Why would this case be any different?
How Stella Tahlia Got Her Groove Back: I WILL POST ON LIVEJOURNAL MORE, I WILL. So that's why I want to post about... Law & Order UK! True story, this show is blowing my mind with its amazingness lately.
So despite the fact that this show continues to simply adapt old episodes of original episodes, I think that everything about its mentality fundamentally changed the second they did "Alesha" back in S1. By changing the Olivet character in that story from someone who is known to us but on the periphery to someone who is definitely known to us, it introduces a whole different set of consequences when the prosecution ultimately fails to make their case on the charge of rape. At the time, I thought it was a terrible thing to do to a character that I liked (WHY REMAKE THAT EPISODE? WHY. WHY), but seeing what it's done in the aftermath? Oh my God, best decision ever, L&O UK.
Because Alesha isn't fine (no shit). When trying to talk to other victims, she still isn't able to properly talk about her own experience. Last week it was "I work with many women who have been" (completely removed from the subject - familiar but ultimately uninvolved emotionally). This week, she was a little better - it was a general, catch-all "women who've been raped," not couched in this is just a work thing for me, suggesting she might actually understand (but only intellectually, as a woman? or a victim herself? see, she is not yet there). And while on ORIGINAL Law & Order, this would involve me shouting at my television screen BECAUSE SHE THINKS JAMES LET HER DOWN AND SHE IS QUESTIONING HER ENTIRE LIFE VIEW... and then very quietly an episode would come along in which no one actually talks about how this is the case so then he does vindicate her via a surrogate trial? Yeah, L&O UK just blatantly goes there, and says as much IN WORDS.
It's telling that for the second week in a row, Matt clearly has some ~issues going on with Alesha, but for the most part he either doesn't want to, or can't bring himself to share them. (Honestly. I kept waiting for this show to throw me a crazy Matt/Alesha curve ball - all the elements are there! really, instead of settling comfortable into the James/Alesha slider. BUT ENOUGH WITH THE BASEBALL METAPHORS.) It's like he wants to be able to be someone who can ask her how she's doing (really), but just... can't. Just like they flirt for fun because it's a thing that they do, except maybe he's also flirting for real. Oh boy, that poor boy's face when/if/SHUT UP IT'S A WHEN James and Alesha start sleeping together and get super terrible about keeping that a secret*.
* Am I a crazy person? I've picked out the perfect episode to reveal it in, too! The Jamie Ross one where the guys rob that... place then steal a car with a possible hostage in the trunk? And everything is in vaguely real time for most of the episode? And they have to wake up Jack at 3am because one of the perps is trying to leverage the hostage's location for a plea agreement? SMASH CUT TO JAMES AND ALESHA AT 3AM WHEN SUDDENLY THERE IS AN AWKWARD KNOCK AT THE DOOR. I THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS, LIVEJOURNAL. I REALLY DO.
I want to nominate Freema Agyeman's face for all the awards ever invented for that scene in the observation room, as she listens to the suspect's account of being raped and you can just see it happening to Alesha all over again. Oh. My. GOD. (I wonder, too, if there's almost a small cheat going on with these adaptations. Knowing the original episode as I do, I spent the build-up to that scene largely going "noooooooooo Alesha nooooooooooo don't listen to this! It's going to be BAD! Don't! Don't open the door!" much like you might shout at a horror movie. Does the episode know this?)
I also want to punch George in the face for almost dismissively asking James if Alesha will be fine "because of her thing," but I suspect that this was largely the point of that question. Isn't it so much easier to deal with the messiness of rape when we can just marginalize its after-effects as "the thing"? Best ever: fairly certain James wanted to punch him, too.
"In the eyes of the law, I cried rape, too." My heart broke, for both of them. For Alesha because, well, THAT; she has to deal with technically being called a liar, trusting James to come through for her when he couldn't, intellectually understanding why they lost, and emotionally being pissed as fucking hell like any other normal victim. (How many times must she have sat across from a victim's family, and wished she could explain the technical legal workings for why they couldn't get a conviction, as if this was supposed to be some sort of comfort?) And for James, too, because now I want to go back and re-watch every episode because I think he might wake up every morning thinking, maybe a little, "Today, I will not let Alesha down again." !!!!
In conclusion, WOW I WAS NOT AWARE QUITE THE EXTENT TO WHICH I SHIPPED JAMES/ALESHA UNTL THIS EPISODE. I mean: yes, I sort of did. BUT ON SOME LEVEL, OH MY GOD I REALLY SORT OF DIDN'T. I'm probably compensating for the loss of Mike and Connie. Probably! But these two have transcended simply being Jack/Claire but with nicer accents, into their... own completely different thing. Alesha! Just don't ever pick up James when he's drunk at a bar after you've both just witnessed an execution. It will... not end well, let's just say that.
