In case you're curious: How Law&Order SUV handled the Dominque Strauss-Kahn storyline..

Last night was the kick-off of "Law and Order SUV"s last season. That's right, soon.they'll ALL be gone...SUV will join its cousins L&O and L&O CI in perpetual reruns. The show known for its trademark "ripped from the headlines"...log did its own riff on the DS-K hotel/maid/sex scandal..Long known for an overeager embrace of the PC culture...the episode showed why they franchise is overdue for extinction. But, there were a few interesting snippets..

First of all, "Eliot Stabler" left the show at the last minute. Bummer. Guess he couldn't take it anymore. He was weakly written out...brought up on IA charges because he tends to shoot the bad guys when necessary, he decided to retire rather than face a long investigation. OK..score one for the PBA...an honest recognition of how hard a cop's job is, and how easy it is to second-guess after the fact.

Now..the story...it pretty much follows the DSK storyline to the penny. The bad guy is Italian, (and supposed to be the next PM of Italy) not French, he loses his laptop, instead of his cellphone..which is how the cops catch him at the airport..and when arrested, he blames it all on a conspiracy orchestrated by Silvio Berlesconi ( the real life Italian PM..who's having a tough time himself these days..)

The victim, a hotel maid from Africa, ultimatly admits that she lied on her application for asylum, claiming that she was raped by 12 Congolese soldiers..The defense actually fies over from Africa the man who told her HOW to lie on the app...he says "say you were raped..Americnas are a sucker for a rape sob story"..all but admitting that most of the humanitarian visa requests are bogus...again surprising..

There's a semi-philosophical theme on the nature of rape running through the show...at one point the bad guy says that "he can tell when a woman really wants it,even when she says NO, because her eyes tell him YES.."..don't quite see why this belongs here..

Best scene..absolutely....after the initial arrest, when he's to be taken down to central booking..the Captain tells the two detectives.."do this absolutely by the book..NO per walk." The two promise...vow to maintain their professionalism...then we see them opening a door, walking him out, to a waiting mob of hundreds of media types and cameras..two cops grin..say "welcome to freedom of the press"..so..a little bit of cynicism here..probably well deserved..

Wasn't a bad episode..but the show is old, tired..cast is mailing it in..going through the motions..this episode seemed reasonable..but I suspect the writers and producers will take their best shots in the coming weeks..their last chance to game the system..

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