An automated photo-developing machine cranks out a snapshot of a smiling, adorable little boy: oh, how cute! And here's another one of the same kid, aww, and, there he is again . . . uh . . . in his undershirt . . . and . . . oh, shit. This isn't a commercial for Sears Portrait Studio, is it? Nope, it's just another child-molestation plot on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Oh yeah, and happy Mother's Day weekend!
, a photo shop clerk is flipping through the photos, showing them to Stabler and Benson. "Guy dropped these off about forty-five minutes ago," he tells the detectives. "What's his name?" asks Stabler. The clerk looks at the envelope: "Holt . . . Larry Holt." The clerk explains that he'd just recently been trained to look out for weird pervo stuff like this. Stabler holds up the last photo in the series, where the kid is sitting in his socks and skivvies. "This kid is posed. Look at the way he's looking at the camera." Benson points out that there's an open bottle of alcohol in the background, making it a clear case of endangering the welfare of a child, but that's all that they can arrest the photographer on. "We're going to have a hard time proving this is child porn," she says. She's right. All you'd have to do is stick this kid in a big flower pot, and you'd have a photo suitable for an Anne Geddes calendar. Which is creepy enough as it is. Ain't no one going to dress up my baby like a cupcake.
Anyway. Stabler is saying, "Yeah, but my gut feeling tells me this is the tip of the iceberg. Guy gets one whiff of us, he's going to clean out everything." "So let's follow him for a few weeks, and don't waft his way," says Benson. Just then the door to the shop opens and an older balding guy walks in. The clerk gives the detectives a look like, Dude! Here comes pervo! But we would have figured this out soon enough, because this Holt guy looks freakish. He's so pale and waxy and unblinking and creepy-looking you'd think he lurched straight out of the "Syphilitics Of Bedlam, 1731" diorama at Madame Tussaud's. And yet he can somehow smell the tension and suspicion in the photo shop over the scent of his own preservatives. "What's going on here?" he asks. Stabler mutters to Benson, "So much for not wafting his way," and turns to Holt. "These your photos?" Stabler asks. "Yes," says Holt. Stabler flashes his badge. Holt expresses waxen shock.
Cue the opening credits. Then the commericials. This feeling of discomfort has been brought to you by Lexus.
The window into the interrogation room shows Holt and his lawyer conferring, like some wax exhibit of Great Moments in Criminal Law. Outside, Stabler and Benson talk with Cap'n Cragen. Stabler is trying to justify the arrest to Cragen: "Because when there's one photo, there's a hundred more." Cragen doesn't think the open bottle is even enough for "EWC," which stands for Endangering the Welfare of a Child (as opposed to "EW" which is, well, the usual charge.) "You jumped the gun!" Cragen bitches. Benson maintains that they didn't have a choice, since Holt knew they were detectives, and if there are other photos, he would've gone straight home and destroyed them. "There's nothing in these photos that we could do anything about," Cragen says, and walks off. In the interrogation room background we can still see Holt moving around stiffly, like some freaky animatronic figure at DisneyWorld. It's a sick world after all.
Stabler follows Cragen down the hall to argue about the photos. Stabler thinks the kid is wearing "hot pants in the middle of winter." As if one could simply go to any Kids R Us and pick up a sexy little outfit from OshKosh's "Li'l Go-Go Boy" collection. "They're shorts," insists Cragen. Benson joins them in the station office, along with ADA -- uh, I don't know the name of this ADA guy. The actor's name is Benjamin Hickey and at one point Cragen calls him "Mark," so let's call him "ADA Hickey Mark." Anyway, Stabler argues some more about the picture: "Someone had to tell that kid to drop his chin and smile. That's not normal." "Unless you're in a beauty pageant!" says Cragen. "It's a boy." says Stabler. "How many boys do you know go JonBenet?" It turns out that Holt is a piano teacher and the kid is his student. "These are sexualized photos," says Stabler. "Pedophiles keep evidence of their sexual acts. I KNOW there are more photos in Holt's apartment." "I suppose you want a warrant based on your ESP," quips ADA Hickey. Stabler puts his fingers to his forehead like a psychic. "Yeah, I do," he says. Take off your shirt. Take off your shirt. Take off your shirt. Take off -- oop, sorry. I was transmitting a telepathic message to Stabler. Where was I? Oh yeah. Cragen and the ADA point out that this is "post-McMartin" (referring to that sex-abuse trial that lasted a gazillion years and had scanty evidence to begin with), and that a judge is likely to throw out the arrest at the arraignment. Meanwhile, Holt's lawyer, a big bag of snot in a business suit, creeps into the office. Insert Whiny Defense Lawyer dialogue here. He whines that he wants his client's house keys. Cragen wants to know why. Barrister McSnot replies sarcastically, "I need to feed the dog." A bunch of dirty photos, that is. "The dog will be fine," says Cragen. The lawyer slithers off to get the keys from the property clerk, but those wacky detectives haven't turned them in yet!
