LAW & ORDER: SVU EPISODE DOUBT

   One of my favorite show is Law & Order. Now there are different versions of Law & Order, my favorite is Criminal Intent. I still watch all the other ones. Well I was watching SVU(Special Victims Unit) today and they had the episode Doubt on. Doubt was a great episode that kept you going back and forth on whether there was a rape or if the sex was consensual. They build you up all the way till the end and then the frustration sets in!

   The episode starts with Myra, a graduate school student, claims she was raped. She tell the officers that she was raped by a man named Ron, one of her professors. When Ron is brought in for questioning, he tells Detective Stabler and Benson that the sex was consensual. When asked about all the bruises and marks all over Myra's body, Ron said she asked him to do that. Ron says he did not want to do it, and when he refused Myra would drag her nails across his back and arms until she drew blood. At that point he want it to be done, so he choked her and man handled her as she wanted.

   Right away the two detectives are split between whether the professor raped his student or not. Stabler thinks that Ron did not do the rape because of him being divorced from his wife for putting in all his time into his teaching job. Also because of the divorce, he had limited custody of his daughter. Stabler saw him as a man with to much to lose, and did not think he was guilty. Ron also completely cooperated with the police and let them take DNA samples and pictures. Another reason that Stabler thought Myra was lying is when Stabler was bring Myra home after she gave her statement at the Police Station, she fell back in Stabler arms as they were walking up the stairs to Myra's apartment. The next day, Myra tried to calm that Stabler tried grabbing her and wanted to rape her. She later said that she was lying about Stabler.

   Detective Benson on the other hand saw Myra only as a victim. Believing that Myra would not have gone through the process of being photograph naked or having the rape kit used on her if she was lying. Benson saw the marks on Ron as Myra trying to fight him off. She also believed that as badly as Myra was bruised and beat up, there was no way that she would have asked for Ron to do that to her. The way Myra was so passionate about her being forced to have sex with her professor made Benson see her as a typical victim of rape and nothing else.

   When Doubt got towards the end of the episode, they were in court. Both side pleading there case. The lawyers going back in froth pointing there fingers at both party's. Then came the verdict. The jury foreman was asked to read what the jury decision is. The foreman reads "We find the defendant..." The show ends and the credits role.

   The whole idea behind this was to make the viewers come up with there own opinion of what the verdict should be. After the episode aired, NBC put up a poll for viewers to vote on what they thought the verdict would have been. 60% of viewers voted for the side of the professor and a not guilty verdict. 20% said that the student was raped and the professor was guilty. Leaving 20% unsure not knowing who they wanted to side with.

   This is a great episode even though it drove me crazy not knowing what the verdict was. When they showed the foreman getting ready to read it, I was at the edge of my seat fully focused on the TV. Lets just say there was a little bit of yelling and hair pulling when the credits hit. I could not believe that they would do that to there viewers. It drove me crazy, and its just a TV show. In my opinion the verdict should have been ........