Original air date: November 4, 2003
Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson, directed by David Platt
Additional Cast:
Shirley Jones (Felicity Bradshaw), Mariette Hartley (Lorna Scarry), Josie Bissett (Jennifer Fulton), Callie Thorne (Nikki Staines), Beverly D’Angelo (Rebecca Balthus), Ricky Aiello (Craig Fulton), Victor Rasuk (Leon Ardilles), Lenka Peterson (Melanie Dunne), Elain R. Graham (Judge Sara Henning), Fred Burrell (Judge Howie Rebard), Ali Farahnakjan (Dr. Rohit Mehta), Victoria Clark (Margaret Melia), Chris Bachand (Joshua Fulton), Tod Engle (Tom Longleat), Kathrine Roberts (Lily Longleat)
Reviewing the Case:
This focus on a woman who insists on boozing while pregnant has a whiff of
Afterschool Special
to it. But the fight over whether the expectant mother—a chronic drinker, if not full-blown alcoholic—should be locked up in a treatment facility to ensure her baby’s health is gripping and timely. The show hits both sides of the fetal life debate perfectly.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Beverly D’Angelo returns as the sassiest Legal Aid lawyer since Lorraine Toussaint’s Shambala Greene (on many a
Law & Order
episode).
Episode 99: Abomination
Original air date: November 11, 2003
Teleplay by Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters, directed by Alex Zakrzewski
Additional Cast:
George Segal (Dr. Roger Tate), Jonathan Tucker (Ian Tate), Daphne Zuniga (Emma Dishell), Michael Boatman (Dave Seaver), David Lipman (Judge Arthur Cohen), Peter McRobbie (Judge Walter Bradley), James Otis (Rev. Mitchell Shaw), Tim Bohn (Dr. Phil Sona), Jeffrey Ware (Prof. Waldron), Don Stephenson (Derek Singer), Andrea Cirie (Kelly Singer), Alison Fraser (Dr. Elizabeth Cahill), Kathleen Lancaster (Sandy Klein), Alice Schaerer (Laura Klein)
Reviewing the Case:
Irony doesn’t ride in subtly on
SVU
, so the minute a professor whose life’s work involves proving homosexuality is all in the minds of damaged individuals shows up, you know there’s a reckoning at hand. Sure his son is gay—but which of them is to blame when another gay man turns up naked after having sex, wrapped in a blanket and dumped on a street corner?
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Novak rides a bike to work. Kudos to director of photography Geoffrey Erb and director Zakrzewski for a slick shot through a damaged wall to capture the cops’ reactions while evidence is located.
Episode 100: Control
Original air date: November 18, 2003
Teleplay by Neal Baer, story by Dick Wolf, directed by Ted Kotcheff
Additional Cast:
Jacqueline Bisset (Juliette Barclay), Samantha Mathis (Hilary Barclay), David Thornton (Lionel Granger), Eddie Korbich (Nick Petracho), Austin Pendleton (Horace Gorman), Mickey Hargitay (Michael), Joseph McKenna (Samuel), Ken Forman (Larry Delay), Linda Powell (Lauren White)
Reviewing the Case:
Four years ago, Benson dismissed as too incredible the report by a junkie named Hilary Barclay that she’d been held in a dungeon and raped, but when detectives investigate the castration of an older man on a subway platform, they learn she wasn’t lying. The older man turned out to be the jailer of the girls, and when he turns up dead, fingers point at Barclay, her estranged mother—and even at Benson.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
For this major-milestone 100
th
episode, the big guns of Baer, Kotcheff, and Wolf come out in force for a real thriller. Hargitay’s scenes, in which she doubts her judgment, are certainly Emmy-worthy, and her father Mickey makes his sole appearance on the show in the teaser.
