Image Credit: Will Hart/NBCJennifer Love Hewitt guest-starred on last night’s episode of SVU as a multiple rape victim who’d been attacked four times over the course of fifteen years by the same mysterious man. Hewitt gave a good performance (or, anyhow, a good enough performance to indicate that she deserves better than the Tori Spelling purgatory of Lifetime movies and vanity reality shows). Early in the episode, her character delivered a lengthy soliloquy of terror — one of the rapes occurred the night before her wedding, because SVU specializes in subtlety — while a doctor examined her body for evidence. It was a long, slow, artful sequence. It was also the precise point before the episode started going bananas.
Detective Benson took a special interest in Hewitt’s case, because cops always take special interest in every victim’s case. (At one point, she said, “If I have to live with you for twenty years, he’ll never touch you again.”) The number one/only suspect was James LeGros, who spent half the episode twiddling his invisible mustache. He got off on a technicality. But SVU hates technicalities. Technicalities make SVU angry. The madder SVU gets, the stronger SVU gets! So, the SVU folks devoted themselves to scaring LeGros. Literally. They were waiting around corners and going “Boo!” It went like this:
1. LeGros gets out of a cab. Ice-T is waiting for him at the corner. Ice-T says, “Are you behaving yourself, Evil Rapist?” LeGros does a spit take and runs away.
2. LeGros is at a urinal. Stabler walks up to the urinal next to him. He asks, “Why’d you rape that girl, Evil Rapist?” LeGros runs off without even zipping up.
3. LeGros is at a cocktail party on a rooftop. Benson yells out, “Hey, everybody! That Evil Rapist is an evil rapist!” Then Jennifer Love Hewitt yells at him. LeGros says that he’ll sue the police department, which makes sense, and then tells Benson that all women are stupid, which is exactly what a criminal suspect would say to a policeman.
4. LeGros is walking down the street. He sees a flyer with his picture on it, printed under the words “Evil Rapist.” That’s when he notices Ice-T handing out the flyers. Right in front of him. “This is highly irregular!” screams LeGros. “Maybe you should call…The Police!” says Ice-T, flashing his badge.
Do you remember that Simpsons episode where Sideshow Bob goes straight, but Bart doesn’t believe him, and so he keeps on following Bob everywhere? It was like that, except funnier. Later in the episode, Benson traveled to Los Angeles, so she could hang with Skeet Ulrich. They got a warrant to check out one of the Evil Rapist’s apartments. Inside of the apartment, they found gigantic poster-sized images of all his rape victims, scrapbooks with all of their driver’s licenses, and a record of the exact dates of all the rapes. To quote Minority Report, this is what we call an orgy of evidence.
SVU is on its twelfth season now. If the Law & Order TV shows were a dysfunctional family who ran a Fortune 500 oil company, then SVU would be the highly-caffeinated patient son who, following the long death of the family patriarch, has now taken charge. It has become the standard-bearer. Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay have been L&O cops for so long, they’re approaching Jerry Orbach territory. (Yeesh, Ice-T is approaching Jerry Orbach territory.) It explores the darkest territory of human nature without even the slightest note of humor. So you can’t help but feel bad when you find yourself laughing uncontrollably.
Viewers, did you watch SVU? Wasn’t Jennifer Love Hewitt totally not that bad? Did you enjoy how Benson took trips to Detroit and Chicago and was utterly disgusted by how awful their police departments are? So I guess Law & Order only likes the coastal cities, eh? Share your own thoughts below.
“Later in the episode, Benson traveled to Los Angeles, so she could hang with Skeet Ulrich.” That’s the best sentence in the recap and probably the best thing about the episode. It was insane.
I loved it, JLH killed it, i was moved by her performnce
i agree! She was really good.
And, um, Darren I don’t see how anyone could find humor in that episode. Your recap makes it sound stupid and funny but I didn’t find it as amusing as you did
I loved it, JLH killed it, i was moved by her performance
I found that ridiculous too – showing up everywhere. It was more like a dark comedy. And also – Skeet Ulrich was AWFUL in his appearance.
Is it more of a twist anymore when the guy harassed by the SVU cops turns out to be innocent or when he’s guilty?
Been and SVU fan for a long time…I really liked this episode but after last nights episode I really hope DNA tests dont just sit there to collect mold I am glad to see the writers shine some light on this situation happening in cities all accross the country
Evidently, this does happen.
MH has been working her ass off to shed light on it . Included she testified in front of congress.
The DNA story was done to cheesier effect on Bold and the Beautiful.
LOVE the ep. Hargitay rocks for all she does for Sexual assault victims and the backlog.
I thought JLove was really great in the episode last night. My friend and I were totally laughing though and questioning the ep’s reality when all the detectives were following the perp all over NYC and harassing him, but oh well, Jlove did a great job! Very moving.
A minor correction….when Olivia traveled to LA, she and the other detective didn’t go to one of the suspect’s other apartments, they went to a storage facility he had, and that’s where all of his “remembrances” were found.
@Reena – unfortunately, rape kits DO sit around in labs all over the country, sometimes for years, usually because of budgeting issues within the police departments or labs. Sad, but true…think how many sickos could be off the streets and how many crimes could be solved if only there was enough manpower and funding for these labs to do their jobs in a timely fashion.
Lastly, I love SVU and liked this episode as well. Being a cop’s daughter, I recognize that a lot of stuff that happens on this and other procedural cop shows would never happen in real life. But I also realize that this is a tv show, thus reality is somewhat suspended for the sake of the storyline. All in all, I thought it was a good episode, and good performances all around.
Hey, did you watch the show? That wasn’t the perp’s apartment. It was a storage bin. Maybe you’re used to NY apts. Yes, the story stunk, but a little comedy now and then plays well with me.
“Detective Benson took a special interest in Hewitt’s case”
Darren,. you really dont have any background on this ep huh? LOL
One of the best episodes in a while, this show continues to rank as one of the best. JLH was superb, the harrowing scenes of her getting examined while rehashing the history of her rapes were extroadinary.
L&O: LA was excellent. Actually Skeet was good too!
Well, it kept me interested. After the “stalking” sequences I couldn’t wait to see what they did next! All in all, Love this show and JLH was very, very good.
What a crappy review. The show rocked.
The rape wasn’t the night before her wedding, it was a week before, after her bridal shower. And, as others have pointed out, it was a storage space, not an apartment. Do you even pay attention when you are watching the eps you write up?