19.1 Fox/Feeney: 1 Indiana: 0

Recap:

Ann and her church group (including creepy sycophantic lights out girl) visit New York to do volunteer work and Ann reunites with her old friend Lydia. After hanging out in the hotel bar, Ann slips Lydia a key so she can presumably return after all the whackos are asleep. In the meantime,someone knocks on the door and Ann is raped. Lydia finds her, shocked and dazed, on the floor and Lydia concludes to the detectives that she had been raped because "she's a lesbian!"

After Rev Gary redirects the detectives to two boys who tried to buy the girls shots, Lucas Hull admits to saving Ann's soul through curative intercourse which I have trouble typing without wincing which leads to a classic WTF moment between Carisi and Rollins (and a Google by me to see if this is actually a thing and of course it is, thank you, writers, reminds me of the time I had to search "Coney Island Whitefish." #SVU--increasing my knowledge of things I never wanted to know since 1999).

In a nice few minutes of writing and directing (fist bump, Alex Chapple), Lucas and Ann tell us all about their understanding of God's law and the NYC detectives are understandably flabbergasted to hear both Ann and Lucas justify and characterize rape as a remedy for the "sin" of homosexuality.

Ann's parents show up and take her back to the hotel over the objections of everyone sane and Evan Braun (Johnny D's sleazeball lawyer) shows up to defend Lucas using the argument that "curative intercourse" is protected under the First Amendment.  After a heart-to-heart with Benson, Ann decides to cooperate even though mommy is mostly concerned about her being shunned by the church and by her community, Lucas is charged with first-degree rape, Benson restrains herself from strangling Ann's mother, Barson agrees God cannot have the last word, and the judge refuses to dismiss the case, so we go to trial.

Ann testifies she did not consent, but a taped session with Reverend Gary shows up and throws a wrench in the prosecution's case; however, he mentions Lucas had to be forgiven to which Barba argues, well, there must be a crime then, but neither cross examination seems to be swaying the jury so Benson heads off to dig up dirt on the guy who emerges as the real criminal, Reverend Gary. As it turns out, Gary's been paying boys to rape girls for years and he was getting a twofer with Lucas and Ann. The Rev makes himself a martyr in his God's eyes by agreeing to plead guilty to criminal facilitation, but Benson's still pissed and I'm still pissed but hopefully Lucas (when he gets out of prison) and Ann can unshackle themselves from the demagoguery they've been imprisoned under for much of their lives.

Ramblings:

INDIANA!!! LOLOLOL. Mike Pence country. Take that, Veep. How much you wanna bet NOBODY from SVU is planning a trip to the Hoosier State any time soon. Speaking of Indiana, the actor who played Ann kept turning her hick accent on and off, but that was the most annoying part of the episode which is a huge accomplishment for season eidteen.

Can we get a standing ovation for cl-ASSIC Benson showing up in the rain and helping Ann see the secular light? I wasn't as shocked as some Tweeps to hear OMB say she believes in God, after all she did take it upon herself to baptize Noah as a Unitarian to "ground" him. That scene was Benson at her absolute best. You can always tell when the real writers are in control of the script. Did y'all get this written and filmed with you-know-who was visiting Mar-A-Lago? Or was he cloistered away somewhere already plotting how to fuck up Chicago?

The intersection of religion and the law is something SVU has taken on several times, but never before has the timing been this relevant. The writers pulled off an important sociopolitical message without being too pedantic or too preachy. Our country's fundamental laws ARE NOT tools to aid and abet bigotry or construct parameters around love. The First Amendment tethers the GOVERNMENT; it does not provide room for people such as Reverend Gary to use criminal behavior to serve a religious agenda.

FYI: Kip Pardue played Ronnie Bass in Remember the Titans and Ronnie Bass kissed Gary Bertier in the locker room.

Guess what, Kevin Fox and Brendan Feeney? I never ONCE thought to myself oh, this scene is pointless and awful, yet another example of how the #42Minutes could have been used for some #Tuckson. However, I have not given up on this ship and I do not expect Benson or you or the next showrunner to give up either.

#Tuckson is God's plan.

Ain't No Party Like An #SVU Party

I had one of these at the airport where I had to go to retrieve my lost and now found luggage. Do you have any idea how depressing it is to go to the airport and NOT fly anywhere? 

Fashion:

Benson had a nice brown leather and black jacket-shell combo I don't recall seeing before and Barba wins ties forever and ever. Kudos to Wardrobe for doing such a nice job with the Pence-approved Indiana wear.

Quotable:

"Therefore there was tacit consent." This kind of shit is why people hate lawyers.

"This is me delegating." GUYS! Fin is NOT Sergeant material I don't know how many times I have to say this, JFC, register Rollins for that fucking exam, please. 

"Do you know what the most frightening part is? He actually believes he's doing the right thing." By the end of this case OMB must have needed a few drinks. Poor Lieu had had it with all this God's law bullshit.

"You know, he said, she said, God said. You don't want God to get the last word."
No we do not. Not in fiction and not in real life either.

"How can love--any love--be wrong?" Shouldn't we be past this question? Yes, we should be. But a significant portion of the population is not. The fight continues.

"And with faith." I'm certain after Ann added this declaration to Benson's final lecture our Lieu turned around and muttered what the fuck? Like, I am 100% sure.

Is It Next Wednesday, Yet?

Prediction: Carisi's #34B will go away with fuckface; I'm all for continuity, but I ship Barisi.

Writers and stars tweeting. I didn't want to throw my phone through the television. A sensitive topic handled with skill and sensitivity.

More of this, please.

Pop an asterisk next to eidteen and let's move on. Time to get the band back together.