The episode opens with the beginning of a newscast. The reporter is walking down the street, in front of her news van, as she begins her narrative. "I'm Sarah Logan," she says. But I note she's not the Sarah Logan who produces TV news on another Dick Wolf show, D.C. She continues, "You've seen me interview other people, telling their stories. I'm not real comfortable in the first person, but here goes. On January eleventh, I interviewed a refugee from East Timor for a special assignment. The session ran past midnight. Because I was only nine blocks away from my home, I decided to walk." As the news camera cuts to a different shot, so do we. Now we're watching over the shoulder of someone else who is watching the news. On the screen, Sarah is now standing in front of a big iron fence. "My trip home took me past this swimming pool complex," says Sarah. Now we see the shoulder belongs to a blonde chick who is watching the news in a cheesy hotel room, smoking a cigarette and sitting on the bed in her black bra and underwear. Sarah goes on, "This is where two men grabbed me from behind, and raped me. They put a coat over my face, and they dragged me here," she says, as the news shot cuts to Sarah standing in the middle of the empty pool. The blonde is really getting interested in the story. "They told me they would kill me if I made any sound. One of them wore a running suit; the other had a tattoo of an eye on the underside of his wrist, and smelled of clove cigarettes." At this point we and the blonde are treated to a WANTED poster with an artist's rendering of said tattoo. The blonde's face falls, and she starts to get scared. "For the past twelve weeks, I've had some of New York's finest working on my case. In spite of all their hard work, they had no luck finding either man. Maybe you know one of these two men." The blonde starts to really freak out as we hear a man clear his throat and she looks to the bathroom of the hotel room. Back on the TV, Sarah finishes her segment: "I was attacked, and I am going to fight back. I'm Sarah Logan." The blonde grabs the hotel phone and whispers a frantic, "Operator!" Like, honey, this ain't Bye Bye, Birdie -- you have to dial. Before she can get anywhere, a hand with the infamous tattooed wrist attached to it grabs the phone from her. The skeevoid attached to said wrist tells her, "This is no time for making phone calls," as he kisses her neck and starts mauling her on the bed. The blonde is absolutely terrified. So am I.
Cut to Benson and the blonde in the hallway. The blonde is naming the bad guy: "Mark Krieger -- a car parts rep from Cleveland." Turns out the two of them met for drinks a couple of times in the hotel bar for what she calls a "stupid expense-account fling." Stabler asks if she was forced into it. She says he scared the crap outta her, but she doesn't want to press charges or anything. She just wants to help. Benson takes the key and opens the door as Stabler draws his gun. We hear coughing, but see nobody in the unmade bed of the room. They find Krieger in his tighty-whities, hunched over the toilet, praying to the Porcelain God with every fiber in his being. Benson calls his name, and he looks up, startled, and asks what she wants. She tells him he's under arrest for rape, and begins to read him his rights as Stabler goes to cuff him. He parrots his rights back to her, and when she announces his right to an attorney, he says, "Yeah, and the damn city's gotta pay for it, too, 'cause I am flat-ass broke. Excuse me," he says to her as he goes in for another beeyarf, with Stabler holding his cuffed hands behind his back. Poor Elliot. Benson and Stabler both look like they don't really love their jobs so much as we go to credits.
After the break, we're back in the squad room, where Stabler is looking at Krieger's mug shots and Munch is lamenting, "Three months I'm looking for these two pukes [hee!], and the night we get the call I'm at a Chomsky lecture? [Shout-out to me and my Psych degree?] Tell me about this Krieger." Stabler tells the squad that Krieger works construction and has a bunch of priors, including a few possession charges, some bar fights, and check theft. Benson continues, "He's from Queens, but he told his 'date' he was a car parts rep from Cleveland." Cragen questions the reliability of this statement. Stabler says it's extremely reliable, since the "date" knows she was "very close to becoming a Mr. Goodbar victim." Mmmm, Mr. Goodbar . . . sorry, guess he doesn't mean the candy bar. Anyway, Krieger got a lawyer right away and hasn't said a thing. Munch wants to know what kind of feel Benson got from the guy. Munch has always felt this was a rape of opportunity, and his colleagues agree that Sarah wasn't targeted, and that Krieger didn't even know who she was. Cragen points out that since they only have one suspect, they could "get into a situation where the DA has to make out all the charges against Krieger and an unapprehended other," and his detectives should keep that in mind when questioning the suspect. Munch suggests they let Krieger lead them to the other rapist, but Cap'n Cragen wants to get the other creep before Krieger has a chance to warn him, which Stabler thinks he'll do the second he sobers up. Cragen tells them to get Krieger's phone, employment, and credit card records, in the hopes that they'll track "Number Two" that way. The continued reference of the second rapist as "Number Two" in this episode gets me thinking of something else people call "Number Two," which is also called "poo" (hi, Glark!). My name is Pooh; this is clearly a shout-out as well. Okay, I admit that's a stretch. Sorry. Back to the task at hand. Munch asks Cragen if anyone has told Sarah they have a suspect. Cragen thought she should hear it from Munch.
Cut to Sarah's kick-ass corner office, with all kind of awards on the windowsills. She's looking at cards from well wishers, and when the door opens, she's happy to see Munch and gives out a hearty, "Hey, John! See my piece?" Sarah, sweetie, bad choice of words when you're dealing with this guy. Munch proclaims her news segment "gutsy and eloquent." "Oh, well, I'll have to put that on my epitaph some day: Here lies Sarah Logan. Gutsy and Eloquent." I consider this a shout-out to MBTV's Sars. I mean, not the part about being dead. ["Aw, thanks." -- Sars] He mentions all the mail, and she says the response has been amazing. He tells her it gets better. She thinks for a second and asserts, "You got them." "One of them," Munch replies, and tell her about the chick turning in the guy in her bed. Sarah is amazed that the rapist's own girlfriend turned him in. Munch explains that the relationship wasn't quite that serious. Sarah asks who the guy is. "I'd give you his baby photos and home address if I could," says Munch, "but it would jeopardize the line-up." Sarah thinks this is bullshit, but accepts it. When can she know? "The minute this ugly pageant is over," Munch answers. Sarah kind of laughs to herself as she tells Munch, "You remind me so much of my brother." These two have a really good chemistry on screen. I totally buy that they've become friends who truly respect each other. Good on Esposito and Belzer -- but don't tell him I said so. I have a reputation to protect. Anyway, Sarah goes on, "Say this is the guy. What happens ?" Munch begins to explain the process of searching the suspect's apartment, but she means what's for her. Well, after the lineup they might not see him again until the trial, and until then everything they do has to anticipate any possible defense. "So," she says, "it's the business side of 'innocent until proven guilty.' I wouldn't have it any other way." Munch knew she wouldn't. Sarah rocks.
