It is an immutable law of SVU that if a wealthy young woman has a significant role before the second commercial break, she will either turn out to be a rape victim or a mastermind behind the assault – even if it was gang rape by a bunch of crazed strangers in a crowded nightclub. Tonight’s episode stayed true to this silly form.
Recap:
Two pretty young women get ready for a night on the town. Bubbly Brit persuades shy Gabby to wear a strapless yellow top. “Jake will love it!” Brit gushes. Gabby, Brit and preppy Jake go to a nightclub and have fun watching the band, until fireworks go off behind the stage. (Um, didn’t we learn that was a bad idea after the Great White tragedy? Are fireworks even allowed at indoor concerts any more? The lawyer in me starting calculating the nightclub’s tort liability, and there were a lot of zeros.)
Anyway, in the midst of the fireworks, someone pulls down Gabby’s top, exposing her breasts. Seeing this, a bunch of scraggly male clubgoers descend on Gabby, push her to the ground, and violently gang rape her.
At first, our detectives think the head of club security, Frank, was the ringleader. But Frank served a couple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is suffering from PTSD. Confused, he admits to the rape, then realizes he didn’t do it, and eventually helps ID the real bad guys.
Turns out, there are two sets of bad guys. First set: the scraggly clubbers who actually raped Gabby. Second set: three of Gabby’s rich prep-school friends, who pulled off her top in the first place. See, Gabby’s ex-boyfriend, Alec, wanted to get back at her for dumping him. So his BFF Brit befriended Gabby, got her to wear the flimsy top, brought her to the club, and signaled for the de-shirting to begin. Jake was in on it too. The trio paid a blue-collar kid to “top-shark” Gabby, that is, pull her top off in order to take a topless photo of her.
Who should the detectives focus on: the shirt-snatchers or the gang rapists? The shirt-snatchers, of course! Another immutable law of SVU requires immediate prosecution of any character who is questioned while: (a) carrying oars at his rowing club, (b) wearing tennis whites, or (c) shopping at pricey boutiques. Since our preppy trio did all three, they are immediately indicted. [Read more…]