"Child’s Welfare"

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 96^th 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.

"Hunting Ground"

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.



"Home Invasion"

Guest Star Esai Morales

This week on Law & Order SVU, the show opens on a family of three (mom, dad, and daughter) relaxing at home.  The dad and daughter are watching a basketball game on TV.  The mom, Joan, has to answer the door bell.  They think it’s the Chinese food delivery boy.  It’s not.  It’s a gun man who takes the mother out, then everyone else.  By the time the detectives arrive on the scene, the word ‘Queer’ has been graffiti on the living room wall.  The mom was an executive at the Gay Rights Coatlition.  Even Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is shocked at the vicious execution style killing of a whole family.  Cue the theme music.

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.   Detective Benson and Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) are questioning the remaining head of the Gay Rights Coalition when she reveals that Joan and she ‘were involved’  ‘She was my life.’  Joan was going to leave her husband, Sydney, as soon as her daughter Emmie got a little older.  OMG, she was living a secret life.

#4 Best Moment of the Show.   Benson and Amaro are questioning the maid who Sydney accuses of stealing from her employer.  “I never stole any jewelry.  I would never.  14 years I work for them.  Sydney gets in trouble, he blames me…He pawned those earrings himself.  Sydney was a gambler, he owed big.  He had already sold off his autograph baseball, his watch.’  Where were you Friday night?  “Bible Study.  My brother (the ex-con) was leading the session”  Cut to Esai Morales leading the congregation in a frenzy of a sermon.  His sister was telling the truth, bible.

#3 Best Moment of the Show.  Detectives Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) is just finishing pumping gas when the bar tender/bookie from the last scene comes up behind her and punches her in the stomach.  He punches her again as he threatens her.  “You’re into it good.  If you’re even thinking of going to your Captain, you won’t even see us coming.”  That’s a threat she takes seriously.  Smart girl.  But she still comes clean to her partner, Detective Odafin Tutuola (Ice-T), who backs her all the way.  He engineers a crackdown on the illegal gambling operation, and uncovers all the dirty cops who are in bed with the loan shark.

#2 Best Moment of the Show.   Rollins finally works up enough nerve to come clean with Captain Craigen.  Turns out he already knows about her gambling.  He completely understands, because he’s been in her shoes.  Years ago his own Captain got him help instead of firing him.  “You’re a good detective, Amanda.  I don’t want to end your career.  So I’m going to get you help.  But if you screw up again, you’re going down.”  Rollins loses it and gets all tearful.  In barges Benson and Amaro, “Father (Syndey) and daughter (Emmie) tested positive for the same strand of Herpes.”  Man, the bad news just keeps coming.

Finally, the #1 Best Moment of the Show.  Turns out Sydney has been abusing his daughter Emmie for months.  She told the housekeeper and her brother.  Both were determined to save her from ‘the devil’.  But Emmie wanted both her dad and her mother dead.  You see her mother knew about the abuse and didn’t stop it.  Emmie says, “She was more worried about saving the world than saving her own daughter.”  Her boyfriend hugs her, wants to save her.  But she motions for him not to worry, because “I’m free.  I’m free now.“  I’d have to agree.  The abusers are out of her life, for good.

Craigen takes Rollins to a gambler support group, “You’re here.  It’s the first step.”  Looks like Rollins took that all important first step on the road to recovery.

Next week on Law & Order SVU, seven victims of a serial killer were ‘ripped from the headlines’.  Benson decides to turn the table on him.

"Father's Shadow"