Chung-chung!Apartment of Mark Krieger, Tuesday, April 11. Y'all pay attention to these dates, now. You know I only note them when I'm raring to point out errors in continuity. So, Jeffries says every collection agency in town is after Krieger, and Munch has discovered that he's got no bank accounts or credit cards. Jeffries sees a refrigerator magnet for a check-cashing place, and concludes that "he works as often as he has to." Or, he could be an irresponsible dumb-ass like my evil ex, who had technically been an adult for many years, but cashed his weekly paychecks ($6 thrown away each month); paid his bills with money orders (another $10 or so each month); maxed out his one crappy credit card; and then wondered why he couldn't get a decent interest rate for his car loans. Stupid-ass jerk-ass. Munch opines that "being a rapist is a full-time job" as he eyes the cheesecake photos Krieger has taped to the wall by his phone. There's a bunch of writing on them, which Munch translates for the audience as "pizza take-out, liquor stores, 1-800-ME-SO-HORNY numbers" and tears them down. Jeffries inventories the closet (three shirts, two pairs of pants, no golf clubs or fishing poles) and Munch eyes the shelves COVERED in stolen ashtrays and says that Krieger is "clearly a man who likes to smoke." Jeffries theorizes that all the ashtrays could be souvenirs from his one night stands with out-of towners, that for Krieger, "every relationship [is] short term, every friendship expendable." A little light bulb goes on over Munch's head: "How sentimental of us -- we've been assuming for twelve weeks that both rapists knew each other." Jeffries agrees that "maybe Number Two was just someone he met."
Back at the cop shop, all the ashtrays (god, this episode is making me want to take up smoking again!) are laid out on a desk, and Cragen is looking at them and reminiscing. "The White Horse Saloon, The Black Light. I'm getting all nostalgic!" Benson and Stabler smile. Benson asks which one of the bars is closest to the scene of the crime. Cragen examines the options, picks one up, and says in his best game show host tone, "That would be Shad's Cabaret." Stabler: "Classy!" "Not really," says Cragen. "There is no Shad, there is not cabaret. Just a lot of hard-drinking locals and confused out-of-towners. Let me know if anything's changed." The camera follows the departing Cragen over to the desks of Jeffries and Munch, who is hanging up his phone and bitching that he called six of the numbers, all of which belong to contractors, and each of them hardly remembers Krieger. Jeffries has had better luck: she talked to a guy who said he knowsKrieger, and when Jeffries told him they were friends, he told her to come on over. Go on with your lying-to-get-information-on-a-creep self, Jeffries!
So we get chunged over to the apartment of "P.K." on West 115th street. P.K. is the millennium Spicoli, with his longish blond hair and earphones around his neck and Enema of the State poster on the wall. P.K. wonders what kind of trouble Mark's gotten himself into now. When told that Krieger's a suspect in a rape, he's not shocked, because "that guy's always getting into trouble. Mark didn't know what he was going to do until, like, two minutes before he did it." Ah, when the genetics gods were handing out traits, Mark got in the dumbassity line twice instead of going for a helping of impulse control. Munch asks how P.K. knows Mark. They're second cousins . . . or something. Jeffries says Mark paged P.K. twice on January eleventh; did P.K. see him? Nope. Last time he saw the rapist was Labor Day, at the Monsters of Metal concert at the Garden. Dude, Labor Day of what year? I went to the Monsters of Rock show at Giants Stadium in July of 1988. Shut up, all of you. Jeffries asks if P.K. knows any of Krieger's friends. "He didn't really make friends," says P.K. Then, apropos of not much, "Like they say, relatives give you an opportunity to associate with people you'd otherwise never hang out with." Really? Who says that? I mean, it's totally true, but I've never heard that before in the context of "the old adage about" or anything.
Cut to a bespectacled, middle-aged bartender in a tie and suspenders, who is telling Stabler, "Oh yeah, that guy owes me thirty-six bucks. Mark something." He grabs a stack of old tabs off the shelf by the cash register, and Stabler wonders why the bartender let someone he didn't know run a tab. "He gave me a credit card," comes the obvious answer from the barkeep. Stabler must not get out much. The bartender finds the old bill, with the name Mark Krieger on it. I thought this creep had no credit cards? WTF? Stabler asks if Krieger was there with anyone. How would the bartender know? Well, says my oh-so-smart detective boyfriend, "The bill. You got ten boilermakers on there, it tells me either he drinks a lot or he's with another guy. Five boilermakers and five Long Island Iced Teas, well maybe he's with a travelling businesswoman with clouded judgment." Sound theory there, sweetie, but you were a little bit sexist in your execution. I know plenty of chicks who prefer a hearty stout and guys who down the mixers rather than a beer. Anyway, the bill isn't itemized, but the date is on the receipt: January eleventh. Woo hoo!
