Film/TV review: Gratuitous hate crime episode on 'Law and Order'

NBC's "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" (Season 23, Episode 10, "Silent Night, Hateful Night,") began 2022 with a troubling episode about religious hate crimes. But just as troubling as the hate crimes catalogued here was the very existence of the episode itself.

Principal series writers/producers Julie Martin, Kathy Dobie and Warren Leight concocted this discombobulated fare about a wave of anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh attacks on houses of worship and businesses, all on Christmas Eve. The suggestion is that violence and vandalism were someone's idea of celebrating the birth of t...