Stabler and Benson hustle down to Holt's place, where there's a uniformed cop guarding the door. Holt's grown son is trying to get the cop to let him in. "I'm sorry, these premises are secured," Stabler tells Son of Holt. "Do you have a warrant?" asks Son of Holt. "It's before a judge, and until she rules, we'll be locking this place down," Stabler explains. Son of Holt scurries off. The detectives look up at the building, which is Holt's whole place, and notice that it's a little odd that a rich white guy would move into a poor black and Hispanic neighborhood. And that the building is right across the street from an elementary school. And that the building is made entirely of gingerbread.
Just then a little boy runs down the sidewalk towards the building. Actually, he doesn't "run" so much as he "gets sucked in by the force of the Tractor Beam of Coincidence." "Whoa! Where you going?" Stabler asks the kid. "I have piano lessons," the boy says. Stabler takes out one of the photos Holt took. Hey! It's that kid!
Benson interviews the kid and his dad. She seems to have a really good rapport with kids when she manages to get out from behind that lipstick. "So, Jonathan, is Mr. Holt a good teacher?" "Yeah," says Jonathan, who says that Holt never touched him except to put his hand on his back for posture. "Look, that teacher's like that with all of his students," explains the dad, though he admits to Benson that he works late and can't be at the lessons. "So who are his students?" Benson asks the dad, who says they're mostly kids from the neighborhood. "Boys and girls?" she asks. "Girls, yuck!" says Jonathan. When Benson asks Jonathan about the pictures, he says that Holt has lots of them. "He calls them snappies," he says. "Snappies?" says Benson. "Did he ever show you these snappies?" Jonathan leans in like he's telling a secret. "No, I found them . . . I turned a page on the music stand, and a whole bunch of snappies fell out." "Are they like the snappies he took of you?" Benson asks him. "No. Those boys in the snappies didn't have any clothes on," says Jonathan. Jonathan's dad looks up as he finally catches his snap from the snappies.
Stabler and Cragen and ADA Hickey Mark are watching the interview through the two-way mirror, and they figure out that they've got to get their ass in gear on the warrant. "If we don't get into that house tonight, someone else will," says Stabler. Wonder Twins, activate! Form of: a metallic clanking noise! Chung-chung!
. . . which transports Stabler and ADA Hickey Mark to Judge Rothman's house, where they crash her dinner party so she can sign a warrant to search Holt's house. Stabler tells her to add videotapes and video equipment and film to the list that already includes photos and photographic equipment and books and magazines, all of which will probably contain horrifyingly graphic images of sick unspeakable abuse inflicted on countless victims; oh yeah, and enjoy your dinner, Judge Rothman! What are you serving, a soufflé? "It's three till nine," says ADA Hickey Mark. Judge Rothman signs the papers. "You've got your warrant," she says . . .
. . . and they phone in the news to Benson, who is outside Holt's building with Munch and Jeffries and a bunch of uniformed cops. "We got it! Open it up," she calls to the cops, and they go in. "It's quiet in here," Benson notes. Cue the keening violins going "eeeeeeeeeeeeee . . ." as they play the Unsettling Feeling theme. "What is this place?" asks Jeffries. Eeeeeeeey-yeeeeeeeee. "The lesson room," says Munch, as they walk into a room all done up like Magical Mystical Musical Piano Land, with clouds and colorful pianos painted on the wall, and stuffed animals and toys neatly arranged all over the place. Getting dry-humped by Barney the Dinosaur would be less creepy than hanging out in this room. Benson opens a chest and finds a book of . . . finger exercises. Uh, yeah. Then, underneath she finds a photo album filled with "snappies" of little boys taking off their clothes. Munch goes over to an inconspicuous-looking door, shakes the knob, and shoves it open to reveal a den with a TV/VCR, its screen glowing a diabolical blue. Munch plays a little bit of the tape in the machine. Piano music plays and then falters, then a boy's voice says, "Please don't." Man's voice: "It's okay." Boy: "No, that hurts." Munch and Benson and Jeffries look disgusted. Munch walks over to one bookcase lined with dozens of tapes, Benson goes to another, and they exchange weary looks.
