Guest Star Michael Weston
This week on Law & Order SVU, the show opens on a young woman screaming in labor inside a rock dungeon. As soon as the woman gives birth, the baby is taken from her by a faceless man. Cut to Benson’s brother, Simon (Michael Weston) and wife, Tracy (Nicole Behare), being interviewed by a social worker. She misreads all the signals and thinks the bump on the boy’s head means he’s been abused. Within 24 hours the kids are taken by uniform cops, screaming, from the parents. Cut to Simon running into the squad room to tell Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) he needs her help. “It’s about my kids. The city just came and took them from us. I have a boy, Tye, my stepson, and a daughter, Olivia. I named her after you. She’s your niece. Look, they just took them, I need your help.” The camera freezes on Benson’s stunned face. Cue the theme music.
Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) and Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) is at the hospital. A baby was found abandoned on the steps of a church. He is fresh and surprisingly well cared for. The umbilical cord is still wet. Detective Munch (Richard Belzer) and Tutuola Odafin (Ice-T) interviews the homeless who found them. The canvases turn up nothing. Meanwhile Benson reaches out to Defense Attorney Bayard Ellis (Andre Braugher) to reunite her brother and his kids. He hears her case and concludes, “This is a clear pattern of profiling. The only way to change the system is to challenge it.” Alright, now we have a hired gun on board.
This is not a summary of the episode; it is 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 cops determine that 13 year old Celia, a missing girl, is the baby’s mother. “At least now we can tell the family she’s still alive.” The mother of the missing girl can’t believe what she’s hearing. Turns out the last one to see the daughter alive, three years ago, is now the ex-husband. “Leo’s story never made any sense. They were out on a bike ride. He said she was grabbed and put in a van. They asked if Leo and she were ever too close. I always thought something happened between them and he covered it up. Oh my God. I’ve been blaming Leo for something he didn’t do.” The father is questioned in the squad room by Benson and Fin. “I lost my marriage, my savings. I’ve been paying a private detective to find her.” That’s one girl abducted and three shattered lives.
#4 Best Moment of the Show. The next scene is a court room with Defense Attorney Ellis questioning the uniform officer who arrested Simon, Benson’s brother. Ellis is determined to prove racial profiling. “I remind you that you are under oath. Why did you ask my client to empty his pockets?” “Something seemed odd.” “Isn’t it true that all but three of your arrests are above 96th Street, and that you arrested my client just because he was part of an interracial couple?” The court rules in Ellis’ favor. “It’s a bad search, pure and simple.” The judge agrees. Benson is in the audience. “Nice work counselor.” “It’s what I do.” The next scene, we see Simon’s nuclear family with Benson. “You want to meet your niece?” “She’s beautiful.” Simon says, “Liv, this is your family. You know when the kids come home. We should set up a regular Sunday dinner.” “I’d like that.” Looks like Benson’s found the family she so desperately needs.
#3 Best Moment of the Show. Meanwhile, Amaro and Rollins find out another abandoned baby has the same father as the case they are investigating. Turns out that baby was adopted by an upper class couple, who said a teenager came up to them when they were in Central Park with baby Dillon and sniffed his hat. The teenage girl said that’s when she was sure. Dillon is her baby. They even took a photo with their cell phone, just in case they needed to file a restraining order. Detective Munch and Rollins track the teenage girl to a soup kitchen, where she even told people she was kidnapped and held in a dungeon. But then again, everybody has stories. Amaro and Benson question the girl who said a couple abducted her and made her call them ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’. “How long did they keep you there?” “Over a year, until I had my baby, and he got rid of it. He said no boys in the house. After they took my baby they dumped me.” These people are predators, plain and simple.
#2 Best Moment of the Show. Cut to Captain Don Craigen (Donn Florek) telling Benson her brother Simon was arrested trying to kidnap his children from their foster home. The man cannot catch a break. All he wanted was to have his kids back.
Finally, the #1 Best Moment of the Show. Munch and Rollins finally catch a break. It turns out all the abandoned boy babies are well cared for because the accomplice ‘mommy’ is a neonatal nurse. She is trapped and leads the cops to the hiding place where they’ve been keeping the kidnapped girls. The cops find Celia safe and sound in the dungeon, with her 3 year old daughter. All’s well that ends well…not so fast. What about Simon? The best deal Ellis could make for Simon is to separate his case from Tracy, his fiancé. Tracy gets custody of both kids while he gets six months in jail and supervised visitation for a year. This sucks. “Yes, but you were looking at 25 years to life”, says Benson. The show ends with Benson comforting Simon, as they both mourn for what could have been.
