Teleplay by Wendy West and Robert Palm, story by Robert Palm, directed by Michael Fields
Additional Cast:
Stephen Bogardus (Bill Turbit), Ian Reed Kesler (Jimmy G.), Austin Lysy (Mike D.), Terry L. Beaver (State Attorney General Morris Klein), Torquil Campbell (Christopher James), Steve Ryan (Hank), Randy Danson (Dr. Greenblatt), Lisa Tharps (ADA), Adam Grupper (Dr. Malloy), Mike Hodge (Capt. Lloral), Bill Mitchell (Judge Connolly), Myk Watford (Mr. Davies), Caren Browning (Mrs. Davies), Joanna Wolff (Girl Scout), Elaine Formicola (Mrs. James)
Reviewing the Case:
The “ew” factor that ratcheted up in episode 6, “Sophomore Jinx,” surfaces again—but the script is really about shades of gray in a seemingly black-and-white situation. Here, young Ryan Davies is found in a park strangled and assaulted. The local child molester, Bill Turbit, is fingered as a suspect by neighborhood teens, and politicians want to use him as a test case for indefinite mental incarceration of sex offenders. But Turbit isn’t their man, so Benson and Stabler instead turn to the teens that were so eager to lay the blame.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Stabler must find his life a bit creepy, because his children all seem to reflect his cases: Dickie disappears at a park for a few minutes, and his father goes ballistic. Cassidy seems to be having second thoughts about his precinct choice.
Episode 8: Stalked
Original air date: November 22, 1999
Teleplay by Roger Garrett, directed by Peter Medak
Additional Cast:
Bruce Kirkpatrick (Richard White), Allison Mackie (Kimberly Phillips), Jack Hallett (Barlow), Charles Brown (Mr. Krim), Sandra Shipley (Lila White), Ben Lin (Tong), Linda Powell (Armstrong), Bruno Gioiello (Kenneth Maggio), Nat deWolf (Mr. Cummings), Dominic Fumusa (Det. Lopez), Don Creech (Atkins), Lorca Simons (Joan Simon), Mark Alan Gordon (Det. Carlyle), Joel Rooks (Grandfather), Barbara McCulloh (Mills), Adrienne Dreiss (Louise Billings), Steve Routman (Harold Levin)
Reviewing the Case:
ADA Karen Fitzgerald is found raped and murdered in Central Park. Two convicts from her former cases pop up but only one seems viable: Richard White, who friends and coworkers say is a misogynist and a possible stalker prone to intimidating women to get what he wants. White flees, but calls Benson for a secret meeting, and she becomes concerned for her life.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Benson, who attended Sienna College, has been with the SVU for a year and a half.
Episode 9: Stocks & Bondage
Original air date: November 29, 1999 Teleplay by Michael R. Perry, directed by Constantine Makris
Additional Cast:
David Jung (Tsumuru), Maria Tucci (Anne Briggs), Geoffrey Nauffts (Frank Martin), V. Craig Heidenreich (Fred Tucker), Lourdes Benedicto (Angela Torres), Christopher McCann (David Kelp), Francesca Faridany (Amy Tanner), Sean Arbuckle (ME), Monica Steuer (Anna Faust), Sarah Zhang (Debbie Minh)
Reviewing the Case:
Financial whiz Leila Perry is hanged on her own bed, and no one’s sure at first if it’s suicide or homicide or accidental auto-erotic asphyxiation. Perry’s boss, Frank Martin, seems likable but then turns out to be the master in multiple sex-slave relationships. Tucked into this episode is money laundering through a charity, diamonds hidden in a bondage whip, and a childhood buddy of Martin’s who wants to play some of their old games. Confusing, yet ultimately exciting.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Stabler has a tattoo from his days in the Marines and he also may have a brother in the financial world. This is the first episode in the series that doesn’t include his home life. Director Makris has been with the L&O franchise since its inception as cinematographer, director, and even co-executive producer.
