Law & Order: SVU loves exploiting a juicy "ripped from the headlines" story, and tonight's episode, "Intimidation Game," was par for the course. It explored a hot-button social issue apropos to gaming culture and online harassment against women, widely represented by #GamerGate.
While the notorious hashtag was never mentioned by name in the episode, the plot included undeniable thematic parallels, such as a female game developer (who unsubtly resembled Anita Sarkeesian) facing death threats and heinous physical abuse from disgruntled psychopaths in the gaming community. It was up to Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Tutuloa (Ice-T) to navigate through the underbelly of this niche world to protect the women in harm's way.
Some critics have blasted the episode, pushing back against it's broad-stroke depiction of avid gamers as pathetic and evil. Those critics may not be totally wrong. On the contrary, one does not have to look far for concrete evidence of the daily vitriol women experience daily online, whether they're directly linked to gaming or not. Law & Order delivered an unapologetically feminist episode, and the sane majority is here for it.
What did you guys think of the episode? Sound off below!
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