At Holt's arraignment, his lawyer makes some snotty remark about how there's intense political pressure to punish child abusers. "Somehow it never seems enough," says Judge Beck, who's very familiar with the logic of these sex laws. ADA Hickey Mark tells Beck that at last count they'd found 157 tapes. Judge Beck is disgusted and denies bail. Holt has no response. Nothing cracks that paraffin exterior.
Back at the station, the SVU is watching Holt's home videos, starting with the tape that Munch found in the VCR. It shows a little kid, about six years old, sitting down at the piano bench with Holt. "This goes back thirteen years," says Munch. The boy begins playing a simple tune and Holt reaches down underneath the keyboard. "Please don't," says the kid. Jeffries looks creeped out. Stabler looks creeped out. Cragen looks befuddled and creeped out. on the tape is a lesson with an older kid who begins playing "Für Elise," which makes us all think of Schroeder on those Peanuts specials. Which makes us really depressed now. The kid on the tape grins and breaks from playing "Für Elise" into a funky blues song. "You scamp!" laughs Holt, who grabs the kid and hugs him. "What is this, Holt's greatest hits?" mutters Munch. "How many kids are there?" asks Benson. The segment of the video shows a mature teenage boy playing a moody classical piece while Holt listens on, enraptured. The boy finishes the piece and Holt stands up to him. "Please -- don't," says the boy. "You have so much talent," says Holt, who blathers some crap about technique and discipline. The boy looks uncomfortable. "Not now . . . not again . . ." Stabler leans in to get a closer look at the screen. "That's not a different kid." "It's the same person," Jeffries realizes. "Grown up," says Cragen. Last on the tape we see a young man giving a virtuoso performance while Holt stands nearby, appreciating the music with little robotic motions. "That was very good," says Holt when the young man finishes. "I felt your passion." "Thank you," says the young man, who stands up and bows stiffly while Holt applauds.
Stabler pauses the tape. ADA Hickey Mark comes in. Everyone is bummed. "There's a lot more to go through," says ADA Hickey. Cragen sighs. "There could be fifty, maybe a hundred more kids . . ." Everyone sighs and shuffles their feet. "I'll do it," says Munch. Cragen tells everyone that Holt's been arraigned on possession of indecent materials and promoting the indecency of a minor, but they've got to go back and get his computer and his date planner to get more evidence of other crimes. "Wait a minute," asks Stabler. "What about abuse?" ADA Hickey Mark explains that to press abuse charges "we need a complainant. An actual kid." "We need that kid," says Cragen, pointing at the image of the young man frozen on the TV screen.
The squad makes photos of the screen image and canvasses the neighborhood. A mom tells Benson that the guy looks familiar, and cheerily mentions that she's trying to get her kid into piano lessons with Holt. "Larry says it's never too late to develop an ear," she says. I guess, if by "ear" he means "a twisted, codependent erotic attachment." Stabler interviews a store clerk, who says that Holt's a little fruity and hints that people know he's a little pervy too, but it's none of his business. Jeffries talks to a video-store clerk who defends Holt, saying that Holt can see the potential in kids. I guess so, if by "potential" he means "sex appeal." The video-store clerk points over to a concert poster of a tuxedo-clad classical pianist named Ray Guzimano, who is smiling the kind of smile that says, "I was a damn cute kid." "Was Holt one of his teachers, too?" asks Jeffries. The video-store clerk mutters that Holt makes a difference in people's lives. "A hell of a lot more than you ever will," he says. Oh, I guess so, if by "difference" he means "WRETCHED, NIGHTMARISH TRAUMA."