Over in the line-up room, ADA Foxy from last week's episode and some puny little twerp in a tie are standing. The door opens, and as Sarah enters the room with Munch and Cragen, ADA Foxy introduces herself and shakes Sarah's hand. For those taking notes, ADA Foxy's real name is Erica Alden, but for not for our purposes. Sarah asks who the twerp is, and Twerp introduces himself as Robert Sorenson, "his attorney," while trying to shake Sarah's hand. No dice, Notpoleon. Munch shoves Twerp aside and lets Sarah in on part of the inner workings of the justice system: "Only slimeballs get lawyers." Cragen tells Sarah the guys in the line-up can't see her, so if she needs any of them to do anything (like, say, drop dead?), just tell the guy who looks like a Muppet, and he'll relay the order. Munch tells her to take her time, and if she doesn't know, to make sure she can't ID the guy before giving up. "No coaching, okay?" whines the Twerp. "Pay no attention to the twit in the suit" is Munch's final instruction to Sarah. Word. So, then the director kicks my ass in the line-up scene. The guard lets the six guys in, but the camera does a bunch of back and forth crap, so we don't really get a good look or recognize any of them. Sarah looks from one to the , back a forth, and the camera does a bunch of quick whoosh-stop shots to each face. Sarah says she didn't really get a good look at the rapist's face and asks Cragen to have them roll up their sleeves. Cragen asks them all to do so and turn out their wrists. We first see creepy, bleary-eyed Number Three do this, and he has the tattoo. Then the camera shows us that ALL of the wrists have the tattoo (although I'll admit some of them are pretty blatant ballpoint jobs)! AACK! Sarah is panicking and wants to know if this is a trick. Cragen explains that they can only ask her if she recognizes any of the men. She turns back to the glass and looks again, and keeps returning to the creepy face of Number Three. She sets her jaw and says, "It's Number Three. Number Three is the one who raped me." Okay, I've watched that scene twice now, and written it out. Just the memory of it gets me all panicky. Damn directors. Damn writers. Damn good acting.
So Munch and Sarah are going back into the squad room and he tells her about Krieger. She asks if he was interrogated. "A little one-sided," Munch answers. "We talked, he stared. No, he didn't say a word." Sarah wants to know about the other rapist. Munch tells her they're still looking for him, and that he may never be found, but they can still prosecute Krieger. Sarah wonders if there's some way of making Krieger talk. Munch tells her that " [they] tried chaining him to a radiator and beating the soles of his feet with a black rubber hose, but --" Sarah means some kind of legal maneuver, a deal or something. Twerp, Esquire won't let the cops talk to Krieger. Sarah wants to know whom he was with. More important, she wants to know why. Munch tells her, "Sarah, I deal with guys like Krieger all day, every day. Most of the time, they don't even know why." "There has got to be a reason," she argues. "A drug habit, abused when they were children, a withholding mother, something." Munch says those are the excuses rapists give judges and journalists after they've been convicted, that they're just parroting psychobabble, but it doesn't make them who they are. "Then what does?" asks Sarah. "I don't know," Munch admits. "But I'm more comfortable knowing that I don't know than I would be if I gave you an easy answer. These guys do what they do and we try to stop them." Munch apologizes for sounding so insensitive, but Sarah's tougher than that, and understands that "[the cops] may never find the second guy, and [she] may never understand why they targeted [her]." Munch says that yes, that's pretty much what he was saying. Sarah tells him that he hasn't "soft-sold" her yet, and not to start. He agrees to remain honest and straightforward with her.
If Andie MacDowell isn't the spawn of Satan, I don't know who is. I think I'm going to boycott L'Oreal until they stop using her in their ads. I mean, if I use any L'Oreal products now anyway.
Back from the break, Team SVU is in a huddle in the squad room. For some reason, Cap'n Cragen and Stabler are both wearing tan trenchcoats. Cragen's bitching that One Police Plaza is on his case about this case. Munch assures him that they have DNA evidence, a witness who places Krieger near the scene, and Sarah, who will kick major ass on the stand. Cragen says they still don't have Number Two (ahem), and it's been almost a month. Stabler says they've showed mug shots to everyone Krieger knew or met, and nobody offered up anything. Benson adds that Krieger "didn't keep friends longer than he needed to. Lots of people knew who he was, but nobody knew him." Cragen the petulant brat is all, "That's just great. So we don't know if his partner was from Hoboken [NJ reference = shout-out] or Timbuktu." Aw, cheer up, little Muppet, Stabler's got a little bit of a lead maybe. One of his "contacts" in Riker's may have heard something.
So we hop on the Chung-chung! Express, over to Riker's Island Correctional Facility. Oh, look at that. We've also gotten into a time machine, because the title card tells us it's Wednesday, April 19. Cragen said in the last scene that it had been almost a month since they got Krieger, and Sarah picked him out of the line-up on April eleventh. Continuity is a good thing, people. Use it. So, anyway, Stabler's telling his buddy in Riker's the latest on his daughter's school situation, which the snitch -- who looks like a Guido boy-band refugee -- truly appreciates. According to the snitch, everyone knows who Krieger is because of "the news lady." Snitchboy hears that Krieger didn't know it was Sarah Logan when the attack happened, and that "Krieger's scared he's going down on this." Stabler asks about the other guy. Snitchboy heard Number Two was already in Riker's, and this news stuns Stabler. Well, by "stuns," I mean "causes his eyebrows to furrow one half inch." So, the other guy was in Riker's on some "trifle" (not the dessert), and Krieger found him and told him if he keeps his mouth shut, Krieger will owe him, but if he talks, he's dead. Stabler asks how Snitchboy heard this. "We were watching TV in the big room, her story came on, I heard some guys talking." TV? Big room? I bet it was a Mighty Big TV at that! Stabler wants details and a name. Snitchboy honestly doesn't know anything else, and calls Krieger a waste of space. Yeah, like that's news.
Out in the hallway, a Riker's administrative-type lady is asking Stabler if he wants "everyone who was admitted on that day or everyone that was in?" as they head back to the admit desk. I want grammar check for the dialogue on this show. Stabler wants everyone. (And everyone wants you, Stabler.) Admin lady has sixteen thousand detainees. Stabler tells her to cut out women and adolescents, which brings the total down to twelve thousand, so she asks him what, specifically, he wants. He wants everyone who could have come into contact with Mark Krieger. That means Main Population, says the admin lady off the top of her head, and do you want a list or a disk? How many names? Six thousand, two hundred four. Off the top of her head. At Riker's Island. Whatever. No, they can't sort by age or race. He takes the disk, which she just, like, has sitting there and doesn't have to load or anything (whatever), thanks her, and leaves.
