Chung-chung! Fade up on a map of midtown Manhattan projected on a giant screen, as we hear about a series of seven related robberies. A white guy in a suit who’s been a guest star on "L&O: The Mother Ship" (tm Chris Meloni) about fifty times is chastising a Robbery captain about not writing up the robberies soon enough for other precincts to link similar crimes to these. The captain who’s getting in big fat trouble has some serious mutton chops and moustache action going on, and this distracts me because I know for a fact that the NYPD has serious facial hair regulations. I can’t for the life of me figure out why the producers -- who are usually on the ball when it comes to the real-life touches -- would let such an error in authenticity go. We cut to a shot of Cragen sitting in the front row of the gallery, and I realize that the mutton chops must be the producers' shout-out to Dann Florek’s failed UPN sitcom of a few seasons back, The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. Captain Desmond is punished; he leaves the room with my girlfriend ADA Abby Carmichael, and we have successfully set up White Guy in Suit as a hard-ass administrator. WGIS asks to hear from the SVU, and as he calls Cragen up to be heard, we learn from the slide currently being projected that we are at COMPSTAT (Computerized Statistics). Five other members of NYPD Brass accompany WGIS on the dais. As anyone who's ever watched a TV cop drama knows, these are The Bad Guys to the street cops' and detectives' Good Guys. Cragen greets Commissioner Morris (formerly WGIS), and informs the Commission that Benson and my boyfriend Stabler arrested the serial masturbator on the Third Avenue bus yesterday. Morris is pleased with this, and, to laughter from the gallery, announces that he hopes "they clean the seats." Lovely. Benson and Stabler have no reply to this newfangled way of being congratulated on a job well done, so they just sit their pretty selves down with their "um, EW!" looks still firmly plastered on their faces. Morris asks for a new slide, and we see another map of midtown, which features three big red dots with corresponding street addresses and dates. Cragen doesn't recognize it, and an annoyed Morris tries to refresh our Captain's memory with, "Three break-in rapes in less than a week? Last week, DNA backlog matched them up to the same unknown assailant." Cragen's still clueless, and Morris gets bitchy and tells Cragen that if he'd read his circular, he'd recognize that this is a newly identified rape pattern for 1995. Is Morris kidding me? Dude, I don't care where you work, ain't nobody reading any circulars the company sends out. Anyway, Cragen reminds us all that he was in Homicide in 1995, but Morris doesn't care because the cases are still his, and he wants to know if the SVU has done any work on these cases lately. Cragen replies in the negative, that these cases are considered cold, and Morris gets all nagging grade-school teacher on his ass as he reminds Cragen that "if no progress is made very soon, [they'll] be time-barred from proceeding with prosecution." Cragen is aware of the five-year statute of limitations on rape, and now the audience is, too. When told that the SVU has not in fact talked to any of the victims since Cragen took command, Morris informs us all that one of the victims has volunteered to speak today. Benson and Stabler are almost as befuddled as their boss is! Anyway, the doors at the back of the room open, and Victoria Kraft enters and goes to the podium. Her hair is the same color as her taupe-mustard, borrowed-from-the-set-of-The Practice suit jacket, and she's got it all teased up and back in a barrette. Eek, woman! VK enunciates the hell out of her words as tells us all her story: on February 8, 1995, while she slept, a man broke into her apartment, raped her, Maced her, and left. She called the cops right away, but no one has ever been arrested. Morris told her that the same man raped two other women and that no arrests were made in those cases either. Cut to Cragen, wearing his standard Look of Befuddlement, with a soupçon of "oh, crap" thrown in. Vicky tells us all to pack our bags, because we're about to go on a little guilt trip. She doesn't understand why there's a five-year statute of limitations on rape cases. If the man who attacked her isn't arrested soon, he'll never be punished. Cut to Cragen, looking guilty as all get-out, as Vicky urges New York's finest to revisit her case before the statute expires and thanks Morris for the opportunity to speak. Morris asks Cragen how he enjoyed his flight on Guilt Express; Cragen assures VK her case will be assigned highest priority, and shoots Morris the Death Glare as we fade to credits.
Speaking of the credits, could someone explain to me how Michelle Hurd with her three lines a week gets to be in them, when Dean Winters and his supporting character don't, and why, if she's in the main titles, she's not in the walking-down-the-hall shot?
