Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Pornstar's Requiem (1999– ) Online

I've enjoyed the Law & Order franchise for over 20 years so I won't pretend that it's never succeeded in manipulating me before, but this episode was so egregious that I felt compelled to comment. The African-American judge who throughout the trial appeared to be impartial literally changed into a different character during the last scene(s) so as to serve the plot - a cheap trick that L&O has so scrupulously avoided in the past. Shame on everybody who took part in this episode - it was and is unworthy of the first-rate series that spawned it. At this point I should also admit that the device of introducing unpleasant and (usually) ignorant impediments to Olivia Benson has grown very tired. The addition to the cast of Peter Gallagher - himself aged and tired - to play an unnecessary, ugly, and disruptive character violates the high standards set so many seasons ago when this show was worth watching. This particular episode was crudely manipulative, not at all believable, and essentially cheap.

Young Hannah Marks makes a very bad decision when she decides to go into pornography to get tuition money for Law And Order's fabled fictional Hudson University. Once these things are out there, there's no taking them back. The power of the internet. So when two kids believe that image they see and rape her, she will have a difficult time getting justice.

Kelli Giddish takes this one especially personal. She gets quite invested in Marks and her plight. The two young men who raped her, Casey Thomas Brown and Max Ehrich, believe what they see and film creates some powerful images on the big and small screen. So much so it's hard to separate the player from the role.

Delaney Williams is back as John Buchanan lawyer to the rich and mighty who can afford him. Richard T. Jones plays the judge who throws an unexpected curve at SVU and the New York County DA's office.

It's always with you.