Tonight on NBC Emmy Award-winning producer Dick Wolf’s crime drama, Law & Order: SVU airs with an all Wednesday January 20, season 17 episode 12 called, “A Misunderstanding.” On tonight’s episode, a murky date-rape case involving two high-school students proves challenging for the detectives.
On the last episode, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) was taken hostage when she tried to stop a violent home invasion. Also starring Ice T, Kelli Giddish, Raul Esparza and Peter Scanavino. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the NBC synopsis “a murky date-rape case involving two high-school students proves challenging for the detectives, and it winds up ruining the futures of both of the teenagers involved.”
Tonight’s season 17 episode 12 looks like it is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in for our live coverage of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU at 9:00 PM EST! While you wait for our recap hit the comments and let us know how excited you are about the new season?
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
Tonight’s episode of Law & Order SVU kicks off with Olivia talking to the NYPD’s therapist – she is replaying the events of being kidnapped (which aired last week). Olivia is trying to get cleared to return to work she insists that she hasn’t had any nightmares or flashbacks from the traumatic ordeal where she was help high-school.
Meanwhile at a local high-school a teen named Abby and her friends are checking out a senior named Chris Roberts. Chris texts Abby and asks her to the school dance. Abby rushes home to get ready for the dance with her friend – who encourages her to text sexy selfies to Chris.
Chris and Abby head to the dance and he shares booze with her from his flask. Chris invites Abby downstairs to the “Make Out Room.” They begin kissing and Abby asks Chris to take it slow. She returns home later that night disheveled and heads straight to bed and cries herself to sleep. Meanwhile, Chris is texting her and telling her how much fun he had at the dance and that he can’t wait to see her at school.
Rollins stops by the precinct to introduce her baby to everyone. While they are cooing over the baby, Olivia’s rival attorney Rita breezes in and says she needs to talk to Olivia in private. Rita says that she is representing Abby – who was raped at the school dance by Chris. Abby is only 15 and he is 18. Rita says Abby tried to report it to the police but they said that she didn’t have a case.
There wasn’t a rape kit done – but the maid at Abby’s house found stains on her dress and showed it to Abby’s mother Laura. Olivia heads to Abby’s house and meets her parents Laura and Andrew. They give up Abby’s dress so that it can be sent to the lab.
Olivia sits down with Abby and gets the run down. Downstairs Carisi interviews Abby’s parents. Abby explains to Olivia that she and Chris were just making out at first and she told him to slow down – but he wouldn’t listen, he just pushed her up against the wall and had sex with her. Abby was a virgin, she was too scared to say “no” and she felt paralyzed. She tells Olivia that he “wouldn’t fit but he came.”
Dobbs and Fin head to Chris’s house to meet with hi and his parents – he is shocked by Abby’s allegations and insists that they didn’t even have sex. Back at the precinct, Olivia gets the results back from the lab and the semen on Abby’s dress match. Carisi finds pictures on Instagram of him and Abby kissing and he captioned them, “Picked that cherry.” Olivia tells her team to go get Chris and bring him in.
Chris arrives at the police station with his lawyer Buchanan. His lawyer reveals that Chris was a virgin too and he “got a little excited and finished before anything started.” Chris interrupts and says that this is all a misunderstanding. He shows them a text that he got from Abby and it reads, “I don’t know why all of this is happening. I’m sorry. I hope we can still be friends.”
Olivia’s case is falling apart – they have no evidence that points to rape, and Abby isn’t helping matters any by telling Chris that she wants to be friends with him. Carisi and Dobbs head to the high-school to snoop around. They learn that Chris was trying to get inducted in to a secret society of boys at the high-school, and in order to do so he had to take a girl’s virginity and put her name on the wall.
Now that they have a motive – Barba sits down and tries to work out a plea deal with Abby and Chris. Abby’s parents agree to a misdemeanor as long as Chris goes on the sex offender registry. But, Chris and his parents won’t take the deal. His lawyer dares Barba o take them to trial because they will lose.
Chris and Abby head to court and he pleads not guilty. Outside of court Dobbs corners Olivia – he thinks that they are making a mistake and they never should have taken Chris to trial. In court Barba analyzes Abby’s text messages and argues that Abby was only trying to smooth things over because her friends were making fun of her over the rape case. Chris’s lawyer Buchanan shred Olivia on the witness stand, and twist her words to make it sounds like she is blaming Abby for what happened to her. Carisi takes that stand and tells the jury about the “Cherry Picker’s Club.”
During recess Chris’s mom corners Abby and Olivia in the bathroom. She shouts at Olivia that female cops always take the girls’ side – she is livid because Chris is losing his acceptance to Stamford University. She screams at Abby that she is a liar and she is ruining her son’s life.
Abby takes the witness stand in court and describes what happened between her and Chris in the makeout room. She insists that she old Chris “no” and she didn’t want to have sex with him. It took her a few days to tell the police what happened because she was embarrassed and in shock. Chris’s lawyer questions Abby and makes it seem like she only called rape because she regretted what happened between them after the fact.
Chris takes the witness stand and insists that he and Abby never had sex – they were just “touching under their clothes.” Chris says that he lied to his friends and told them that they had sex because he was feeling pressured by the Cherry Picker’s Club. Chris formally apologizes to Abby and her parents for all of the stress that he caused everyone.
A few hours later the verdict comes in and Chris is found not guilty of rape, however they do find him guilty of misdemeanor sexual misconduct. After the verdict comes in, Abby’s parents and Chris’s parents get in to a fight in the court room and the police have to break them up. Chris’s dad shouts that Abby ruined his son’s life.
THE END!