Squad room. Jeffries asks how COMPSTAT was, and Cragen's non-reaction while fighting to remove his dress-blues jacket shows her that it was "that bad." Munch likens COMPSTAT to "having the IRS audit your case files every three weeks." Shut up, Munch. Cragen admits that COMPSTAT does suck in some ways, but that it weeds out the slackers. Because he's a paranoid conspiracy theorist and it's all about him, Munch gets all defensive at this and whines that he's working on the "Third Avenue Jerker." Cragen has something else for Munch and Jeffries to work on, which I guess explains her presence in the credits this week: no Cassidy to partner with Munch. He gives her the files and tells her and Munch to go interview one of the victims, Jennifer Neal, and assigns the other two vics to Benson and Stabler. When Jeffries notes that the files are from 1995, Cragen explains about DNA backlog's matching up the three cases to the same guy, and that nobody knows his name, but that they do have a genetic profile and the lab's designation of John Doe 121. Benson and Stabler describe JD121's MO for their colleagues, and Jeffries observes that he did three and then stopped, at which Cragen hypothesizes that JD121 started using a condom. Stabler gives the victims' description of the attacker: white male, in his twenties (maybe thirties now), 5'10" to 6'1", weight 160, long black or brown hair; obviously any of this may be different now. Munch the sensitive optimist says, "Now he could be a tub of lard with a graying buzz cut." Tub of lard? TUB!? Of LARD!? Nice, Beanpole. Anyway, Jeffries the Observant points out that the statute of limitations is about to run out on these cases, which is exactly Cragen's point. While the detectives are out re-interviewing the victims, he's going to the DA to try to file an arrest warrant on John Doe 121 and his DNA, because that may stop the clock. Jeffries is the first in a long line of characters in this episode to mention that a similar tactic is currently being tried in Wisconsin. Cragen goes to the blackboard and writes the numbers 4, 3, and 1 on it, with a picture of a victim beneath each number. These are the numbers of days until the statute of limitations runs out on each case, and Cragen admonishes his charges that if they fail and the court denies them, then in four days John Doe 121 is going to get away with three rapes. Close-up on the photos for dramatic effect.
Chung-chung! We're at the apartment of Lois Creen, which I now covet, complete with paintings, sculptures, and funky candles. Benson hopes that even though it's been five years since the attack, Lois might have remembered something else about her attacker since then. Lois is skittish and hugging her knees in her chair, but tries to help by offering that he was wearing a stocking mask. Benson acknowledges that this was in the original detective's notes. Stabler tries to jog her memory, suggesting that maybe something she saw later reminded Lois of the man, but she doesn't think so. Benson tells Lois about the other two victims, that he left their apartments via the front doors, and asks Lois how he exited hers. She guesses he left the same way, but isn't sure and apologizes for not being more helpful. Benson gives Lois her card and Stabler reassures her with that beautiful smile that she did great and they appreciate her taking the time. I want to marry him.
Cut to the courthouse, where Cragen accosts a Red-Headed DA coming out of the elevator. Back and forth about the severity of the case and how he wants a warrant on a genetic profile, it doesn't matter about Wisconsin since there's no case law in New York, somebody's gotta be first, yeah but when precedents were set nobody could have predicted scientific advancements, and we're looking at a lot of legal work. Oh, so it's just that the RHDA's lazy? We learn that RHDA's name is now Kathleen, but that wasn't her name when she was the ADA long ago on L&O, in what I think was the episode in which Alison Janney gets offed by the mob before she can safely enter the Witness Protection Program, prompting Ben Stone to resign and head north for a career as a crackpot politician in Canada. Also, she really needs a haircut. Anyway, Cragen's not having it, and he books Kathleen on the same Guilt Express flight he rode earlier, telling her than every time she gets in a cab, JD121 could be the driver. ADA Kathleen gives him a look that's a hybrid of "that was low, you bastard" and "okay, you got me," takes the paperwork, and goes on her not-so-merry way.