(Their own thing who meet at pubs and have vodka tonics waiting for them. Oh gosh, they literally shot that as from across a crowded room, James spots Alesha entering. IIIIIIIIIIII REALLY LOVE THEM YOU GUYS <33333333)
So despite the fact that this show continues to simply adapt old episodes of original episodes, I think that everything about its mentality fundamentally changed the second they did "Alesha" back in S1. By changing the Olivet character in that story from someone who is known to us but on the periphery to someone who is definitely known to us, it introduces a whole different set of consequences when the prosecution ultimately fails to make their case on the charge of rape. At the time, I thought it was a terrible thing to do to a character that I liked (WHY REMAKE THAT EPISODE? WHY. WHY), but seeing what it's done in the aftermath? Oh my God, best decision ever, L&O UK.
Because Alesha isn't fine (no shit). When trying to talk to other victims, she still isn't able to properly talk about her own experience. Last week it was "I work with many women who have been" (completely removed from the subject - familiar but ultimately uninvolved emotionally). This week, she was a little better - it was a general, catch-all "women who've been raped," not couched in this is just a work thing for me, suggesting she might actually understand (but only intellectually, as a woman? or a victim herself? see, she is not yet there). And while on ORIGINAL Law & Order, this would involve me shouting at my television screen BECAUSE SHE THINKS JAMES LET HER DOWN AND SHE IS QUESTIONING HER ENTIRE LIFE VIEW... and then very quietly an episode would come along in which no one actually talks about how this is the case so then he does vindicate her via a surrogate trial? Yeah, L&O UK just blatantly goes there, and says as much IN WORDS.
It's telling that for the second week in a row, Matt clearly has some ~issues going on with Alesha, but for the most part he either doesn't want to, or can't bring himself to share them. (Honestly. I kept waiting for this show to throw me a crazy Matt/Alesha curve ball - all the elements are there! really, instead of settling comfortable into the James/Alesha slider. BUT ENOUGH WITH THE BASEBALL METAPHORS.) It's like he wants to be able to be someone who can ask her how she's doing (really), but just... can't. Just like they flirt for fun because it's a thing that they do, except maybe he's also flirting for real. Oh boy, that poor boy's face when/if/SHUT UP IT'S A WHEN James and Alesha start sleeping together and get super terrible about keeping that a secret*.
* Am I a crazy person? I've picked out the perfect episode to reveal it in, too! The Jamie Ross one where the guys rob that... place then steal a car with a possible hostage in the trunk? And everything is in vaguely real time for most of the episode? And they have to wake up Jack at 3am because one of the perps is trying to leverage the hostage's location for a plea agreement? SMASH CUT TO JAMES AND ALESHA AT 3AM WHEN SUDDENLY THERE IS AN AWKWARD KNOCK AT THE DOOR. I THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS, LIVEJOURNAL. I REALLY DO.
I want to nominate Freema Agyeman's face for all the awards ever invented for that scene in the observation room, as she listens to the suspect's account of being raped and you can just see it happening to Alesha all over again. Oh. My. GOD. (I wonder, too, if there's almost a small cheat going on with these adaptations. Knowing the original episode as I do, I spent the build-up to that scene largely going "noooooooooo Alesha nooooooooooo don't listen to this! It's going to be BAD! Don't! Don't open the door!" much like you might shout at a horror movie. Does the episode know this?)
I also want to punch George in the face for almost dismissively asking James if Alesha will be fine "because of her thing," but I suspect that this was largely the point of that question. Isn't it so much easier to deal with the messiness of rape when we can just marginalize its after-effects as "the thing"? Best ever: fairly certain James wanted to punch him, too.
"In the eyes of the law, I cried rape, too." My heart broke, for both of them. For Alesha because, well, THAT; she has to deal with technically being called a liar, trusting James to come through for her when he couldn't, intellectually understanding why they lost, and emotionally being pissed as fucking hell like any other normal victim. (How many times must she have sat across from a victim's family, and wished she could explain the technical legal workings for why they couldn't get a conviction, as if this was supposed to be some sort of comfort?) And for James, too, because now I want to go back and re-watch every episode because I think he might wake up every morning thinking, maybe a little, "Today, I will not let Alesha down again." !!!!
In conclusion, WOW I WAS NOT AWARE QUITE THE EXTENT TO WHICH I SHIPPED JAMES/ALESHA UNTL THIS EPISODE. I mean: yes, I sort of did. BUT ON SOME LEVEL, OH MY GOD I REALLY SORT OF DIDN'T. I'm probably compensating for the loss of Mike and Connie. Probably! But these two have transcended simply being Jack/Claire but with nicer accents, into their... own completely different thing. Alesha! Just don't ever pick up James when he's drunk at a bar after you've both just witnessed an execution. It will... not end well, let's just say that.
(Their own thing who meet at pubs and have vodka tonics waiting for them. Oh gosh, they literally shot that as from across a crowded room, James spots Alesha entering. IIIIIIIIIIII REALLY LOVE THEM YOU GUYS <33333333)