The SVU must track down a mysterious suspect targeting tourists staying in hostels and race to identify one woman's attacker before she opts to go home.
Olivia never though she would spend 25 years at SVU. She didn't have expectations with her career. This job revealed her true capacity. It showed how immense empathy was needed to provide justice for victims of the most heinous crimes. She connects with people. It's a noble and uplifting responsibility. One where she still has to grapple with setbacks and devastating losses. Those have never broken her. Her life is no longer fixated solely on the job either. Opening herself up to other possibilities brought Noah into her life. She is forever grateful for that decision. She sees the potential for something more with Stabler too. However, the timing isn't quite right for anything more to happen within their friendship. Instead, she welcomes newcomers into the squad. Captain Curry and Agent Sykes also see the potential to inspire something new within them in this job. They desperately want to shake up their lives. They both came to that conclusion for different reasons. Olivia provided refuge. This is where they landed eager to see what will come from this spontaneous decision.
The first case the trio work on involves sex tourism within hostels. A couple of brilliant students in Cambridge take the five hour bus ride to Manhattan just to partake in a game of sexual adventure. It's all about having sex with women from around the world. They fetishize the country. It has nothing to do with attraction. They are competing to see who can sleep with the most women from the most diverse places. They give their complete attention to someone simply because of her exotic locale. Leah was eager to explore. She was willing to push the limits of her sexual exploration. She consented to that act. She was also assaulted later on. She relies on the kindness of strangers to get help in the aftermath. Even then, people are filled with remorse over not doing more. The police get involved. Not everyone has good relationships with law enforcement. Olivia and the team are meant to be trusted. As such, they provide justice despite these women not planning on staying in town for very long.
Hayden, Frederick and Dustin are brilliant students. They are working on a cutting-edge robotics project. However, they are also angry young men who feel robbed of what they believe they deserve. They think they are entitled to sex. That's what college culture is all about. It was taken from them because of social politics. Now, they'll get into trouble for anything perceived to be inappropriate. They want to engage in hookups. They don't want the burden of expectations afterwards. They create this reality where the game is the only way for them to achieve their desires. Their behavior can't be blamed on working in a lab where there are no women in the program. They aren't the victims of their own intellects. They refuse to engage with the world as it actually is. They only see what they think is missing. They didn't experience it themselves. Their expectations were high. And then, things changed. They didn't adapt. They didn't behave with any empathy or consideration. That's what doomed them. It wasn't consequences forced by politics or cancel culture. It's actual accountability.
The storytelling doesn't offer much depth though. The complexity of the individual cases appears to be missing lately. Yes, the season had that as it pertained to Maddie's disappearance. That had a significant impact on Olivia. However, the narrative has become more like a job. These are the cases the squad must handle day in and day out. That's fine in a procedural. That also requires the individual stories to be complex and nuanced. The story here certainly provides twists. It's also easy enough for the squad to wrap it up quickly. Because of their new resources, they can even provide justice for another victim. The world is full of connections. The detectives have to be open to those possibilities. The show is largely playing it safe. No risks are actually being taken. That's disappointing. That threatens to derail what has always been an exciting show. Changes have happened in the squad. That's not inherently bad. It just means the broad strokes keep getting hit. Nothing really rises above that anymore.
