Stephanie March Talks Of Alex Cabot’s Return to Law & Order SVU

Stephanie March is scheduled to return to Law & Order SVU as Alex Cabot on March 10, 2009. Stephanie and producer Neal Baer have been making the rounds for interviews. Here are excerpts from two, with links to the full interviews.

Here’s the first except from the NY Daily News:

Now that Stephanie March is back in the role of Alexandra (Alex) Cabot on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," fans will get some long-awaited answers to what exactly happened to her character.

March left the show in 2003, when Alex was shot and placed in the witness protection program. The character briefly reemerged shortly after to testify against her shooter and again in 2006 as part of NBC's short-lived series "Conviction."

But because March was added to the "Conviction" cast during production and the show was canceled after one season, the writers never had the chance to explain how she came to be back in New York and out of protection.

"Stephanie has a great scene with Mariska [Hargitay], Chris [Elliott], Ice-T and [Richard] Belzer where all of [the questions] definitely come up," "SVU" executive producer Neal Baer told reporters yesterday. "We definitely talk about witness protection, we definitely talk about the past, and it's quite a moving scene."

"Hopefully, it will complete a circle and make sense to the audience," added March. "This will be nice and neat."

(NY Daily News full interview here.)


Here is the second, from Movieweb:

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit fans, Alex Cabot is back. The character, portrayed by Stephanie March, will return to the series in a six-episode arc starting on Tuesday, March 10 at 10 PM ET on NBC. March and executive producer Neal Baer recently held a conference call to discuss her return, and here's what they had to say.

I'm just curious to know which Alex Cabot are we going to get, the old Alex Cabot or the Alex Cabot from Conviction? They're not exactly the same Alex Cabot.

Stephanie March:
They're not entire - they're about the same height.

Yeah, I understand that, you're about 5'9 1/2" on this one so I applaud you for wearing heels.

Stephanie March:
Oh thanks, thank you so much. You know I think this is probably - I mean I know exactly how I feel about the character and I'm pretty excited about bringing her back. But Neal could probably speak to this specifically in terms of plot a little bit better.

Neal Baer: Well I think it's Alex Cabot who was both on Conviction and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit because as you'll see in the episode on May - on March 10th, you'll understand why Alex Cabot did not go back to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Why she was fearful and she has changed a bit. She's stronger.

Well it would be harder to get stronger than Alex Cabot was because she was a pretty fierce woman.

Stephanie March:
Well if I may interject, I think she was pretty strong and determined but not as knowledgeable or seasoned. And so I'd like to think that maybe this time around she'll be a little wiser and a little - life has roughed her up a little more. Made her slightly more sympathetic.

Neal Baer: She's definitely more vulnerable, that you see from the very beginning and she's more questioning. So as Stephanie just said you know she was maybe more surface tough then. You'll understand when she comes back that that maybe was more of a cover and that she is much more questioning and much more open to the situ - to the complexities of the situation.

Stephanie March:
Exactly.

Neal Baer: I'm trying to steer around with a - by not giving away the plot... You know you'll certainly recognize her as the Alex Cabot you loved five years ago on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit because it's still Stephanie and we're writing her as Alex Cabot. So it's just hugely fun for us.

Stephanie March:
Hopefully it will complete a circle and make sense. I mean it makes sense to me because I'm in the middle of it, but as people see it I think it will make a lot of sense.

So we're going to find out how you managed to come back from witness protection?

Stephanie March:
Yeah.

Oh well hallelujah. That was really one of the biggest drawbacks that I think people had with Conviction that they were left without an explanation.

Stephanie March:
Well I think this will be nice and neat and make sense.

Neal Baer: Yeah, there is definitely a - she, Stephanie has a great scene with Mariska, Chris, Ice-T and Belzer where this definitely comes up, we definitely talk about witness protection. We definitely talk about the past and it's quite a moving scene. And it's also really nice to see Stephanie with BD because they're - we have some interesting shows going back to season two with Richard Thomas and Karen Allen where I remember Stephanie and BD's character fought with each other and really grappled with some issues.

Stephanie March:
Yeah, and we get to revisit it. Plus I like working with BD because he's my friend anyway so this time I get paid to have dinner together.

Are you coming back in a Liz Donnelly type role or - because you were bureau (team) on Conviction.

Stephanie March:
Well I will say this much, I am coming back to that which has most affected me. I'm coming back to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Neal Baer: I'm glad you brought up Liz Donnelly because Stephanie will be doing a very big show at the end of sweeps on March 31st with Judith (Light).

(Movieweb full interview here.)


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Law & Order UK Cast Interviews, Excerpt From Premier Episode

Various interviews with the cast members of Law & Order UK are available so I thought I’d post them here. For those of you in the US who can’t see the show, I also found a clip from the premier episode that includes most of the main characters so you can get a feel of what the show is like. Since we don’t have any new episodes of Law & Order and Law & Order SVU in the US for the week of March 1, this may give US fans something to watch.


Jamie Bamber talks about his role as Matt Devlin


Jamie Bamber and Bradley Walsh (Ronnie Brooks)


Freeman Agyeman on her role as Alesha Phillips


Seven Minute clip from the premier episode


I thought I’d re-post the title sequence again for those who may have missed it.





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Jamie Bamber Sheds Shirt For PETA UK

Jamie Bamber, star of the new Law & Order UK, decided to go shirtless for an advertisement in support of UK’s PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Of course, Jamie had already become well known for a shirtless scene or two in Battlestar Galactica, so it’s nice to see he’s broadened his range to PETA.

This new ad campaign has Jamie asking to save black bears from being killed for their fur. He urges people to start using faux fur instead. In case you find yourself not looking at the text on the ad, here is what it says: "Bare Skin, not Bearskin. Bears suffer and die for the Queen's guards' caps. Support the campaign to end this cruelty."

Apparently the fur from the Canadian Black Bear is used for the Buckingham Palace Guards’ caps, and faux fur would work just as well. Frankly, in this day and age, with so many nice faux fur materials available, there really isn’t a need to wear real fur. About 10 years ago I picked up a great faux fur black coat up while visiting Canada, and it looks great and is by far the warmest cost I own. So I’m with Jamie on this issue, although you won’t be seeing me pose without my shirt on any time soon.




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Law & Order UK Main Theme and Credits

Here is the main theme and title credits for Law & Order UK, which airs on ITV in the UK. The series is set in London.

Andy Price is the theme’s composer.

Law & Order UK stars Freema Agyeman, Ben Daniels, Bill Patterson, Harriet Walter, Bradley Walsh, Jamie Bamber.


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Law & Order UK “ Care” Recap & Review

I was lucky enough to get access to the premier showing of the newest addition to the Law & Order Universe – Law & Order UK, which is set in London England. My first impression is that I liked it. Never mind that the episodes are based on US versions that I’ve already seen probably 20 times each. This first episode, “Care,” was based on a Law & Order season 2 episode titled “Cradle to Grave.”

Generally, I liked the cast. Brooks (Bradley Walsh) and Devlin (Jamie Bamber) make a good team, with possibilities of being just like Lenny and Mike. The prosecutors all seem very cool and reserved, and the process just a little too formal, but I find it very interesting to see the law perspective from the UK side. I was impressed with both Daniels and Agyeman, who were very believable in their roles. I will admit there were a few times that I had a hard time understanding some of the dialog, but it wasn’t bothersome. What I found interesting is what seems like their overly formal courtroom setting. It’s not that we’re completely unmannered here, but in one scene where Steele very calmly and respectfully issues a protest to the judge, I chuckled to myself, thinking that someone like Jack McCoy would only last about 1 minute if he couldn’t yell out his objections, giving his eyebrows a much needed workout.

I also am unfamiliar with some of the law titles and terminology, so if anyone reads this recap sees where I don’t have someone’s title or position listed correctly; please let me know so I can learn for the future.

As I am not sure I will have the opportunity to see every episode of Law & Order UK, much less recap it, I will try my best to so do when I have access to the show.

Here’s my recap of “Care”

At the Royal Hope Hospital, alarms are sounding, people are evacuating, and it appears someone left a suspicious bag. One of two security people decides to unzip the bag, and when they looks inside, they seem shocked. Later, DS Ronnie Brooks (Bradley Walsh) and DS Matt Devlin (Jamie Bamber) arrive on the scene. Devlin tells Brooks that he found that the bag was left sometime after midnight, none of the smokers recalled clocking it before that time. The people that found it thought it was a bomb. As the detectives look down, they see the body of a small baby that was in the bag.