Jeffries and Benson and Stabler walk down the street. "People knew," says Jeffries. Stabler guesses that the neighborhood folks are being more optimistic than they are covering up. "They're just trying to get by," adds Benson. "They face the truth, what kind of parents does that make them?" Jeffries goes over to talk to another resident and Stabler and Benson continue down the street. Stabler furrows his brow and makes his Taking It Personally Face, and sighs about his family. "Why do it at all?" wonders Benson. Stabler is giving his usual sweet-dedicated-daddy-speech when he and Benson suddenly hear piano music coming from Holt's place. Actually, what really happens is that they get dragged over to Holt's place by way of a huge grappling hook hurled by the Ninja of Coincidence, but -- well, you know.
Inside, a young man ignores the detectives until he's finished banging out the final dramatic chords of a piece in swoony prodigy fashion. "How'd you get in?" asks Stabler. "I have a set of keys," says the young man. Hey! It's that guy! From the video! He introduces himself as Evan. Stabler and Benson compliment his playing and then hold out the photo still from the video. "We're looking for this person," says Stabler. Evan looks down and rubs his temple distractedly (a trait we saw from the video) as he thinks: Hey! I'm that guy!
In the interview room, Evan is telling Benson and Stabler about the Julliard program he's auditioning for in three days. "But if I get in it'll be all thanks to Mr. Holt." Benson asks him what he means. Evan goes on and on praising how Holt's a great teacher and pushed him to practice and blah blah blah discipline, blah blah technique. "How else did he push you?" asks Stabler. "He, uh, just made me practice a lot," says Evan, not getting Stabler's drift. Benson leans forward and asks about what Holt did to Evan. "He didn't do anything to me," says Evan, confused. They try the we-know-you're-in-denial approach; Evan doesn't get it. They try the stealth questions about his sex life, and he just shakes his head saying he hasn't had sex yet. "Mr. Holt didn't . . ." says Benson. "Evan, Mr. Holt hurt you." "No. He didn't," says Evan. "He never touched you," says Stabler. "Never," says Evan. Stabler and Benson exchange "uh-oh" looks. Uh, kid, this isn't an audition for Julliard's Creatively Repressed Memory program.
Outside the interview room, Stabler confers with Cragen. "He doesn't know he was videotaped," says Stabler. Cragen thinks they should show Evan the tape. "I don't know," says Stabler. "We take away this kid's denial, are we going to stick around for the fallout?" He wonders if it's enough to get Holt on the possession and promoting charges. ADA Hickey Mark pipes up and says that even with the child endangerment charge, the maximum will only be seven years. "A jury's got to see that tape," he says. Stabler says, "After seeing that tape, I'll tell you, it's going to wreck that child's life." "Elliot," says Cragen. "He is not a child. He's an adult." He and ADA Hickey walk out. Stabler furrows his brow.
Cragen and ADA Hickey bring in a TV and VCR for Evan. Cragen sits down to Evan. "What you're going to see on this tape is going to be very hard for you. What happened on this tape is wrong, and the man who did it deserves to be punished." At MBTV Headquarters, this quote is immediately adopted as a mantra by Sars, Gwen, and all the other staffers who have to recap Kevin Williamson and David E. Kelley shows. Thanks, Cap'n Cragen! Anyway, ADA Hickey tells Evan that they need the help of " the other person on this tape." They start the creepy video of Holt's Perversions: The Early Years. Evan watches and then stiffens up. "What's this?" he asks nervously. On the tape, the touchy-feely stuff is about to begin. Evan begins fidgeting in his chair and starts whimpering. "No." He gets up and staggers backward into the corner of the room, where he starts sobbing. "Okay, son, it's all right," says Cragen, moving to comfort him. Evan slumps against the wall crying. Whoa. Really, really sucks to be him. Stabler bursts into the room angrily.
Okay, I'm thinking that it might not be such a hot idea to run a Circuit City commercial for video equipment. featuring a priest fantasizing about videotaping his altar boys -- you know?