Chung-chung! Over to Eastern Health Services. A dishwater-blonde Jennifer Neal, played by yet another Hey, It's That L&O Guest Star!, is telling Munch and Jeffries in a very soft voice that the rape was the worst thing that happened to her, but that there's more to her story. She's speaking very slowly, like she's in a trance. She tells them, with a really creepy beatific smile on her face, that the aftermath of the rape changed her life, that she received so much love and support that it reaffirmed her faith in humanity. Munch is distracted by the Stepford Victim's massive THOs and doesn't get it at all. Jeffries comments that SV has adjusted very well. SV says that she went to a very dark place (The Village of the Damned, maybe?) and wanted to die, but because the people in her life took such good care of her, she's no longer alone and knows that she's part of a community. Munch informs her that the case is being reopened because of the DNA connection to the other two rapes, and SV seems a little disappointed and wants to know when they took place. Jeffries tells her about their all happening within in a week, and that they're hoping that by cross-referencing the three cases they'll be able to make some progress. Munch tells SV one of the other vics reported that the man knew personal details of her life, as did SV. SV eagerly says that she remembers that he knew her dog's name and where she sometimes ate breakfast, and Jeffries wonders if maybe SV remembers anything else or if she failed to report some detail. SV doesn't want to revisit that time in her life; Jeffries understands that it's rough, but explains that they only have a short time because of the statute of limitations. SV just wants it all to be over with, and Munch looks like he's gonna ask where he can get his hands on whatever this freak's been smoking.
In the hallway of the courthouse, Cragen and ADA Kathleen beg a judge for an arrest warrant. Apparently this judge has signed a warrant on a John Doe before, but then he had the guy's gang name and description. Kathleen and Cragen explain the urgent nature of the case; DNA is a unique identifier, blah blah blah Wisconsin cheesecakes. Judge thinks that since they've had five years, he can at least have until the end of the day to decide.
Chung-chung! At Kraft International Electronics, Queen Bitch Victim Vicky Kraft is leading Benson and Stabler into a conference room and telling our heroes in her most condescending tone that she was disappointed in the work done by the original detectives on her case. My boyfriend Elliot Stabler, ever loyal to his NYPD brethren and sistren, is sure that they were trying their best. Vicky disagrees, which is why she hired her own detective, "someone who only answered to [her]." She hands Benson and Stabler each a copy of his reports, which she says include the finding that security in her building was deficient (she's got a suit pending against them, natch). "And then there was the guy on the bike." Apparently, a neighbor of hers saw some kid speed away on a bike right after she got raped. Our heroes would like to talk to this neighbor. "You should," replies Snooty Vicky.
Cut to a city sidewalk, where Benson and Stabler ascertain that Neighbor Man was outside smoking a cigarette sometime between midnight and 1AM when a kid came speeding out of the alley, saw NM, swerved and fell, got up, and sped away. NM identifies the bike as an "R500 touring bike, fenders, drop handlebars, reflectorized lime green paint" -- he worked in a bike shop for twenty-eight years, dontcha know -- and remembers that the guy was wearing a motorcycle helmet and some kind of jumpsuit.
Chung-chung! On over to Supreme Court, Trial Part 55, where the judge finds the application ingenious, lays out the reasons why the statutes of limitations were codified in the first place, when of course nobody knew what technology could do now, but it's not his job to evaluate novel ideas, and he denies the application. Vicky Kraft gets up and runs out before she can hear His Honor tell ADA Kathleen that he has already forwarded the paperwork onto the Appellate Division in the hopes that she can appeal and get his decision overturned in time to do her some good.
Out by the elevators, Stabler and Benson catch up to Vicky and tell her about the appeal, that it's going to be okay. Vicky goes balls-out ballistic, accusing the SVU of falling down on the job and trying to use legal trickery to cover their mistake. Cragen makes the mistake of interrupting this tirade, so Vicky gets up in his face, enunciating the hell out of her words, but I don't know what exactly she said because during this whole encounter, Stabler is in the background dead center of my TV screen, staring intently at Vicky and her big pouf of hair, so I was understandably distracted. The basic gist of her speech is that the law sucks, she did everything she was supposed to, everyone (especially ADA Kathleen, apparently, because Vicky turns to look at her) has been incompetent, and she thinks nobody cares. She then thanks Cragen for making this the second worst day of her life. He, of course, reacts with his patented Look of Befuddlement. I guess his mom never warned him about his face staying that way if he made a stupid face for too long.
I'd like that Monster.com ad, the one where the woman stands on the sidewalk while strangers recite Robert Frost to her, a lot more if she'd taken the road more traveled by and tweezed those distracting-ass bushy eyebrows.