Later at the hospital, the doctor tells them the baby was clean and well cared for, before someone disposed of its corpse. The doctor also tells them the baby was poisoned: gassed.

At the Major Investigations Unit of the Central London Police Force (Bow Street WC2), Brooks and Walsh review the case with DI Natalie Chandler (Harriet Walters). The baby had toxic levels of carbon monoxide in its system. There are no reports of missing babies, and forensics can find no matches for the prints found on the bag. CCTV said that someone deposited the corpse at 27 minutes past midnight, wearing a thick coat, hood up, and the can’t tell whether it’s a “bird or a bloke.” Chandler asks if they tracked the route, and they tell her they lost the suspect and can’t locate them on any other cameras so far. Chandler doesn’t think the person would have carried the bag with the body in it too far, so they concentrate on the immediate area where it was found, and tells Devlin to get a photo an check all out the nurseries and day care centers. When Devlin gripes about the “old needle-haystack interface”, Brooks tells him to look on the bright side, he might “end up with a yummy mummy.” Chandler quips, “He’s already working for one.”

At the Collier Street Playpark in Kings Cross, the detectives talk to various people asking if they have seen the baby. They aren’t getting anywhere. Devlin suggests trying to source the coat the baby was wearing. Back at their unit, Devlin gets a lead on the coat, which is from a single British wholesaler, and the distributor recently sold what they had left from last year to another distributor. Brooks said four boxes were sold to stores in the area of the hospital.

At Pentonville Place in Kings Cross, they are checking out the stores who received the coats. In one store, Brooks gets annoyed with a woman at the shop, doggedly telling her to actually look at the photo of the coat. She gives him some lip about the facts that the police were not there to help her the three times she was burgled. But another person at the store recalls delivering it to someone on Hallem Street in Kings Cross. They track down the address and speak to the caretaker Daniel Matoukou (Babou Ceesay). Brooks speaks to him in French. Devlin seems surprised at this, and Brooks wonders if Devlin thinks he is some sort of Neanderthal. They arrive at someone’s flat, and it looks like the residents left in a hurry. Devlin opens a door, and calls for Brooks. They enter and find a baby crib, and a picture matching that of the dead baby. Brooks grimly mutters, ‘Lovely.”

Later, the forensics team is at the flat, and they find that the heating system was pumping out carbon monoxide, making the place a deathtrap. It appears the tampering was recent, and the carbon monoxide alarm had no batteries. Devlin seems surprised someone would do this to their child, but Brooks is not. They also find that 4 flats in the building are unoccupied. They speak to one of the neighbors, Mike Turner (Tony Maudsley) about the whereabouts of the resident of the flat in question - Dionne Farrah. He said he could hear the baby cry through the floorboards, and doesn’t think the woman has a husband. When they ask about all the vacancies in the building, Turner tells them that the landlady is offering people 5 grand to get out.

At MQW Property LTD., they speak about the property with landlady Maureen Walters (Lorraine Ashbourne) who tells them when she bought the place, there was some fine print that dictated that she honor the existing contracts and rents for 5 years. She tells them in order to motivate people to leave, she has to offer them a buy out. She gives them the information from her file on Dionne Farrah.

Back at the unit, the detectives are working the phones. Brooks finds that Farrah made one call yesterday morning from her mobile phone - 5 hours after the baby’s body was found – to a Leona Collins. Devlin recalls that name, and finds that Collins was Dionne’s referee for the flat. “C’mon, admit it, I am good” Devlin announces. Brooks says he is better, because he says Leona Collin’s maiden name was Farrah – she’s Dionne’s sister.

At the home of Leona Collins, she says she spoke to Dionne a few days ago but hasn’t seen her since. She also admits Dionne has a son, 5 months old, and she looks uncomfortable with the questioning. Brooks asks her if she enjoys being an auntie, and she nods yes. He asks what she will get him for his birthday, and she develops a very somber face. Brooks continues to gently prod her, telling her that she seems to be the kind of person who would protect her own. Devlin shows her the picture of the baby, and asks if this is her nephew. Leona begins to cry openly. When Brooks asks where is her sister, Dionne (Venetia Campbell) comes from behind, saying she does not want to hide anymore. She repeats, “It’s my fault. It’s my fault.”

Later in interrogation, they ask Dionne, her lawyer present, about the batteries in the CO2 alarm, and she says she didn’t remove them and didn’t know she had a detector. She says she had been late for work too many times, was on her last warning, and could not afford to lose her job. Sean’s father had been killed 4 months before Sean was born, in a car accident. On the day Sean died, she phoned the babysitter, Serena, who said she was only three minutes away from the home and said she was on her way, so she left Sean in the flat. When she got home that night, the flat was dark and Serena was not there. She noticed Sean wasn’t moving. She tried to give him mouth to mouth, but she knew he was dead. She took him to the hospital and left him at the entrance. She thought it was the best place, she couldn’t face anyone.

Outside the interrogation, the attorney said Dionne had no intent to kill or cause harm, trying to argue she should not be prosecuted. But Brooks says they need to see what the CPS say, if they play it by the book it is manslaughter by gross negligence.

Later, the Brooks and Devlin talk to Serena, who says she was on the bus when she spoke to Dionne. There was a van in the middle of the road which blocked them and it took her 20 more minutes to get there. She could not get into the flat when she got there, she only had the key for Dionne’s flat, the main locks to the building had been changed and she never got a copy. The caretaker would not let him in, and he said he never saw him before. She tried to get other people to buzz her up with no luck. The caretaker came out and told her he was going to call the police if she did not leave.

Back at the building, they question the caretaker Daniel Matoukou again. He says he never saw Serena. When Devlin points to the CO2 detector and asks Matoukou if he took the batteries out of it, he says he never touched it. Someone is lying, but who? And who is really the guilty party? Is it Dionne for leaving her baby, or the caretaker for not letting Serena in? Outside, they look at the building. It’s half empty, it is not being kept up, gas systems aren’t being checked, and the landlady want to redevelop it. Things seem to point to the landlady.

Bringing Chandler up to speed, they tell her the building’s heating hasn’t had a maintenance request in 15 months, the maintenance people tried to do an annual check but could not get access. Chandler tells them to check with the tenants’ ombudsman to find out if Maureen Walters has a record of driving out tenants. But Devlin asks what about Dionne, as she’s the one who left the kid alone. Chandler tells him she wants to explore every avenue before they accuse a mother of the death of her child.

At the tenants’ ombudsman, while Brooks shoves a sandwich into his mouth, the ombudsman tells them that they used to call Walters the “Wicked Witch of the West” and they should have had a filing cabinet just for her. Brooks drops some food on the file, much to the dismay of the ombudsman. There are many complaintsm about Walters, but the ombudsman says he really does not have jurisdiction. Brooks flat out asks if he thinks Walters is trying to empty the place, and the ombudsman balks at answering but says he couldn’t exclude the possibility. Devlin asks for records of the former tenants.

They speak to one of the tenants, who outlines problems with the locks in her place, and the caretaker didn’t fix it. One night her door was being held closed by a chair propped against it, and it was broken off its hinges, with the “mad git Turner” in her lounge. He was acting like he was drunk. He didn’t smell of booze, more like mouthwash. She said Turner is a thug and he got what he wanted – she moved out.

Back at the unit, Devlin tells Chandler that Mike Turner has been on Walter’s payroll for this and other properties, and Brooks says he has two previous convictions tied to tenant harassment. Chandler says this makes him a thug, but not a killer. Brooks reminds Chandler that Dionne said she didn’t mess with the heating system, but the scene of crime office said it clearly had been tampered with. Devlin adds that the maintenance crew was barred access to the flat by someone matching Turner’s description. It looks like Turner sabotages the heating systems in order to drive tenants out – and ends up killing the baby. Chandler decides to talk to James Steele from the CPS to see if they have enough to arrest Turner.

