Gloucester Gets the Law & Order: SVU Treatment
In modern times, an event doesn’t become a scandal until NBC’s Law & Order franchise gives it the “ripped from the headlines” treatment. At long last, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit took its inspiration from the alleged Gloucester teen pregnancy pact in last night’s episode.
But, as you may remember, none of the Gloucester teenagers was murdered. So how did the show work in the homicide? By ripping the MySpace suicide story straight from the headlines. For the same episode.
What, our young-people-gone-wrong scandal isn’t good enough for a full hour?
Detectives Eliot Stabler and Richard Munch stumble upon the group of happily pregnant young girls while investigating a teenager who’d been burned to death. Turns out, one of the girls’ brothers killed the teen for getting her sister pregnant.
After Olivia Benson reams out the ringleader of the pregnancy pact for her cavalier attitude toward her pregnancy, the episode quickly turns to farce. The detectives find out one of the girls got pregnant after a one-night fling with Dizzer, a white DJ who loves “wreckin’ decks and getting sex.” (Don’t we all?)
When the pregnancy pact ringleader hangs herself after being taunted via an off-brand MySpace, the detectives find out another girl’s mother was behind the cruel remarks and charge her with several crimes.
Believe it or not, it gets weirder from there.
The crime drama’s writers did the best they could to capture the small-town vibe that helped fuel the Gloucester teen pregnancy spike, by setting the episode in Little Italy. But a small fishing town in Massachusetts is a lot different from even the most close-knit Manhattan neighborhood, so it didn’t feel right.
Also, one of the girl’s parents tried to control the media spin on the story, when those of you who read the story about the Gloucester teenagers in this month’s issue of Boston magazine know that the girl’s best friend would have handled all press inquiries.
Related
Growing Up Gloucester
Episode photo from NBC.com
