View source for Obscene

{{Sidebar episode
|          sTitle = Obscene
|         sSeries = SVU
|         nSeason = 6
|        nEpisode = 3
| sProductionSerialNumber = E5205
|   nAirdateYearUS = 2004
|  sAirdateMonthUS = October
|    nAirdateDayUS = 12
|   nAirdateYearUK = 2005
|  sAirdateMonthUK = April
|    nAirdateDayUK = 18
|  nAirdateYearCAN = 2004
| sAirdateMonthCAN = October
|   nAirdateDayCAN = 12
|  nAirdateYearAUS = 2005
| sAirdateMonthAUS = March
|   nAirdateDayAUS = 9
|	        sImage = Fin_Stabler_Obscene.jpg
| <!-- credits -->
|   	wsWrittenBy = [[Jose Molina]]
|      wsTeleplayBy = 
|         wsStoryBy = 
|      wsDirectedBy = [[Constantine Makris]]
| <!-- count and order -->
| nNthProducedInSeries = 
| nNthReleasedInSeries = 
|    nNthReleasedInAll = 
|       bFeatureLength = 
| <!-- universe timeline -->
| <!--- browse links -->
|      aNextReleasedInAll = 
|      aPrevReleasedInAll = 
|   aNextReleasedInSeries = Scavenger
|   aPrevReleasedInSeries = Debt
|   aNextProducedInSeries = 
|   aPrevProducedInSeries =
}}

== Plot ==
TV sensation Jessie Dawning is found unconscious and raped in her trailer. The detectives turn to an organization lead by Carolyn Spencer, who protested Jessie's show. Then, they turn towards a radio shock-jock, B.J. Cameron, who said lewd things about Jessie. The case takes a twist when it is revealed that Carolyn Spencer's son, Danny is responsible for raping Jessie and Danny claims that B.J. drove him to do it. Danny, under the influence of his mother, refuses to take a plea agreement so Novak, believing he might be feeling guilty for what he did, brings in Jessie to talk to him and Danny relents and accepts a lenient plea offer. However, his mother shoots B.J. non-fatally in revenge for his influencing Danny to rape and goes on trial for attempted murder. Danny refuses to testify until he learns that his mother staged the attempted murder as a publicity stunt for her cause. The jury deadlocks six to six and a mistrial is declared. Later, B.J. slanders Carolyn on air.

== Cast ==
=== Main cast ===
*[[Christopher Meloni]] as [[Detective]] [[Elliot Stabler]]
*[[Mariska Hargitay]] as [[Detective]] [[Olivia Benson]]
*[[Richard Belzer]] as [[Detective]] [[John Munch]]
*[[Diane Neal]] as [[Assistant District Attorney|A.D.A.]] [[Casey Novak]]
*[[Ice-T]] as [[Detective]] [[Odafin Tutuola]]
*[[B.D. Wong]] as Dr. [[George Huang]] ''(credit only)''
*[[Dann Florek]] as [[Captain]] [[Donald Cragen]]

=== Recurring cast ===
*[[Lauren Vélez]] as [[Attorney]] [[Shamal (Attorney)|Shamal]]
*[[Michael Boatman]] as Attorney [[Dave Seaver]]
*[[Philip Bosco]] as [[Judge]] [[Joseph P. Terhune]]
*[[Judith Light]] as [[Bureau Chief]] [[Elizabeth Donnelly]]
*[[Sheila Tousey]] as Judge [[Danielle Larsen]]
*[[Joselin Reyes]] as Paramedic [[Martinez (EMT)|Martinez]]
*[[Joseph E. Murray]] as Paramedic [[Olson (EMT)|Olson]]

=== Guest cast ===
*[[Dana Delany]] as [[Carolyn Spencer]]
*[[Lewis Black]] as [[B.J. Cameron]]
*[[Maggie Grace]] as [[Jessie Dawning]]
*[[Ricky Ullman]] as [[Danny Spencer]]
*[[Nestor Serrano]] as [[Franco Marquez]]
*[[Jason Antoon]] as Radio Producer
*[[Tessa Auberjonois]] as Dr. [[Payne (Dr.)|Payne]]
*[[Santo Fazio]] as [[Giuliano (Obscene)|Giuliano]]
*[[R.J. Reed]] as [[Eddie (Obscene)|Eddie]]
*[[Patrick Costello]] as [[Zero (SVU)|Zero]]
*[[Chris Hartl]] as A.D. [[Tony (A.D.)|Tony]]
*[[Jesse Marchant]] as [[Trip Willis]]
*[[Josh Tower]] as [[Vijay (Obscene)|Vijay]]
*[[Jane Kim]] as [[Susie Yen]]
*[[Sandy Rustin]] as Jane Doe
*[[Rich Chew]] as Uniform Officer
*[[David Gerald]] as [[Jim Willoughby]]
*[[David Shumbris]] as Drunk
*[[Chad Goodridge]] as Uniform Officer/Actor
*[[Joseph Edward Taylor]] as Jury Foreman

