This is the first of a two part storyline that centers around Sgt. Mccall's rape and Hunter's attempts at obtaining justice. (Spoiler: he doesn't, which leads to the second part where he takes the law into his own hands).
It's interesting to watch this episode now, after years of Law & Order SVU and a recent Grey's Anatomy on the same subject. They depict the hospital examination process realistically, which you didn't see a lot in police procedurals at the time. (Not a lot has changed, although they seem to ensure the doctor is female for female patients, these days.)
What's more interesting is we see McCall's progress through a therapy montage (her with her counsellor, Hunter working on an injured shoulder). So it avoids a thing many shows from the 80s did where someone endures a trauma, and suddenly in the following episode they're fine. Today's shows write previous history into many future episodes, but it wasn't something we saw a lot back then. At least with this episode we see that time has elapsed and she's done a lot of personal work to get where we'll see her in future episodes.
It's not easy to watch the usually tough McCall so affected by her rape, but it's certainly realistic. This episode really cements the connection between Hunter and McCall, showing just how much she trusts him, and he cares about her. An important one for the series.
It's interesting to watch this episode now, after years of Law & Order SVU and a recent Grey's Anatomy on the same subject. They depict the hospital examination process realistically, which you didn't see a lot in police procedurals at the time. (Not a lot has changed, although they seem to ensure the doctor is female for female patients, these days.)
What's more interesting is we see McCall's progress through a therapy montage (her with her counsellor, Hunter working on an injured shoulder). So it avoids a thing many shows from the 80s did where someone endures a trauma, and suddenly in the following episode they're fine. Today's shows write previous history into many future episodes, but it wasn't something we saw a lot back then. At least with this episode we see that time has elapsed and she's done a lot of personal work to get where we'll see her in future episodes.
It's not easy to watch the usually tough McCall so affected by her rape, but it's certainly realistic. This episode really cements the connection between Hunter and McCall, showing just how much she trusts him, and he cares about her. An important one for the series.