Over the past few months, I have started watching Law and Order:SVU on a fairly regular basis, mostly because it goes online during a gap in my weekly television viewing schedule. New episodes usually hit the web around the same time as South Park, but since they're on hiatus since last week I've been filling up on SVU.
It seems that as well as adding new characters and turning the melodrama knob to 11, the writers have been reaching farther and farther for new story lines to keep people interested. In the last few weeks they've touched on virtual reality, awkward stem cell situations, and an over the top undercover operation that seems like a Mariska Hargitay fanboy's wet dream. Police procedurals are always on the lookout for stories that are real and engaging, usually throwing something into the plot that might ring a bell with people who keep up with current events. Traditionally they have tracked newspapers and mainstream television stories, but from the episodes this season it looks like they have a new source for material: blogs.
I've kind of had this suspicion for a while, but Wednesday's episode with Robin Williams has confirmed it in my mind. Here is the synopsis:
When restaurant manager Dwight Lomax (guest star Scott Adsit “30 Rock”) is caught molesting a female employee, he claims that he was following orders from a “Detective Milgram” over the phone. As detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) delve into the case, they discover “Detective Milgram” was a hoax by engineer, Merritt Rook (guest star Robin Williams). Rook later turns his trial into a media circus by using the courtroom as a soapbox. Rook’s courtroom antics set him free, and with a group of followers, detective Benson and Stabler fall prey to another one of Rook’s psychological schemes leaving the SVU department vulnerable. Also starring: Adam Beach, Dann Florek, Ice-T, Diane Neal, Tamara Tunie, Richard Belzer, and BD Wong.
You know, I have to admit that when I read the synopsis before seeing the episode I didn't catch it. Within about 10 minutes, however, it becomes clear where this episode is going. I won't give away too many details, but the them of the episode is resisting obedience to authority and has an obvious nod to the Milgram Experiment. Briefly:
The Milgram experiment was a series of seminal social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience.
If you have subscribed to a non-trivial number of blogs for any length of time, you will notice that this experiment is mentioned on a pretty regular basis and has made the rounds quite a few times. In less than a year it has been mentioned on BoingBoing, Neatorama, HuffingtonPost, io9, mental_floss, and countless others (There is a particularly good article about it at Doobybrain)
OK, I thought, it's not entirely valid to believe that SVU is cribbing from blogs just for that. However, at one point in the episode Merritt Rook (Williams) stages a demonstration against authority at Grand Central by having a large group of people suddenly stop moving in the main concourse. I found this to be rather similar to a stunt by the New York improv group Improv Everwhere that made the blog rounds this winter.
Finally, I started to notice some things about Williams' character Rook. At several points in the episode, he tirades against copyrights, large corporations, government invasion of privacy, and fast-food chains hocking low quality synthetic food to its customers. His tech-savvy persona, outward dislike of authoritarian government, and outspoken behavior strongly reminded me of someone over at BoingBoing. Judging by Rook's appearance, I would have to say that this is not coincidental.
That kind of settled for me, but left me asking some questions.
Where is the steampunk getaway zeppelin in this episode?
Will there be an episode where Xeni Jardin kills people with technology?
icanhazsleezburger?
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