So we're back in the squad room and Cragen looks at his watch, walks up to the blackboard, and replaces the numbers with 3, 2, and "expired," telling his detectives that "Victoria Kraft was raped by John Doe 121 five years ago today. She will never see him stand trial for that rape." The detectives will continue to investigate her case along with the other two, because she will be able to testify at one of the other trials under the Molino [sp?] ruling, which Munch has decided is "another right wing end-run around the Constitution." Munch wants to get the bad guy as much as anyone else, but feels that sometimes in the name of fighting crime, civil liberties are disregarded. Benson can't believe this shit and asks if Munch would be okay with letting John Doe 121 go free if he walked into the squadroom right that minute and confessed to Vicky Kraft's rape. Munch replies, "Not at all. The same law that protects you and me --" Stabler, because he hasn't seen enough old episodes of Homicide, even though he was in one, stupidly encourages Munch, "Against what?" Munch senses that nobody in the SVU saw the Homicide last season in which he learned that the FBI couldn't care less about him and his supposed criminal activities of way back when, and proceeds to tell his tall, pock-marked, sunglasses-wearing tale: "There was a time I was a thorn in the government's side, so I'm glad they can't capriciously decide to arrest one of us for old crimes, real or imagined." Someone explain to me how a man who supposedly hates the government so much ends up as one of its agents. Jeffries argues that there's nothing capricious about an arrest based on DNA evidence, and Cragen cracks the whip, telling them all they're not arresting anyone if they don't get back to work, which prompts Stabler to announce that they're all off to talk to the original detectives.
Chung-chung! Over at the 31st Precinct Robbery Unit, a female detective tells Munch and Jeffries that she remembers that Vicky Kraft's case had no leads and that it's one of the reasons she transferred out of the SVU. Vicky also sued Female Detective and her partner for dereliction of duties, but the suit was thrown out. Anyway, they had no suspects, but they figured that since the building had two locked doors that required visitors to be buzzed in by tenants, he had to be the kind of guy nobody notices. Female Detective describes such a person as "white, underemployed, full of anger -- a nobody like a paper boy or meter maid." Doesn't she mean meter reader? Isn't a meter maid a cop? Whatever.
So then we're at some trucking company, where Benson and Stabler are talking to a Male Former Detective who worked on Jennifer Neal's (a.k.a. Stepford Victim) case. MFD remembers that the guy knew everything about SV, and the detectives thought that maybe he had tapped her phone, but they never did find out how he got all the information. Stabler informs our friendly MFD about the connection to the other two rapes, and MFD wonders who caught the other cases. We learn that Female Detective's name is Ruby, and that Dan Lattimer worked on Lois Creen's case. MFD is dismayed at this bit of information, saying that Lattimer was the type that everyone thought should leave the job, but nobody wants to bad-mouth another detective. Turns out Lattimer believed most rapes were fantasies. Yeah, ranks right up there with George Clooney feeding me chocolate-covered strawberries in front of a fireplace in my very private Tuscan villa. Also, Lattimer screwed up another case, was given the option of retiring or being fired, and now runs a cop bar in Queens called The Ten Thirteen. MFD, Stabler, and Benson commiserate on the horrors they see in the SVU while I go grab a bucket because I just KNOW that this scene is going to make me sick.
I'm back with my bucket in time to be chung-chunged over to The Ten Thirteen, where Officer Enlightenment -- I mean, Retired Detective Lattimer -- tells us that "sex-crimes cops are garbage collectors. Do your two years and get out, that's what I say." Um, aren't we told in the show's opening that the detectives in the SVU are dedicated and that the unit itself is elite? Wouldn't one request a position like that, not get assigned to it? How did this dicksmack end up there? Stabler and Benson match him smirk for smirk and pretend to sympathize with him, and when they show him a picture of Lois Creen, he remembers her as "the little Trekkie." Benson points out that Lattimer hardly made any notes in the case file, and he tells Benson that she'll eventually learn to pick her shots, that "if you go all out on every so-called rape, you'll wear yourself down." Benson and I control our gag reflexes while Lattimer goes on to inform us that the notation "ONS" in the file explains it all -- One-Night Stand. Apparently, "bookworm type" Lois wouldn't know what to do with a guy if she ever did manage to "catch" one. Right, I forgot. Reading and sexuality cancel each other out. ["Well, that explains why I haven’t gotten laid in two months." -- Sars] Like me, Benson's itching for a fight and asks what the hell that's got to do with anything. Lattimer's theory of the case is that Lois got laid and felt bad about it, so she made up the man who knew all about her life. She probably did get laid, says Lattimer whilst digging himself in deeper, by "some pimply little bookworm, but the rape? That's a stretch." Benson stares daggers into his giant forehead ridge while my boyfriend Stabler drops his act and tells Lattimer in his best nanny-nanny-foo-foo tone about the DNA match to the other two rapes and the (he hopes) arrest warrant on the genetic ID. Lattimer shrugs that he made a mistake and offers to buy his new best friends a drink. I beeyarf while Benson almost falls over trying to get away from this pig and Stabler just stares him down with those beautiful baby blues.
