Intimidation Game
- Episode aired Feb 11, 2015
- TV-14
- 42m
IMDb RATING
4.5/10
2.1K
YOUR RATING
A female video game developer is harassed and threatened by a group of misogynistic cyber terrorists.A female video game developer is harassed and threatened by a group of misogynistic cyber terrorists.A female video game developer is harassed and threatened by a group of misogynistic cyber terrorists.
Danny Pino
- Detective Nick Amaro
- (credit only)
Ice-T
- Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola
- (as Ice T)
Raúl Esparza
- ADA Rafael Barba
- (credit only)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode holds the record for the lowest rated episode for the whole series.
- GoofsBenson incorrectly explains the effects of New York's "Son of Sam" law to Leslie, stating that he could lose the profits from his "Glasgowman" video game as proceeds of a criminal act. New York's law applies only to the perpetrators of the crime. However, it is likely that Benson was deliberately lying to elicit Leslie's cooperation with the investigation.
- Quotes
Odafin Tutuola: I read on Kotaku that it's better than Civ 5 with the Brave New World expansion pack.
- ConnectionsReferenced in SVU Crosses the Line with Controversial Episode (2024)
Featured review
Ripped from Gawker's headlines
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Intimidation Game is a tough episode to review. On the one hand, this episode based on the GamerGate controversy (a consumer revolt against a corrupt gaming press more concerned about pushing identity politics than calling out anti-consumer practices) manages to get pretty much everything about the controversy backwards, smearing gamers as rapists and terrorists in the process. At the same time, the episode is a disaster viewed on its own terms, combining a very dark subject matter with the lamest gaming-related puns I've heard in a long while. An early scene where a brutal sexual assault is followed up with a comment that the perpetrators "leveled up" just about sums up the warped sensibilities of this episode. The laughably implausible developments that follow further make it impossible to take Intimidation Game seriously.
However, this definitely falls into "So Bad It's Good" Territory - it feels so out of touch (using terms like doxing and SWATing doesn't convince us you know what you're talking about when you throw them around like a 10-year who just learned some new swear words), so awkward, so driven by Moral Panic that I genuinely believe this has the potential of being the Reefer Madness of gaming. Plenty of TV shows have been guilty of episodes that stereotyped gamers and misrepresented gaming - this one however is in a league of its own, and as a result it's absolutely hilarious to anyone who know anything about gaming.
I give it a 2/10 because of the episode's utter failure to achieve what it presumably set out to do - at the same time I'm grateful that it exists, and I look forward to seeing all the memes, parodies and reviews it will spawn.
However, this definitely falls into "So Bad It's Good" Territory - it feels so out of touch (using terms like doxing and SWATing doesn't convince us you know what you're talking about when you throw them around like a 10-year who just learned some new swear words), so awkward, so driven by Moral Panic that I genuinely believe this has the potential of being the Reefer Madness of gaming. Plenty of TV shows have been guilty of episodes that stereotyped gamers and misrepresented gaming - this one however is in a league of its own, and as a result it's absolutely hilarious to anyone who know anything about gaming.
I give it a 2/10 because of the episode's utter failure to achieve what it presumably set out to do - at the same time I'm grateful that it exists, and I look forward to seeing all the memes, parodies and reviews it will spawn.
helpful•4432
- Olimpion
- Feb 12, 2015
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content