Episode Report Card Pooh: A+ | 3 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT The Third Guy
By Pooh | Season 1 | Episode 16 | Aired on 02.24.2000
At Jimmy's apartment, the super is telling Benson and Stabler that Jimmy's the last tenant he expected trouble from. They enter the apartment, which has books EVERYWHERE. I mean, it looks like Amazon's warehouse. Stabler starts looking at titles, noting that Jimmy's got "everything from Danielle Steel to Introduction to Thermonuclear Physics. Such a crock. Tell me how many retarded guys read James Joyce." The books go into the evidence box as the super tells them that Jimmy's a big reader, that he reads the newspaper on the stoop everyday. The super always asks Jimmy what the good news is, and Jimmy always replies, "I'll tell you when I find it." Benson's digging in a drawer, where's Jimmy's apparently got "every receipt he ever got, all paid in cash. No credit cards." Stabler says that makes Jimmy "smarter than [him] right there." Can I get an "amen"? Jimmy's got no checkbook, but he's got tons of porn. There's no kitchen, but a stove (covered in books) and oven (filled with books), which leads Stabler to ascertain that Jimmy eats at a certain diner all the time. I decide that the diner reference is a shout-out to me and Sars, since we're both from Jersey, a.k.a. The Diner State.
Over at the diner, a sassy redheaded waitress from Central Casting tells Stabler and Benson that Jimmy comes in twice a day, three times on weekends, is always alone, and is very friendly. Benson asks if Jimmy comes across as slow, and the waitress doesn't think so. Jimmy studies every item on the menu, but always orders the special. Benson thinks it's "interesting that not one person he dealt with on a daily basis picked up on him having any developmental disabilities." Stabler notes that all of these people had minimal contact with Jimmy.
Chung-chung! We're at the Home of Sylvia Walp, where Jimmy's mom is saying that Jimmy was never any trouble, that he was the sixth of seven kids, and that she could just sit him in front of the TV for hours and not have to worry about him. Elliot the Wonderdad smiles and says, "It's hard to give each kid the attention they deserve sometimes." Aww. Anyway, Jimmy was an angel as a child, but would have bad days, and his mom would keep him home from school when he did. No, it never occurred to Mrs. Walp to have Jimmy tested for learning disabilities, because as his mother, she would know if he were retarded. Mrs. Walp last spoke with Jimmy when he left home, at eighteen. Nice. We learn that Jimmy never had any girlfriends or friends.
Back at the cop shop, the detectives are going through the evidence from Jimmy's apartment, and Munch comes in to inform them that Jimmy's score on the IQ test administered by the defense was sixty-eight. Stabler notes that "under the circumstances, it wouldn't be in his best interest to try his hardest." Benson realizes that nothing in the evidence box has Jimmy's handwriting on it, which Stabler thinks is interesting, but "not as interesting as this," and hands a video box to Munch, who reads the title: "'Insatiable Bondage Sluts'. That's nice." Sidebar. While transcribing this scene, I kept rewinding to that line, totally by chance, and it got to be insanely funny. Mama Bear was with me and decided that I really liked that line, which I totally did not. Then she said that the line flowed well because the title of the tape was "really rhythmic." I bit my lip so hard it bled. Okay, people? This is what I go through for y'all. Meanwhile, back at SVU, Benson has the video case and notes that porn is neither illegal nor admissible. Stabler tells her to turn it over (what would I give -- oh, never mind), where she sees a scene that is "eerily familiar." Stabler says, "It's the same staging as Mrs. Bernstein, even the same shade of pink." Munch the Obvious comments on the large age gap between Mrs. B and the girl on the video, and Benson points out that "Jimmy didn't stage it. Carlos and Alfonso tied her up with they robbed her. That's how Jimmy found her." Cragen and Skoda are back from couples counseling, and Benson asks Skoda for his opinion. Skoda's wicked smaaaht (tm David of Real World Seattle), so after a quick glance concludes, "I'd say he walked into the room, saw a living tableau from this tape, and got excited." "And committed a felony," adds Cragen. Like, dude, give it a rest for a minute. There's room for two balding, bug-eyed guys here! Skoda elaborates, "He misreads social cues, and mimics to appear normal. Based on the tape, he may have thought he was expected to perform the sex act." Cragen wants to know whose side Skoda's on. I express-mail Cragen a copy of the Hippocratic Oath. Skoda's the bigger man with the bigger sideburns, and doesn't take the bait. He says they're all working in the interests of justice, and Jimmy definitely needs to be incarcerated, it's just a matter of where. Stabler says they still put mentally retarded people in jail, and Skoda nods, "The system is slanted against them. They incriminate themselves, can't assist in their own defense, and are so eager to please they even confess to things they didn't do. Jimmy is mildly retarded. He did not understand the consequences of his actions." Cragen doesn't want to hear anymore of this, and comes back with, "Jimmy Walp went his entire life without being diagnosed until now. I find that awfully convenient." Skoda finds it tragic, but Cragen doesn't care. They're "going ahead. He understands enough to be held accountable. He knows he did something wrong. We are NOT gonna lose his statement." Dude, chill. Skoda again with the head shaking. I hope he's got a good chiropractor.
Then we do the non-chung over to the Supreme Court Statement Hearing. It's Monday, February twenty-first. Stabler is testifying that Jimmy kept a job and an apartment, had no prior record of being diagnosed as mentally retarded, and the cops found no conclusive evidence that he is. Jimmy's attorney talks about how the SVU tried to use the books they seized from Jimmy's apartment as proof of his reading ability. He asks Stabler if he's "aware of the lengths the mentally retarded will go to disguise their inadequacies? They'll take books to public places and pretend to read, parrot phrases to appear to have knowledge they don't possess, even wear a watch when they can't tell time. Jimmy Walp spent his life fooling people into believing he was of normal intelligence." Both the ADA and I wonder if there's a question for Stabler here, or if Jimmy's lawyer is just going to testify himself. The judge tells Mr. Trask to get on with it, so Trask asks Stabler if Jimmy was asked to read anything aloud while in custody. Stabler didn't see any reason to. Trask points out that Stabler told Jimmy to read over the Miranda sheet before signing it. But Stabler also read it to Jimmy, so there!