'Law & Order: SVU' Season 16 Spoilers, News: Episode 14 Recap 'The Intimidation Game'
Wednesday's new episode of "Law & Order: SVU" touches on a story gleaned from real events involving video games and online harassment.
The episode starts with Fin, Rollins and Carisi heading to a video game convention to see Leslie, the man who created the "Glasco Man" game which caused a young girl to stab her own sister. In the bathroom, a girl is assaulted by two men, and nobody hears her over the noise in the gaming convention. Leslie gets wind of this and gets Rollins, and they find that the girl has been attacked and is bloodied and bruised. The girl, Sarah, tells them that some men in the convention can't tolerate female gamers.
Sarah goes to the police station with Rollins and they tell Olivia what happened. Sarah describes her attackers and tells Olivia and Fin that they were insulting her boss, Rena, the one who created the "Amazonian Warrior" video game, which is scheduled to be launched on Tuesday.
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Rollins and Fin head to Rena's office and shows her some photos from the convention. Rena introduces them to her fiancé, a very successful businessman named Steven. The two assure Rollins and Fin that their security team is looking into it and that they are taking Sarah's attack seriously.
Later, Leslie calls with information about the attackers. Fin and Carisi arrest them, and Sarah identifies them as her attackers. Sarah asks the team not to do anything before Rena's game launch, but the arrest goes viral on the Internet. Immediately, posts on message boards appear which say that Sarah deserved it because they don't accept female video game creators, or even gamers for that matter.
As Rena gives a televised interview, the SWAT team comes in and takes her down, but upon investigation the team finds out the Rena has been pranked. Steven is shaken as he tells Rollins and Fin that someone has posted warnings online saying that Rena will be raped and killed if she pushes through with her video game launch.
Olivia and the team go to the launch, and Rena is grabbed onstage and dragged into a van. The team runs the license plates, and this leads them to a location where they find Rena's bloodstained shirt and a video, which shows Rena tied up.
The attackers broadcast a live feed of themselves and Rena and they tell the world that they are going to rape her before killing her. The team tracks an address based on where the video they found was uploaded, and it leads them to Mrs. Rossi's house. Mrs. Rossi claims that her son, Anthony, wouldn't hurt anybody.
Later, the team receives a call from Rena and she gives them directions where they could find her. Olivia, Rollins, Fin and Carisi, along with the SWAT team head to the address, and they find Rena with a shot gun taped to her hands. They also find Anthony and he says that he tagged the video so that they could find them. He was getting scared because he feels that the other guys are taking things too far.
Later, Rena tells Rollins that she's done with the video gaming business. Rollins tells her that if she quits, then the guys who don't want women in the gaming industry wins. Rena tells her that they've already won.
"Law & Order: SVU" airs on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
