SVU S17 E7 “Patrimonial Burden”
“Rollins, it’s a TV show about a whole bunch of women who promise to not have sex outside of marriage. I’m sorry I interrupted. You were tell me all about your out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Continue.”
When the Bakers, a chastity-espousing reality TV family, come to New York to celebrate Lane's purity ceremony, they discover the 13-year-old is pregnant. After interrogating a cameraman, Fin and Carisi learn that accusations of inappropriate touching by the oldest son, Graham, were buried by the Bakers' powerful supporters. Before Benson and Dodds can question him, the family pastor says the boy has been sent to a camp in Ecuador. After binge-watching their show, Rollins suspects Graham fathered a child with a different sister. But the DNA points in a different direction. The pastor himself has been preying on the daughters and blaming the son.
We're talking about Special Victims Unit season 17 episode 7* "Patrimonial Burden." Our returning guest is Melody Carlisle from the "Heaving Bosoms" podcast.
This episode is inspired by the scandal around reality TV stars, the Duggar family.
*Note: Because of a two-part season opener, some streaming services list this as episode 6.