Munch and ADA Foxy are walking through the courthouse, and Foxy is warning Munch that the Twerp has a rep for "scorched-earth defenses. He's pushing for a quick trial, hoping we'll be unprepared." Munch isn't worried; it's an open-and-shut case. Foxy says that's why they'll have to attack the victim's testimony. Munch believes Sarah's story is solid. Foxy tells him, "She said she was raped by two men; we're only going to be able to show the jury one. She said she took an unusual route home; Twerp's going to try to insinuate that it was more than just a nice walk. We've got no semen from the second rapist." Munch reminds her that Sarah said the second guy used a condom. Foxy knows this, she's just letting Munch know what the Twerp will do to defend his client. The point of all this being that Foxy has worked with Sarah and doesn't think she's ready for trial yet. She suggests that, since Sarah trusts Munch, he talk to her and let her know it's going to get nasty. Foxy tells him to take Benson along because Benson "saw a similar case fall apart last year and she knows what can happen." Munch thanks her and goes . . .
. . . to Sarah's kick-ass office. Benson tells her that "the good news is the defense can no longer bring up your past sexual history. That's no longer allowed." Past sexual history? As opposed to what -- future sexual history? Dear writers: Please don't use redundant adjectives. Thanks bunches. Love, Pooh. Sarah says they can still allude to her history. Benson tells her the defense has no obligation to explain what did or didn't happen. "All they have to do is muddy the waters enough so the jurors feel okay voting Not Guilty." Munch tells Sarah they're going to beat her up on the stand to try to confuse her. Sarah asks what he means. Benson tells her, "It's a rape case, so they have to ask you who put what where, when and how." Munch: "For each charge, where were you, where were your hands, where was Krieger?" Benson: "Where was the other guy?" Munch: "How do you know it was Krieger and not the other guy?" Sarah's had enough and says she gets the point. She wants to know what else she needs to know. Benson tells her to answer all questions "as specifically and with as much detail as you possibly can." Okay, see above letter to writers re: redundancy. Benson goes on, "You've got to be direct. Don't use euphemisms. Say 'penis'; say 'vagina'; say 'intercourse'. If these words make you feel uncomfortable at all, call me, call Munch. Tell us the story a million times until you feel totally comfortable." You know what Wendola said last week about this show making the most innocuous things sound sleazy, and things having to do with sex and sex crimes sound totally tame? Yeah, ditto that for Benson's monologue here. Munch tells Sarah that if the defense thinks she's uncomfortable on the stand, they'll go over the same thing several different ways just to upset her. She asks what happens week. Munch answers, "Pre-trial maneuvering and jury selection: arcane and tedious proceedings that have mostly to do with the rights of the accused. Sarah, this could get ugly." "Not as ugly as what happened," she says. Word.
Chung-chung! At Supreme Court, Trial Part 20 (my lucky number -- shout-out?) on April 25, that rat bastard Judge Beck is asking the Twerp if he's really filing three motions at once. Twerp says there are four. Krieger's sitting in a brown suit and tie, which has apparently been tied so tight as to snap his neck (yay!), because his head is tilted so far to the right it looks like he's listening for signs of life in his elbow. Anyway, the four motions are: challenging the Constitutionality of the arrest; questioning the DNA procedure; moving to have the charges dismissed; and moving to suppress the witness identification. The judge calls the defense "ambitious" and asks Foxy if the people have copies of all the motions. They have just received them. The people have only one motion, to exclude press from the courtroom. While Foxy is telling His Honor this, Krieger rolls his big head around to leer at Sarah, who pointedly ignores him. Munch shoots him the stink-eye, and Krieger goes back to paying attention to the judge, who thinks The People's motion should be simple enough. Twerp twerps, "What, to preserve her EXCLUSIVE?" Hey, I've got your exclusive right here, Twerp. IN MY PANTS (tm Bryan)! Sorry. Foxy keeps her cool and tells him, "No, to preserve decorum." Like wow, what a concept. Twerp argues that "the presence of the press helps ensure a fair proceeding in what has become a high-profile case." Judge Beck answers, "And you think more press in the courtroom will lower the profile? I'll balance that against the possibility that some counselors like seeing their names in print." Heh. His Honor will rule the day on all five motions.
As Foxy, Munch, Jeffries, and Sarah head out into the courthouse hallway, Sarah expresses surprise at Krieger's attendance at the hearing, and Munch laments the rights of the accused. Sarah asks why they're challenging the line-up, because it was fair. Foxy tells Sarah, "He doesn't have a case. His only hope is to prove everyone from the police to the victim are incompetent." Sarah wonders if it's always this way, and Jeffries tells her that Twerp is playing games. Usually he'd just take a plea bargain and get on with it. Sarah thinks she's the variable, and Munch admits that the attention she brings to the case is making the Twerp salivate over his own potential publicity. If he wins, everyone will know it, and he'll make lots of money and have big clients. Sarah proposes they "fight fire with fire," by having Munch come on her show. They'll discuss as they are now, because she doesn't want to hold anything back from her audience. An altruistic television journalist? In New York? Whatever. Munch says he has to clear it with Cragen, but Sarah's already done that. She tells him to be at the studio at seven, and to wear a nice coat and tie. As they walk away from Foxy and Jeffries, Munch whines that he's wearing a nice coat and tie, and she accuses him of being nervous. "I'm just concerned that some of the complex legal and emotional gray areas that inform my worldview will get lost in your sound-bite world," he says. Sarah touches her temple and tells him his voice changes when he's "spinning." Munch suggests having Foxy, Benson, or Jeffries on the show instead, thinking it's better to have a woman on when the subject is rape. Sarah is adamant: "I want my viewers to see you. If victims see you, they may be more likely to go to the police." Munch says he's a cop who just happened to catch her case. Sarah insists he isn't, and when he looks away she begs and offers to bribe him with dinner out on the town after the show. He finally relents, and adds, "Just don't say 'bribe' to a cop in a crowded courthouse." Sarah rolls her eyes at this, says "okay," and walks away. He looks after her fondly and heads back to Foxy and Jeffries.
