‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 16, episode 2 preview: Mariska Hargitay, cast takes on ‘American Disgrace’

Now that the events of the “Law & Order: SVU” season 16 premiere have been chronicled, Benson and the rest of the squad can take on cases that are a little more in the show’s typical wheelhouse. With that in mind, we present to you the most extensive look we’ve had to date at Wednesday night’s “American Disgrace.”

As you may have heard already, both Stacy Keach and “The Fosters” star Teri Polo are guest-starring as bigwigs within the sports-merchandising world, who find themselves in a nasty situation when one of the faces of their brand in Shakir Wilkins is accused of a rape. Not only that, but it is made into an extremely-public story, and there will be no way to escape the criticism.

While this case is absolutely going to remind many of Ray Rice, that is not a guarantee that it has a similar outcome. In the video below, you can see some elevator footage that plays out very different than the one released on TMZ and other outlets. The accuser exits the elevator screaming about the allegations of rape, and that is when the camera crews capture every bit of footage and Mariska Hargitay’s Benson gets hyper-aware of the case.

What are we dealing with here? From one vantage point, it could be seen as an athlete doing an unspeakable thing that will lead to serious consequences; however, the show is not giving us a whole lot of evidence yet, and it could also be someone out to just ruin this athlete’s life and reputation. We’ll just have to wait to find out tomorrow night.

Photo: NBC