When a powerful judge (Josh Stamberg) dismisses a rape case and announces a run for New York Attorney General, Carisi investigates the judge's own history of sexual assault. However, he and the rest of the Special Victims Unit have difficulty getting some victims to come forward after their careers are threatened.
Tropes
- The Bus Came Back: Rita Calhoun returns after his last appearance in "Spellbound".
- Call-Back: Judge Gallagher is part of Hudson U's Tau Omega fraternity.
- Corrupt Politician: Judge Gallagher is this, having used Carisi's trial in the opening to casually dismiss rape charges on a rapist who also has his own share of victims as well.
- Fiendish Fraternity: Judge Gallagher is portrayed as both a habitual rapist while at university (a fact that his fraternity covered up) and then on in his adult life, as well as elitist, classist, racist, and homophobic.
- Hate Sink: Again, Judge Gallagher. The man has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: In addition to being corrupt and a rapist, Judge Gallagher is also elitist, homophobic, and so racist that he's even prejudiced against Italians (a specific type of racism that largely faded away among White Anglo-Saxon Protestants in America decades ago).
- Ripped from the Headlines: When Judge Gallagher gets caught on tape ranting that women want to be raped his attorney dismisses it as "mens' room talk", a reference to Donald Trump's "locker room talk" scandal.