Benson and Stabler walk down the street to a building and speculate how Holt must have won over the neighborhood kids. "That's exactly what these kids -- and Evan -- need. Somebody to love them," figures Benson. "Be a part of his world," says Stabler. "Rich, educated," says Benson. "White," adds Stabler. They ring the buzzer of a decidedly cruddy-looking door. Inside, they talk with Evan's mom, a surly, chain-smoking woman in a bathrobe. "What'd he do?" she asks. Nothing, they tell her. "So why you want to talk to him?" she asks. Stabler tells her it has to do with her son's piano playing. Evan's mom narrows her eyes. "If you're from that fancy school you better talk to my son 'bout who's going to pay for this!" she snarls, as she puts out her cig. Hey, lady, did you never watch Fame? Fine, then -- no "My Child is an Honor Student" bumper sticker for you! Evan shows them into the kitchen and shuts the door. "How was the audition?" asks Stabler. Evan shrugs and smiles as if to say it went okay. "Uh, my mom," he mumbles, embarrassed. "Families," says Stabler. Evan sheepishly gestures around the apartment -- decorated in Squalor Moderne -- and says that it's not nice like Holt's place. "I guess there's a price for everything, huh?" he says. Benson says Holt needs to pay a price, too. "That's why we need you to tell us who these kids are," says Benson, holding out Holt's album of snappies. "Holt's my teacher," says Evan. "He cares about me a lot. I mean, he even bought me a coat one year." Stabler tries to convince him: "If you don't help us, Holt goes right back to giving those lessons." Evan says he's no Ray Guzimano. "Do you know how old he was when his first CD came out? Seventeen." "So what?" asks Stabler. Evan's twenty-one. "Some prodigy," Evan snorts. "Julliard took in a forty-one-year-old flute player last year," says Benson. "It's not too late." Finally Evan begins looking through the album, reminiscing like it's the Special Victims Class of '92 Yearbook. "That's Cesare," he says, pointing to one kid. "Know where he is? Jail." He turns a page. "That's Ricky, he's a junkie. And," he points to another set of photos, "ah, that's Tony. Know where he is? Nobody does. And me? You know, I still live here. But that's okay."
The squad discusses the case. Holt doesn't have a computer or any other kinds of evidence of abuse. Jeffries says the other neighborhood kids aren't talking. ADA Hickey Mark says that they've started indicting Holt for his abusing Evan. "How many counts?" asks Cragen. "Just two," says ADA Hickey. "What?" says Jeffries, incredulous. Hickey explains that they can only go back five years, and although the law was changed in '96, they can't prosecute anything that happened before then. Goddammit, isn't there supposed to be a warranty for that childhood innocence? Any sexual activity before '96 can't be admitted, anything after Evan's seventeenth birthday is considered consensual, so it turns out they have to base the charges on only one year of abuse. "And we may not have even that," says Stabler, who says that Evan is afraid of betraying Holt. "So, talk to the other kids Evan knew," says Cragen.
Benson talks to Ricky the Junkie, who tells her that Holt never did anything to him; mostly, though, he shivers and rocks back and forth and sucks on a cigarette butt and in general puts on a truly junk-tastic performance. Benson tries to get him to come in someplace warm. "Holt's house was warm," he says. "Door was always unlocked. You could go inside, get warm, eat a meal . . . a sugar cookie." Shiver, shiver. "Miss that part," he says. Okay, we get it: he turned to smack to try and get that sugar-cookie feeling back. He scurries off to see if he can score some crank or some Nilla wafer.
Meanwhile Jeffries stops by the classy digs of Ray Guzimano. A chung-chung! clanks like a seriously out-of-tune piano, apparently offending Guzimano's sensibilities so much he refuses to testify against Holt.
Elsewhere, Stabler strikes out with Holt's son. "Why won't you talk to me?" asks Stabler. "Because he's my father," says Holt's son. Door slams. Closed Captioning notes, "[Bolt locks]." Heh. Closed Captioning knows how to stick it to ya with the details.
At the cop shop, Munch is slumped face-down on his desk while static snow plays on the TV/VCR. Dude, I know how he feels. ["Mmmmnpsfffblt." -- Sars] "You still here?" asks Cragen. Munch lifts his head: "Yeah." Cragen asks if he can sleep. "When I close my eyes I see those tapes, every frame," says Munch. It must be like when I close my eyes and I see Dawnie, and Sam, and Jesse's freakish up-dos. But, look, I'm not ready to talk about it yet, okay? "Go home, John," Cragen tells him. Munch snorts: "Back to dead people. Back to Homicide. It's much more clear cut, simple." And CANCELLED. "Back to photographs," says Cragen, "bodies bent, broken." Munch: "Bodies that don't talk back at you, look at you." Cragen pointed out that Munch retired in Baltimore but a few months later found himself with the SVU. "This time I'll do a better job of quitting," says Munch. "Oh yeah, running's good," quips Cragen. Munch sighs, "I don't need this." Uh, yeah you do, because The Beat just got cancelled, too, pal. "Go home," says Cragen. "Take care of yourself." Munch sighs again. "I got two more tapes to watch."