Relevant Testimony:
“Neal (Baer) just said, ‘We’re going to use your dad,’ which for me was such a huge gift—and even more so in hindsight (Mickey Hargitay died in September, 2006).”—Mariska Hargitay
Episode 101: Shaken
Original air date: November 25, 2003
Teleplay by Amanda Green, directed by Constantine Makris
Additional Cast:
Beverly D’Angelo (Rebecca Balthus), Olga Merediz (Veronica Nash), Nicole Leach (Sarah Rendell), Julie White (Dr. Anne Morella), Cynthia Ettinger (Evelyn Prichard), Shaun Powell (Ian Felson), Richard Shoberg (Drew Farmer), Cynthia Darlow (Frances Clegg), Marty Grabstein (Ronny Ickles), George R. Sheffey (Dennis Papillion)
Reviewing the Case:
The episode is post-Louise Woodward/ pre-Terri Schiavo, but the subject covers both real-life stories as a nanny and then a mother undergo scrutiny for injuries sustained to a toddler. At first, it seems the guilty will get off thanks to a hung jury, but Stabler undertakes a mission to ensure that justice is done—even if that means removing the brain-dead baby from life support.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Meloni has a heartfelt scene in which Stabler regrets smacking his child once; he also reveals that he served in the Marines when his daughter Maureen was a toddler.
Relevant Testimony:
“This episode really affected me and it really affected Chris (Meloni). There’s a scene in a bar where (Cragen) has to pick up (Stabler) . . . and he tells the story where he smacked his kid once. It was some of the most emotional stuff Chris has done, and on a personal level. In those moments you have Elliot Stabler and Chris Meloni and you don’t know where the line is—and when it mixes like that, that’s very ethereal.”—Dann Florek
Episode 102: Escape
Original air date: December 2, 2003
Teleplay by Barbie Kligman, directed by Jean de Segonzac
Additional Cast:
Fionnula Flanagan (Sheila Baxter), Nancy Allen (Carin Healy), Craig Bierko (Andy Eckerson), Milo Ventimiglia (Lee Healy), Michael Kenneth Williams (Double D Gamble), Stephen Lang (Mike Baxter), Jack Noseworthy (Jeremy), Michael McCormick (Isaac Sage), Tana Sarntinoranont (Bret Kim), Andrew Steinmetz (Danny Healy), Lou Cantres (Albert Martinez)
Reviewing the Case:
The destination may not always be clear on some episodes, but the journey is thrilling. Such is the case here, where an escaped convict blamed for raping his step-son drags the alleged victim, Benson, and his mother into his alibis. A sniper bullet knocks him down (though not out), forcing everyone to realize that this crime may have had more than one victim.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Fionnula Flanagan picked up an Emmy in 1976 for
Rich Man, Poor Man
; Nancy Allen has appeared in multiple films directed by her ex-husband, Brian DePalma; Milo Ventimiglia has recently been seen as a regular on NBC’s
Heroes.
Episode 103: Brotherhood
Original air date: January 6, 2004
Teleplay by Jose Molina, directed by Jean de Segonzac
Additional Cast:
Gary Cole (Xander Henry), Serena Williams (Chloe Spiers), David Lipman (Judge Arthur Cohen), Craig Wroe (James Woodrow), Ned Eisenberg (Roger Kressler), Toby Moore (Rob Sweeney), Noah Fleiss (Nathan Angeli), Pell James (Alicia Morley), Elden Henson (Will Caray), Clayton LeBouef (Vernon Spiers), (Tyler Henry)
Reviewing the Case:
When a fraternity brother who taped his conquests for streaming on the Web turns up anally raped, detectives question his former pledges—and then examine serious rot in the fraternity itself. A ledger and a sociopath frat brother provide easy mapping points for the script, but when the dead student’s father gets his day in court, everything changes.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Veteran character actor Gary Cole is perfectly cast as the grieving father who seems as slippery as they come, then becomes to be the prosecution’s best chance at winning the case.
Episode 104: Hate
Original air date: January 13, 2004
Teleplay by Robert Nathan, directed by David Platt
Additional Cast:
Barry Bostwick (Oliver Gates), Linda Emond (Dr. Emily Sopher), Matt Salinger (Seth Webster), Reynaldo Rosales (Sean Webster), James Rana (Al-Shani Elbisi), Donnie Keshawarz (Joshua Feldman), Lorraine Serabain (Jazlyn Elbisi), Annie Chadwick (Eleanor Webster), Peter Marx (David Schwartz), Joshua Annex (James Assad), Jeff Skowron (Jason Mullavy), Sean Moran (Ahmet Elbisi)
Reviewing the Case:
A racist young man violates his victims and torches them, motivated by their ethnicity. His defense team says he’s genetically programmed to hate Arabs, an idea that gets a hearing at trial—but the script tosses in a gotcha that nullifies the argument in the final minutes. That’s a shame, because few series do controversial subjects better than
SVU
, and the idea of genetic hatred is one that deserves a fuller bashing than it gets here.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
A scene in which Stabler, Benson, and Tutuola face off with the perp is a classic how-to in provoking a confession; all three actors are pitch-perfect. Revealed: Stabler was a student at the Sisters of Mercy parochial school before going into the Marines, then returned to attend night school to earn his B.A. His father was a cop, and he has two sisters and three brothers.