Chung-chung! At the Appellate Division First Department, some snooty-ass judge is telling ADA Kathleen that she has a solid case, and that DNA narrows the suspect down to one in seven billion, which is almost as good as having John Doe 121's name, address, and Social Security number, and so ADA Kathleen and I are both optimistic. But this is Law & Order, so he continues his little speech by asking ADA Kathleen why we don't file a warrant on every rapist: "Get a smear of genetic material, file a warrant, and catch the perpetrator at our leisure." ADA Kathleen points out that she is only making this application because of the unique circumstances, but the judge is not done. He thinks that if he says yes this time, why should they stop at rapists? The courts could make out warrants on every criminal from muggers to sidewalk spitters, using their DNA. Cragen, who's been sitting in the gallery with Benson, Stabler, and Lois, stands up and 'splains to His Honor about the three rapes and the statute. The court understands the danger this man represents, but that doesn't mean we circumvent the law to get him. Application denied, and Lois loses it, babbling some mantra about fear. Benson tries to comfort her while Stabler and Cragen look at the judge like they're going to beat him up for making a girl cry.
Every time I try to stare at Chris Meloni in the station ID spot, Mariska Hargitay's forty pounds of red lipstick distract me.
So then we're in Lois's apartment, and she's sitting on the spiral staircase (god, how I want this apartment!), all half-crying and telling Benson how when she was raped she was only twenty-four, and the biggest thing that had happened to her was Brandon Lee's death, and that she and a girlfriend had gone to see The Crow over and over. I'm thinking that if that by age twenty-four the biggest thing that happened to her was some actor's death, that wasn't much of a life, now was it? Anyway, Benson brings Lois back to the point, asking for specifics of the attack. Lois heads for the kitchen, where Stabler has been standing, telling them that the sex wasn't the worst part -- she got over that -- it was what he said. He knew she liked Brandon, and wanted to talk about The Crow. They talked about the movie and then he freaked her out by calling her "Lolly," which only her grandmother calls her. When her grandmother calls her, does she tell her to get her adverbs here? Anyway, Lois goes on to say how Detective Lattimer told her she should see a counselor, like a shrink, as if she were crazy and nothing had happened. Benson assures her that she's not crazy, and Stabler asks if Lois thinks the rapist tapped her phone or read her mail; Lois doesn't think so, because he knew things she never talked about on the phone, like where she went rollerblading. When Benson asks if he could have been on a bicycle, a big ol' halogen lamp goes on over Lois's head, and she says yes, a green bicycle. She told this to Lattimer, who dismissed the lead by telling Lois she'd think every guy on the street was the rapist. Lois's eyes get even bigger as she remembers that she knew it was the guy on the bike because he was always around, she was always seeing him, even months before he broke in. It was the man on the green bike.
So then we chung-chung on over to Millennial Investigations, where a smug guy in a power tie looks in the Kraft report and remembers that he thought the guy on the green bike could have been from Green Machine Bike Messengers, but didn't interview the service because it went out of business. Stabler points out that going out of business doesn't cause the employees of said business to fall off the face of the planet, to which Smug Guy replies that he had limited resources, but he tried. Whatever.
Back in the squad room, Munch the Skeptic isn't too keen on the messenger angle. Stabler and Benson explain to him that John Doe 121 was a stalker and a voyeur before he was a rapist. He followed Lois to the park with her grandmother, saw the Stepford Victim with her dog, and that he knows where they go because he follows them. Stabler tells us that this is "textbook power-reassurance rape behavior; the spying is just a prelude to the rape. He learned their schedules." He knows they're home alone, breaks in by saying he has a package for them, goes in and rapes them, and calmly bikes away from the scene of his crime. Munch proves their point when he realizes that he can't describe one delivery person who's been to his house recently. Jeffries comes in to announce that she's learned that the former owner of Green Machine now owns a Laundromat.
So we chung-chung on over to Clean Machine Laundromat (who says you need creativity to succeed in business?), where the owner is telling Jeffries and Munch that all of his guys wore the jumpsuit and rode green R500 bikes, and that he had over a hundred employees over the run of the business. Jeffries wonders if she gives him a list of addresses, would he be able to tell them if he made deliveries there? Sure, says Mr. Machine, but it'll take a few weeks, because he didn't have computerized records. He bends over, and I prepare for a big plumber's-crack shot, but we just get a glimpse of plaid boxers before he stands back up and shows off his trunk full of disorganized paper records.
