Written By Daniel Truly
Directed By Juan J Campanella
A patrol cop finds a woman bleeding out in an alleyway; before she dies, she whispers the name "Mitch". Since the woman didn't have ID on her, Benson and Stabler struggle to identify her until Babs Duffy (Kathy Griffin), the militant leader of a lesbian rights group, gets involved and claims that the woman's death was a result of police neglect of the LGBT community.
Tropes
- Accidental Misnaming: Subverted. The graphic artist seems to have misspelled Babs' surname (Duffy to Daffy), but his later revealed true nature suggest otherwise.
- Actually Not a Vampire: The first suspect, though everybody else already know that.
- Armoured Closet Gay: Inverted for Babs Duffy, who heads a group that is outright hostile to anyone who isn't a lesbian. It's eventually revealed that Babs herself is bisexual.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: For all Babs's antagonism towards Elliot throughout the episode, turns out she's attracted to him. She even gave him a kiss, much to Olivia's amusement.
- Broken Pedestal: Most of Babs's followers leave her group after she comes out as bisexual, taking it as a betrayal.
- Chekhov's Gag: The Brick Joke of Olivia being Mistaken for Gay actually pays off when she uses it to make the suspect serially raping lesbians out himself.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The print graphics designer Babs is arguing with midway through the episode turns out to be the Villain of the Week.
- Coming-Out Story: An interesting case in that the character in question is already an out lesbian, but she's actually a bisexual. She's Forced Out of the Closet when a cop mistakes her secret boyfriend as the Serial Rapist targeting her lesbian rights group.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Babs is introduced as a Soapbox Sadie Straw Feminist but gradually loosens up in the episode.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Babs Duffy shows obvious attraction to both Alex and Olivia.
- Everything Is Racist: Lesbian rights (no, not LGBT rights, solely lesbian rights at first) activist Babs Duffy constantly accuses peoples of lesphobia, usually over trivial slights. However, she turns out to be right that there really is a rapist targeting lesbians, who actually did commit a deliberate slight against her just so she'd be irked. Her militancy backfires against Duffy after she comes out as being bisexual, which outrages her followers.
- Faux Yay:
- Babs is actually bisexual, but she is hesitant to come out due to being The Leader of a lesbian rights group.
- Olivia pretended to be a lesbian in the climactic scene in order to pull out a confession from the perp. She succeeds.
- Fiery Redhead: Babs Duffy, to the point that even her followers acknowledge her hardass attitude.
- Forced Out of the Closet: Babs is compelled to come out as a bisexual because her boyfriend was mistaken as the Serial Rapist targeting the members of her lesbian rights group.
- Foreshadowing:
- The head of Bias Crimes Task Force laments how Babs could also fight for the rights of the rest of the LGBT+ community instead of just lesbians.
- Babs calls the graphics artist a bigot for misspelling her last name. Also the fact that he misspelled her surname in the first place. Since he owns a print shop, he could've easily search the web for the known activist's name.
- Gay Aesop: The episode is heavy in the LGBTQ issues.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Sharon Harris. Apparently Alisa had gotten her into therapy for it.
- Hello, Attorney!: Alex accidentally interrupts an argument between Babs and Stabler, and Babs proceeds to openly stare at Alex like she wants to bang her.Babs:Look, you pig-headed son of a bitch. You can't drag an innocent... (pause while she stares at Alex) Hi. Babs Duffy.Alex: Alex Cabot. I will leave you two alone.Duffy: You don't have to.
- Homophobic Hate Crime: The episode centers on a Serial Rapist targeting lesbians.
- I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Olivia being chummy towards Babs earned her a kiss from the latter.
- Mistaken for Gay: Babs makes a move on Benson, apparently thinking that Benson is into women. It leads to this exchange between Benson and Stabler:Benson: El, do you ever get a gay vibe from me?Stabler: Would it matter if I did?Benson: You're not answering the question.
- No Bisexuals: Averted, but, unfortunately, not handled terribly well. Babs is eventually revealed to be bisexual, and she is afraid to come out because she's worried about her followers turning on her. The detectives rather insensitively force her to come out publicly anyway, partly as a way to bait out the man who's been attacking lesbians in the community, and almost all of her group react as if she'd stabbed members of their family. In the end, Babs is left with hardly any followers, but she has newfound resolve to fight for the rights of the whole LGBT community and not just lesbians.
- Number of the Beast: The first suspect made a graffiti with them as part of his music video.
- Number Two: Rosemary seems to be the deputy leader of LesBeStrong.
- Political Overcorrectness: Stabler quips that he couldn't keep track of the new sexual orientations that have come up.
- Properly Paranoid: Babs hid her male lover because she was worried that her group would see it as a betrayal. When the detectives force her to publicly come out, that's exactly what happens.
- Psycho Lesbian: When lesbian Alisa Davies is murdered, the unit believes that a rapist who targets lesbians may be responsible. It turns out that her girlfriend Sharon Harris had serious anger issues and a history of abusing her partners. Ultimately a subversion, at least as far as the main case goes — Sharon had indeed been abusive, but she was in therapy, and the culprit was a male rapist targeting lesbians.
- Red Herring: "Mitch" is set up as the episode's Arc Words from the Cold Open when the first Victim Ofthe Week utters it. It seems to finally payoff when it's revealed to be Sharon's nickname not long after her abusive relationship with the victim is uncovered. She's not the Villainof The Week.
- Secret Relationship: Babs is secretly seeing a man. She couldn't come out as a bisexual due to leading a lesbian rights group.
- Shot in the Ass: Happens to Babs's secret boyfriend after a police officer guarding Babs mistakes him as the Serial Rapist.
- Soapbox Sadie: Babs Duffy is very, very vocal about her cause.
- Straw Feminist: Subverted by Babs Duffy. She acts like this due to being an Armoured Closet Gay (and in the case of her treatment of Elliot, her Belligerent Sexual Tension to him).
- Terminology Title: P.C., or Political Correctness, is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society.
- Vampires Are Sex Gods: The first suspect is caught in foreplay. His paramour later claims that their sex is very hot.
