Crime: I was attacked. It made the news. Then came the Law and Order episode.
SlateUntil 2010, I had never watched a full episode of Law & Order. As the episode progressed, I watched Sarah walk through a messy crime scene and wonder aloud why her apartment had been trashed by CSI, like I had; put on a performative face to fulfill her commitments, like I had; kiss her older boyfriend who was a musician and piano instructor, just like mine was; and reassure her concerned out-of-town parents who knew the big city would commit some sort of evil eventually, also like mine had. I didn’t know which source of the narrative was worse, the sensationalized news headlines or the fictionalized television episode; neither was really mine. As the credits rolled, I tried to anchor myself back to my body, seeing every warped carnival mirror iteration of what had happened at once: the parallel characterization of brunette writer turned blond musician, the manipulation of the real facts into one about false accusations against Black men, the irony of being a broke college student pursuing a writing career while a major television network made untold amounts off of a story that only I knew. In Law & Order, the victims’ arcs are typically contained within a single episode, but I discovered recently that Sarah Walsh is a lucky exception, featured in a second episode two seasons later.
History of this topic
Law & Order’s Mariska Hargitay helps lost child who mistook her for a real police offer
The Independent
‘Law & Order’ hasn't changed. That's exactly why it's lasted
LA Times
Mariska Hargitay goes to hospital for broken knee: ‘This did not happen at work’
LA Times
An Oscar winner, more 'Law & Order' for NBC next season
The Independent
‘Law & Order: SVU’ hits Season 20: A look back at the many on and offscreen changes
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