The Law: Eva Banks (guest star Rosie Perez) assaults another woman outside their children’s school because she had accused Eva's son of molesting her boy. When things get sorted out, it becomes clear Eva’s son was molested by his wrestling coach, who is a serial abuser. The coach swears he hasn’t touched a boy in years, and the boy swears the coach never touched him, which means someone else abused this kid. The question is, who? Stabler thinks maybe it was the boy’s stepfather, Thomas.
The Order: Benson confronts Eva, who at first refuses to believe her husband could be capable of sexual abuse, but one thing in her mind leads to another and she realizes that it’s true: her husband has been raping her son. She begs her son to tell the truth, and he eventually does.
The Twist: The stepfather, played by
The Wire’s Jim True-Frost, wants to make a deal. For a lighter sentence, he will give up the head of “Our Special Love,” a NAMBLA-like organization that fights for the civil rights of pedophiles, claiming it’s a genetic sexual orientation like heterosexuality and homosexuality. This particularly appalling character is played by the great Garrett Dillahunt, who has made something of a career of playing scumbags. Stabler and Benson bust the stepfather and the head of OSL, but not before Rosie stabs her husband with a kitchen knife. The ensuing trial of Dillahunt’s OSL leader puts forth the idea of pedophilia as a legitimate form of sexuality. Jeri Ryan plays the defense lawyer who goes out of her way to humiliate Eva on the witness stand, but Eva and her son carry the day. The stepfather goes away for 20 years and the head of OSL for, wait for it, three thousand. Yes, three thousand.
What did you think? Was this not one of the most disturbing hours of television you’ve seen recently? Talk to us in the Comments section below.