Back in the squad room, the records are getting divvied up amongst the detectives, Benson laments that they'll never get through all of them in two days, so Jeffries suggests that they just check billing addresses, and since this is L&O, Benson notices something on the first sheet she checks. Turns out there were four deliveries to Stepford Victim's old company in the week before her rape. No messenger name on the receipt, but Benson and Stabler are off to see if this will jog her memory.
So back at the Stepford Victim's office, she's wearing an absolutely hideous brown shirt, and she remembers the deliveries, but when asked, she says she would rather not say anything about specific messengers. Stabler explains that they're asking because they believe he's the attacker. SV gets all condescending and says she understands that, but doesn't want to answer the question. Benson doesn't get it and asks why. SV leads them into a conference room and tells them that in five years a lot of things can change, and what if she thinks it's wrong to pursue the case, that maybe it's time to let it drop. Benson reassures her that if she's worried about testifying at his trial, she probably won't have to because they can make the case on DNA alone. That's not what's bothering Little Miss Cult of Zero Personality: "Maybe this five-year rule is a good thing. You do the best you can and then it's time to let it go and move on to other things." Benson tells her that the five years aren't up yet, they still have time to get him. SV lays her cards on the table and replies that she doesn't think they should get the guy. Stabler reminds her (again) that he raped two other women and is still a danger to others. SV: what if he isn't? Benson, as a light bulb begins to flicker: you know who he is. SV admits that they met by accident, he didn't recognize her but she knew it was him, she talked to him about his life, and when she was satisfied that he'd changed, she told him who she was and talked him out of turning himself in. Benson is understandably incredulous and asks why the hell she did that. SV gets all beatific and offers up the kicker as if it's a special prize: "He's a changed man. We prayed together." And while I agree that quality time spent with this freak is a good start as far as punishment goes, I'm pretty sure the cops have a little more in mind. Anyway, SV thinks that to turn him in after that would be a betrayal. Hoookay. Stabler doesn't care; these guys don't change, and he's still a danger. SV disagrees.
So that puts us in the Interrogation room, where Benson ascertains that the Stepford Victim is a member of the Society of Friends, a.k.a. the Quakers, who "have a long history of pacifism and believe that if you sit silently, there are times when God will speak to you in your heart." Which is true, but this chick ain't doin' nuthin' so far that resembles anything any of my Friend friends would in this situation. Anyway, SV is standing by the two-way mirror, so while she's talking to Benson, the audience sees a conversation between SV and Benson's reflection, which was pretty cool. So Benson's Reflection asks if the attacker is a Quaker. SV believes he's reformed, and Benson's Reflection steps closer to argue that whether he has or not is for a jury to decide. "Love your enemy," says SV. The Quakers created our penal system, says BR. It's been perverted, retorts SV; there's unspeakable violence in our prisons. Maybe, replies Benson's Reflection, as her body arrives in the shot, but this is not the forum for that fight. SV can join Prison Watch if she's serious about prison reform, but she's not changing anything by protecting a rapist from prosecution, says Benson's Reflection, as we close in on the mirror again for effect. SV's not a sucker for nifty camera work, though, and she's standing her ground. She's made peace with what happened. Benson wonders if SV might not have some sense of responsibility to the other victims or other women in the community. SV addresses Benson as if she were a complete idiot and tells her that "[she's] thought this through! I'm not turning him in, not to satisfy some abstract concept of justice!" Benson digs her heels in and tells SV that there's nothing abstract about being raped and Maced and wanting to see the attacker brought to justice, and the least SV can do is listen to Vicky and Lois. SV clenches her jaw and gets a look on her face that suggests she just heard she'll be eating cat-shit pie for dinner. I have no sympathy.
