Law and Order: Special Victims Unit: "Mirror Effect: (Wolf Entertainment, Universal Television, NBC-TV, aired October 6, 2022)

by Mark Gabrish Conlan • Copyright © 2022 by Mark Gabrish Conlan • All rights reserved

Two nights ago I watched three episodes in Dock Wolf’s various Law and Order series franchises. I’ve already commented on the Law and Order episode, and the Law and Order” Special Victims Unit show that followed it also began with one of the lead detectives personally witnessing a crime in progress. This time the witness is Detective Amanda Rollins (Kelly Giddish), who has developed into one of the most interesting and stimulating characters on television; her relationship with her boss, Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), has developed some of the same complexity Benson had with Elliott Stabler (Christopher Meloni) in the first 12 seasons of this show before Meloni regrettably moved on. (It’s a pity Meloni didn’t get the role that would have been perfect for him: as Jack Reacher in the series of films based on Lee Child’s novels. Instead it went to the abysmally miscast Tom Cruise.) This SVU was directed by Michael Smith from a script by old Law and Order hand Julie Martin and newbie Margaret Rose Lester. It was called “Mirror Effect” and dealt with s a celebrity couple, Austin Collins (Grant Anstine) and Kelsey Jones (Julie Goldani Tollen). Both are involved in music, and though we’re specifically told that Kelsey is a country singer it’s a lot less clear just what Austin does musically, though given what he looks lile and his overall attitude and demeanor, we get the impression he’s an Eminem-style singer-rapper. When I first saw the promos I thought Dick Wolf and his staff of writers and show runners were doing Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, though the story that actually unfolded came off more like Chris Brown and Rihanna even though they were Black and the principals here were both white.

Rollins witnesses an altercation in the limo between the two celebrity hatebirds in which he grabs her and tears her dress; later she presses charges but then withdraws them when he proposes marriage to her and gives her a huge, ostentatious engagement ring which she proudly shows off on social media. Then, behind the close doors of their hotel suite, they have another altercation and this time he out-and-out rapes her. Both singers came from dysfunctional families; Austin was raised by a single dad who was an alcoholic and Kelsey by a single mom who has her iwn set of issues. The parts of the story paralleling the Johnny Depp-Amber heard trial are the dueling fan bases of the two performers and how Austin’s fans trash Kelsey on both social media and in the courtroom itself; at one point Austin’s fans start wearing red pants to the courtroom as an indication tkat Kelsey is lying about him, and the prosecutor is able to get the judge to ban people in red pants – the gag is the old saying, “Liar, liar, pants on fire” – from the courtroom. IN the end Austin is acquitted of the most serious charges against him, rape in the first degree and sexual assault, but he’s convicted of the lesser crime of rape in the third degree (what’s the difference?), and in the final scene Kelsey is crying on the shoulder of Captain Benson and saying her career is ruined because all her songs were love songs to Austin and now that she hates him, she can’t sing them anymore. “You’ll write new songs,” Benson tells her – and I couldn’t help but savor the irony of her getting and taking career advice from a tough-as-nails police official who in real life is the daughter of Jayne Mansfield!