A blue minivan goes careening down the busy New York streets, managing to elude police and only stopping when it rams into a parked vehicle. The driver's door opens, and it's a little kid. "What's your problem?" he asks the cops, who are pointing their guns at him. Come on! Take him out!
The new ADA, Kim Greylek, doesn't exactly get the red carpet rolled out for her, because the SVU detectives prefer their judicial colleagues to play fast and loose with evidence disclosure rules, I suppose. Looks like Fin's transfer request hasn't come to anything yet, either. Anyway, they get the report on the 7-year-old joy rider, Christopher Ryan, who said he had to escape his foster parents because they were abusing him.
After a doctor says there was no bruising found on Christopher's body, foster parents Gwen and Noah Sibery are chagrined to find out they're still under suspicion. Noah Sibery (Luke Perry, wisely declining to take part in the somehow-even-worse-than-the-original ) is a former neo-punk singer turned ecological luxury clothing merchant? I guess? Christopher has been a real handful ever since they took him in, and while Noah is a fountain of serenity and forgiveness, Gwen wants to give the little Tasmanian devil back -- she's stuck at home with the kid while Noah gets to continue the wining-and-dining-clients lifestyle. Christopher eventually cops to making up the abuse, done mostly out of hatred for their stupid "vegetable-tarian" food, but says he did it because he's not allowed to talk about the "other thing," which is Gwen taking him to a hotel where Christopher takes his clothes off to have his picture taken.
It's not kiddie porn, but legal (if poorly monitored) drug testing at a crappy hotel (cheap lease) where a desperate Gwen was taking Christopher for ADHD drugs. Fin's grouchy to get paired up with Elliott, who takes no notice because he's busy making calls about his stolen, maxed-out credit card. Rat bastard! Elliott does get shirty with the new ADA because she likes to tag along while the detectives do the leg work.
Noah's furious with Gwen, but they're taking Christopher home (they'll be somewhat delayed because Christopher pushes all the buttons in the elevator). Olivia hasn't been getting much sleep, and the flashbacks to her being assaulted when she went undercover at the prison give an idea why. And speaking of rape, Christopher's caseworker finally shows up with the kid's file; Olivia's shocked to see Christopher's birth mother is Caitlyn Ryan (Sara Gilbert), a rape victim from an old case of hers.
Caitlyn gave Christopher up because the rape shattered her and she couldn't function. She had originally said Christopher was at a sleepover when the rape happened, but it turns out he was there, and he provides some details that places Caitlyn's rape in a group with a similar pattern: all single mothers with young sons. [Although they knew she was a single mother when the rape happened, so I'm not sure why Christopher was the breakthrough they needed. - Zach]
And there's more: Caitlyn met Gwen at a rape survivor's group, where she told Gwen the trouble she was having raising Christopher. Gwen told Noah, and he likes to fix things, he tells Olivia. That's how he met Gwen, in fact; he changed her locks after she was raped, and then they fell in love.
Armed with the new information, the detectives re-interview the victims. Two of them, including Caitlyn, were stood up for a coffee date by a "Dave Jones" or "Danny Jones," who they met through an online dating service. A third victim, though, never used it, she tells Elliott and Olivia at the upscale clothing boutique where she works -- which just happens to carry The Green Line, Noah and Gwen's clothing label. And Dave and Danny Jones just happen to be the names of Noah's former bandmates in his old punk band. Waaaaait... they're not suggesting that the biggest former guest star is going to turn out to be the perp?
Since the rapist wore a mask, the three victims try to pick him out from a voice lineup. Caitlyn is the only one of the three to pick out Noah, although she doesn't know it's him, at least not at first. But in one of those "victim accidentally bumps into her attacker" situations, she realizes Noah did it. The SVU detectives really need to be WAAAAY more careful about that.
Christopher's not going home with the Siberts any time soon, so Noah gives Christopher a big sloppy kiss. Bad idea, because the detectives scrape off a DNA sample, even though the rapist didn't leave any DNA behind. But you never know, right? And in a twist that only a SVU-watching novice wouldn't see coming, the DNA does match up with yet one more victim: Gwen herself.
Gwen doesn't believe it, until Noah tries to get her to admit that the sex was consensual. So she knees him in the balls. The ADA magically gets him to plead to the max by threatening to tack on an extra 25 years because targeting a specific group of people could constitute a hate crime. Other plots that need wrapping up: the spending spree on Elliott's credit card? Daughter Kathleen and her new boyfriend, heretofore unknown to Elliott. And Fin's transfer? The officer in charge's ex-wife had a little thing for Fin. So he's not going anywhere. Kim wants to go out for a drink to celebrate the only good news the unit has (that would be putting Luke Perry in jail), but Olivia's not there.
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She's in counseling, because almost getting raped in the prison has really messed with her head. As usual, she's taking it pers-- oh, well, I suppose it's entirely appropriate in this case.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then read our interview with guest-stars Luke and Sara in the Telefile!
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