Guest Star Michael McKean

This week on Law & Order SVU, the show opens with a gritty film noire look.  Captain Don Craigen (Dann Florek), Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), and Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) walk over to the uniform at a hostage situation who says the perp asked for her by name.  The next scene then announces itself as ‘Five Days Ago’.  This style of storytelling has been used many times by other dramas, but is a first for Law and Order SVU.  Cut to the next scene where Benson is on stage delivering a speech on “…increase in drug facilitated assault,…survivors suffer from guilt, self-blame.”  Cut to what is obviously an actress arriving to an audition; Malory Jenner meets the producer of the reality show for the first time.  The producer, Burt Sandow (Michael McKean) says, “Show me you will do whatever it takes to get this job.  Hold the documentary trophy, seduce the audience.  Let them know you want this.”  Next scene, it’s night time, a girl is zonked out on the park bench.  A creep comes up upon her.  He makes a lame attempt to wake her, “Miss, you okay?”, then proceeds to take advantage of her.  Are you kidding me?  What a creep!  Another guy comes by walking his dog and sees what’s going on.  He is the Good Samaritan that chases him down and stops him.  The cops come for the clean-up.  Detective Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) says, “No purse, no wallet, no stalking, shoes on the wrong feet.”  The perp tries to blow off the arrest.  “I thought she was dead”.  Detective Odafin Tutuola (Ice-Y) can’t believe his ears, “Excuse me?”  Cue the theme music.

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 perp is in the interrogation room.  He pleads his innocence, “I’m no rapist.  Okay, I’m not saying I haven’t done things.  I just like shearling.  Check her coat.”  Turns out he only rubs up on women in subways, but they must have a shearling coat on first.  He is not and has never been a rapist.  He's just a creep with a shearling fetish.  That’s rare.

#4 Best Moment of the Show.   Burt Sandow is sitting next to his attorney in the interrogation room when Amaro and Benson question him.  Sandow says, “I didn’t rape those girls.  Why would I have to?  They’d do anything to get on stage.”  Cut to Benson walking into Amaro questioning Lacey Ford (Miranda Lambert), the latest victim.  “Lacey, the counselor at the hospital says you refused the rape kit.  Mr. Sandow assaulted another girl.  He assaulted you.  We need your help to stop him.”  Lacey counters, “If he goes to prison, what happens to the show?  I really want this part.”  OMG, Sandow was right!  These girls are driven by fame at any price.

#3 Best Moment of the Show.  Detectives Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) give Sandow news of the hostage standoff.  “You want me to talk Eddie (his son, played by Cameron Monaghan) off the ledge, what are you going to do for me?  You want my help.  You pay my price.  All charges dropped.  I go free.  A public apology.  When my lawyer signs off, then we’ll talk.”  Sandow won’t cooperate.  Are the cops stupid?  Anyone who’s been watching the show can see this coming.  People who have been looking out for themselves all their lives do not suddenly think of others in a crisis.  It felt good to say, “I told you so.” to the screen.

#2 Best Moment of the Show.   The situation is tense inside the apartment.  Eddie has two hostages, his girlfriend Jess (Kelly Karbacz) and her daughter Lily (Emma Rayne Lyle).  Jess wants to take her daughter to the bathroom.  Eddie says no.  There is a struggle, the gun goes off, Jess gets shot in the leg.  The cops want to rush the room, but Benson talks them out of it.  She talks Eddie into letting her in to see to the wounded.  Brave girl.

Finally, the #1 Best Moment of the Show.  It’s the world against Benson.  She’s the only one who says she can talk the kid down.  All the ATTs are ready to take the sniper shot and kill the 19 year old.  Benson ends it.  First she gets the kid to realize how evil his father is, and then the kid thinks he’s just like his father, “I’m a monster”, and the only thing to do is to take himself out.  But then Benson reveals her past, “My father did terrible things to women, to my own mother.  You have a choice.  I’m nothing like my father.  You don’t have to be like yours.”  It worked!  The kid gives up the little girl hostage and his gun.  It’s all over.  “Good job, detective.”

Next week on Law & Order SVU, we find out the hard way that Detective Amanda Rollins is a closet gambler with a debt to a loan shark, who exacts payment for her outstanding debt. 

"Official Story"

Guest Star John Doman

This week on Law & Order SVU, the show opens on a group of Occupy Wall Street protestors carrying signs reading “99%” and “Kill Rand” behind police barricades.  A stretch limo pulls up and a businessman gets out of the car.  A protestor (Jacob Wallach) confronts him, “How do you sleep at night, Rand?”  “I’m serving my country, man.  I sleep just fine.”  William Rand (John Doman), CEO of Battle Tested Security is seen on TV in an interview.  Cut to Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) who opens the door to his home and sees his wife, Zara Amaro (Alison Fernandez).  “Surprise!”  His daughter rushes to her arms.  “Welcome home.”  Cut back to Rand, back in his limo, supposedly headed home at the end of the day.  He takes a drink out of a water bottle and starts to feel woozy.  He asks the driver why he is going uptown, “We’re supposed to be going to the Heliport.”  He blacks out.  Obviously, the drink was drugged.  Cut to a kid on a school field trip that spots a disheveled and tied up man in the grass by the park.  It’s Rand with the words, “Payback is a bitch” written on his naked body.  The tour guide says, “Get the kids out of here.  I’ll call 911”.  Cue the theme music.

