Sorry If It Got Weird for You (Season 23, Episode 16)
Premise: A woman who panics on a date with Velasco reveals that the founder of the dating app she works for raped her.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 23, Episode 16
- Starring
- Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano), ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), Judge D. Serani (Michael Mastro)
- Guest stars
- Jon Glaser as Jackson Wright, Sherri Saum as Cressida Gordon, Christine Spang as Lisa Rose, Julian Elijah Martinez as Counselor Jericho Swope, Tonye Patano as Trial Judge Linda Maskin
- Director
- Leslie Hope
- Writers
- Story: Bryan Goluboff & Denis Hamill & Monet Hurst-Mendoza & Kathy Dobie & Micharne Cloughley; Teleplay: Matt Klypka; Story & teleplay: Brendan Feeney
Summary
“Sorry If It Got Weird for You” opens as Jackson Wright relaunches his dating app, Mr. Wright Now, as Mr. Wright Forever, promising women a safer service, in a speech written by his partner and CFO, Cressida “Cress” Gordon. Velasco goes on a first date through an app with Lisa Rose, who drinks heavily; when he walks her home and touches her arm, she panics, tells him to keep away and falls down the stairs. She is not badly hurt. At the hospital she tells Benson that Wright, her boss, matched with her on the app and pushed for a date to prove the algorithm worked; at his penthouse he grabbed her, forced her over the couch and raped her, and the next day sent her the apology that gives the episode its title.
Cress, who has known Wright since college and was the best friend of his late wife, Sara, doubts it at first, then resigns on television and calls him a predator, and the company’s stock collapses. Wright admits the date but says the sex was consensual. Through the app’s records Cress finds other women who quit after one date with him; none alleges rape, but two got the same apology and one was offered equity and a trip to Maui. Wright is charged with first-degree rape, and Judge Serani releases him on his own recognizance. He then posts a video accusing Cress of taking the company’s designers, data and subscribers to start a rival app, and a new app traced to her surfaces. Cress admits the timing but insists Lisa knew nothing. After federal agents search her office, Benson and Velasco find her overdosed on oxycodone and revive her with Narcan.
At trial, defense attorney Jericho Swope cross-examines Velasco, testifying for the first time as an SVU detective, and Lisa to suggest she was drunk and mistaken both nights. Pressed on why she never asked Wright for his side, Cress says he raped her too, three months after Sara died. The judge strikes the remark and refuses a mistrial. On the stand, Wright calls himself an expert on what women want, and Carisi asks whether Sara was about to divorce him. Wright explodes, calling the women liars and threatening Cress in front of the jury.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury convicts Wright of first-degree rape, and he is remanded to Rikers to await sentencing. Cress says she always knew his anger was there and regrets bringing Lisa into his world. Carisi heads off to help Rollins, who is caring for her injured mother, and Benson tells him he is a good man.
Why it stands out
- Velasco testifies in court for the first time as an SVU detective, and the defense uses his own date with the victim against her.
- Jon Glaser guest stars as dating app founder Jackson Wright, with Sherri Saum as his partner, Cressida Gordon.
- Rollins is absent, caring for her mother, who is recovering in a cast.