In the office of James Steel (Ben Daniels), Senior Crown Prosecutor for the City of London, he says it’s clear Turner was harassing tenants to get them out, but they have to show proof that he is responsible for Sean’s death. Alesha Phillips (Freema Agyeman) seems to back up this stance. Brooks argues the point with Steele, but he doesn’t think this is enough in order to prosecute. He needs direct evidence. Phillips asks about the caretaker Daniel Matoukou and what he has to say about the maintenance, and Brooks states that Matoukou barely speaks English. But Devlin seems to be thinking, and Chandler prompts him – she can “hear his brain worrying from here.” Devlin recalls that Serena said the caretaker threatened to call the police when she tried to gain access, but he said he never saw her before. He wonders how much French Serena speaks – implying it wasn’t the caretaker that blocked her access. In a phone call to Serena, he confirms that it wasn’t the caretaker that refused her access - it was likely Mike Turner. This seems to link Mike Turner to everything. Steele thinks now they have a case. As they come to arrest Turner, Brooks and Steele come upon a woman shouting at Turner. Devlin slams him against the wall and cuffs him.

Later, Dionne is advised that Turner had been arrested, and Brooks tells her it appears that Turner sabotaged the heating, resulting in the death of her son.

At the offices of George Castle (Bill Paterson), Director, CPS, London, Castle is reviewing the case with Steele and Phillips. He says they have to convince him of intent, that Turner knew what he was doing was unlawful. Steele argues a pattern with Turner. Castle wants direct evidence, and Phillips suggest they turn the caretaker, Daniel Matoukou . Phillips later questions Matoukou with his attorney, who asks to scale down his charge to withholding services to a tenant and then he will talk. Steele asks who tampered with the gas system, and Matoukou says Mike Turner.

At another time with Mike Turner and his attorney Robert Ridley QC (Patrick Malahide), Ridley argues the caretaker is just trying to shift blame. Steele mentions Turner’s past record, but Ridley says the judge won’t allow that, and he and Turner leave.

At the Crown v Turner pre-trial review, they argue the issue about Turner’s past record. The judge seems to be leaning toward the Crown’s position, and Ridley is stunned, asking if she is going to allow it. She says, “Do you know I think I am?” She allows Turner’s previous convictions into evidence.

At Crown v Turner, Day 2, Serena is on the stand, talking about how she was denied entry, and she identifies Mike Turner. Ridley then questions how she didn’t know Turner was the caretaker, and maybe she didn’t know ho he was, maybe HE didn’t know who SHE was?

Matoukou is then being questioned, with a French translator. He says he was trying to Dionne’s gas system, and he was told to leave it and pulled away by Turner, who then gave it a thump with a hammer. A Mr. Stanton is later called to testify about the carbon monoxide poisoning, saying that the leak came from the gas system and that Turner’s attack on the system would have contributed.

Outside the courtroom, Dionne is worried that she can do this, with all the people looking at her. Phillips tells her this is her chance to tell everyone the truth. But she goes ahead and offers her testimony about the day Sean died. She noticed the air was bad in the room and opened the window before she saw Sean. But Ridley asks her why she didn’t phone home to Serena to see if everything was alright, but she answers she was not allowed to call home at work. She went to her locker to get her phone on break, but her battery was dead. She could not use the phone box outside as it wasn’t working. Her ten minute break was up and she had no more time to call, but Ridley presses her, saying that her job was more important to her child. The Crown offers a protest, and the judge chastises Ridley, asking for compassion. But he continues to press, making her feel that she was the one responsible for Sean’s death.

Outside the courtroom, Steele remarks to Castle that this is why they call Ridley “limbo” because there is nothing he won’t stoop to. Phillips approaches and tells them there is a note from the jury, apparently one of the jurors speaks fluent French, and he is questioning some of Matoukou’s testimony and the translation. Ridley may seek to discharge the jury, meaning that Turner could go free. Later, the juror tells them that he just told the jury what he heard, he’d lived in France for 20 years and said that Matoukou said “ordered” not “pulled”. The judge also says that other jurors said this juror corrected three other words that he considered mistranslations. He said he just told them what Matoukou said, he was not trying to be difficult. Ridley questions the rest of what was translated, and the judge says it is a mess, and states the trial is aborted, much to the Crown’s dismay. Turner gloats.

Later, Steele tells Ridley his client can’t get out of this indefinitely. Ridley says he needs therapy, and Steele asks how sleeps at night. He indicates he sleeps very well on a nice imported bed, of course, he doesn’t have to make do on a CPS salary.

Steele tells Castle they have to retry Turner, but Castle isn’t confident. Philips enters, and said in a previous case, Turner went to prison rather than take a deal and give up his boss, Maureen Walters. But Walters is not really his boss, Turner is her silent partner in the whole company. Steele thinks she knew what Turner was doing and she is also culpable. Castle thinks they should get them to plead to a lesser charge, bit Phillips pushes for a trial, seeing this involved a child’s death. But Steele thinks Castle is right, and tells her to bring Turner and Walters in and see if they will take a deal.

Later, Walters is stunned that they are asking her to plead guilty, and Steele says if she doesn’t, he’ll take Turner back to trial. She says she has nothing to do with the baby’s death. She begins to get argumentative and talkative, and Ridley seems to want her to shut up, but she goes on. Ridley announces they are leaving, Walters goes on and Turner seems happy over the matter, and as they storm out, Steele tells Ridley what Walters said is on the record. Ridley said none of this happened and they were never there.

Back with Castle, they review where they stand, and Phillips brings in information that Turner served 15 months for assault charges. During that time, there were 49 complaints from tenants to Walters. The moment Turner is released, the complaints drop. Nine months ago the environmental heat inspector changed and the new inspector is generous, of the 27 complaints that were made against Walters since then, every single one has been resolved in her favor. Castle says “I love the smell of bribery in the evening.” Steele tells Phillips to see what she can prove – and adds, “Brilliant work."

At another location, Phillips is talking to the previous environmental inspector, and asked what had changed. He said a new manager came in an reorganized, with Charlie Dias taking over. She asks if he takes bribes, and he said he didn’t hear that. He says Walters hinted at a bribe with him but he never took it. When she presses for mote info on Charlie, he says her five minutes are up, and he walks off.

Back at the office, Phillips reviews the financial file on Charlie Dias but no real proof. She suggests that someone set up a scenario to bribe Dias to establish that he is someone who would take bribes. They get Brooks to act as the person offering the bribe, and he’s wired so they can hear the transaction. Brooks goes out and meets with Charlie, and he gets Dias to solicit a bribe. Devlin runs out and arrests him.

Later, Dias’ attorney claims it was entrapment. But Steele wants Dias to resign his job and give the names of everyone that bribed him. Dias (Rupert Farley) asks who he wants first. Later, Steele and Phillips face Turner and Ridley again, saying that they have Walters for 16 counts of bribing a public official, and Walter claims it was Turner’s idea. Ridley tells Turner to be silent, but Steele says they are now going after them for manslaughter by gross negligence – 15 years. Ridley asks what they have in mind, and Steele say Walters is turning on him. If he gives evidence against her, he could get a lesser charge, or be back in the docket beside her.

At Crown v Walters, Trail Day 12, Steele addresses the jury, and is offering his summation of the trial against Walters, saying she allowed the gas systems to fail to get tenants to leave, and bribed officials. He pointed to her greed, putting her want for money over the value of human life. The jury returns the verdict of guilty. Walters faces the glaring eyes of Dionne after the verdict is read.

Outside the courtroom, Castle praises Steele for a job well done, and tell him to go home and have a drink, that “it’s over.” As Steele watches Dionne walk away with her sister, he answers “For us, maybe.”


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Law & Order SVU “Lead” Episode Information

NBC has released the episode information for the March 10th episode of Law & Order SVU (NBC) titled “Lead” , air date March 10, 2009. It will mark the return of Alex Cabot (Stephanie March) for her “limited run” with the show.


Law & Order SVU “Lead” Air Date March 10, 2009

ADA ALEXANDRA CABOT (STEPHANIE MARCH) MAKES A SURPRISING RETURN TO THE SVU TEAM WHEN A PEDIATRICIAN FOUND GUILTY OF MOLESTING PATIENTS IS KILLED.

Pediatrician Gilbert Keppler (Guest Star Lawrence Arancio) is found guilty of sexually assaulting four of his male patients. Soon after his trial, his attorney Lionel Granger (Guest Star David Thornton) informs the detectives that Keppler will be suing the NYPD and the Denslow Medical Center on the grounds that they knew he was sexually abusing patients long before they took any action to stop him. Detectives Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) decide to go directly to Keppler for questioning only to find him murdered in his apartment. To the detectives surprise, ADA Alexandra Cabot (guest star Stephanie March) shows up at the crime scene, after three years in the witness protection program. The SVU team must put the past and lost time behind them in order to solve the case. Also starring: Richard Belzer (Detective John Much), Dann Florek (Captain Donald Cragen), Ice-T (Detective Odafin Tutuola), Michaela McManus (A.D.A Kim Greylek), Tamara Tun! ie (Dr. Melinda Warner), and B.D. Wong (Dr. George Huang). Show Cast: Chris Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice T, Tamara Tunie, Michaela McManus


My recap and review of Law & Order SVU "Lead" can be found here.



Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, here.

Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Law & Order SVU “Ballerina” Episode Information

NBC has released episode information for the March 17th episode of Law & Order SVU (NBC) titled “Ballerina” . This is the episode that will include Carol Burnett as a guest star.

There is also an episode scheduled for March 10th titled ‘Lead,” but there is no information available as yet. NOTE: NBC later released the information for "Lead", and you can find it on my blog, here.

Law & Order SVU “Ballerina” Air Date March 17, 2009
EMMY AND GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD WINNER CAROL BURNETT GUEST-STARS ALONG WITH MATTHEW LILLARD

When Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) arrive on the scene of a single murder, they discover two more dead bodies, those of Tisa Flores and Alejandro Reyes, in the apartment next door. They investigate Tisa’s past and find that she was working at a strip club owned by a former Rockette, Birdie Sulloway (Guest Star Carol Burnett). Birdie and her nephew Chet (Guest Star Matthew Lillard) try to assist with the investigation, but when the prime suspect for the three murders suddenly dies, the detectives discover a vigilante with a violent past. Show Cast: Chris Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice T, Tamara Tunie, Michaela McManus

My recap and review of Law & Order SVU “Ballerina” can be found here.


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Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

Law & Order “Rapture” Leaves Viewers Behind (Recap & Review)

Photo from NBC

This episode of Law & Order (NBC), "Rapture," was somewhat of a mess. If it wasn’t for the occasional tensions involving Jack McCoy, this episode would have almost been a waste. The story itself seemed to be overly complicated and hard to follow, and I felt that I was the one being “left behind.” If I followed things correctly, the first body in the freezer was just a red herring, just a vehicle to somehow get them to look into the whole "rapture" issue and what triggered the rapture letters...which led them to this whole other scam and murder.

I have to admit, though, that series continues to make good use of the entire cast, blurring the line of demarcation between the detective half of the show and the prosecutor half. It always seems to make the show more interesting when all parties have more interaction throughout the entire case. It was interesting to see Lupo use his contacts and his experience to work out a scenario where they could get their man. What I didn’t quite get was the whole point of having to nab Darvey right at the embassy while he was still at the open gate. While he was in the embassy he was protected, and while he was in the car he was protected, but why couldn’t they just trail the car to the airport? After all, the complete airport could not be considered Iranian terrotory and Darvey had to get out of the car at some point to get on the plane. I suppose that it was easier for them to just have Darvey leave their custody on his own to make for fewer problems with the diplomats, but it still would have made more sense for them to wait until that car actually got on the street, rather stopping right outside of the gate, which could have allowed them the chance to back up and go right behind the gate again. It was fun to see Cutter work the situation with the diplomats and seem so gleeful that he pulled off his deception.

Is it really true that one can't take photographs of landmarks in New York City? I thought that this whole matter was losened up quite some time ago, and that they only focus on people who seem to be staked out to photograph at places like bridges, tunnels, or other areas for long periods, as if they are casing an area. If one can't take a simple picture or snapshot in New York City, why even go there as a tourist? If someone can explain that whole thing to me, I would be grateful.

It was made clear that Jack is not Governor Shalvoy’s man for the long haul, based on Chappell’s comments to Jack at the debate. It does seem trite, however, that there always has to be a case in progress that the opposing candidate tries to use against the sitting DA. Personally, I would like to see Jack be a little more proactive and start hurling something back at Chappell, but in a subtle way that gets his point across but makes Jack out to be the saint that we all think he is (wink).



Here is the recap:

A man is arguing with his daughter over phone – calling her a rude thoughtless little pig (subtle dig to Alec Baldwin). He is looking at his computer and sees an email. He takes the email to Detectives Bernard (Anthony Anderson0 and Lupo (Jeremy Sisto), saying he thinks the sender of the email - his Uncle Larry – has been murdered, as it says he is with Jesus and that he killed his wife so he could be in heaven together. When they get to Larry’s home, they gain entry from a landlord, and while scanning the home, they see a very large freezer, too large for someone who lives alone. They look in and find a frozen body. Suddenly Larry enters, very much alive, and when he hears that the emails notifying everyone of this rapture have gone out, he cries out “Lord! Why have I been left behind?” and seems oblivious to the fact the detectives found a body in the freezer. (I assume it was the body of his wife?)

Later at the 2-7, Bernard has Larry in interrogation, telling him not to worry because the Rapture had not occurred. Lupo and Lt. Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) watch from behind the mirror, and Lupo says that Larry believes Jesus will get him out. They later go to the web site that generated the emails – unraptured.com – that was supposed to send messages to those left behind. It cost $5 a month, and 3 Christian men living in various states were supposed to log in daily. If two did not log in, the web site assumed the rapture occurred and it automatically sent the emails to the people that the members listed.

The detectives track down the owner of the web site, Sam Burwell, and find him dead on the floor of his home. He appears to be shot, and also has many bruises. There were signs of a struggle, but not forced entry. They think maybe an unhappy web subscriber may have killed him.

They question another owner of the web site, who thought he was left behind as well. It appears that Keith, the third web site owner, was in Colorado and lost his Internet connection due to a storm and could not log in for a while. He adds that Burwell really believed they were nearing the times of the rapture. When they asked if Sam had another source of income, he says that Sam was broke. He did hear that Sam got into a fight with someone at Rapture-Con.

Lupo and Bernard head to Rapture-Con, and talking to someone who is running the convention, they are shown a security video of Sam fighting with another man, while a “good Samaritan” seems to intervene. Sam also had a booth at the convention. They talk with the Good Samaritan, a Reverend Nathan Reeves (Jason Butler Harner) who had a booth there for “Sacred Exodus”, and who helps Jews get back to Israel. He says he saw the man named Corliss fight with Sam, who the reverend knew because Sam a booth at the convention. The reverend also says Sam made a donation to his cause to the tune of $100,000. But, the detectives find this odd, since Sam’s partner said Sam was broke.

They check Sam’s web site to see if Corliss is a member, and find a member Steve Corliss. His brother Evan was a recipient of Steve’s rapture letter. As it appears Steve was dead, Sam was deleting his account, and read the letter from Steve to Evan telling him that Evan could go to a desk at his home and retrieve 200 gold coins that he could put to good use. They assume this is where Sam got the $100,000. When the detectives go to the home, the coins apparently are gone. The detectives conclude that Sam read the email and went to retrieve the coins for himself.
Back at the 2-7, Bernard and Lupo are bringing Van Buren up to speed, and Van Buren says there are too many “somehows” in their speculation of how this all went down. Evan Corliss also has a criminal record. They also find he had called a gold broker that day. Van Buren questions that Corliss got some of the coins back from Burwell, and Bernard quips, “Yeah. Somehow.”

The detectives head to the Gold Exchange to see a broker. He offers Bernard $11 for his badge. They show a broker a picture of Evan and ask him if he brought in some gold. The broker says he brought in 12 Kruggerands for $10,000, and Evan said he would come back for more but did not. He has his cell phone number to call if the price of gold rises, and they ask him to call him and tell him he is in luck, gold is up. Afterwards, in the car waiting outside the broker’s, Bernard comments about his badge being worth only $11, and Lupo reminds him it is not from Tiffany’s. Bernard says it doesn’t seem right. They see Evan (Joshua Burrow) approach, and they pick him up to take him to the 2-7. In interrogation, Evan admits to an altercation with Sam and getting the 12 coins Sam had left, but didn’t kill him, as Sam said he was going to get the rest of his money back which he had given to a charity.

The detectives go back to Nathan at Sacred Exodus. He said he did not see Sam after the Rapture-Con, and introduces them to his business partner George Darvey (John Sharian). They ask him if Sam asked him for his donation to be returned and he said no. Sam only asked where his money was used for, and they said they used it to pay a tax to the Uzbekistan government.

At the Mission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, they are told that Burwell did call, and he wanted to know if there was any way to refund the immigration tax on a group of Jewish émigrés. He told them he could not help as there was no such tax, Burwell had been misinformed. The detectives give each other a questioning look.