So in the scene, Vicky and Lois have joined SV at the table in the Interrogation Room, where Benson and Stabler are baby-sitting. Vicky starts her cross-examination by playing nice and reminding us all again that SV wasn't the only one attacked, that this guy probably attacked lots of other women. SV is all trying to convert Vicky the Extern and tells her, "I know what you've been through," but Vicky's bitchiness finally comes in handy 'cause she just wants the guy's name. SV's made a personal, spiritual decision. Vicky thinks that decision is to keep this guy to herself, but SV protests. Vicky goes all Samantha Spade on me, saying, "Come on! This is better than having him in jail. He knows you can drop the dime on him at any time -- it's revenge. You have the power of life and death over this piece of crap." See, that's the thing: if we were on NYPD Blue, the crap would be nicely bagged for us. Here, it's just out in the open like that. Anyway, Vicky tells her to "drop the Lamb of God rap [hee!], and tell us his name! I deserve a shot at him, and so does Lois." Yikes, Lois! Our first head shot of Lois in this scene shows her hair done up all frighteningly like a bad rendition of Lindsay's on Freaks and Geeks. Lois and her bad hair just wanna know who he is. SV thinks Lois is susceptible to her powers of persuasion and tries to convince her that learning the guy's name won't give her peace, because nothing changed for her when she learned it. Bitch, let people find out for themselves. I hate you. Vicky's back on the case and wants to know if the people at SV's job know she's harboring a fugitive from justice, because one of Vicky's companies has employees insured by SV's employer, and Vicky "doesn't think [she] can keep [her] business at a place that employs a betrayer of women." Go, Vicky! But we're not done, because Mount St. Lois finally erupts, "WHO IS HE? Don't you know what it's like never leaving the house, thinking any man on the street could be him? I want him to pay for what he did to me! Where is he? Tell me his name, you stupid BITCH!" BWA HA HA HA!! Stabler decides that it's time for SV to leave, but before she goes she drones, "Lois, I hope you find peace." Lois continues as the Voice of a Nation with, "Shut UP, you freak! Shut up!" And then she breaks down crying. Fucking go on with your bad-hair-having self, Lois!
, the camera is riding Stabler's beautifully sculpted shoulders into Cragen's office, where he tells Cragen and Benson that SV definitely won't talk. Benson notes that they've got fifteen hours left, and Cragen announces that it's time to try legal persuasion, since emotional, spiritual, and moral have failed. Apparently, as the only witness to a felony, SV no longer has the right to remain silent. Benson isn't sure about this, but Cragen says they'll ask for a material witness order, which would compel her to talk, which Stabler says they've never done to a rape victim. Cragen wonders if our favorite detectives want this guy to walk. They leave his office uneasy but resigned to the idea.
So we're chung-chunged on over to Supreme Court Trial Part 41, where a judge who looks and sounds an awful lot like Luci Arnaz asks SV to approach the bench and then asks if she has information that is material and necessary to the investigation of a felony. SV admits that she does, and the judge repeats the nature of said information while we get this groovy Tarantino-esque shot of SV in the extreme foreground right with Cragen, Benson, and Stabler in the background left sitting in the gallery. Anyway, Judge Luci asks SV to tell her the rapist’s name. SV replies, "I would prefer not to." Oh Christ, it's Bartlebina. Her Honor reminds SV that she'll be put in civil jail if she doesn't cooperate, and asks my new mortal enemy again for the rapist's name. SV respectfully declines and therefore is found in contempt of court and ordered sent to jail. Benson catches up to SV while the bailiff is cuffing her and tells her that she (SV) needn't do this, that she can testify on the guy's behalf at his trial. SV protests that she does have to do this, and that you don't know what your values are until you're put to the test. Um, okay, I follow that logic here. Not. Benson just wants the name. SV refuses and says that she and Benson are both trying to do what they think is right; they just happen to disagree. And good riddance, she's off to jail. Cragen asks Benson if she's okay, but she is not, because they just sent a rape victim off to the lock-up.
Is there a clause in Matthew Perry's Friends contract that states he's allowed to make movies, but only if they're incredibly stupid?
We come back to a useless scene in which Commissioner Morris and Captain Cragen have a pissing contest in Cragen's office, because Cragen put a rape victim in lock-up and Morris is a politician at heart, and Cragen wins without advancing the plot one iota.