At the Stabler Than Thou Household, Stabler and Dickie and Darling Daughter #3 are reading "Twas the night before Christmas" aloud. "Are our stockings going to be filled tonight?" asks Dickie. Stabler is trying to explain that Christmas comes just once a year, "and now it's February." Ooh, but every night with Big Daddy Stabler is Christmas! I'd like to get his stocking stuffer. Oh man, I'm going to hell for thinking dirty thoughts in front of his kids. Just then his pager goes off. "Give me the phone, honey," he says to Darling Daughter #3, dialing while the rugrats still cling to him and beg for presents. Apparently Evan paged him and he's upset about something. "Just stay right there, and I'll be there as soon as I can," Stabler says.
And he goes chung-chung! over to Pauly's Diner. "My mom threw me out," says Evan. "She said she didn't want some faggot living at her place. I didn't know who else to call." "It's okay," says Stabler. "I wish everything wasn't always 'okay,'" complains Evan. Stabler asks how his dishwashing job is going. "The water cracks my hands," says Evan. "So you quit?" asks Stabler. Evan admits he was fired. Neither one of them says anything for a minute, and finally Evan says, "I think I want to testify." Stabler nods. "That's good. Real good." Evan thinks for a moment. "You think I'm gay?" he asks Stabler. "I don't know," says Stabler. "It's not for me to say." Evan says he's never had a girlfriend. "Well, maybe you don't know yet. It's not something you choose. Besides, there's a big difference between homosexuality and pedophilia," says Stabler. "Which is what?" asks Evan. "Which is . . . homosexuality is none of my business," Stabler answers. "What was done to you --" "I was forced," says Evan. "Is that what you're trying to say?" "Yeah," says Stabler. "Only, um . . . why didn't you stop taking those lessons?" "I didn't think I had any choice," says Evan. Stabler lets this sink in. "Well, whatever person you choose should be your choice. And my guess is, when you're ready to see someone that way, you will. It'll mean something to you, it'll come from you, and it won't be about what was done to you." "And it won't be my fault?" Evan wonders. "Fault?" Stabler shakes his head. "It's supposed to be about love." Evan looks at him and nods slowly. Um, Stabler? We all choose you. You rock.
It's late night back at the Stabler And More Well-Adjusted Than Yours Family home. Stabler slams the lid on the keyboard of the piano, that instrument of perversion, and latches it. He's pissed. You'll remember a few episodes back to "Chat Room," LINKIT when he put a lock on the household computer to keep out the pervs. Probably season will bring similar Taking It Personally home-protection measures at the Stabler Household, with Stabler angrily deflating Dickie's soccer ball when a pedophile soccer coach is on the loose; furiously unplugging the blender when the Milkshake Pervert strikes, et cetera. "Elliot," says Kathy The Light of His Life Wife, who appears in the doorway. "Are you all right?" Stabler grunts, "Yeah," and goes over to the couch with a beer. "What's going on at work?" asks Light of His Life. "Nothing," he says, though by his voice it's clear that his Proverbial Boxer Shorts Of Personal Issues are giving him one hell of a wedgie right now. "You talk to Olivia about it?" she asks. "She's my partner," says Stabler, matter-of-factly. They both stare into space and have a low domestic moment.
At the station, Stabler and ADA Hickey Mark are discussing how they're preparing Evan to testify. ADA Hickey says he's been rehearsing the testimony with Evan. "You know the way he answers questions -- almost as if he wanted to say the right answer, as if there were a right answer. Just like a kid." "He is," says Stabler. "Emotionally, sexually -- this kid shut down at eight years of age." They bring Evan into an empty courtroom for a "courtroom prep," where Evan gets to spin around in the judge's chair and pound the gavel. "Cool!" I'm totally jealous. "Okay, that's enough, Wapner," says Stabler. Aw, Stabler, I wanted to play Doug Llewellyn! ADA Hickey shows Evan the witness stand. "When you're up, here, Evan, I want you to answer the questions, just like we practiced." "What about when his lawyer asks me questions?" asks Evan. "Just answer the questions. Everything else ignore," advises ADA Hickey. "Just hear music," says Evan, grinning. In his mind plays the People's Court theme: wakkachikka wakkachikka da-dum-dum-DUMMMM!