Episode 10: Closure
Original air date: January 7, 2000 Teleplay by Wendy West, directed by Stephen Wertimer
Additional Cast:
Tracy Pollan (Harper Anderson), Neil Maffin (Kenneth Cleary), Roger Bart (Benjy Dowe), Olivia Birkelund (Jane Tyler), Michael Kell (Sam Lardner), Michael H. Ingram (Super), Terry Serpico (Ron Johnson), Mary Sharmat (Older Woman), Liam Craig (Jeff McClintock), Keskhemnu (Det. Halligan), Rob Bartlett (Milton Schoenfeld)
Reviewing the Case:
After Harper Anderson is attacked in her apartment, Benson walks her through the hospital process as the show turns more into a near-procedural show. But the case goes cold, and then the episode jumps ahead six months when another attack with a similar M.O. occurs. Anderson doesn’t want to come in for a lineup, though she’s clearly still scarred. “Closure is a myth,” Benson tells her in a powerful speech, which convinces the victim to help. But there’s still one last heartbreak she hadn’t been expecting.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Benson and Cassidy have a one-night stand; she is dismissive of the idea that it could be more than that. Stabler catches on and says, “It happens.” Pollan, best known as the wife of Michael J. Fox, will receive an Emmy nomination for this episode and go on to reprise her role in season two, “Closure: Part 2.”
Episode 11: Bad Blood
Original air date: January 14, 2000
Teleplay by Dawn DeNoon and Lisa Marie Petersen, directed by Michael Fields
Additional Cast:
James McCaffrey (Jesse Hansen), Amy Ryan (Lorraine Hansen), Stephen Barker Turner (Steven Hale), Peter Rini (Joe Bandolini), Jerry Lanning (William H. Langdon), Leonid Citer (Andre Lasnik), Anthony Mangano (Mancini), Irene Mazeski (Cindy), Scott Robertson (Attorney Shore), Joseph Jamrog (Det. Pete), Alex Sullivan (Mikey), Michael Early (Gerald), Ken Land (Bob), Stephen Beach (Ray Gunther)
Reviewing the Case:
Seth Langdon is found beaten and splattered with seminal fluid on the roof of a residential building after a party. One guest, Ray Gunther, is a former serial rapist staying with the super—who turns out to be his brother Jesse. DNA initially points to Gunther, but final analysis indicates that it’s just someone in his bloodline. But the super is a straight-up family man, and it takes some unraveling of twisted family dysfunction to reveal what role he—and Ray—had in the killing.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Munch learns about Benson’s paternal heritage and researches the case. He comes up with a file on a Carl Kudlack, but at the end of the episode she spies the now-old man and insists he isn’t her father.
Episode 12: Russian Love Poem
Original air date: January 21, 2000
Teleplay by Eva Nagorski, directed by Rick Rosenthal
Additional Cast:
Olek Krupa (Alexander Strizhov), Nadine Stenovitch (Katya Ivanova), Christian Lincoln (Adam Harlin), Russ Anderson (Charlie Poe), Deborah Rush (Christina Harlin), Guy Ale (Russian Cousin), Vitali Baganov (Bartender), Marin Rybchevsky (Natasha), Russell B. Hunston (Andrew Harlin), Jonathan Sharp (Bull Dozer), Michael Aronov (Spa Owner), Spiro Malas (Russian Businessman), Snezhana Kushnir (Sonya Pietrovics), Allison Munn (Emily Harlin), Melissa Sagemiller (Becky Sorenson)
Reviewing the Case:
A wealthy man named Andrew Harlin is strangled in his home, dressed in bondage gear with a banana inserted . . . well, you know where. The investigation draws
SVU
detectives into the complex world of Russian immigrants that Harlan was tangled up with, particularly the flirty, mysterious, obnoxious Katya (Stabler calls her a “Russian Tammy Faye”). Once Katya is cleared, she’s wired up to catch the real murderer—until a game of Russian roulette goes awry. A confusing episode, compounded by impossible-to-distinguish Slavic names.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Munch can speak Russian, though not fluently.
