Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 15, Episode 6 of NBC's Law and Order: SVU, titled "October Surprise."
"The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event."
We've all been waiting for it, and it's finally here: The episode that is completely and utterly unrelated to Anthony Weiner. We begin as mayoral hopeful State Senator Alejandro Muñoz speaks to a crowd of admirers at an Interfaith Community gathering. Appealing to his diverse audience, Muñoz reminds listeners that, if elected, he would be the first Hispanic mayor of New York City. Immediately after he ends his speech, Eddie, one of his employees, cryptically whispers to him, "Boss, I gotta bounce," before receiving the go-ahead from Muñoz.
The case: Next thing we know, a blonde woman is waving a pair of scissors at Eddie, a bit of blood dripping down her face. The police arrive. Eddie says he's DOC and just doing his job, but the blonde woman claims he tried to rape her. Amaro and Olivia visit her in the hospital where she explains she was trying to break things off with Eddie, but he began to threaten her.
Meanwhile, Muñoz visits Barba, who greets him with all smiles. In fact, I almost didn't recognize him -- apparently Barba doesn't smile much. Seeing as Barba was friends with Muñoz and Eddie when they were growing up, Muñoz asks him to help Eddie.
Rollins and Finn get Eddie's side of the story. He claims that he just wanted to talk to her after she told him she was pregnant with his child. "Why did we find two grand in your pocket?" Eddie says he shouldn't say anything further, refusing to answer Finn's question. Dun dun.
The phony victim: Liv and Amaro check in on Lindsay, who answers the door wearing bright red lipstick with loud music blaring in the background. Not sure if either of those things suggest anything, but her face certainly looks guilty. And she becomes increasingly sassy from there -- refusing to put out her electronic cigarette and insisting she only speak to Detective Amaro. She tells us she met Eddie 6 weeks ago when he came into her shoe store with his wife. Oh yeah, and now she's thought it over and doesn't want to press charges. Clearly, something's up. Dun dun.
The team decides to dig deeper into Lindsay's past, only to discover she has a history of harassment and extortion -- a total of four men, one mother-in-law, and one shrink have orders of protection against her. But here's the catch: all the men she shook down were wealthy and powerful -- two things that Eddie is not. Maybe Eddie isn't the guy she was extorting.
21st century technology saves the day: With Muñoz refusing to disclose any further information, the situation might seem bleak, but not when you have cool detectives who know how to use Facebook. Proudly claiming he "friended" Lindsay the night before, Amaro shows everyone her latest post -- a photo of her on a plane with the caption "On my way to Israel to start my new job!" See! The NYPD is hip too! (The question as to why Lindsay accepted his friend request, however, remains. But we'll save that for another day)
Meet Enrique Trouble: Armed with this information, the SVU Unit discovers more incriminating information using the World Wide Web. With Barba present, they show him a chat set up between Rollins (under an alias) and Muñoz on his website. Once their discussion starts heading on an X-rated trajectory, Muñoz suggests they move to a more private site, classily titled "PleasureWithoutConscience.com" where Muñoz uses the alias Enrique Trouble -- not to be confused with Carlos Danger, obviously, since Law and Order: SVU is completely fictional. (And no, that's not an actual site. I just checked.) Eventually, Rollins receives a full-on frontal pic from Muñoz, to which Finn responds, "That's the full Muñoz right there!"
Barba meets with Muñoz in an attempt to convey the gravity of the situation, but Muñoz continues to say his account was hacked. Barba warns him that he will not stick his neck out any further. Muñoz storms out feeling betrayed.
Finn's worldly knowledge comes in handy: Back at the office, Amaro realizes that this might just be the tip of the iceberg. Rollins reminds him, "I think we saw more than just the tip." Get it? Dick jokes from the Special Victims Unit. They discover Enrique Trouble is on other sites as well with connections to other women who recently became employees of the government, including one Anna Pretard, who Finn recognizes from videos. "And it wasn't C-SPAN," he clarifies. And of course, he's not wrong. She starred in the film "Million Dollar A Night Baby." They pay her a visit in an attempt to accumulate further evidence that Muñoz gave her the government job so she wouldn't write a book incriminating him. She tells them a man always hand-delivered a bag of money. All signs point to Eddie.
A test of loyalty: Realizing the situation isn't looking great for his friend, Barba meets up with Eddie. They briefly discuss their childhoods -- Eddie always looked out for Barba and protected him from the gangs in their neighborhood, while Barba helped Eddie learn English. With the reminiscing out of the way, Barba explains that Eddie will be charged with witness tampering and bribery, both felonies. Eddie is reluctant to roll over on Muñoz. But after meeting with the detectives at SVU, he slowly reveals that there were other girls as well. But there was one girl to whom Eddie wasn't responsible for delivering cash -- a girl named Jody in Yonkers, possibly a teacher at a high school.
The key evidence: But Eddie's wrong. She's not a high school teacher. The detectives visit a Jody at a high school in Yonkers, but she's a student, a sophomore in high school. While initially refusing to cough up any information, she eventually voluntarily turns over her phone after learning they would have to involve her mother in order to get a warrant.
Once again, Barba tries to keep his friend Muñoz in the loop, even at the risk of his own job. After showing Muñoz the photos he unknowingly sent to Rollins, Muñoz continues to make up excuses until Barba tells him that he will be charged with possession of child pornography, at which point he becomes enraged. He claims Barba has a vendetta against him, that ever since Barba left the neighborhood on a scholarship to Harvard, he's been a different person. If he takes him down, the people will take it out on Barba, Muñoz warns him before storming off.
The conclusion: Muñoz continues to campaign even after being charged, still believing he has a shot. He publicly places all of the blame on Barba calling him corrupt and even mentioning his IAB record. However, his request to be released on his own cognizance is denied and bail is set at $10,000. Barba seems to manifest all the guilt, but the truth remains that maybe naked selfies and politics don't go hand in hand -- which is why a scandal like this would never happen IRL, amiright?