Relevant Testimony:
“The link between genetics and specific behaviors is an ongoing debate in American medicine. The legal system has no simple solution for dealing with these issues. At one far end of the spectrum, some would argue that the insanity plea is for the most part meaningless. Far at the other end, the argument is that whether we define you as insane or not, this should have no effect on how the criminal justice system treats you. So the next question is: what’s the appropriate punishment? In ‘Hate’ any answer a jury gave would have seemed definitive. Instead, we ended with extenuating circumstances, leaving each person in the audience to answer for themselves open questions for which there are no definitive answers.”—Robert Nathan
Episode 105: Ritual
Original air date: February 3, 2004
Teleplay by Ruth Fletcher Gage and Christos N. Gage, directed by Ed Bianchi
Additional Cast:
Michael Emerson (Allan Shaye), Barry Shabaka Henley (Asante Odufemi), Trini Alvarado (Maggie Shaye), Sullivan Walker (Martin Bosa), Malika Samuel (Na’imah Haruna), Susan Blommaert (Judge Rebecca Steinman), Erika Alexander (Kema Mabuda), Diane Kagan (Marian Laymon), Abe Alvarez (Roberto Martinez), Bill Cohen (Agent Bruce Bigelow), Susan Willis (Rose Kern)
Reviewing the Case:
An obscure religious ritual seems to blame when a boy is found dismembered and bloodless in a clearing, but as detectives dig deeper they come across importers who bring children over from Africa, and the well-off white people who buy them. It’s a stomach-turning episode that’s apparently based on all-too-real events.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Tutuola has a working knowledge of the Santeria cult thanks to some of his informants in Narcotics. Is there anything someone can’t learn while working the drug beat?
Episode 106: Families
Original air date: February 10, 2004
Teleplay by Jonathan Greene, directed by Constantine Makris
Additional Cast:
Jane Seymour (Debra Connor), Helen Slater (Susan Coyle), Michael Boatman (Dave Seaver), Patrick Flueger (Aidan Connor), Geoffrey Nauffts (Steve Abruzzo), Tom Mason (Jason Connor), Spencer Treat Clark (Brian Coyle), Michael Mulheren (Judge Harrison Taylor), Stefanie Nava (Lisa Faber), Jenna Gavigan (Shannon Coyle)
Reviewing the Case:
A pregnant teen is killed, a situation made even more horrific when it turns out the child would have been the product of an ill-defined incestuous relationship. But then things get really weird when a father who has been living a double life is found shot in his car, and a mother makes plans to flee to Cuba. Viewers will need a scorecard to keep track of it all (and a good family tree chart might help) but sticking with this one is worth the hassle.
Noteworthy Discoveries:
Nothing says fun casting like pitting Supergirl (Helen Slater played the Woman of Steel in a 1984 film) against Dr. Quinn (Jane Seymour, who received two Emmy nominations for the titular role she played in
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, on
CBS from 1993-1998).
Episode 107: Home
Original air date: February 17, 2004
Teleplay by Amanda Green, directed by Rick Wallace
Additional Cast:
Dixie Carter (Denise Brockmorton), Diane Venora (Marilyn Nesbit), Lauren Velez (Stephanie Jameau), Isabel Gillies (Kathy Stabler), Jeffrey Scaperrotta (Dickie Stabler), Larry Fleischman (Steve Krauss), Ebbe Bassey (Iris Jordan), Jennifer Piech (Poppy Conton), Laura Lehman (Polly Kester), Kevin Thoms (Daniel Nesbit), Marceline Hugot (Leslie Price), Joseph Cross (Adam Nesbit), Rose Arrick (Hazel Crane), Harvey Atkin (Judge Alan Ridenour), Beth Ehlers (Nancy Kester), Jesse Schwartz (Jacob Nesbit)