That night, Munch is standing outside, waiting for Sarah at the TV station. A redheaded producer pokes her head out the door to tell him they're still trying to track her down. Munch asks what they think the holdup is, and the producer tells him that she just heard on the scanner "there's some hellish gridlock up by her neighborhood." You'd think I'd have picked up on that, but I didn't. Totally blindsided by the scene. Anyway, Munch's cell phone rings, and he playfully answers, "Who's this?" Then his expression totally changes as he yells, "WHAT?!"
Cut to a crowd on the street, with an ambulance and fire truck in the background. Munch flashes his badge while fighting through the crowd and yelling, "Tell me what happened!" to the fire fighters. The FDNY guy protests that his captain isn't letting anyone in, but Munch ain't having it. FDNY Guy says they have to secure the area; Munch says he'll secure it. FDNY Guy doesn't want anyone else getting hurt. This revelation stops Munch in his tracks. He asks who got hurt, but FDNY Guy doesn't know. Munch rails, "Someone's hurt and the ambulance is still here? WHY?!" FDNY repeats the spiel about securing the area. Munch blows past him and says he's going in, and Benson catches him on the sidewalk. She's all out of breath and trying to tell him what's the what as, in obvious denial, he says, "It's Sarah. But the ambulance is still here." Benson finally stops him on the stoop and he asks when it happened. "The neighbors reported a single blast. Bomb Squad got the call at 6:46, arrived on scene at 6:52." "Six minutes?" Benson puts her hand on his shoulder and tells him it wouldn't have mattered, and that she's sorry.
Munch enters the dark apartment with a flashlight and asks one of the many Bomb Squad Guys how it happened. Bomb Squad Guy is Lewis from D.C., so it must be rough for him to be picking up the pieces of his girlfriend's doppelganger. Or something. Anyway, he thinks it was a homemade black powder bomb, hidden in a box of flowers. Munch picks up some petals from the pile on the floor, and throws them down in disgust as BSG hypothesizes about Sarah's finding the box by her door and taking it inside to open it. As Munch shines his light on the burned, dented, blasted wall, BSG explains that Sarah was by the window when the bomb went off, and her body actually blocked the shockwave from the north side of the room. Munch turns toward the north and makes to walk over to where she um, landed. BSG tries to be delicate as he tells Munch, "It's, uh, it's just pieces, but I don't think she suffered." Munch just kind of nods as he says flatly, "She suffered." BSG meant that Sarah died instantly. Munch knows. He walks over to where a white sheet is laying over the "body," looks around at the broken lamps and melted phone, and takes a deep breath. Poor Munchkin. Thank GOD, it's time for commercials.
After the break, we're back in the squad room, where the morning papers are on Munch's desk. The covers feature pictures of Sarah and the headlines, "The City Mourns" and "Sarah's Final Moments." Damn, the Post is so classy. Anyway, Jeffries tells Munch that she saved the papers for him, and asks how late he was "on scene." He tells her he was there late, and that Benson is still there canvassing. Cragen comes out of his office, and delicately asks his troops what they've got. Stabler tells them about Snitchboy's news, at which Munch scoffs. Stabler says they've narrowed down the six thousand to two hundred seven men who are the right age and description, who were also out of jail at the time of the rape. Munch asks if the theory is that the bomber is the second rapist. It is, and that changes the whole concept of how the rape happened. Jeffries says "that makes the second rapist the alpha male; Krieger was just along for the ride," and Munch realizes they may not be able to link Krieger to the bomb. Foxy is going to get Sarah's Grand Jury testimony admitted under the Gerossi (sp?) ruling. Munch says they have to suggest Krieger masterminded the bombing, which prompts Stabler to remind him that "by all accounts, he couldn't mastermind the church picnic." Munch educates the audience: "If he didn't have a hand in the bombing, her statements are inadmissible. Without her statement, Krieger walks." Cragen has a plan. He tells Munch and Jeffries to pursue the rape case, and Benson and Stabler will continue to investigate the bombing. If they find anything that links the bomb to Krieger, they'll tell Munch. Anything else they find they keep to themselves until after the trial. Munch doesn't look too thrilled about this. Cragen asks him for a minute, and they go into his office. Munch got in touch with Sarah's brother, who it turns out will not be coming back to New York for the funeral. Cragen offers Munch a few days off, but Munch doesn't want them.
Over at the lab, Bomb Squad Guy is telling Benson and Stabler that the bombing device was pretty simple, all of the material was packed into a can of Extra Chunky Chicken and Noodle soup and held together with masking tape. The explosive was low-grade Chinese black powder with a flammable liquid, and it turns out it was set off from a remote. A garage door opener receiver was hooked to a detonator. At this news, Stabler adopts an "Oh, Shit!" look and says, "Okay, so we got a soup-can bomb any moron can make, but he goes to the trouble of putting a remote on it? That doesn't seem to add up." BSG thinks it was the bomber's first time, that maybe he was hired to get rid of a witness. Benson has her own theory: "He's doing a lot more than eliminating a witness. Look at the risk he took: he used a bomb, not a gun. He put it in a flower box, the essence of a romantic gesture, and he could have put a simple switch on the lid." Stabler says, "Her life was in his hands," and then a big-ass halogen bulb goes on over his head as he realizes there's a park across the street from Sarah's building and asks BSG if his guys searched that area. Well, no, they didn't, because they didn't know where the bomber was when it went off. Stabler bets that's where he was, and that's why the bomber went to all the trouble he did -- to watch Sarah die.
Cut to a view of Sarah's boarded up, bombed out, police taped apartment, through the chain link fence of the park across the street. Benson notes that one can see right into Sarah's apartment from the park, and Stabler finds a bunch of throat-lozenge wrappers not far from the fence. Benson remembers that it was pretty cold the night before and does the get-inside-the-creep's-head thing. "This guy had to find her home address, find this viewing spot, make the bomb, deliver it, and while he was standing right here . . ." "Move his thumb a quarter of an inch and kills her, just like that," says Stabler. They realize the bomber is nothing like Krieger, and decide that the second rapist is a planner, and Krieger was just along for the ride.