== References ==
*{{W|Aryan Nations}}
*''{{W|Catcher in the Rye}}''
*{{W|Columbine High School massacre}}
*{{W|Ku Klux Klan}}
*{{W|WREN 98.3}}
*{{W|Lennox Lewis}}
*{{W|Marilyn Manson}}
*{{w|iHeartMedia|Clear Channel}}
*{{W|Howard Stern}}
*''[[Girl, Undercover]]''
*[[Neighbors Investing in Clean Entertainment]]
* [[27th Precinct]]

== Quotes ==
{{Conversation|I know how this works. I write this for a living. I'll give you a DNA sample and so will everyone else on the crew.|Franco Marquez|You write this for a living, you should know that you can't compel them to do that.|{{Stabler}}}}
----
{{Conversation|[''to Carolyn Spencer''] I don't see what makes Jessie such a bad role model. She's young, successful. What's wrong with that?|Tutuola|Look at this. [''shows him a picture of Jessie Dawning''] A 16-year-old done up like a hooker. We don't want that marketed to fifth-graders. Let the network move the show to 10:00, I'll shut up.|Carolyn Spencer}}
----
:[''while visiting Carolyn Spencer's website for her protest group'']
{{Quote2|Click here to learn which corporate sponsors to boycott. Click here so your children will never again be exposed to the mind-warping trauma of a nipple on television.|{{Munch}}}}
----
{{Conversation|You knew Jessie was taking pills. Why'd you lie?|Stabler|Well, it's been a tough season. How Jessie gets through it is between her and her doctor.|Franco Marquez|[''while looking at the storyboards in Franco's office''] Jessie goes undercover as a stripper, as a lifeguard, as a lingerie model. You know, maybe the kid wouldn't have such a hard time if you didn't make her run around half-naked every week.|Stabler}}
----
{{Conversation|We've been through enough. I don't need you bitching about how Jessie is playing "inappropriate material."|Franco Marquez|Look, pal, basically you got her stripping for money. And sleeping with the teacher?|Stabler|It's called drama.|Franco Marquez|It's called pimping out a 16-year-old to jack up your ratings. Come on.|Stabler|The average girl loses her virginity by 16. Now what's the responsible thing to do, pretend it doesn't happen? Or show a girl in charge of her sexuality?|Franco Marquez|A 16-year-old girl may be having sex, but she ain't in charge of squat.|{{Tutuola}}}}
----
{{Conversation|Marquez is 40, Jessie is 16. It's legal pedophilia.|{{Cragen}}|So she had consensual sex. She took a fistful of knockout pills, fell and hit her head.|Stabler|But the M.E. report says Marquez isn't the only one who had sex with Jessie. The rape kit turned up a pubic hair. DNA doesn't match Jessie, Marquez or anybody on the crew.|Cragen|Captain, we're going to base a whole rape investigation on a single pube? We don't even know if she was raped here.|Stabler|It's the best evidence we got, so we're going to run with it.|Cragen|She could've picked up that hair during one of her costume changes.|Stabler|I don't think they change their panties, Elliot.|Cragen}}
----
{{Quote2|[''reading a poem from BJ Cameron's fan mail for Jessie Dawning''] "Roses are red, violets are blue, when Jessie's dead, her corpse I will..." you get the idea. There are hundreds more of them like this.|Stabler}}
----
:[''about BJ Cameron'']
{{Conversation|He's encouraging people to rape. What, "Jessie needs a good banging, go out and give it to her"?|Stabler|This guy knows his law, though. He's protected under "Brandenburg" unless his intent is to go out and produce an imminent and probable lawless act. He could say to you, "Elliot Stabler, I command you to rape Jessie Dawning," you wouldn't have a case against him.|{{Novak}}|How is that possible?|Stabler|Elliot, he doesn't really mean for you to do it. It's a joke.|{{Munch}}|Except this time, someone really went out and did it.|Stabler|Yeah, well, there's your bad guy, not BJ.|Munch|They're both just as bad.|Stabler}}
----
:[''about Jessie Dawning'']
{{Conversation|I told her I was a fan. I read her this poem that I'd written for her. She... she thought it was nice. Then we did it.|Danny Spencer|So, you read her a poem and then she just said, "That's nice, let's have sex."|Novak}}
----
:[''after it's discovered Danny went on BJ Cameron's radio show'']
{{Quote2|What kind of dipstick goes in front of two million people knowing they're going to be humiliated?|Tutuola}}
----
{{Conversation|The station got so many phone complaints about our obscene show, they yanked us off the air. We're not on the air, we don't roll tape. It's a shame, too. It got cut off just before the best part.|Radio Producer|What, something heavy fell on BJ's head?|Tutuola}}
----
{{Conversation|[''to Fin and Stabler''] Did you get a big happy when the anti-smut crusaders yanked my show off the air this morning?|BJ Cameron|You were humiliating a rape victim.|Tutuola|Great, take me off the air. You know what I find offensive? ''Catcher in the Rye''. Let's find every copy and burn it.|BJ Cameron|Give me a break here. You're pissed off because your show got pulled.|Stabler|I'm pissed off because a couple of hundred crackpots want to decide what's appropriate for two million people to listen to and you're letting them win.|BJ Cameron|We're not trying to shut you down. We're trying to catch a rapist.|Tutuola|And I'm exercising my right not to speak.|BJ Cameron}}
