Sharkir out of his daughter life. He knew the only way to do that was to have him framed for raped. He turned out to be a be pretty crazy old man, all because he didn't want a bi - racial grandchild. It's 2014 dude, most people look pass your skin color.

The best part of the episode was the production design. The Art Director and Production Designer did an amazing job. But while I was watching the episode I felt like they've done this storyline several times in the past. How many times can you watch an episode about athletes or a black man being set-up for raping women.  I understand when they have to repeat episodes for child rape and human trafficking. With those subjects you just can't get too much coverage and people need to know about them, and the more they see and hear about it the more they will become aware.

Which brings us to the third episode, Producer's Backend. It covers an issue that has been going on in Hollywood since Marilyn Monroe first hit the screen back in the 1940's. Movie and TV Producers have been taking advantage of young girls and boys. Robbing them of their innocence and promising them a part in their project if they do sexual favour's for them. These innocence soul where lend to believe that this was the only way to get ahead in Hollywood. You have to play the game or go home...

Producer's Backend was about a troubled girl named Tensley Evans. A troubled young woman who started acting at the age of 13. She was so desperate to became a star and her mother wanted it as much as she did, that she would do anything it took. Her mother got Tensley invited to a party at a movie producers house Adam Brubeck. At this party Adam took special interest in Tensley and took her into his bedroom. He told Tensley "If you do anything I want, I'll get you a part in my next movie". So she did, and one role lead to another which lead to more sexual favours. But it didn't stop with Brubeck he would invite his friends along with them. Tensley would have sex or oral sex with anyone that would get her a role in a movie, and it started at the age of 13.

This episode started with Tensley's acts of current day and ended up with the detectives determined to arrest Brubeck for what he did to Tensley as a young teen. And they did... They arrested him for making up a fake movie and travelling to Canada just to have sex with a 16 year old girl.

This was an awesome episode! It touched on a very important issue that has been overlooked for decades. As long as there are people who will do anything to be stars, there are producers and directors that will take advantage of them.

In the episode Holden's Manifesto it was about a young man who his whole life felt alone. Every time Holden would ask out a girl he would get turned down. As time would go by he became numb and angry towards women.

This episode shined a light on all those kids that we made fun of in school, that were weird or different from us. Then as we grew up our hormones kicked in and those kids became even more left out.  They always were standing around at the dance waiting for someone to come up to them, and say "would you like to dance with me?" But nothing...  As they would get older the emptiness feeling would get to them and would snap like Holden.

The episode started out with Holden making a video diary in Central Park. He mentioned that he could never understand why all those beautiful women would ignore him and yet they would go out with such jerks. He just couldn't understand why, why these women would choose them when he has so much more to offer. "I'm right here, and no one notices me, no one ever notices me."  Throughout the whole episode Holden continues that make this video.

They quickly learn that this was a killer that had a revenge motive and he wasn't going to stop until he gets his finale revenge. When they finally caught up to Holden it was too late. He had already killed three people and has taken a room full of high school girls hostage. When Rollins and Amaro made it to the room where Holden and the girls were, he had a gun to one of the girl's head. As they tried to talk Holden into letting the girls go, he made Amaro cuff himself to a desk. But Rollins was tried to talk Holden, Rollins told Holden that she read his manifesto and she understands him. But Holden kept saying "how could you understand a guy like me? Pretty girls like you only go after jerks" Holden read right through Amaro and Rollins, by asking her if she's sleeping with Amaro. She didn't respond but their body langunage said it all. Although Rollins is really good at hostages situations. She won't give up on Holden and finally he let the girls go along with Amaro. When it was just the two of them she turned on the charm. She was trying to make it seem like she was interested in Holden and Rollins moved in for his first kiss. The second Holden became visible to the snipers they took their shot, and Holden died just before his first kiss.

I hope after this episode people will think twice before turning someone down for a date...

The episode Pornstar's Requiem, it was based on a true story. It was about a young female college student who did porn in order to pay for college tuition. She thought her secret was safe, but as we all know once something is on the Internet its out there and anyone can see it.

Evie Barnes wanted to go to college so much and the only way she was able to pay for it was to answered an ad for modeling but it turned out to be porn. Evie needed the money and had agreed to do the film. Well it was an online porno film so by the time she got to college two of her classmates saw the film and decided to reenact the video. So the boys invited Evie to a house party and lured her into the bathroom where they raped her and video taped it. The next day Evie's RA saw that there was something wrong, so he called SVU and when they got there she said that she was raped, and it was the boys from upstairs. When the decetives questioned the boys they said that she was into it, it was her idea, and Evie came onto them. They said it was no different than the stuff she did in the porno video, you know the one that she did where she pretended that she was raped.

When charges were finally brought upon these boys and taken into custody the detectives worked their magic by pinning the boys against each other trying to get a confession out of one of them.  Finally one broke down and told the truth about what happen that night, and agreed to testify against his partner. But this case was one of the few cases that justice wasn't served. After all the evidence and the testimony of his partner admitting to the rape, not to mention the jury convicted him of first degree rape. The judge overturned the jury's conviction, and told her if she wanted to jump start her porn career, there's other ways to do it.

Sadly this episode was based on a true story. It told the story of a student, from Duke University and how she had to join the porn industry in order to pay for school. She wasn't raped but when people found out on campus that she had done pornography she was harassed, bullied, and called all kinds of horrible names. There were messages on her board saying "Her nose is bigger than her tits" Or "She deserves to be raped"


"My story is a testament to how f*cking expensive school is," Knox told Playboy. "The fact that the only viable options to pay for college are to take out gigantic student loans, to not go to college at all or to join the sex industry really says something. We need to recognize that there's a gap between what middle-class and upper-middle-class families can pay and what they're asked to pay. We also need to stop looking at loans as a solution to fix our education system, because they're crippling our economy."  

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About the Author - Shirleena Cunningham

TV Review for SpoilerTV. Has been with SpoilerTV for a year. Law and Order Special Victims Unit, The Comeback, Odd Couple, GIRLS. I'm also a big animal rights activists. I'm a Photographer, Writer, Graphic Designer and Illustrator.

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