Turns out, all this is about something that happened four years ago.  Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Amaro gets the whole story from the real victim, Cory Green (Megan Ketch).  She retells the whole nightmare.  She was working for Battle Tested Security in Bahrain for less than a month.  They drugged and raped her, then held her for 72 hours in an interrogation room.  Finally, she was able to call her dad.  After she reported the crime to the Department of Justice (DOJ), her rape kit disappears.  “It’s not just what these guys did to me.  It’s that they knew they could get away with it.”  The cops are even more determined to nail the bad guys.  In walks David Haden (Harry Connick Jr.) the new Executive Assistant District Attorney.  The DA is here because it’s a kidnapping of a high profile figure.  He has pull and gets into the US Attorney’s Office.  “You mean now that we are privatizing war, these contractors are above the law?”  The US Attorney pushes back, “They are prosecutable, at the DOJ’s discretion.  If you can prove there is a cover up of the rape.”  Amaro even reaches out to his wife about how much she deals with these contractors.  She says she knows someone and will hit them for more information.  “These people have reach.”  She assures him, she can handle herself.  “Can we let this go for now?  I’m only here for a few more days.”  It’s obvious they are still in love.  Meanwhile Benson and Haden are having a romantic dinner.  Haden pointedly lets it slip that he’s divorced and the ex has the kids.  He pushes for Benson to have another round.  She is interested but gives him a rain check. 

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 Occupy Wall Street guy who confronts Rand is questioned by Benson and Amaro.  He says he saw a military guy hanging around with the decal ‘Special Forces’ on the back window of his car.  Surveillance cameras caught him.  His name is Donald O’Keefe (Holt McCallany), former marine.  He’s doing security, escorting oil to Somalia.  Captain Craigan gives the go ahead to bring him in.  “Handle with care.  This is a guy who shoots pirates for a living.”  The cops go in with extra reinforcements.  They find O’Keefe inspecting arsenal by a ship yard.  The cops are expecting trouble.  Instead, O’Keefe was expecting the cops.  “Is this about Donald Rand?  What took you so long?  After what he did to my little girl, he got what he deserved.”  Turns out his daughter is Cory Green, the real victim.  After all that backup heat, O’Keefe gives himself up without a fight.  Looks like it was much ado about nothing.

#4 Best Moment of the Show.   O’Keefe spills everything, “My daughter worked for Rand’s company in Basraid for only a month before four of those animals drugged and raped her.  She reported it to the nearest base commander.  Four years later, no charges have ever been filed.  The Department of Justice (DOF) says it’s out of their jurisdiction.  They are not military.  Detective Odafin Tutuola (Ice –T) responds, “So a rape for another rape, that’s okay with you.”  O’Keefe replies, “I gave him enough of the baton to make him think about it, every time he sits down.”  The mental picture is not a pretty one. 

#3 Best Moment of the Show.   Now that the cops have O’Keefe in custody, Rand asks for a line up.  The suspects are all lined behind the one way glass.  Rand takes one look and denies ever remembering anything.  He turns around and walks back out with his assistant.  WTF?  The cops feel so used.  Everyone thinks Rand recognized O’Keefe and plan to even the score himself.

#2 Best Moment of the Show.   Finally, Haden has his ace in the hole.  Dr. Rausch (Annie Meisels) spills everything.  She examined Cory after the crime.  She performed the rape kit.  She remembers Cory’s wounds.  She remembers everything.  She spills it all in Haden’s office.  The next day Dr. Rausch sits in front of the grand jury and denies having any memory of the incident.  Haden goes apocalyptic. “You do realize you’re under oath here”.   It’s no use.  She’s obviously been gotten to.  She looks shaken, but still holds onto her story, “Yes I do.” 