----
:[''about BJ Cameron'']
{{Conversation|Son of a bitch wants to turn himself into a martyr for free speech.|Stabler|Didn't the producer hear Danny admit to raping Jessie?|Novak|BJ told him that later and the station doesn't record unless they're broadcasting.|Tutuola|So we can't use the confession unless BJ gives it up.|Novak|We subpoena him, he's going to turn that trial into a free speech circus.|Stabler|BJ likes whining about his freedom of speech? Let's give him something to really cry about. I'll take a page out of Carolyn Spencer's playbook. How do you hurt Howard Stern? Go after Clear Channel.|Novak|So you gonna put the screws to Entropy Broadcasting?|Tutuola|And their sponsors and their advertisers. Ask them how they feel about Entropy's star personality hindering the prosecution of a rapist.|Novak}}
----
{{Conversation|Do you wake up every morning and think "how am I going to violate the First Amendment today?"|BJ Cameron|I wake up and think, "How can I put away a rapist?"|Novak}}
----
{{Conversation|What do I have to do?|Jessie Dawning|You'll go on the stand first and I'll lead you through what happened.|Novak|Everything? Including how he found me passed out on my couch?|Jessie Dawning|We can explain that. You'd been working 16-hour days. You were exhausted.|Novak|Will I have to tell them about the pills?|Jessie Dawning|If the defense asks you, yes.|Novak|Great. They're going to say I'm a slut and a junkie.|Jessie Dawning|I can't imagine how hard this must be for you, Jessie, but your testimony will help put your rapist in jail.|Novak}}
----
{{Conversation|Carolyn, this is a good offer.|Attorney Shamal|Danny only went on that show to impress BJ.|Carolyn Spencer|Danny confessed to rape.|Novak|BJ Cameron is the one you should be going after. Danny wouldn't have done anything if BJ hadn't egged him on.|Carolyn Spencer|Mom...|Danny Spencer|You don't have a say in this.|Carolyn Spencer|Actually, he does.|Novak|I am his mother. You don't get to decide for him.|Carolyn Spencer|You're here as a courtesy, Mrs. Spencer. This is a one-time offer. Rape three, he does 1-to-3 and tells the court everything he did.|Novak|[to Carolyn] We should consider the deal.|Shamal|No. There is no way you can prove he did anything wrong. It's his word against that junkie tramp. And who do you think the jury's going to believe?|Carolyn Spencer|I thought you were a role model, Mrs. Spencer. Whatever happened to teaching kids to tell the truth?|Novak|I'm doing what's best for my son.|Carolyn Spencer}}
----
:[''about Carolyn Spencer'']
{{Conversation|She's all about morals and decency until it becomes inconvenient.|Stabler|I can bully BJ onto the stand, I can present all the evidence that I want, but without Jessie, I got nothing.|Novak|Any chance of talking to Danny without Carolyn running interference?|Stabler|Yeah, and saying what, "Ignore your mom, listen to me and go to jail"?|Novak}}
----
{{Conversation|Look, I'm sure you hate me.|Danny Spencer|Shut up! You don't get to defend yourself. What you did to me You think I'm trash, don't you?|Jessie Dawning|No. No, I... I don't.|Danny|But all those things that BJ said about me you think are funny. Breaking into my trailer and stealing my panties.|Jessie|It was just a stupid prank.|Danny|You call raping me a prank?|Jessie|I wish I could take it all back. I'm sorry.|Danny|You're sorry? How could you be sorry when you went on the radio and bragged about what you did to me?|Jessie|BJ started making jokes. I was just trying to keep up.|Danny|Was your mom just trying to keep up, too? Because she said she wished I was dead.|Jessie|No, no. She didn't mean it like that.|Danny|She thinks she is so perfect, but all she does is give kids somebody to blame when they do something wrong. Kids shoot up a high school, blame Marilyn Manson. You raped me. Blame BJ Cameron.|Jessie|Danny, you're the only one who knows what really happened. You can own up to it like a man or you can hide behind your mother.|Novak}}
----
{{Quote2|No mother should have her son go to prison because some obscene pig thinks rape is funny.|Carolyn Spencer}}
----
{{Conversation|[''to Donnelly''] What did I do?|Novak|You don't even say hi to your boss?|Donnelly|Hi. What did I do?|Novak}}
----
{{Conversation|Mr. Cameron, do you think that the KKK or Aryan Nations are funny?|Novak|Only in that they're the most ignorant bunch of jackasses in the country.|BJ Cameron|So you don't agree with their views, but do you think they should still be allowed to express them?|Novak|They may be hate-mongering idiots, but they still have the right to speak their minds like everyone else.|BJ Cameron|So, as much as you dislike their views, do you think it's okay just to go out and shoot them?|Novak|No.|BJ Cameron|Thank you. Nothing further.|Novak}}
----
{{Conversation|How do you deadlock with a mountain of evidence in front of you?|Novak|The jury thought BJ deserved what he got.|Stabler|He flapped his mouth on the radio. She picked up a gun and shot him. There's no question who broke the law here.|Novak|No, but after hearing BJ on the stand, half the jury would've done what Carolyn did.|Stabler}}

