Written By Brianna Yellen, Julie Martin, and Warren Leight
Directed By Alex Chapple
A popular comedian (Jonathan Silverman) who jokes about rape is confronted by student protestors. Although Barba tells SVU they cannot arrest the comedian just based on his words, things get more serious when one of the students is attacked by two of the comedian's fans in homage to one of his rape jokes. Benson arrests the comedian, throwing SVU headfirst into a tough case involving he-said, she-said and debates about the First Amendment. Meanwhile, Chicago police officer Erin Lindsay (Sophia Bush) comes to Manhattan to ask SVU for help.
Tropes
- Bittersweet Ending: Although Josh takes a plea deal and avoids jail time, he does end up on the Sex Offender Registry with Renee given the option to sue him.
- Refuge in Audacity: Basically Josh's MO, as he sees anything considered insensitive and turns them into radical jokes that he uses to "dismantle" the conservative Christian values of America. He even uses the women he rapes as material for jokes.
- Rule of Three:
- Josh Galloway, a No Celebrities Were Harmed stand-in for Daniel Tosh, uses Rule of Three as part of his standup routine. He claims that gangrape by three men is hysterical.
- The two rapists who were inspired by Josh claim the two of them plus their victim are another example of the Rule of Three.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Knowing that the case is hitting a brick wall due to lack of evidence and Josh arguing an attack on his freedom of speech, Benson tells Renee that they have to give up any chance to put him away on trial. Renee doesn't take this sitting down and uses a hidden camera bought with her own money to catch definitive proof of Josh's assaulting nature. Though this does put Josh on the Sex Offender Registry, the SVU is understandably pissed that Renee went behind all their backs, with Barba demanding that her video remains confidential at all cost.
- Shout-Out: During his trial, Josh says things ended with the carriage turning back into a pumpkin the next day.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Benson and Barba are put at odds with each other halfway though the episode, with Barba telling Benson to her face that the only reason why she pushed for this case despite lacking any standing evidence is to satisfy her ego regarding her Captain status. Benson insists that she pushed for this case because putting Josh away is the right thing to do. Even at the end, with Josh's career taking a hit due to him being registered as a sex offender, Barba notes that they were lucky to get anything resembling a positive outcome.Benson: So, the end of the day, it was the right thing to do to bring this case.
Barba: Don't fish. You snatched a tie out of the jaws of defeat. You want to stay commanding officer, I want you to stay commanding officer. Don't bring me cases like this. - Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His joke regarding about how gangrape is funny because of Rule of Three at the beginning results in a student activist to be gangraped just outside her dorm. This does end up biting him back in the ass, since it eventually results in him being in SVU's crosshairs with Renee resorting to vigilantism to expose his true nature.
