‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ Recap – ‘Constricted’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT -- "Constricted" Episode 26004 -- Pictured: (l-r) Peter Scanavino as A.D.A Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr., Mariska Hargitay as Capt. Olivia Benson -- (Photo by: Michele K. Short/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 2604 of ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. This article also contains discussions regarding sexual assault, which may be triggering to some individuals.
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One particular question that has come up often in the hit NBC series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, is how do we as a society… get men to stop assaulting women? Because this is a problem that seems to never end and there has to be some way to bring it to a close, and over the course of its 26-year run, the show has indeed pondered upon many paths to solving that problem. All in the hopes of starting the discussion, and perhaps laying down inspiration for change and at the very least… educating the viewer on root causes that can be combatted and well, this is top of mind today, simply because this week’s episode of the show once again looked at the core of the problem.

A feat that ‘Constricted’ accomplished by having Captain Benson’s team deal with quite the disturbing sexual assault case. Of course, it didn’t seem as though it was going to be that kind of case early on. Since we were privy to moments between a pair of teenagers that were planning on a romantic evening together, and how their parents were going to help that happen in a safe manner. But following that romantic dinner, the teenage woman in the case was in distress, and even had bruises on her neck, and that was enough for the SVU to get involved and early on, it was clear that this case was about assault. Simply because the young lady spoke to blanks in her memory and that she likely said no, and those were indeed qualifications for the crime.

But proving that assault took place proved difficult. Mainly because any attempt to speak with her lover, was stonewalled by the high-priced family lawyer. Leaving Benson perplexed about how to best approach the case and bring charges to bear. But a surprise secondary assault, one that had similar attributes and featured someone related to the accused, was enough for Benson to dig deep and discover, that the young man responsible for assault, learned about it from a video shown to him by his father. Something that was relevant and of concern, because it also became clear that dear old dad used that to help train his son on how to handle women, and that brought up charges for certain because it was endangerment.

Which brought forth a new fight to tie dad to a negligent death since the second assault victim did not survive the injuries she incurred in this nightmare, and well… while it might not have gone as far as Benson liked… she did get the man to confess in court what he had done, and his son was held accountable, and in the process, we were able to learn… the lesson at hand. Because in essence, this episode made it clear that part of the problem… is that this is learned behavior. That fathers with toxic traits are eager to pass them along to their sons and make them monsters, and until we say enough to all of that garbage, this will persist, and this will remain the problem it’s always been. So, it is up to us to demand more of the system to ensure that there are penalties for such matters.

All of which gave rise to another powerful episode from this series. One that truly did ponder upon a powerful root cause for this problem and went beyond just showcasing the problem. It also looked into how easy it is to teach someone this kind of behavior when one is in a position of trust, and how so many wave it away and never once think of the victim. They just hold to old haunts, and that truly does give us plenty to think upon and does leave us curious as to what the show will explore regarding such matters. Because clearly, there are a lot of causes to this issue and clearly, this show is going to make every effort to uncover them and make us aware, so someday… change will come forth. Until next time.

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