Guest Star Fred Arsenault
This week on Law & Order SVU, the show opens on dueling dates. Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Executive Assistant District Attorney David Haden (Harry Connick, Jr.) are getting hotter and heavier, from movie night to her apartment. She puts up a phony fight, but gives in at the end. Cut to a man, ‘Brewster’ (Fred Arsenault) calling for a date from The Village Voice newspaper advertising for the ‘girlfriend experience’. Turns out the girl, Haley (Emily Kinney) is a pretty 16 year old blonde with a child, trying to make a living while her mom watches the baby. The date goes well until he opens the car door for her to get in, and she hesitates. She should have run for it. In the next scene, we see her in the back of his car, locked behind the dog gate, pleading for her life. Cue the theme music.
Let me just say, this is the best episode of the season, so far. Perhaps due to the fact that the cold blooded killer was off screen for most of the episode and we knew nothing of his motivations until the end, or perhaps the clock was counting down to whether or not the kidnapped victim was still alive, or perhaps finally, Benson resolved her feelings for Haden. For all these reasons and more, it worked.
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. Haley’s mom (Alison Bartlett) plays a taped phone recording for Detective Benson and Nick Amaro (Danny Pino). It’s her daughter admitting to her sins. She’s been ‘a bad girl’. She’s obviously being tortured and made to repeat lines from a script. The mom holds the granddaughter in her arms. This cannot end well.
#4 Best Moment of the Show. Detective Tutuola Odafin (Ice-T) and Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) questions the ‘madam’ at the ‘escort’ service. She’s obviously defensive. “I just match up consenting adults. She (Haley) just started with me. She told me she didn’t feel safe at her other agency. A girl went out on a date Christmas Eve. She never came back.” Fin and Rollins proceed to ‘escort service #2’ and find out the name of the second missing girl and a matching profile of the ‘john’ that took both girls out on ‘dates’. The second madam is an older blue collar type dispatcher. There is nothing high-end about him. “Says his name was Brewster, paid cash, says his wife is nosy.” When Fin and Rollins questions him about the girl that went missing on Christmas Eve, he cries foul, “My top earner, Roxie. When I found her, all of her teeth rotted from the Meth. I bought her new veneers, cuspid to cuspid.” He thinks he got the short end of the stick. What a bunch of predators. At least now, the manhunt begins.
#3 Best Moment of the Show. Benson and Amaro question the bartender from date night. They get lucky. The bartender recognizes the photo, can tell they were on a first date, that the guy paid cash, and asked for a doggy bag when all he had on the plate was a bone. Big foreshadowing. The next scene, Haley is running for her life in the woods, with ‘Brewster’ and his dog chasing her with his crossbow. This is a vicious psychotic torturer.
#2 Best Moment of the Show. The Village Voice ran all the ads of the underage ‘escort’ girls that have fallen prey to the killer. Benson thinks The Voice is facilitating underage sex trafficking. She wants to set up a sting, she thinks they are complicit. Haden hangs tough to the letter of the law, “The paper hasn’t broken any laws.” Good think Haden has a pair on him. He didn’t cave into Benson’s knee jerk reaction to lock everyone up.
Finally, the #1 Best Moment of the Show. Benson and Amaro finally catch a break. A uniform cop remembers seeing a guy walking without a leash. “Poor guy had a shovel. He just buried his other dog.” The detectives exchange knowing glances. They trace the lead to Dead Horse Bay. The cops finds a body. The K-9 unit finds another body. The camera is trained on four K-9 units, all find dead bodies on the beach. This is going to be gruesome. Next scene, “We’re up to 11, all women ages 18-25.” All the victims were asphyxiated. Who gets out of the car, but EADA Haden. He says, “I wanted to see for myself. I want to have the scene in my head, before I go after the downtown boys.” The next scene, EADA Haden is on camera giving a press story. My office and the NYPD are going after the person responsible and the newspaper who pimp out these girls and mark them as easy prey. Each of these women was someone’s daughter, mother, sister… They will not be forgotten.” That sealed it. Benson falls for him, hook, line, and sinker.
Final Wrap-up. The etymologist traces ticks on the dead girl to ulster county. The detectives even find a girl that got away. She’s still in the psych ward from what ‘Brewster’ did to her. They trace ‘Brewster’ all the way to his apartment where they find all the paraphernalia of a psychotic serial hunter/killer. He’s a game keeper at a wildlife preserve. At his shack, ‘Brewster’ gets the drop on Benson and the monologue drags on. Finally, Amaro gets a shot from under the crawl space. He brings ‘Brewster’ down. Benson and Amaro come back to the squad room. Benson calms Craigen, “Captain, it was a good shooting. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.” Craigen wants to hold Amaro’s hand, “It’s your first one? I’ll walk you through the paperwork.” Amaro puts him off, “Captain, can I have a minute?” Amaro takes his tablet and walk back to the restroom to skpe his wife in Afghanistan. She’s happy he got the perp. “I love you.” “I love you, too.” “Stay safe.” “You too, okay?” This is the most bonding we’ve seen yet between Amaro and his military wife. It feels forced. This does not end well.
Next week on Law & Order SVU, Benson’s brother shows up. He wants her help to return his kids to him. She’s caught between helping the only family she ever knew and obeying the law.