Finally, the #1 Best Moment of the Show.  The last moments of the show was on light speed; so hang on tight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.  In one continuous scene, every loose string is tied up.  O’Keefe gets a shiv in the gut from another inmate.  Cory is held down and raped again.  George Coleman (Craig Walker), who is supposed to be in protective custody (as he is the only insider who will flip), is found dead in bed, supposedly from alcohol overdose.  Benson’s apartment is tossed and Amaro’s wife is threatened as ‘they’ know where and when she will be deployed.  But all is not lost.  Another insider flips.  This time, it’s someone with insurance.  He has secured the rape kit just for a rainy day.  It’s Joe Marshall (Billy Brown).  “I was told to secure the rape kit.  I removed it from army custody and transported it to corporate headquarters.”  Amaro asks, “Who gave you those orders?  “The CEO of Battle Test Security, William Rand.”  Rand is arrested seconds before he boards his helicopter.  By the time Cory gets to tell her dad on the phone, “They got him daddy.  They got them all.  We did it.  I love you too.” It’s almost anticlimactic. 

Epilogue.  Amaro tells his wife over the phone, “Hey, how was your flight?  You okay?  No, it’s done.  You be safe over there.  Yeah, I love you too.  I miss you.”  He hangs up and kicks his desks in frustration.  You know it’s not over for him.  He still worries about her.

Next week on Law & Order SVU, Mariska Hargitay reminisces over her two favorite episodes.  Sounds like old footage to me.

"Theater Tricks"

Guest Star Fisher Stevens

This week on Law & Order SVU, the show opens on a fantasy sex club/play ala Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut with full face gold animal masks for the male patrons for maximum anonymity, and only the barest of coverings for the female patrons.  Double standards for men and women?  Nothing new there.   A supposedly simulated rape turns out to be real.  Again, no surprises there.  After the performance, Ted Scott (Fisher Stevens), the director of the ‘play’ walks over to the ‘actress’ only to find her dazed and obviously worked over.  Cut to Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and ADA Alex Cabot (Stephanie March) just finishing up a girl’s night out.  They comment on how much fun they had ice skating.  The relationship feels forced.  The comments do not ring true.  Benson's cell phone rings.  I’m glad that’s over with.  Cut back to the ‘play’ where the director tries to explain to Benson his S&M act is really ‘Immersive Theatre’.  Turns out, the ‘actress’ Meghan Weller (Jenn Proske), was attacked on stage, with the whole audience watching.  Nobody called the police, because everyone thought it was part of the show.  Cue the theme music.   

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.   Benson interviews Meghan, the victim who thinks she was acting in ‘Dante’s Inferno’, the interactive play where the audience walks through all nine circles of Dante’s Hell.   Meghan’s scene was played out in ‘Lust’.   All Meghan can say was he was wearing a goat mask.  “Someone else held my wrist.  He was wearing a hawk mask.  I just moved here six months ago from Hennepin, Minnesota.  This is the first play I auditioned for.”   What a cliché!   Why do small town girls with big city dreams keep moving to New York City?  Oh right, that’s where they shoot Law & Order SVU.

#4 Best Moment of the Show.  After Meghan’s interview, Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) sums it all up, “Small town girl moves to the city.  She gets raped.  The audience applauses.”   Captain Craigen (Dann Florek) quips, “This is why the NEA was gutted.”  Me thinks he speaks the truth.

#3 Best Moment of the Show.  The trace of all the credit cards used to purchase show tickets leads the detectives to Jason Roberts (Adam Driver)’s apartment.  Three guesses who has the walls of his room covered with Meghan’s photos?  Ding Ding Ding.  That’s right.  Turns out, Jason Roberts, Meghan’s IT guy, has a live web cam installed in Meghan’s bedroom, shower, living room, etc.  You know, typical Class A Stalker moves.   He has had Meghan under 24 hour surveillance for “security” purposes for months.  But he’s not the perp!  There is someone else sicker than he is!!!   Another red herring leads the detectives to Judge Gerald Crane (Kevin Pollak), who admits to being in the play, and assaulting Meghan.   But he’s not the perp either!  There is someone else who set him up and is sicker than he is!!!