Back at the 2-7, they tell Van Buren what they found, and they believe that Darvey is charging $1,000 tax per person, but really keeping the money for himself and it is a scam. When Burwell asked for his donation back and Darvey gave him the story, he probably decided to check it out for himself. They also find that Darvey is ex-military, other than honorable discharge, and worked for Blackwater, and had his own security firm in Beirut. Apparently on his last return flight, he declared an unloaded 9mm pistol. Van Buren says he will call patrol to keep and eye on Darvey, and sends the detectives to his hotel and sit him down for a chat.

But, the detectives get caught in rush hour traffic and Bernard is annoyed about it. They hear on the police radio that Darvey just walked out of the hotel and he got into a cab, carrying luggage. The police also think they were spotted, and Lupo and Bernard put on the flashers to get moving. They arrive at a building as Darvey is walking up to the door, but they are blocked be security. It is not a home Darvey is entering, but the Iranian Mission, which is Iranian sovereign territory. They are told they can’t go in, and Bernard says it looks like they got left behind. Later, with Van Buren at the mission with the detectives, they are still refused entry.

At the DA’s office, Van Buren, Lupo, Bernard, ADA Rubirosa (Alana De La Garza), EADA Cutter (Linus Roache) are reviewing the situation. DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) had brought in someone names Miss Barcette (Veanne Cox) from the state department, who tells them despite what she is being told about Darvey and the fact that the gun he left in the cab is a near perfect match to the murder weapon, he is protected by treaty and they cannot go in there and get him.

Later, Lupo, Bernard, and Rubirosa are standing by at a press conference with Joe Chappell (Tom Galantich), McCoy’s opposing candidate for District Attorney, which is being held outside the Iranian Mission. He is expressing his outrage over the matter and implies that if he is elected DA, he won’t take no in a situation like this. In the background, Rubirosa says if he gets elected, she is resigning and then burning down her office on the way out. Lupo mentions a previous matter where Iranians suspected as spies had been forced to leave the country much to the dismay of the Iranians, and Bernard wonders if they could use that as leverage.

Later, outside a restaurant, two women ask two Iranian men to take their pictures, plus a few more pictures just to be safe. Lupo and Bernard walk up and demand to see the men’s cameras. He denies it is his, and one of the women says they have never seen that camera in their life, clearly being set up by the detectives to get the camera in the man’s hand. They tell the men that since the cameras also has pictures of landmarks of places like the Empire State Building and Penn Station, it could mean they are terrorists. The Iranian man knows that this is all a set up and it’s all about Darvey. Bernard tell them to call their people and see what they think.

As Lupo, Bernard, and Rubirosa wait at the pizzeria with the men for word from the embassy, and a black SVU pulls up with Barcette coming out. They realize the embassy called her. She is livid with the detectives, and said they should just take the names of the Iranians and report it to the FBI and let them go, and not to do anything else without telling her. When she leaves Lupo says he is going to do something else.

Later, at the West Side Stadium, Lupo and Rubirosa talk to a friend of Lupo’s who has connection and knows that Darvey is going to be moved out of the country the next day. He says he knows the Iranians have listening gear and monitor communications, likewise as do the Israelis and knows the frequency the Israelis broadcast on for their secure stuff. They ask for his help.

Back at the DA’s office, Cutter and Rubirosa tell McCoy that Lupo arranged for a little radio transmission by NYPD pretending to be Israeli, on an Israeli channel that they know the Iranians monitor. They are sending a message that an Agent “Loudmouth” has penetrated his target. They tell McCoy they made all this up, and Cutter tells him with a smirk not to tell anyone. When Cutter says they are moving Darvey out at 6:00 AM, McCoy says “God help us” but seems to go along with it.

The next morning as the car with Darvey is leaving, the police stop the car right outside the gate. The Iranian tells Cutter that the car is also Iranian territory, but Cutter says he just wants to tell Darvey that they know he is a spy for Israel and is Mossad, and shows the Iranian a file showing Darvey is “Agent Loudmouth.’ The Iranians glare at him, while Cutter warns Darvey that he may have to face Iranian justice. Darvey forces his way out of the car, and is arrested. Cutter happily confirms to the Iranians that this was all a trick.

McCoy and Cutter watch Chappell in another press conference on TV, where his is complaining about how this whole matter was handled. McCoy is concerned about backlash from the many Jewish voters in the area, and when Cutter asks if this is a prosecutor’s office or a campaign headquarters, McCoy snaps, “Don’t give me that.” He then tells Cutter to just “convict the son of a bitch.”

At the trial, Evan is on the stand, saying he told Sam to get his money back or else, and put a good scare into him. Because of that, Sam was highly motivated to get the money back. Under cross, he says the death threat was a bluff but admits he did beat him up. Later, with Reese on the stand, he said that Darvey just told him that Sam stopped by to get information about their work, not that he wanted the money back. Cutter outlines the whole problem with Darvey’s tax story and scheme, but Reese indicates that these were bribes, not taxes, as you can’t very well put “bribes” anywhere in writing. Rubirosa is concerned about their case, but Cutter says it is a cover up. Cutter presses Reese to confirm whether that money was spent legally on his project, and Reese says Darvey said it was and he believed him. Cutter also draws out that donations are down since Darvey was arrested, and ask if they would go back up if he was acquitted, and Reese thinks they might. Cutter asks what the effects on his work would be if Darvey was convicted, and Reese admits it would be bad. Cutter is trying to imply that Reese is lying to further his own cause, but he says it is the truth.

Meanwhile, at the State Suite of the Roosevelt Hotel while they wait to debate, Chappell needles McCoy, saying he should have Cutter on his own campaign staff because his actions seems to be hurting McCoy. McCoy reminds him that Cutter is prosecuting a murder, and since Chappell is running for DA he should understand that fact, and not use it for political gain. Chappell says, “The Governor told me you were too high minded to run a decent campaign, but really I had no idea.” McCoy stares at him, then walks off.

Back at the DA’s office, McCoy tell Cutter things did not go well. Cutter and Rubirosa say they need to go at Reese a lot harder. They want to shut down his charity entirely as Reese admitted to the bribes, and then they could seize his assets as well. McCoy says shutting down a Christian charity will not look good for his campaign, and “maybe I can still get the Buddhist vote.” Cutter reminds him this is not about religion, and McCoy suggests to see if just the threat of shutting it down will suffice.

At a church, Cutter and Rubirosa find Reese, and make the threat to shut down his charity. Reese asks them why they are here – on earth. Cutter says it is not relevant but Reese thinks it is. Cutter reminds him that “thou shalt not kill” but Reese says he knows he himself is here to help to bring the Jews back to the holy land and the trial is an impediment. But Rubirosa disagrees with him, and begins to quote scripture which says that no one but “The Father” knows the truth about the second coming. Reese caves, and says that Sam was a real believer, and admits this is very difficult. Rubirosa asks him what he does when things get difficult, and she reaches out with her hand. Reese stands up and takes it, and reaches out for Cutter’s hand, and Reese seems to pray.

Back at court, Reese testifies that Sam did call him and that he wanted his money back but he told him they could not get it back from the embassy. Sam said he was desperate and he was going to call the embassy. He called Darvey and told him what Sam was going to do, and he said Darvey was concerned and they could not let that happen. He didn’t ask what that meant, but he should have asked, especially after Sam was murdered. He thinks he inadvertently caused Sam’s death. He hopes God can forgive him.

Back at the DA’s offices, Cutter tells McCoy the jury took less than a day to return a guilty verdict. McCoy asks, “Because God told Reverend Reeves to tell the truth?” Cutter responds, ‘God and Connie. (looking at Rubirosa) Matthew Chapter 24? You study the Bible?” She answers, “I prepare for court, I prepare for church.” McCoy says this is good, maybe he can help prepare for him. The Interfaith Council asked him and Chappell to a panel discussion on religion and the law. When Cutter makes a sarcastic comment that it sounds fascinating, McCoy moans that he thinks he feels the flu coming on. As the elevator doors close on all of them, we fade to back.

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Clip from “Rapture”


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Law & Order SVU “Transitions” Hopefully Transitions Greyleck Out The Door (Recap & Review)

This episode of Law & Order SVU (NBC) tells a very interesting story about a very difficult subject – transgendered children. It is a subject that most people likely don’t have real-life experience with, yet these circumstances do exist, often putting a great strain on families. The first 5-10 minutes of the episode had a few gratuitous scenes of scantily clad women included in it, probably in hopes of luring viewers to into an episode with a difficult theme. All the guest stars were well cast, especially the transgendered teen, Henry/Hailey, played by Bridger Zadina, and her guidance counselor Miss Blaine, played by Aisha Hinds.