So then we get chunged on over to Supreme Court Trial Part 20, where Judge Beck is greeting Foxy and the Twerp, who swears his new motion will be his last. Beck assumes correctly that the latest motion is an attempt to quash the indictment as a result of Sarah's death. Twerp says that without their key witness, The People can't make their case. Foxy says they have DNA and witnesses. Twerp says that semen without a witness to allege force only proves there was a sex act. Foxy tells them they're going to amend the indictment to get Sarah's journals and statements to the police admitted under that ruling I can't spell. Beck says that rule "requires The People to demonstrate the defendant's misconduct has rendered the witness unavailable," and asks Foxy if she can meet that burden. Beck gives The People seven days to link the bombing to Krieger. If they can, Sarah's statements will be admitted. Twerp wants it "noted for the record that [his] client is being held on a de facto indictment, which on appeal could look like favoritism." Beck bristles at the notion of Twerp's questioning his impartiality. Twerp whines that the defense is now doubly burdened with preparing a rape defense and the bombing deal, and would like his client bailed so he can adequately prepare. Not to mention the burdens of being a whiny Twerp and a creepy rapist. Beck sets bail at fifty thousand and asks Twerp if he's happy. Munch stands up in the gallery and shouts, "NO! We're unhappy, Your Honor. No victim, no rape? Why not declare open season on all women in New York?" Beck tells Munch he's out of line. Munch asks Beck, "Whose pocket are you in, anyway?" Beck can't believe what he's heard, and basically dares Munch to repeat it. Munch does so with a clenched jaw. Beck fines him $500 for contempt of court. Munch Gets His Munch On (tm Wendola) and retorts, "Make it a thousand. It's better than having contempt for basic common sense!" Beck ups the ante and tells Munch he's going into lock-up if he says anything else. Jeffries tells him to calm down, but he won't because "if this gets out, every rapist in town will kill his victim." Jeffries gets Munch outta there by telling him that P.K. just paged her, so they can't give up hope yet. Munch shoots the look of death at the judge while leaving. I hate it when the writers make me root for Munch.
In the interrogation room, P.K. says the news of the bombing reminded him of some friend of Krieger's named Tommy. Jeffries wants to know why P.K. didn't tell them about this before. P.K. sheepishly says he and this guy "did some business together." "Please -- he sold you drugs?" snorts Jeffries. "We don't give a rat's ass about that." I love that Jeffries can kick ass without moving a muscle or raising her voice. It's a talent I hope to one day refine. Anyway, this guy isn't dealing anymore because he's on his way to being a made man. Apparently, he was given a gas station in Jersey to run (Jersey reference = shout-out), but he doesn't know where in Jersey. Munch asks if P.K. has a last name on this "gas pumping wiseguy." All P.K. remembers is that it's something Irish. Jeffries tells him there are two million Irish people in New York. P.K. wishes them a hearty "good luck!" before asking if he'll get the reward if this Tommy guy is the bomber. Munch throws a dollar at him in disgust and tells him to go buy himself a blunt.
Out in the squad room, Jeffries and Benson rattle off Irish last names from the Riker's list from before. Stabler says that there were eighteen total "Tommy Something Irish" in the day Krieger went in. Munch bitches, "And these were the people that saved civilization." Hey, back off, dude. Remember how I told Cragen Thou Shalt Not Take the Name of Thy MBTV Recapper? Well, amend that to add Insulting the Heritage of Recappers. Unless, of course, this is Belzer's way of shouting out to us Irish staff members.
Cut to the bartender at Shad's, who is looking at photo arrays of the eighteen Tommys. Munch gives him Krieger's mug shot to help him out, and he picks out Tommy McConaugh.
At the gas station, Jeffries is rattling the nozzle on a pump as Munch gets out of their sedan and yells to the guy behind the glass that his "wife" can't get any gas because the pumps are locked. Out of the guy's view, Benson and Stabler make their way to the office door. Munch yells some more and the guy tells him to hold on. The guy exits the station and is greeted by Benson's gun in his face, and her screechy voice telling him to keep his hands where they can see them. Stabler puts the totally scared Tommy against the wall and frisks him. I want to be Tommy.
In the interrogation room, Tommy and his slack jaw are alone with Stabler. Stabler mentions Tommy's arrest for selling weed to an undercover cop a month ago. We learn that Tommy has an Irish accent when he protests that it was all a set-up. Stabler doesn't really care, because they're interested in Tommy's week in Riker's. "That's where Krieger told you not to talk about that night in January?" he asks as he stands against the mirror and does the patented Stabler Arm Fold, the better to show off his bad-ass physique. Tommy straightens up at the question, and Stabler says, "That night you two went partying at Shad's." "He told you about that?" Tommy asks, bewildered. By way of non-answer, Stabler muses, "Now, why do you think he doesn't want you to talk? [chuckles] 'Cause he's pinning it all on you. He's walking, and you're looking at about ten years." He's in Tommy's face as Tommy whines, "That is not how it went down." Stabler gets his bluff on and spreads his arms wide as he says, "Well, what do you want from me, my man? That's the way it's going down until I hear YOUR side of the story. Do you understand that? Now's your chance -- talk to me." Tommy thinks on this for about a nanosecond and relents. He tells Stabler that he and Krieger were high, walking around, and found the pool, closed for the season. Krieger picked the lock and it was all quiet and peaceful in the pool. Krieger said, "This would be the perfect place." Tommy asked what he meant, and Krieger said, "To do a bitch. You know, get some without the wining and the dining." Okay, news flash to all y'all Neanderthals out there. Wine and dine ain't gonna get you any, either, not if you think it should. Anyway, Tommy thought Krieger was joking, but he wasn't. Stabler asks if Tommy saw Krieger attack Sarah. Tommy says, "She's just walking by, he just pops her one!" Stabler asks if he saw Krieger rape her. Tommy's all false gentlemanliness, "Well, I try not to watch." Stabler's not in a chummy mood and asks, "What's that mean?" and then kicks the table, scaring the blarney right out of Tommy. He asks if Tommy's playing him, if Tommy's too modest. Tommy's all, "No, it's just, he's a FREAK!" Then they have a little staring contest until Stabler sits and plays the Irish Catholic Mother Guilt card on Tommy and tells him that his mother raised him to respect women, so be a good son and spill it. Benson, Jeffries, and Munch are watching through the glass and Tommy finally breaks: "Okay, I saw him do it. He ripped off her pants." "Sorry, Krieger," says Jeffries. "Your bail has been revoked." She gets the best lines. Tommy continues his story as Munch looks sick and grabs Jeffries to go get Krieger.