#2 Best Moment of the Show.   The resident techie, Leo Gerber, (Gilbert Gottfried) and the person of interest, Jason Roberts, sit side by side with their laptops.  It’s obvious some tech fun will ensue.  Jason proofs his innocence by bringing up web cam footage of him during the times emails were sent via Meghan’s fake ‘Sugar Babies’ web account.  He is seen giving his mother a foot massage.  That’s when Gilbert Gottfried jumps in, “What kind of camera is that?  Is that a motion activated camera?”  “It’s custom installed night vision.”  “ Motion activated is terrific, until she gets a cat.”  It’s obvious he’s stalked before.  Priceless.

Finally, the #1 Best Moment of the Show.  All the clues lead to Meghan’s ugly roommate, Holly Schneider (Gayle Rankin), who sets Meghan up due to her jealousy.  Rollins gets her to break by saying, “I get it.  I’m from a small town too.  I think I come up here, my life’s going to change.”  Holly loses it, “You don’t get it.  You’re just like Meghan.  Guys show up to help her.  It was my audition.  She just came to help me run lines.  As soon as Ted saw her, he wanted her, and you didn’t say no.  Do you know what I had to do for that audition?   I am so tired to be the ugly duckling.  I wanted you to know what it felt like to be dirty and used, to have to give it up.  It’s about time something bad happened in your life, don’t you think?"  The abusee becomes the abuser.   Rollins closes the scene, “All those abusive men in Meghan’s life, and she was betrayed by a woman.” 

Next week on Law & Order SVU, Harry Connick Jr. joins the force as David Hayden.  SVU will never be the same again.  It’s obvious Benson and he hit it off.  They share a kiss in the last shot.

"Spiraling Down"

Guest Star Treat Williams

This week on Law & Order SVU, the show opens on a white girl and a black boy in bed.  The boy gives the girl a present; it’s a piece of jewelry.  She breaks into a big smile.  She’s obviously in love.  The next scene, a man walks into the apartment with a pair of hot pink platform pumps in a shoe box.  The girl adores the pumps and can’t wait to try them on.  The black boy asks the man, Marcus, “How much?”  Marcus puts up five fingers.  “Oh no way,” says the boy, “take those shoes off.”  Marcus chimes in, “Maybe we can work something out.”  Marcus starts kissing the girl.  The girl tries to pull away.  The boy stops her, “Come on baby, it’s Marcus.”  We all know how this is going to go.  The next scene we see a John walking out of a hotel room, complaining to the black boy, “She’s crying.  Give me my money back.”  The boy walks back into the hotel room; the girl says she doesn’t want to do it anymore.  There’s a scuffle.  She hits him.  He goes to the bathroom to see to his wound.  She uses her cell phone to call her dad.  Cue the theme music.

The girl’s dad walks into the squad room looking for Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino).  “My daughter Vicki.  She’s in trouble.  I’m Captain Haines.  I served with your wife in Baghdad.  My daughter Vicki is only 14.  You have a daughter.  You have to find her. 

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 cop finds Vicki in the hotel room where she turns tricks.  But she doesn’t want to leave.  “Vicki, your dad wants you to come home.”  “No, I’m not leaving.”  The cops arrest her pimp, Trey, who is cocky as all get out, “She won’t talk.  I own that bitch.”  Finally, the cops figure out a guy like that’s got to have something on the side.  “Let’s check him out online.”   They find a photo of Trey’s real family, to include two children in Brooklyn.  They show the photo to Vicki.  “I guess Trey never told you about his baby momma.”  That finally gets Vicki to break her brain washing.

#4 Best Moment of the Show.  The cops decide to hold a sting to catch all the Johns, when who walks in but the famous ex-football star Jake Stanton (Treat Williams).  He’s all talk when the cops raid him.  The next thing we know, Stanton is holding court in the squad room, reliving his finest hour.  Jake looks at his wallet and sees the note reminding him to call his wife.  “Oh, I’m supposed to call my wife.  Got me on a short leash.  I know what she’s gonna say.  The same thing she always says, “Get a lawyer!”  Looks like this melodrama has been played out before.   