Anybody home? (All photos from NBC)
Where the episode misses greatly is with any scene that includes the stone-faced Kim Greyleck. I was hoping that we wouldn’t be seeing Michaela McManus any longer, but I suppose they had to throw one more episode with her in it before her character head off for a while, hopefully never to return. McManus’s inability to show any range of emotion has really hampered the show’s ability to have any decent courtroom scenes where the prosecution shines. In most episodes with Greyleck handling a case, it usually means that one of the guest stars will steal all the scenes. I swear in the scene with Greyleck and the detectives in the courthouse hall, that Benson wanted to just smack Greyleck across the face. Many times during the trial, McManus was unable to pull off any kind of emotional response that seemed real. Alex Kingston, playing the defense attorney, did a great job. While McManus was clearly a big part of the problem with Greyleck’s character, it also seems evident that they never wanted her character to be likeable, which frankly made any appearance almost intolerable to watch.

The story itself was very well written, but I have to admit that the first second I laid eyes on the guidance counselor Jackie Blaine I knew exactly where the story was headed. Still, it did not detract from the story at all, maybe because all the supporting actors all did very well in their roles. I felt very badly for Jackie and I was appalled that Greyleck seemed completely unmoved by Jackie’s background. I can only continue to hope that Michaela McManus won’t be on this show, or any other in the franchise, any time soon.


Here’s the recap:

After a fight erupts between two strippers, Misty (Heidi Marnhout) and Sapphire (DeQuina Moore) at the Sugar Pops strip club, Sapphire is leaving the club and hears a noise. She races to her car, and after she gets in, a man approaches her with blood trailing down his crotch, and he collapses onto her car. Later, at the hospital, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) Stabler (Chris Meloni) talk to the doctor about the victim, who is in a medically induced coma to help him recover from his injuries. The man’s scrotum had ruptured and he was also scratched and beaten in the head, a long fake fingernail found at the scene. It also appears the man had been the recipient of some oral sex before he was attacked. His wallet was found with no ID, just a picture of him with his son.

Capt. Don Cragen (Dann Florek) and Fin (Ice-T) discuss the fact that the man’s fingerprints aren’t in the system, and they are unable to release the man’s picture to the public, as he was a victim of a sex crime. Cragen assumes the attacker works at the strip club, so Fin and Munch (Richard Belzer) make the hard choice to visit the strip club. There, they speak to both Sapphire and to Misty who had their own fight the night before, and Misty adds that the club bouncer – Frankie, a very brutish looking woman – beat up a man at the club the previous night. In talking with Frankie, she points them in the direction of Psycho Sid, a creep who frequents the club area. Later, Benson and Stabler meet with the creepy Sid, who says he saw the victim in his tow truck in the back alley of the club.

Back at the club, Benson and Stabler and other police are examining the man’s tow truck, and inside is a bloody tire iron. The paperwork in the truck says the man’s name is Mark and he works for a repo company. When Fin and Munch go to Mark’s place of employment, they are told Mark works nights, and that he went to the club to repossess a Toyota from a woman named Molly. They follow the trail to Molly’s parent’s home, which are perplexed because Molly has a Mercedes-Benz, not a Toyota. They give the detectives Molly’s home address. When the detectives knock on the door, Molly answers, and it’s none other than Misty from the strip club.

Later at the squad in interrogation, Molly/Misty denies hurting Mark. She admits to the oral sex. She adds she is an anthropologist who studies people and their behaviors in their habitat, and she is writing a book called “Play Misty For You” which involves her having to work at the strip club to study the behaviors. When Molly moves to leave, Benson notices Molly seems to be wearing a wire of sorts, and they find she has a flash drive on her with recordings of her activities for the week, which include her interaction with Mark. They confiscate it, and later listen to the recording, which seems to indicate Molly left Mark without attacking him. (Was Frankie’s voice also heard?)

When they hear that Mark Van Kuren (Frank Grillo) is now out of his coma, Benson and Stabler head to the hospital. He seems to think his ex-wife Ellen (Wendy Makkena) is the only one having a reason to hurt him, as they are having a custody disagreement about their son, Henry, apparently Ellen was threatening to kill Mark. When Benson and Stabler head to Ellen’s home, she says she didn’t mean she’d literally kill him, that people having problems like that sometimes say things they don’t mean. She says their split is complicated as they have different ideas on how to raise their child. When Stabler asks is Henry is a handful, a girl comes down the stairs and corrects him, ‘It’s Hailey. My name’s Hailey. Henry is dead.” They discover that Mark and Ellen’s son Henry is transgender, and she is now going by the name of Hailey (Bridger Zadina). Ellen says Mark does not accept her son as being a girl and that Mark is in denial about the matter. Henry/Hailey is also going through puberty, and they were told Hailey will have to take hormone blockers to stop it, but Mark won’t allow it. Ellen indicates she was at work when the attack occurred, and when the detectives make note of her black eye, she says that she got it from Hailey when she found out she had been sneaking back into the home through a window at 2:00 AM and they got into it and Hailey punched her. When they ask where Hailey had been the night she crawled back in through the window, she said she was “striking a blow for her freedom.”

The enter Hailey’s room, and she seems embarrassed that she is topless, gets angry, and quickly puts on a bra. When they tell her about her father’s attack, she seems happy and indicates she wishes he were dead. But she says she was with a boy when she was out of the house that night. Her mother asks if she is gay, and she says her mom still doesn’t get it, she is a girl and is supposed to be out with boys.

Back at the squad, Dr. Huang (B.D.Wong) is explaining to Cragen that Hailey’s anatomy is irrelevant. Because of something that may have happened in utero, Hailey’s brain is wired like a female while she had the body of a male. Huang thinks that Mark being beaten in the crotch is symbolic. But Stabler adds that she also gave her mother a black eye, that it’s not much of a leap to attacking her dad. Cragen tells them to head over to the school and to verify her alibi, and Huang adds they should also check with the guidance counselor.

Later, at Lincoln Middle School, they speak to the guidance counselor Miss Blaine (Aisha Hinds), who tells them that Hailey has had a difficult time and faced some ridicule and was once ordered out of the girl’s bathroom by other girls and fought with some students. Some fights occurred, and now Hailey uses the gender-neutral bathroom. When the guidance counselor brings them to her office where Hailey is waiting, she is not pleased to see them. When they begin to question her about her alibi and tell her they will have to go through her email and cell phone records, Hailey is concerned and then blurts out that she was the one who tried to kill her dad.

Back at the station, Cragen is made aware that since there was no parent present and Hailey is a minor, the confession is inadmissible. They hope that when Hailey’s mother Ellen arrives she will waive Miranda and let them speak to Hailey. They have no such luck. But, they do get a warrant to search the home, and in doing so, Fin finds several boxes of hormones, both male and female: estrogen, testosterone, and leuprolide. Back at the squad, Huang tells them that the leuprolide is used for hormone blocking to stop puberty, but why would Hailey have testosterone, a male hormone? He also says that he found that several pharmaceutical warehouses were recently robbed, stealing drugs used to transition.

Later, with Hailey, Ellen, and an attorney in interrogation, they question Hailey about the hormones but the lawyer attempts to block the answers. They say they know she had to work with other people to pull off the robbery, and that a manifesto was left at one of the crime scenes, signed by the “Children of Ariel.” Ellen becomes upset and decides to start talking. She says Hailey said she was going to a support group, and, despite Hailey’s protest not to say anything, she says she dropped off Hailey once at a church in Chelsea.

Fin and Stabler head to the Good Shepherd Church, and meet a transgendered man named Blake (Daniela Sea), and Stabler brings up the robbery. When they say they found the stash in Hailey’s bedroom, he asks if she is OK, and that Hailey is just a friend. When Stabler tells Blake to “be a man” Blake gets upset and tells Stabler he doesn’t know what it is like, and the drugs are a lifeline. Stabler says that they are like “Robin Hood and Maid Marian, all wrapped into one.” When they tell him that they believe Hailey tried to kill her father, Blake seems stunned, and says Hailey was with them when the group raided the warehouse, she just showed up but didn’t go into the warehouse, he just told her to wait in the van. She was only stashing the drugs until it was safe to move them.