They bust into Krieger's apartment, and the super says he was just there. Jeffries sees him out in the back yard and orders him to freeze. He of course runs, and Jeffries bolts for the door. She chases him around the block and is closing in on him when he gets in a minivan. She tells him not to move and aims her gun, and the minivan blows sky high. Holy shit! I totally didn't see that coming. Munch, who has been following Jeffries about fifty feet back, picks her up and tells her they have to get out of there. In her state of shock, she says, "I told him to stop. Why didn't he stop?" Munch just keeps telling her to move, and she says they have to call Bomb Squad Guy. He assures her that he'll call, and pulls her back into a commercial break.
Bomb Squad Guy is walking with Benson, Munch, and Stabler, while the FDNY guys work in the background. BSG tells them it's the same kind of device, even the same kind of soup. Munch and Benson ask if the bomb could have belonged to Krieger, and the explosion was a mistake. "Not unless he had a death wish or was incredibly stupid." Stabler asks what that means. BSG tells them, "When the package went off, it took off his package." Okay, that's karmic justice right there. The remote device was the same as the other bomb, and BSG says the bomber had to have been within fifty feet, possibly on the roof of one of the other buildings. The Bomb Squad is canvassing the area, but they haven't come up with anything yet. The detectives arrive at the ambulance, where Jeffries is arguing with the EMT that she's not going to the hospital. He tells her they have to keep her for observation. She says her partner can observe her. Munch asks who's gonna watch him? She says, not very convincingly, that she will. He asks her to take a few days off, as a favor to him. She agrees, and Munch tells the EMT to take good care of her. Aw, Munch is just a big brother softy!
Back at the squad, Stabler gets off the phone and says the canvassing hasn't turned up anything unusual. Munch spits, "This isn't Beirut -- a bombing is not usual!" Cragen asks if they've ruled out political or financial motives. Stabler says, "I'm thinking John Hinckley, Jr. You've got a guy, thinks he's got this relationship with a woman on TV. She's smart, she's funny, he thinks she understands him." Benson: "His dream girl." Stabler continues, "And he thinks maybe that she shouldn't be talking about this rape." Munch: "Because of his own twisted, Puritanical mores?" Nope, says Stabler, maybe he's just selfish. Cragen wonders where the escalation is, because Sarah never told them about any threats, and she would have. Munch reminds him that, as a TV personality, "She didn't have to know him for him to know her." Cragen tells them to go through all the cards and letters Sarah received after her rape-survivor piece aired, and pulls Stabler aside. Stabler tells Cragen that Tommy rolled on Krieger, but confessed to nothing. Cragen's all, "Great, no witness, no rape. No Krieger, no case against McConaugh." Yeah, yeah, No Woman, No Cry. Get to the point. "So, it's either a confession or he walks outta here." Thank you. Stabler remembers that Tommy "doesn't know Krieger went boom." Cragen smiles and says he's going to go play the Disappointed Father Figure with Tommy. Oh joy. Not.
In the interrogation room, Tommy's taking a nap. Cragen snaps him awake by pulling him up by the shoulders and asks him what happened the night Sarah was raped. Tommy's a little confused and says he already told Stabler. Cragen says Tommy lied to Stabler, and he doesn't want to lie to Cragen. He emphasizes this point by sitting on the table and pointing his index finger at Tommy. Anyway, he wants the story from the point of the pool break in. Tommy whines that it was all Krieger's fault. Cragen grabs Tommy's cheeks and makes him into a fish face as he yells, "I didn't ASK whose fault it was, did I? What happened ?" Then he takes his hand away and tells Tommy to just relax and take it easy, to close his eyes (which Cragen does for him with his Muppet mitts) and visualize the rape. Tommy closes his eyes and tells him, "Okay. Krieger did her first while I held her," then opens his eyes as he goes on, "and she says, 'Please don't hurt me.' And Krieger wants to hit her and I say, 'You better not.'" "You wanted to protect her," Cragen prods. Tommy agrees, "Yeah! I even used a rubber when it came to my turn. But she doesn't stop crying. I'm like, 'I put the rubber on, why are you still crying?'" Then he smiles as Cragen and I leave our respective rooms to go barf.
Over in Sarah's office, where Benson, Stabler, and Munch are all wearing rubber gloves as they go through the hundreds of cards and letters from, as Stabler puts it, "rape victims, families of victims, different ages and race, all with the same denominator." Munch is frustrated: "With one exception. Where's the guy who's cooking up bombs in the kitchen sink while writing his insipid missives?" Benson catches her snap: "They can test for that!" "Insipid writing?" snarks Munch. Oh, would that they could. No, Benson means powder residue. She and Stabler drop their stacks of cards into the giant box at their feet.
Cut to the lab, where Bomb Squad Guy is waving a black light over a red envelope, proclaiming, "This is it." He hands it to Benson, who sniffs the envelope and says it smells like sulfur before handing taking the card out and handing it to Munch. BSG says nothing "smells like" black powder. Munch opens the card, which has a cartoon clown on the front, and reads the lines inside: "I'm not clowning around, please don't make me frown, won't you be mine, my sweet Valentine, if it isn't you, I don't know what I'll do." The card isn't signed, but BSG says the perp did them one better as he sprays the card with something and shines the black light on it to show four large, complete fingerprints. Aw, hell yeah.