Relevant Testimony:
“In the first year and a half, one episode had a guy found tied up with a banana up his ass. That was 180 degrees from where we wanted to be. It was much too sensationalist and not dealing with any issues. There was no value to it. We all remember that as the straw that broke the camel’s back. . . . But the network stuck with us and now
SVU
is a mega-hit.”—Charles Engel, executive vice-president for programming, NBC Universal
Episode 13: Disrobed
Original air date: February 4, 2000
Teleplay by Janet Tamaro, directed by David Platt
Additional Cast:
Frank Deal (ADA), Angie Everhart (Emily Waterbury), Kathryn Meisle (Gina Silver), Jack Gwaltney (Roger Silver), Bill Marcus (State Attorney General), Brenda Pressley (Carole Pinto), Lanette Ware (Sheena Reid), Judy Frank (Winnie Varella), Echo Allen (LaVonne), Otto Sanchez (Delfino Melendez), Pammy Martin (Jillian Silver), Charles Tuthill (Peter Tyler), Linda Halaska (Varella’s Secretary), Kelly De Martino (Junkie)
Reviewing the Case:
Judge Warren Virella—one of the “good guys,” according to Cragen—is found shot in the head and groin on the docks. The ensuing investigation indicates that he was on the take from abusive perps hoping to reduce their sentences—and that he was on the take in a different way from their wives, who were trying to keep those perps in jail. Detectives zero in on the wife of one abuser, who didn’t get what she wanted out of the transaction, and when her paroled husband comes back to his nest, he’s ready for vengeance. The episode is a solid effort with winding turns and unexpected near-endings.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Shattered by a recent case, Cassidy takes Cragen up on his suggestion that he move to Narcotics.
Relevant Testimony:
“Part of me wishes that I’d stayed (with
SVU
); I’d probably be a millionaire by now. I want to say, though, that when I left the show, they wrote this beautiful story for me. I had to find this girl that had been raped, and I come back to the office and (Cragen) sees how upset I am, and pours me a shot of vodka. I had to do that scene like nine or ten times, and cried my eyes out every single time. But it was all thanks to Dann (Florek)—he’s such a gifted actor and I’m eternally grateful to him for that day. Dann seems to be overlooked in the praise department.”—Dean Winters
Episode 14: Limitations
Original air date: February 11, 2000
Teleplay by Michael R. Perry, directed by Constantine Makris
Additional Cast:
Isiah Whitlock, Jr. (Robbery Division Captain), Jenny Bacon (Jennifer Neal), Judith Hawking (Victoria Kraft), Leslie Ayvazian (Trial Judge #2), Jenna Stern (ADA Kathleen Eastman), Seana Kofoed (Lois Creen), John Driver (Police Commissioner Lyle Morris), John Doman (Dan Latimer), Harvey Atkin (Judge Ridenour), Tom Bloom (Andrew Garrick), Francesca Rizzo (Ruby Mazzanti), Michael Ornstein (Harvey Denis)
Reviewing the Case:
Cragen is called on the carpet by his bosses to solve three connected-by-DNA rape cases, each with a statute of limitations about to expire. The episode is a thinly disguised (though well-made) polemic on why this legal measure can be a bad idea, and weaves in the judicial system more thoroughly than ever before. The investigation opens up old wounds for the three victims, but one has made a Quaker-like peace with her rapist and refuses to turn him over. Detectives track him down with mere hours to spare—then learn why he stopped at three rapes.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
The episode opens up during a COMSAT (computer/statistical crime mapping) meeting between the commissioner and his underlings. It’s a bit of jargon that spices up the show with realism.
Episode 15: Entitled (Part 1)
Original air date: February 18, 2000
Teleplay by Robert Palm and Wendy West, story by Dick Wolf, René Balcer, and Palm, directed by Ed Sherin
Additional Cast:
Jesse L. Martin (Det. Eddie Green), Sam Waterston (Executive ADA Jack McCoy), Steven Hill (DA Adam Schiff), Katy Selverstone (Emily Shore), Jane Alexander (Regina Mulroney), Nahanni Johnstone (Helen Katish), Josef Sommer (Patrick Rumsey), Noelle Beck (Stephanie Mulroney), Sean Cullen (Arthur Pruitt), Betsy Aidem (Mrs. Brecker), Bill Hoag (Barry Rhinehart), Sophie Hayden (Dr. Winters), Allison Krizner (Julie Templeton), Dennis Higgins (Bailiff), Patrick Tovatt (Judge Barry Abrams)
Reviewing the Case:
This is the first official two-part crossover with the Mother Ship, though the
SVU
episode holds up as a standalone. Salesman Dean Woodruff is shot in his car, and attention focuses on his former college girlfriend Stephanie Mulroney—the black sheep of the Kennedyesque Mulroney clan. But when another shooting that fits the M.O. occurs, detectives go after a man first referenced for these kinds of crimes in
L&O
’s season four “Mayhem” episode. Cragen eats crow over the premature arrest of Mulroney—but Munch has reason to believe there’s more to the case.