Back at the squad in interrogation, Stabler tells the lawyer, Ellen, and Hailey that she didn’t attack her dad, that she was at the robbery, that Blake told them. When Ellen questions why she said she hurt her dad, Hailey said she was afraid to get the others in trouble, and she would do anything for Blake. Later, Stabler tells her she is free to go, but she will have to come back and answer questions about the robbery. Hailey sees Blake being brought in, she says she didn’t tell them anything, and that she loves him. He says it is not her fault, and they take him away. She screams that she loves him. Mark arrives, and begins to chastise Ellen for her parenting. She refuses to discuss the matter there and she is going home. He says they are not going anywhere, Hailey is staying with him, and he tugs at her, but when he is told to let go, he apologizes and he loves her and her mother. Hailey asks him that if he loves them, why does he go to the strip club and screw trashy sluts? Stabler asks who told her about a stripper, and she says her guidance counselor, Miss Blaine, who she said Ellen told her. But Ellen said she didn’t know about that, either. Stabler wonders how Blaine knew?

Back with Jackie Blaine, she said that she did tell Hailey, and in retrospect it was inappropriate. Benson said she is right, because they never told Ellen about Mark and the stripper, and Stabler says she could have been there herself. He asks if she followed him to the club, and she moved to a closet and pulls out a bloody coat. She said she could not get his blood out. When Benson asks her why she did it, she said Hailey’s pain got to be more than she could bear, she just wanted to protect her.

Back at the squad, Benson asks ADA Greyleck (Michaela McManus) if she got enough of the story before Jackie lawyered up. She says that based on what the detectives were told and the bloody coat, there is her case, signed, sealed, and delivered. As Greyleck leaves, Hailey arrives and says she wants to take it back, that Miss Blaine never told her about the strippers, she doesn’t know where she heard it. When see sees Jackie Blaine being locked up, she runs over and apologizes, but Stabler holds her back. Blaine says it is OK. Hailey says she has ruined everyone’s lives. Benson sees that Hailey had blood running down her hand, and gets her to sit down. When Benson pulls up Hailey’s sleeve, she sees her wrists are cut. Benson calls for a bus, and Blaine calls out to Hailey. As Benson reaches for her pulse, Hailey looks faint and says she is cold.

Later, at the hospital, Hailey is recovering, and Benson talks with Ellen. Benson tells Ellen she can help her get a lawyer. But a voice comes from behind, saying that she never expected to hear Benson suggest legal representation. It is Miss Pond (Alex Kinston), Jackie Blaine’s lawyer, who says her client was concerned when she saw Hailey collapse. When Benson tells her she can go, Pond says she wants to see for herself. Benson tells Ellen to close the blinds to Hailey’s room, and tells Pond she has no business being there. But Pond says that the mental health of a key witness against her client is her business. But Benson said her client confessed, she’s guilty.

At the trial, Pond says that Jackie Blaine loves Hailey like a daughter and Hailey needed to be saved from her father’s abuse regarding her gender issue. Back to at the squad, Greyleck tells Benson and Stabler the case is in trouble, that Pond is making Blaine looked like the patron saint of abused children and the jury is buying it. She needs Hailey to testify against her. But Benson thinks Hailey is a mess, and Stabler thinks that Hailey could play into Pond’s hands if put on the stand. Greyleck shows them a picture with Mark and “Henry” and says that this man loves his son, the relationship may be mess up but they can’t tell them it’s not worth saving.

In Hailey’s room, she is looking at the same picture and says that her father carries it around with him like it is proof she is a boy. Her father loves Henry, and is ashamed of who she is. She tears the picture, and says she hated the truck that was in it – she asked for one present that year – Barbie. He father just screamed at her about that. Stabler says her father can’t let Henry go, Hailey says it is like he loves a ghost. When Stabler asks if she ever lost someone she loved, she mentioned her grandmother, and that she cried for weeks. He says that is how her dad feels about Henry. She asks what Stabler would do if his son came home in a dress – would he still love him? Stabler pauses before answering, and says he’d try to understand, but that it would probably be hard and that he would probably make a lot of mistakes but never stop loving him. He puts his arm around Hailey as she cries into his shoulder, and he consoles her.

Later at trial, Hailey is on the stand being questioned by Greyleck, she says never asked Blaine to hurt her father. She is mad at her dad, but Greyleck pressures her to answer the question if Hailey wanted Blaine to hurt her dad. She answers an empathic no, she didn’t want anyone to hurt him. Under cross, Pond asks about the bandages on her arm, and denies trying to kill herself. She says she was just upset, and Pond comments that this wasn’t the first time she was upset, wasn’t it? Hailey asks what she means, and Pond asks if she ever talked to Blaine about wanting to kill herself. Hailey admits she had mentioned that a few times, and Pond says it was 8 times in the last 5 months, and every time she gets upset at school she goes to see Miss Blaine. Pond continues to hammer her on the issue, and if she ever talked with Pond about her father. As Greyleck attempts a concerned look, Hailey says she does not remember. Pond moves to refresh her memory that, according to Miss Blaine’s notes, every single time she spoke to her, she said she wished her father was dead. Hailey admits that is true. When asked if she thinks Jackie Blaine cares about her, Hailey says she knows she does. She asks her if her father cares about her, and Hailey answers she does not know. Pond reiterates that she told Blaine she wanted her father dead, and now says she wouldn’t want anyone to hurt him, which is it? Hailey says she does not know.

On the stand, Pond is questioning Blaine, who says Hailey was upset that her father did not want her taking the hormone blockers. Blaine said Hailey was devastated. She looks to the jury and ask them what if they woke up in the body of the opposite sex but nothing else about you had changed, how trapped and desperate you would feel? That is how Hailey felt, and that’s when she knew she had to save Hailey, she didn’t want her father to kill the beautiful girl inside her. Under cross, Greyleck sarcastically comments that Blaine’s love for Hailey is very touching, but did she ever think she was getting too involved? Jackie said Ellen is a good mother but Blaine is a professional, trained to handle these issues. Greyleck presses if she gets involved in the issues of other students in the same way, does she get involved in their lives in the same extent? Blaine said Hailey is special. Greyleck asks if she counsels students who have been victims of rape, incest, drugs, etc. and Jackie says yes, but Hailey is different. Greyleck says she hasn’t tried to kill the parents of those other children, they must not be special enough to deserve her devotion. Blaine says she does not understand, she has no idea what we go through. Greyleck asks, “We?” and stares blankly. When Blaine sits in silence, Greyleck pulls back, with a half look of realization on her face. She asks, “Miss Blaine, have you even been known by another name?” Pond quickly objects, citing relevance, and the judge overrules. Miss Blaine answers yes, it was Harold Franklin. Hailey, in the gallery, looks stunned, and whispers, “What?” When Pond asks to confer with her client, the judge denies the request. Blaine says she needs to explain. She says she always knew she was a girl, but things were different back then, there were no pills, counselors, or support groups. One had to live as a woman for three years before a doctor would even consider doing surgery. It was hard, but she had no choice. She was leaving a bar, and three men grabbed her and they called her a freak. They dragged her into a vacant lot and pulled up her skirt and one of the took out a knife, and said he would make her a woman, and he cut her. Greyleck continues to stare blankly.

Outside the courtroom, Mark tells Greyleck he wants to stop this, the trial, everything. She says it’s too late, but he says he is the victim and he wants to drop the charges, but she says he can’t, it’s not up to him. He said none of this would have happened if he would have just listened to his daughter. He was just thinking of himself. But Greyleck says Blaine can’t get away with it, and says she is sorry. Stabler and Benson look on. When Mark leaves, she turns around and sees the detectives and says “Oh no, not you too.” When Stabler says that Mark has a point, she says not every person that has been a victim can have am automatic get out of jail free card when they go looking for retribution. When Benson says, “You’re new here, Kim” Greyleck says, ‘What, you’re gonna give me the SVU is gray speech?” Stabler gives her a smirk, and Benson gives her a look that she wants to bitchslap her, but hold back and says, “Some cases have no right answer.” When Greyleck thinks this mean they expect Blaine to walk, Stabler says no, just offer them a plea bargain. When the detectives walk off, Greyleck attempts a look like she is thinking about what they said.