At the SVU offices, Stabler comes in and tosses his sandwich on his desk. Munch is sitting pensively at his desk across the room. "Do you think it's a conscious choice?" he asks Stabler. "What, Holt?" asks Stabler. "What are you talking about?" "Yeah, Holt -- what makes a perp a perp?" says Munch. "Who cares," says Stabler. Munch asks Stabler if he thinks Holt was abused. "It's just another excuse as far as I'm concerned," is Stabler's answer, and he says that all he cares about are the kids. Munch clearly has an issues wedgie of his own, and Stabler asks him what's wrong. Munch gets up and walks over to Stabler's desk. "I got something to show you," he says.
It's another video from Magical Mystical Musical Piano Land. The little kid Jonathan is hesitantly playing "The Entertainer," the one song that brings back everyone's memories of piano-lesson trauma. This time it's Evan who comes and sits down on the bench beside him and coaches him. Uh-oh. Stabler looks down at the screen with his I Smell Trouble Or Maybe A Fart expression. It's definitely trouble this time. On the video, Holt's voice comes from off-screen. "No, no, Evan -- he's having trouble with the music." Jonathan stops playing while Holt steps into the frame with his creepy-ass self and stands to Evan. "He doesn't feel it," says Holt. "He's ready to start learning. He's ready," he says, like he's Obi-Wan Pervobi. He puts his hand on Evan's shoulder and Evan rubs his left temple in his nervous gesture. Stabler sits down, looking sick. On the screen Holt is sitting back and asking Evan, "Can you show him?" Evan looks at PervMaster Holt for a minute and then turns back to the keyboard. We see Stabler's reaction as we hear "The Entertainer" start up again and then stop; we hear Jonathan's voice asking, "What are you doing?" "Just keep playing," whispers Evan's voice, and "The Entertainer" continues, clunkier than ever. Stabler shakes his head and flexes the indignation muscles in his jaw.
The Unit holds a pow-wow in Cragen's office. Jeffries thinks Evan's been through enough already. "You were the one who was telling Evan everything's going to be okay," she says to Benson. "It is okay," Benson says defensively, "if he's the victim and not the abuser." "He's both," says Munch. Cragen points out that they'll be responsible if Evan abuses another kid. "The same laws that bind Holt bind Evan, too," he sighs, as he dials the phone and tells ADA Hickey to get his legal ass down to the station.
Interrogation room. Evan is telling his side to Stabler: "Larry said that Jonathan didn't feel the music. He said, 'How can you play a piece about longing when you haven't felt that.'" Stabler is way pissed. "Jonathan," he hisses, "was playing 'The Entertainer.' " Amen, Stabler. The only thing I ever felt when I had to play that goddamn song was a longing to be watching The Banana Splits instead. "It's the way I learned how to play," says Evan. Stabler asks him how many times it happened. "Once. That's it," says Evan. "Don't lie to me," says Stabler. "That was the only time," Evan replies, slowly. Cragen jumps in: "You committed a crime." "I deserve to be punished," says Evan. He still wants to testify against Holt, though. Cragen tells him he's being arraigned this afternoon. "Am I going to jail?" asks Evan. "We probably could make a deal," says Cragen. Storm clouds appear over Stabler's head.
Now it's time for L & O Ethics Agitprop. My favorite segment! In the hallway, Stabler pouts about the deal and Cragen tries to reason with him. "We watched that boy on tape . . . a victim being subjected to things no child should ever should have to suffer though." "Who are you talking about?" says Stabler, "Jonathan or Evan?" "Point taken, but I was talking about Evan," replies Cragen. "He was abused and then he turns around and does it." "Some excuse," says Stabler. Cragen points out that the abuse-begets-abuse argument has been used by countless defense lawyers, "but in this case, it also happens to be true." "He had a choice," insists Stabler. "Evan the adult had a choice, and he committed a crime, and we're cops and we'll deal with that," says Cragen. "But do you know what's eating you? It's Evan the little boy. The boy on the tape. What choice did he have?" Stabler thinks about this, and I guess we're all supposed to, too.
