Ripped From The Headlines: ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Takes On The Belle Knox Story

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I'm a big fan of NBC's long-running crime procedural Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. If there's an episode on USA when I'm home (which, aside from NCIS, there always seems to be), I'll watch it. Seeing Benson and Stabler (currently sans Stabler) crack cases against the colorful backdrop of NYC is quite a delight to behold. What separated SVU from the other versions of L&O in the franchise are the sex and prostitution cases they deal with. It's not very often you can hear the words "anal rape" and "semen in her vagina" on primetime, network TV.

Wednesday's episode, “Pornstar’s Requiem,” employed the patented "ripped from the headlines" gimmick originated by the original L&O by taking on the Belle Knox story. SPOILER ALERT: Things were dramatized and altered a little. Knox was, thankfully, not raped by two frat fucks in a dorm. She was not expelled from Duke, be cross examined by a fat sleaze of a defense attorney or have to see a guilty verdict against one of the rapists be overturned by a sanctimonious, self-righteous, slut-shamer of a judge! I'm still pissed from Wednesday.     

Knox herself wrote a pretty fascinating piece at xoJane about her thoughts on the episode, how it compared to reality and the sometimes difficult emotions that ran while she watched it. Knox was given an advanced copy by SVU showrunner Warren Leight who also answered several questions about what inspired them to tackle her story. The character inspired by Knox, Evie Barnes, was played by the very attractive Hannah Marks and there were a couple of scenes where she's in her underwear. Marks has appeared in lots of TV and films and currently co-stars on USA's Necessary Roughness, home to many SVU reruns. Full circle!