Law & Order: SVU season 20 episode 3 sneak peek: Delilah’s story
In this preview, we are introduced to a young girl named Delilah who Benson and Carisi visited in the hospital. She had no recollection of how she got there; the only memory that she had was her “Uncle” Luke giving her some pills. She had some obvious signs of sexual trauma, and it is up to the SVU team to figure out precisely what happened here. Luke sent Delilah on a “date” with one of his friends, but that is one of the only pieces of information she was willing to give up.
Herein lies the central conflict of this episode: Delilah is convinced that Luke loves her and cares about her, and does not want to see anything happen to him. Unfortunately, the terrible twist here is that this may keep her from giving up any information about what actually happened to her.
The power of Law & Order: SVU lies within the nuance. This is far from the first case or the fiftieth case where there has been a victim reluctant to pass along information to Benson or the rest of the team. With Benson and Carisi, they have to determine how to earn Delilah’s trust her and convince her to open up about the terrible things happening to her. They have to find a way to free her mind and release her from this terrible pain when she may not understand all of it. With underage victims, this can be especially difficult when they have been psychologically manipulated to accept other viewpoints as truth. This episode is going to be a test, but the right people are on the job and signs point towards this being yet another powerful chapter in a historic season.
How do you expect Benson and Carisi to resolve Delilah’s case? Feel free to share in the comments. (Photo: NBC.)