"The Heart Wants What The Heart Wants:" (Mis)quoting Woody Allen Won't Get Olivia Benson Into Bed

According to a sneak peek, Kathy Griffin‘s upcoming guest spot on Law & Order: SVU involves hitting on Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson. And Olivia, sadly, is having none of it.

While “the heart wants what the heart wants” may not be the best pickup line ever, it was a little sad to see how creeped out Olivia was by the advances of Kathy Griffin’s character Babs. She even tells her replacement not to enter the room with Babs lest she get hit on too. The episode, titled “P.C.”, doesn’t air til March 3, so for all we know Babs is a psychopath — though advance reports just describe her as a “lesbian activist.” Still, fans have long enjoyed speculating about Olivia’s possible relationships with women, and it would have been interesting if she’d been receptive to — or least not grossed out by — Babs’s advances. A commenter on NBC’s site says it well:

I am curious what kind of light this episode will put on lbgt issues. There are not many TV “role models” for gay women, which is why I believe Olivia’s character has been adopted by gay women regardless of her actual/written sexuality. I hope this episode doesn’t continue to stereotype and marganalize these very real and human women through typical TV homophobia.