Written By Stephen Belber and Kathy Ebel
Directed By Jean De Segonzac
While investigating the rape of a teenage girl, detectives discover a hidden network of booze, drugs, and sex operating under the noses of school staff and parents alike; raising questions for detective Stabler about his own daughter.
Tropes
- Double Entendre: Benson asks Ross McKenzie if he's gotten too close to the student body. He fails to pick up on the double meaning.
- Entitled to Have You: Nick feels that way towards Cynthia. After he rapes her, he's angry that she wouldn't want to date him.
- Everyone Has Standards: Tommy's father doesn't have a problem with his son having sex, but when he learns that Tommy has been pimping out his girlfriend for drugs and alcohol, he gets coldly vicious.
- False Rape Accusation: Cynthia accuses Ross out of fear of ostracization from the popular crowd. Downplayed in that he did act inappropriately towards her, but she resisted, so he moved on.
- Hollywood Law: A nurse cites doctor-patient privilege in refusing to talk with Detective Stabler when she treats a middle school girl who claims her teacher raped her. Captain Cragen, Stabler's wife and even the victim herself give Stabler grief for bothering to do his damn job and investigate the rape; even Stabler treats the whole thing like he's breaking procedure because the privilege is so sacrosanct. Doctor-patient privilege does not cover evidence of a crime: when a medical professional comes across evidence of things such as child abuse, they are required by law to report it to the authorities. A clear-cut admission from their patient would leave them with no wiggle room whatsoever for neglecting their duty in this case. Doctor-patient privilege also only extends to nurses who work with/under actual doctors, school nurses can make no such claim, i.e. if a school nurse determines a kid faked an illness to avoid a test, they're expected to report it to the principal or the child's teacher or parents.
- Never My Fault: The nurse is angry at Elliot for investigating the rape, even though he's not the one bound by confidentiality, she is. If she valued doctor-patient privilege so much, she shouldn't have blabbed about her patients to her friends. Especially to a friend whose husband she knows is an SVU detective and is very likely to pursue the case. Same goes for Kathy, who blames Elliot for her losing a friend, even though she was the one who casually brought up the topic she was supposed to keep secret.
- Really Gets Around: The teens' sex parties. The kids think nothing of it because it's "only" oral sex.
- Skewed Priorities: Upon learning that his daughter might have been raped, Cynthia's father is happy she didn't get gonorrhea from consensual sex, meaning it's not her fault. It could be shock, though. His wife tears him a new one regardless.
- Teens Are Monsters
- Title Drop: Benson notes that Cynthia won't reveal who her rapist is because she'll be kicked out of the popular crowd.
