Benson, bludgeoning her way through the high and mighty realm of the preternaturally righteous, forced a defendant to take a plea under the pretense that he would be helping a victim he clearly cared about get justice. This clearly crossed the line and any solid defense attorney would have torn her to pieces. Her job is not to try cases. it's to get the facts and present them as they were revealed. Ultimately, Heather was guilty as charged, which was the right decision, but I don think The Monster's career was over when it was obvious he was set up. If anything, he'd be even bigger. He was sincere in his testimony and clearly liked the "rape victim" on a very personal level. As for Carisi and Rollins, Rollins' character has always been on thin ice emotionally, and her out-of-nowhere one night stand served to emphasize her very flawed character, edging now towards oblivion. I wouldn't be surprised if she robs banks on the side. On a related note, the fact that there were zero repercussion from the bar fight involving she and Carisi is beyond me. And then there's the endless saga of Noah, now a victim of an apparent kidnapping. And no, I don't think her grandmother was behind it. Moving along, this was a very bizarre episode overall, and one I would never care to re-watch. It was all over the place, from the stereotyping of West Virginians to the exploitation of a man with no harmful intent, it left me kind of wondering who was at the helm of the show when it was written.
Review of Intent