#3 Best Moment of the Show.  Jake’s wife lays it all out for the cops.  “Jake has taken too many knocks to the head during his quarterback days.  The MRI is inconclusive.  There is no treatment.  All the doctor says is don’t let him out of my sight.  We’re broke.  He handled the finances until this year.  There is nothing left.  I can’t even get a lawyer to come down to help us.  He says we’re going to have to use a public defender.”  The wife tries to hold it together.  She fails.  She burst into tears.  This is when Benson reaches into her desk and pulls out a business card, “He’s a friend”.  This is a first.  The arresting officer refers the defendant to a lawyer, Bayard Ellis (Andre Braugher).

#2 Best Moment of the Show.   Amaro is Skyping his wife, Maria.  She asks about Jason, her military buddy.  Amaro has doubts about his wife and Jason’s relationship.  He thinks they may be having an affair.  “He’s a good dad.  I’m glad you can help him out.  Thanks for doing this for me.”  Amaro pushes, “I never heard of this guy until he showed up.”  The wife pushes right back, “I hate this call.  I think we’re having a conversation, turns out you’re interrogating me.”  Looks like there’s trouble in paradise.

Finally, the #1 Best Moment of the Show.  Stanton is on the stand.  He admits to prostitution.  His mind keeps flipping back to his quarterback glory days.  His lawyer asks him three times, “How many years have you been married?”  Stanton produces three different answers.  It’s obvious even to him that he’s lost his mind.  “Do you know where you are Jake?”  “Please, stop.  I’m very tired.  I just want to go home.”  He’s lost it.  It’s painful to watch.  Outside the courtroom the crowd gathers around Stanton, asking him to relive his glory days, even the cops.  Stanton can’t take it anymore.  He sees an opportunity to take the cops gun.  He does.  He points it at himself and pulls the trigger.  It’s over.  His wife screams.  Ellison is in shock.  Amaro calls it in.  It’s all over for Jake Stanton, football hero.

Next week on Law & Order SVU, a playact goes horribly wrong, with the entire audience watching; yet nobody calls the cops.  Whose fault is that?

"Lost Traveler"

Guest Star Mark Margolis

This week on Law & Order SVU, a cute curly haired 10 year old boy in a private school uniform is followed on a busy street by a grown man, trying to hide.  The boy senses he’s being followed, stops, looks behind him, takes his cell phone out, calls someone… We hear the phone ring; the man stalking him takes out his cell phone.  The cute little boy says, “Stop following me dad.  We practiced.  I know the way.”  The dad gives up the charade when the boy tells him, “I’m ready.”  He walks down the subway stairs alone, and makes it to the school.  At school he is picked on by the older boy who spits on his palm, ‘since his mother is a gypsy palm reader’.  The principal sees it, and gives him a napkin to wipe his hand.  This is obviously not the first time he’s being bullied.  Cut to the end of the school day, the boy-Niko makes it to the subway entry, but it’s blocked off due to construction.  That’s the last time we see him.  The cops are notified of a missing person’s case.  “He should have been home at 4pm, and you waited until 7pm to report him missing?”  The dad explains, “My wife said the cops probably wouldn’t care because of who we are.”  The local cop on the beat seems to underscore the racism.  He says, “These people are different.  They’re gypsies.”  The dad is franctic, “We bought him a cell phone, I keep calling, but he doesn’t answer.  Niko doesn’t have a lot of friends.  At school they bully him. Kids tease him for being Romani.”  Amaro pushes, “What about a favorite handout? Some place he likes to go?”  The dad answers, “You’re in it.”  The cops canvas the school.  The principal doesn’t know the parents.  The kids say he’s kind of weird.  Then we find out there is a rabbi who runs the community of gypsies, only he’s called The Rombaro, and he works for the King of the gypsy.  The Rombaro takes care of everyone, that is everyone who plays ball.      