So we're chung-chunged back to action at the 71st Street Meeting House, where Benson and Stabler are talking to a Guy in Gray Suit. GGS counseled the Stepford Victim after her attack, but he did NOT advise SV not to cooperate with the police. He tried to persuade her to put the rapist in prison. Benson wonders if this isn't against the Quaker philosophy. Nope, turns out there are Quaker judges and lawyers. Okay, sidebar. Didn't Benson mention earlier that she knew a little about the Quakers? I guess by "a little," she meant "one fact." Anyway, GGS won't try to change SV's mind about not giving up the guy's name, because she persuaded GGS to stand aside in a matter that was a "decision of conscience." Benson tells GGS that SV prayed with the rapist, that he might be a member of their Meeting. If the detectives could get a look at a list of the members, maybe they could figure out who he is. Can't do that, says GGS, because the Meeting House is a sanctuary, and besides, they have a long history of civil disobedience. And while I'm tempted to go off on a rant about civil disobedience for a cause you believe in vs. civil disobedience for its own damn ornery sake, I won't. Benson reminds GGS that they're trying to stop a sexual predator. GGS hopes they do, but not like that. Giving them the list will compromise the privacy of all the members. Is someone kidding me here? Not one of the churches I attended in my entire life had a listing of all, or any, members. It's not like you had to show ID and pay a cover charge at the door. But anyway, Benson bluffs warrant, and GGS says go on ahead, but when they come back with it, he won't be alone. Ooh, I'm quaking in my boots over here. Not.
Cut to the street, where it's dark out and Cragen, Benson, and Stabler are pulling up at the Meeting House with a couple of uniformed cops in tow. They're uncomfortable about it, but they go ahead with the door banging and "NYPD, we have a warrant"-saying all the same. Then they try the door handle and walk in to see several people sitting silently. GGS stands and begs them to go back to the police station, or at least sit in worship. Our heroes look ashamed and head to the office, where yet more members of the congregation sit quietly, until God apparently speaks to some lady with a bad perm's heart, and she begs Benson not to do this, because they all value the separation of church and state in this country. Benson very gently explains that she's just trying to bring a serial rapist to justice, and manages to pry the Meeting House Rolodex from the death grip of a crying older lady. Dude, in the time it took to gather up all these people, couldn't the guy just have hidden the Rolodex in his car?
Back at the cop shop, Jeffries announces that they've narrowed down the messenger-service employees to thirty-six guys who were working during the period leading up to the rapes, and gives each of the detectives a copy of the list of names. Benson divvies up the Rolodex and states the obvious, that they're looking for a match with the church membership names. Stabler notes that they've got six hours left, and we get shots of all four detectives cross-checking their lists. Munch speaks up and there's some confusion over the spelling of the guy's last name, but they get it figured out, and Stabler plugs "Harvey Denis" into the Cop Computer, and he's our guy. He was arrested on February 21, 1995 for attempted burglary, which they all figure he planned as rape number four, but he got caught. He served fifteen months, and was paroled in September 1996 because he was hospitalized for "forcible sexual injury during incarceration." In other words, what goes around comes around and gets you in the ass: he was raped in prison. Stabler greets this bit of information the same way that I do, with a sarcastic "I'll cry about that later."
Cut to another sidewalk, where Benson and Stabler are pulling up to Harvey Denis's address; Benson comments that she walks by this place everyday. Stabler's all veteran SVU cop and says, with five hours left until the guy gets away with it, he wants "to see the look on this dirtbag's face when he knows he's going down." That's my boy. So in the lobby of this hotel/boardinghouse place, the clerk sitting behind the desk asks if he can help them, and they're looking for Harvey Denis, and the desk clerk with his balding head and full dark beard is all, "I'm right here." Benson flashes her badge, tells him he's under arrest, and asks him to put his hands where they can see them. Harvey makes a move, but quick like lightning he's got two NYPD-issue Glocks on him, so up go the hands. In a little my-we've-come-full-circle twist, he very calmly tells them he's just going to buzz them in, and gingerly reaches for the little buzzer button on the counter. Benson and Stabler go around to the door of his little cage, guns still drawn, and we all discover at the same time that Harvey is in a wheelchair as he tells them, "You got me." Jeez, who raped this guy -- John Holmes?
Out on the street, Benson is wheeling Harvey to the car, and he tells Stabler that he (Stabler) can just lift him in, it doesn't hurt because he can't feel anything beneath his ribcage. Stabler picks him up, cradles him to put him in the car, and asks him how it happened (meaning his paralysis). Not that we care, because this seemingly nice and gentle man is a serial rapist, but he was riding his bike when a truck turned right into him and a big side mirror crushed his spine. Close up on Benson putting the wheelchair in the trunk, looking all conflicted and worn out and thinking about karmic justice. Fade to credits.
week, Wendola makes her triumphant return to MBTV with the special two-hour Sweeps Stunt -- oops, I mean "February Law & Order Crossover Event," in which Jane Alexander and her triple strand of giant pearls threaten to crush McCoy.