Judge Beck sets Evan's bail at $25,000. Evan's lawyer and ADA Hickey Mark approach the bench and tell Beck that Evan's the key witness in the Holt case. "The stress of spending the night in jail will probably affect his testimony," ADA Hickey points out. Beck agrees: "Until the testimony is completed, I'll release Evan into the custody of the people."
The custody of the people happens to be a room at the Starland Hotel with Stabler. Mmm, this is my kind of people! But the tension in the room is as thick as Stabler's biceps. "You hate me, don't you?" says Evan. "I don't hate you," says Stabler, unconvincingly. Evan sits down and tries to bring up the conversation at the diner. "That was before," Stabler cuts in. Finally he turns to face Evan. "Look, what happened to you is terrible. I look at you and I try seeing that little child being abused. Only now, um . . ." "Only now you see an abuser," Evan finishes for him. "Yeah, I do," says Stabler. "I see a guy that if you ever came near my child . . ." he points accusingly at Evan. Evan gets it. Stabler goes back to unpacking his bag and finds Twas the Night Before Christmas. He tosses it on the bed. "My kid must've put that in there. He's determined to make Christmas come every night." Evan picks up the book and opens it and begins reading it out loud. "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house." Stabler grabs it from him. "Don't!" he says. He Takes It So Personally that he's gotten it monogrammed. Evan gets the point some more. So do we, okay?
Evan sits on the witness stand and tells the courtroom how Holt would sit to him on the piano bench and put his hand on his back for posture. Holt is sitting all dressed up at the defense table, which is to say that somebody stuck his waxwork head on a standard waxwork body with a business suit stapled to it and then propped the whole thing up in a chair. "Evan, did he ever touch you anywhere else?" asks ADA Hickey. There's a long pause as Evan looks across and meets Holt's gaze. Stabler gives a meaningful look too. "Yes," Evan says finally. Thanks to the efforts of the L & O special-effects crew, Holt's expression actually changes slightly.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge asks Holt if he'd like to say anything, since he's never spoken during the trial. Holt just stands there. Obviously, the show's producers weren't able to afford to get the HoltBot's voice dubbed for the remainder of the ep. The judge points out that she sees no evidence of remorse from him. "Note by note, you have eroded the hopes of every child in your charge. You stole from them. You stole from this community." She sentences him to 115 years in prison, the maximum the law allows. Bang! goes the gavel. "Will he really be in prison that long?" asks Evan. ADA Hickey points out that he'll be eligible for parole in 38 years. "But he's almost sixty," says Evan. "Yeah, isn't math wonderful," says the ADA. The bailiff walks Holt out of the courtroom and Holt's head swivels slowly, just like a ventriloquist's dummy's, and flashes Evan a creepy smile with his soapy teeth. Eeeeeew.
Back at the station, little Jonathan's father is supremely pissed at the prospect of Evan getting nothing but probation. "That son of a bitch goes free!" he says, even though they point out that everything goes back to Holt. "I want that other kid to go to trial," he says. "Sir," says Cragen, "isn't the most important thing be that these men never be allowed to do anything like this ever again?" "That's not justice. It's special laws for special people!" growls Jonathan's dad. ADA Hickey points out that it's "almost a done deal." "Then you undo it," says Jonathan's dad, who threatens to call the press. "I'm going to tell them how certain child molesters are worth your time and how certain other ones aren't."
Interrogation room. Evan is dressed to go to trial. He hands Stabler an unopened letter. "Letter from Julliard," he says. Stabler weighs the thick envelope in his hand. "Congratulations," he says. Evan stares out the window as ADA Hickey tells him that the judge won't cut a probation deal, so he will probably have to serve the maximum sentence of three years. Evan's lawyer points out that just by going to trial they'll probably wind up with probation anyway, so he wants to withdraw the guilty plea. ADA Hickey nods. "No," says Evan, "Jonathan can't go through that." "But you'll be in jail for three years," says his lawyer. Evan shakes his head. "Look, I don't know what made Holt the way he is. But I do know why I am the way I am, and it stops here. Now." He takes a deep breath.
Actually, it stops week, when Pooh recaps the season finale, starring Andrew McCarthy as the Evil Perv! Plus Kim Cattrall as his Special Mannequin Victim!