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 wife, Nadia Grey (Alexandra Silber) screams at the husband, Tomas Grey (Donnie Keshawarz), “You didn’t pay.”  The cops look confused.  “ We stopped paying our tides, so we could pay for Niko’s (Cameron Ocasio) school.  The Rambaro (Mark Margolis) said that this could not stand, that we had to be punished.”  The cops make a visit to the Rombaro’s house in Greenspoint.  It is posh.  Compared to the Greys’ house and where the rest of the gypsies live, it is a mansion.  The Rombaro makes it clear.  The line has been drawn.  “The Greys want to be outsiders.”  Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) blurts out, “Are you using a kid to make them pay you?”  Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) make nice, “I’m hoping you didn’t take the child.  We’re hoping this will be a happy ending, and just a misunderstanding.”  The Rombaro dismisses them, “Make sure they get an almond candy on the way out, Alba.”  Amaro and Rollins feel like they just visited ‘The Godfather’.

#4 Best Moment of the Show.  The father bursts out of their home while the cops are still outside the house at a canvas.  “Detectives, he’s alive.  My wife and I have been calling his cell phone every five minutes, it’s been busy, now it just went to voice mail.  He’s been deleting his messages.”  Amaro asks, “Did he call you back?  The dad is certain, “He is alive.”  He is so naive.

#3 Best Moment of the Show.  The IT expert, played by Gilbert Godfried, traces the cell. Despite of Godfried’s grating voice, the scene moves quickly along as the IT expert lays it out for the cops.  He says the cell phone has been calling from an ip address.  He gets an address.  It’s to a Chinese takeout with an online ordering system.  The owner says the client called to complain to say the food was too spicy for his little boy.  “I could hear the kid crying in his background.”  The S.W.A.T team bursts into the apartment yelling, “Get your hands up.  Get your hands up.”  All we hear is a little boy saying, “Don’t hurt my daddy.”  The cops realize, “It’s not Niko.  It’s not Niko.”  Classic Red Herring. 

#2 Best Moment of the Show.  Turns out the man with the boy in the apartment gives the cops a lead.  There is a mentally handicapped gypsy boy, Mark Rajick (Michael Barra), kept locked up in his mother’s basement across the street.  He looks good for the crime.  The cops even finds Niko’s lucky rabbit’s foot in Mark’s bed, and a Metrocard that was used near where Niko was seen last.  The cops find Niko’s dead body, burned with cigarettes at a construction site.  Mark’s goose is cooked.  But wait, The Rambaro makes his bail and he is returned home.  The next thing we know, the cops are called back to the scene.  Niko’s mom, Nadia Grey, just tried to set Mark Rajick on fire.  She poured gasoline through the window, try to spark him.  Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) tries to calm the waters, “We’re going to need to talk to Nadia before you take her in.  Nadia, what happened?”  Nadia is distraught, “You had him and you let him go!  He murdered my baby!  He killed my son!  This is justice.  He burned him.”  Benson is shocked, “Nadia, who told you that?”  All Nadia says is, “You know what I know.  That my son is dead.  This is what I know.”  Benson briefs the rest of the cops, “It wasn’t released to the press that Niko’s body had cigarette burns.  There was no way the parents could have known.”  Do  the gypsy really have the power to commune with the dead? 

Finally, the #1 Best Moment of the Show.  The ME doesn’t think the handicapped boy, Mark Rajick, did it.  The cigarette wounds tell a different story.  Finally the cops wake up to who’s been tipping them off the whole time.  The two pretty girls in the private school (Caswell Academy) Niko was attending; Courtney Lane (Lili Reinhart) and Emma Butler (Quinn Shephard).   Mark turns them in.  This is when the faint of heart should turn away.  Courtney, the ring leader, tortured Niko with a lit cigarette while her accomplice, Emma, did nothing to stop her.  Emma flips on Courtney, “I told her to quit and we should just go.  He was crying.  He was going to call his mom.  Then Courtney grabbed his scarf and I was yelling stop, stop.  She said he’s just a dumb gypsy.  Who’s going to miss him?”  Both of them frame Mark and tips off the cops.  In the final scene, when Courtney’s father, who’s sitting next to her when she reveals everything, wants to lawyer up; Courtney tells him, “It’s a little late for that.”  The little psychopath is right. 

This is a horrific crime, perpetrated by a juvenile psychopath, who looks as innocent as the day is long.  ¾ through the show, all of us were still thinking it had to be the handicap boy across the street.  This was indeed a shocker to all of us.  A well written episode.

Next week on Law & Order SVU, the grid iron legend, Treat Williams, suffers from diminished capacity, and claims, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”