Squad room. Stabler's at the computer (shout-out), telling the rest of the SVU that there was no fingerprint match in the NYPD database, either of the FBI databases, the Register Sex Offenders database, the parolee listing, or the Bomb Squad watch list. Cragen says the guy had access to explosives, so did they try city employees, like cops and firefighters? Stabler says, "Negative. Hopefully, the Psych evaluation weeds out someone that extreme." Cragen tell them to check out the weeds.
Cut to Cragen's office, where he's looking at an unrelated file. Munch throws a red folder onto the desk and Stabler announces, "His name is William Lexner. Graduated Queens College 1984, rejected from the Fire Department six times, last time in 1999." Munch reads from a report, "Candidate's high test scores are eclipsed by his narcissism, his disregard for teamwork, and his hostility toward unnamed, quote-unquote enemies who he believes are preventing him from being hired by the Fire Department. Application denied." Benson says they've "hit the trifecta": narcissism, paranoia, and fascination with fire. Cragen tells them they'll try to pick up Lexner without incident, and will take the Bomb Squad along.
Chung-chung! Welton Apartments, on West 57th, May 2. The SVU and Bomb Squad quietly evacuate the tenants of Lexner's building. Stabler is dressed like a messenger (or something), carrying a clipboard. BSG asks them if they want suits. Munch cracks my shit up by deadpanning, "I'm wearing a suit." BSG says Munch is smart because "bomb suits only make you a better-looking corpse, anyway." Both Stabler and I are incredibly (not at all) reassured by this. Munch and Stabler head for Lexner's door, which is tastefully decorated with a No Soliciting sign. Stabler knocks as Munch hides to the door. Stabler tells the voice inside that he has a certified check for $419 for William Lexner, and that he needs a signature. When this news is met with silence, Stabler tells the guy that redelivery takes six to eight weeks, have a nice day, and starts to walk away. He stops when he hears the locks turning and Lexner opens the door. Lexner steps towards Stabler and asks again about the check, and Munch steps into Lexner's face with his gun, yelling, "Police! Get down!" Lexner tries to run back inside, but Stabler grabs him and wrestles him to the floor. Munch is still pointing his gun and yelling at Lexner to get down. Stabler assures him that Lexner is caught.
Close-up of Munch intently watching the interrogation room through the two-way glass. Cragen comes in and tells Munch that the Bomb Squad swept Lexner's apartment and found traces of powder residue on some of the clothes, but the case can't be made on forensics. They need a confession. He points to the glass and says, "The guy loves this." Munch says hehates it, and heads for the door. The camera stops on Lexner, who is staring at himself in the mirror and fixes his hair with his cuffed hands. Props to Central Casting for sending the creepiest Creepy Creep that ever creeped to this episode. Ugh.
Munch opens the door to the interrogation room and asks, "Will?" Lexner the Narcissist is all, "Don't see anyone else here. Heh." Munch introduces himself, and Lexner recognizes the name as the "detective who handled Sarah's case." Munch confirms this. Lexner tells Munch, "You want to get to know me." Munch confirms this as well, and Lexner wants to know why. Munch bullshits, "You're interesting. Most of why I do -- sex offenders -- they're all the same. You don't get the Nietzchean Superman everyday." They're both still standing, which is making this exchange about twenty times more tense than it already is, which is to say, hella. With much derision Lexner spits, "Sex crimes! Rape is the worst crime there is. Do you know why?" Munch plays along: "Tell me." Lexner spiels some psycho theory about how, given the choice between two identical twin sisters, alike in every way except that one has been raped, which one would a man ask out? Munch says it doesn't matter. Lexner says that it does, because "once you know, you know." Munch says it doesn't matter if you care. Lexner doesn't buy it. Munch's turn to get information. "You looked at Sarah differently after the rape," he asserts, and then (finally!) sits down. Lexner says Sarah never smiled the same, that he saw something in her face after the rape. Munch asks what he saw, and Lexner asks Munch if he didn't think Sarah changed after the assault. Munch is all, "I'm sure she did, but not the way you mean. She grew, changed, used her misfortune to help other women." Lexner wonders if Munch thinks Sarah was the perfect woman. Munch says she was a good woman who did good deeds. Lexner asks what Sarah was like. Why you asking Munch? "She mentioned you twice: once on April fifteenth, and again on April nineteenth." Munch compliments Lexner's memory. Lexner's like a little kid asking for a story as he (finally!) sits and asks Munch again what Sarah was like, behind the camera. Then he pushes, "You two seemed to click, like you could have been something together." Munch doesn't bite, and turns it around on Lexner, "What about you?" Lexner's all modest and bashful, "Me and Sarah?" Munch is all sure, you bought her flowers. Lexner says they're both romantics. Freak. Munch says Lexner wanted to be with Sarah. Lexner admits this. Munch says Lexner knew what Sarah liked. Lexner says, "I wanted her to be happy. Again. Like before." Munch goes in for Creep Kill: "You picked out the flowers yourself?" The camera stays in Munch Close-up Cam mode as Lexner wigs out the entire audience with his story: "Down in Chinatown. White roses. She would have wanted that. And the box had a gold band. She would have wanted that, too. I left it out in front of her building." "But you didn't leave," Munch prods. Now we get Psycho Close-up Cam as Lexner answers, "No. I wanted to see her smile. That moment, when they open up the florist's box -- it's magic." Well, I'll certainly never look at flower deliveries the same again. Munch asks Lexner where he was when he set off the bomb. Lexner answers in the same way a proud mother tells of watching her little girl's first dance recital "The park. I watched the five o'clock news on a portable television. I watched her come home. I watched her turn on the lights like she always does [shudder], take the box up into her apartment, and then I watched for her smile." "Did she?" asks Munch. "For a moment, yes. First time all night! She didn't seem happy when she signed off. 'I'm Sarah Logan. Goodnight.' Do you know what I'd always say back to her?" He looks at Munch expectantly, like he's daring Munch to figure our his oh-so-sly ways. Munch looks at Lexner blankly and says, "Goodnight, Sarah." Lexner smiles and nods, like he's found a kindred spirit. Munch just stares at him with hate as we fade to credits.