"Missing Pieces"

Guest Star Lisa Joyce

This week on Law & Order SVU , the show opens up on Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) accompanying her ward from last season, Calvin, and his grandparents to what looks like a street fair. Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) is also spending time with his kid. He tells his daughter she’s too young for a bare midrift 'Princess Jasmin' Halloween costume. His mother tells him he’s too protective. So far, this week’s episode is turning out to be a family show. Cut to a blonde woman walking into a bodega, asking for diapers; but not just any diapers, they have to be ‘organic’ diapers. I guess the writers are trying to imply she’s a good mother by having her ask for organic diapers. She runs out of the bodega. A minute later, we hear her scream. The next scene, Benson is questioning her on the street, “They stole my car. My baby was inside.” The cops debrief each other, “Mom says her 3 month old was in the back seat. They’re tourists from Buffalo. A baby taken on Halloween. Just what we need, another tourist horror story.” Cue the theme music.

The bodega owner didn’t see a thing, but the mother, Ali Martel (Lisa Joyce), insists her car was taken with her baby inside. “We need to find Nate. He’s lactose intolerant. He needs soy milk.” Do we believe her? Meanwhile the baby’s dad, shows up on the scene, reeking of alcohol. This is not a summary of the episode, but a recap of the five best moments of the show.


Here’s the countdown to the Five Best Moments of the Show.
#5 Best Moment of the Show. The clock keeps ticking on how long the baby has been missing. The squad room is a flurry of activity. Someone gets a call, “We might have a lead on the car. It’s abandoned on the Willis Avenue Bridge.” Benson and Amaro is first on the scene. The driver side window in smashed. There’s no sign of a baby. Benson screams to check the trunk. Amaro is frustrated at how slow it takes to get the tools. He rips open the trunk. Still no sign of the baby. Benson yells out, “We need a Level One Mobilization”. She means business. They’re going to search the river, ground level, and utilize air support. The baby could be anywhere. Will we find him in time? Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking, “3 hours missing”.

#4 Best Moment of the Show. The whole squad room is busy taking tips from good Samaritans on the whereabouts of the baby. A Hispanic male walks into the precinct with a empty car seat. “I need to talk to somebody. I didn’t do anything”. Turns out he bought a car seat from a peddler in a park. The man sits in the squad car and IDs the peddler. The peddler has an entire baby paraphernalia spread out for sale, including a cooler. He’s looking good for the crime. Amaro and Benson bring him back to the interrogation room. The peddler denies everything. Lab results come back with soy formula in the cooler. Amaro, “They put their baby in the cooler?” Benson, “The baby’s body.” Now, the parents are looking good for the crime. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking, “17 hours missing.”

#3 Best Moment of the Show. Benson is questioning the father. Amaro is questioning the mother. The scene switches back and forth. Benson to the father, “Do you recognize this cooler?” “All those coolers look alike. How do you know this is mine?” “Because it has your finger prints on it.” “The M.E. found fecal matter in it.” “Maybe Ali was busy and she put a diaper in there just for a minute.” “No mother puts a dirty diaper in a cooler. Tell me what did happen. Because we know that baby was not taken. How did the baby end up in the cooler?” The father is overloaded. He shuts down. Amaro is working the mother. “Stop, so far you’ve been telling the truth, but this thing with Nate in the car. That’s a lie, Ali.” Ali breaks, “We had to sleep in a motel, the Binghamton Motor Lodge. We didn’t want my sister to know.” The cops dispatch detectives to the motel. Meanwhile, the clock is still ticking, “33 hours missing.” We all know it, but no one wants to say it. This does not end well.

#2 Best Moment of the Show. Finally, Amaro breaks through to the mom, “She’s going to draw a map where they buried the baby”. The clock reads, “39 hours missing.” The cops are combing the beach, literally; since a cop is using a brush to brush away the sand on the dead infant buried underneath. Benson says, “She buried him with his blanket and his toy.” Amaro answers, “She didn’t want him to be alone.” The sky is raining. The drops fall in the detectives faces, rolling down their cheeks, mimicking tears. They are all in mourning.

Finally, the #1 Best Moment of the Show. All that is left is to determine who did the crime; the mother or the father. The Medical Examiner gives her verbal report.

This baby was cared for. There were no visible signs of trauma. Back to working the father and mother separately. Benson and Tutuola on the dad. Amaro and Rollins on the mom. The dad claims, “I didn’t kill my son.” “Your son is on the autopsy table right now. If you plead guilty and say Ali has nothing to do with it, then Ali goes free. I know you want to protect her.” Amaro on the mom. “Ali, you drew me that map, you wanted us to find Nate. You wanted us to know.” Benson on the dad again. “You love her, that’s why you need to do the right thing.” Finally the dad cracks, “He wouldn’t stop crying. I just wanted him to stop crying so I can close my eyes. So I picked him up and I shook him until he stopped crying.” But wait, back to Amaro on the mom, “I did it. It was me. Nate was crying. And then he quieted down. I put him in the tub. I dosed off. I woke up. Nate was under water.” Wait a minute. Who did it? The ME breaks the tie. “This baby wasn’t dropped, shaken, or hurt. It was SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). It will take a while to confirm, but right now it’s my instinct. So it turns out they were both protecting each other. Amaro tells the mom it was nobody’s fault. Ali, “You mean he just died?” Amaro, “Yes, why didn’t you call for help?” Ali, “Would you believe us?” Oh, snap! She’s right. Who would believe an alcoholic father and an abused mother didn’t kill their baby?

This is not your mother’s Law & Order SVU. The crime was there was no crime. The perps never made it to court. They were let go and sent on their merry way, to pay for this cover-up the rest of their lives. Fade out on the couple consoling each other with Benson and Amaro looking on.


Next week on Law & Order SVU, a music academy student cries rape.  The prosecution says she was promiscuous.  Who do we believe?