==Background information and notes==
*Elliot says Jessie works sixteen-hour days. However, since she is sixteen, she isn't legally allowed to work those hours until she turns eighteen, due to child/underage labor laws.
*Cragen tells Stabler about the legal marriage between Marquez and Jessie (this latter legally emancipated since she was 14) that "Marquez is 40, Jessie is 16. It's legal {{w|pedophilia}}." This is incorrect, since pedophilia has always been by definition the primary or exclusive attraction to prepuberty, while {{w|ephebophilia}}, instead, is the primary or exclusive attraction to mid-to-late adolescents and biological adults aged 15 and 16 to 18 and 19, which was also accurately clarified by Dr. [[George Huang]] in the series.
*[[Nestor Serrano]] previously played Sergeant [[Lloyd Andrews]] in the episode "[[Asunder]]".

===Episode scene cards===
{| class="grey" width="100%"
|- style="font-variant:small-caps; background-color:#eed62d"
! width="33%" style="text-align:center" |1
! width="33%" style="text-align:center" |2
! width="33%" style="text-align:center" |3
|- style="font-variant:small-caps; text-align:center; font-size: 90%; background-color:#ffff93;"
|
Home of<br />
Carolyn Spencer<br />
Queens, New York<br />
Wednesday, September 1
|
Office of<br />
Franco Marquez<br />
325 West 66th Street<br />
Wednesday, September 1
|
Wren FM 93.8<br />
522 West 57th Street<br />
Friday, September 3
|}
{| class="grey" width="100%"
|- style="font-variant:small-caps; background-color:#eed62d"
! width="33%" style="text-align:center" |4
! width="33%" style="text-align:center" |5
! width="33%" style="text-align:center" |6
|- style="font-variant:small-caps; text-align:center; font-size: 90%; background-color:#ffff93;"
|
Trial Part 27<br />
Wednesday, September 8
|
Trial Part 35<br />
Thursday, September 23
|
Trial Part 35<br />
Tuesday, October 12
|}

{{Episode
|Title=Obscene
|Series=Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
|Serieslink=SVU
|Season=6
|Previous=[[Debt]]
|Next=[[Scavenger]]
}}

[[Category:SVU episodes]]