Later, back in court, the judge says she understands the defendant wished to change her plea, and Jackie says that she does, she says she is guilty. The judge says that in accordance with the arrangements made with the district attorney’s office, she is sentenced to 8 years. After the bang of the gavel to adjourn, Hailey moves to talk to Jackie, and Jackie apologizes. Hailey says her dad says she can take the hormone blockers, and Blaine is glad for her. Hailey hugs her. Hailey tells Benson she wants to go home, and leaves with both her parents. Benson and Stabler look on, as we fade to black.



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Episode Clip “Transitions”





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Law & Order Criminal Intent Premier April 19 For Season 8 ???

I report this with some trepidation, seeing that the USA Network hasn’t been very reliable when it comes to committing to the start date for Season 8 of Law & Order Criminal Intent. A few sources are reporting that the series will be returning on April 19, 2009. Hal Boedeker The TV Guy with the Orlando Sentinel who has been very reliable in his other scoops, says the following:

Starting Sunday, April 19, USA will make a serious run at winning over viewers.

The network announced today that it will pair two returning series on the night: "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" at 9 and "In Plain Sight" at 10.

Jeff Goldblum joins "Criminal Intent" as a Manhattan-born detective. Goldblum joins the cast of Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Julianne Nicholson and Eric Bogosian. Guest stars in the eight season will include Lynn Redgrave, Janel Moloney and Eric Balfour.


I won’t be holding my breath, and neither should you. But just in case this isn’t just another false alarm, I thought I’d pass it along to everyone anyway. I think it’s enough to allow the Vincent D’Onofrio and Jeff Goldblum fans to start rejoicing.

PS - TV Guide now also confirms the date. Start planning your celebrations now!





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Law & Order UK New Promotional Video

Here’s a new video promoting the new Law & Order UK, starring Bradley Walsh, Jamie Bamber, Freema Agyeman, Ben Daniels, Bill Patterson, and Harriet Walter. Looks exciting! Don't forget,it premiers in the UK on February 23, 2009.


Law & Order UK Promo




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Law & Order Episode Information Week of February 15, 2009

Both Law & Order and Law & Order SVU have new episodes for the week of February 15. The SVU episode “Transitions” had been pre-empted this past week for an episode of “Dateline.”

It looks like Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) is in for some politial trouble in the episode "Rapture."

Law & Order SVU “Transitions” Air Date February 17, 2009
WHEN A MAN IS FOUND BRUTALLY BEATEN AND BARELY ALIVE OUTSIDE A STRIP CLUB, HIS TRANSGENDER TEEN IS THE PRIME SUSPECT.

When a man is found badly beaten with no memory of what happened in a strip club parking lot, Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) are at a loss for evidence as a rainstorm washed away any clues. A fake fingernail embedded in the victim's back leads the detectives to believe that the attacker is female. Detective Benson and Stabler turn to the female dancers at the club for questioning, but a homeless man, Sid Gabbert (guest star Paul Lazar), points the detectives to the victim’s truck. Using evidence found in the truck, the detectives learn that the victim, Mark Van Kuren (guest star Frank Grillo), was sent to repossess the car of strip club dancer, Molly “Misty” Lambert (guest star Heidi Marnhout). After questioning “Misty,” Van Kuren awakes in the hospital with no memory, but brings the attention to his ex-wife Ellen (guest star Wendy Makkena) and their 13-year-old transgender son Henry (guest star Bridger Zadina). Also starring: Richard Belzer (Detective John Much), Dann Florek (Captain Donald Cragen), Ice-T (Detective Odafin Tutuola), Michaela McManus (A.D.A Kim Greylek), Tamara Tunie (Dr. Melinda Warner), and B.D. Wong (Dr. George Huang).

My recap and review of “ Transitions” can be found here.



Law & Order ‘Rapture” Air Date February 18, 2009
A MURDER INVESTIGATION BY DETECTIVES LUPO AND BERNARD INVOLVES PROSECUTORS IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY

Mysterious emails sent from a religious website lead detectives Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Bernard (Anthony Anderson) to the dead body of one of its creators. As the detectives search for a motive for the murder, they uncover a network of corruption involving the Second Exodus charitable foundation and it's leader Nathan Reese (Guest Star Jason Butler Harner) and manager George Duffy (Guest Star John Sharian). D.A. Jack McCoy's (Sam Waterston) efforts to bring the suspect to trial are complicated by a complex scheme by the suspect to avoid prosecution that involves seeking asylum from a foreign government. As McCoy attempts to unravel the international intrigue, he must also fight for his job and his career when his political opponent exploits the case and uses the media to attack Jack's reputation. Also stars Linus Roache and Alana de la Garza.

My recap and review of “Rapture “ can be found here.





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Law & Order UK: More Cast Pictures

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime, and the Crown Prosecution Service who prosecute the offenders.

A few more promotional pictures for Law & Order UK have been made available. These photos feature series stars Bradley Walsh and Jamie Bamber. Enjoy!

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Law & Order “Crimebusters” Busts the Prosecution (Recap & Review)

All Images from NBC

In this episode of Law & Order (NBC) we get a case that is hampered by an amateur crimebusting group, an amateur criminal psychologist, and what looks like an amateur prosecution. But in this case, try as hard as they may, the evidence just isn’t falling into the right places at the right time, and the DA’s office has to back away from prosecuting anybody. It was bound to happen – not every case can be won by the prosecution. But I would imagine that it’s just as hard to abandon a case as it is to outright lose a case – even though Cutter and Rubirosa look slightly relieved as Jack makes the decision to walk away from it.

We are also treated to a mention of the venerable Adam Schiff, whose name – but not his face – comes out of hiding to endorse Jack McCoy in his campaign for the DA’s office. It is interesting to see Jack getting a tough case handed to his office just at the time that he’s trying to make everything look good. I suppose it is payback for all the grief he gave Schiff when Schiff was running for office and Jack wanted to go off and do things his own way. I also wonder if Cutter’s job is in trouble, seeing that Jack seems to chastise him every chance he gets. In this episode, Jack openly calls Cutter out for his antics. It could be that he is trying to get Cutter to clean up his act in the event Jack (gasp) loses the election, that Cutter’s record won’t get him fired by Jack’s replacement. I also sense that we are in for some interesting drama as the election looms.

As far as the case, I knew the minute that the amateurs got involved that the case was going to be muddy. Funny, while the amateurs hurt the case, Cutter wasn’t opposed to using them to dig up some dirt on one of the suspects. It was a winning episode for the defense lawyers, who had a field day with the sloppiness of the investigation and the fact that normal, everyday people trying to do good just made things worse. I suspect that people involved in fighting crime as their job on a daily basis hate all the armchair criminologists that are out there. Personally, I think that television has done more to educate people in a good way about fighting crime, and maybe some people do take it a little too far. Still, I for one am glad that TV crime shows has made me a little smarter on the issue, it forces our law enforcement professionals to do even better in their jobs.


Here’s the recap:

A woman is at an Army recruiting center hearing all kinds of yelling and banging noises. She is trying to quiet her baby. She hears breaking glass, and turns around. Later, at the scene of what seems to be a fire and explosion, Detectives Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Bernard (Anthony Anderson) are inspecting the scene. The arson squad found what was left of a can of butane. A female, mid-20s was found on the scene, someone saw her and pulled her out. She had no ID. Sgt. Rodney James, who runs the recruiting center, approaches the detectives and asks where is Carly, his buddy’s wife. She was staying there overnight, and had her baby Mikey with her. He asks if they say the baby, and the detectives glance at each other, and then inside the burned building.

Later, Sgt. James said that Carly came in from Pennsylvania and had no money so he let her and the baby stay there for the night and rest before she got back on the bus in the morning. She came to the city because her husband Mike is MIA in Afghanistan and she thinks the army is not doing enough to find him. She wanted to talk to someone in his group at the VA – she just wants some answers. They get threats all the time. They day before, they had “Megaphone Bob” who reads off the name of war casualties. He has to stay away from the entrance but he managed to get inside yesterday and they flagged down a patrol car to clear him out. A police officer tells the detectives they now have the OK to talk to Carly.

At St. Michael’s Hospital, Carly DiGravia (Mackenzie Mauzy) is upset about her baby. She says God took her baby. She recalls that she was in the back room with Mikey, trying to get him to sleep. “Drunks” had been banging on the door and yelling all night. She heard the glass break and she left Mikey on the cot to go see. Then the air exploded and she tried to find Mikey but could not, with the smoke. She couldn’t see who they were. When Bernard asks if there is any family they can call, she says she wants her husband, he’s in Afghanistan, “just ask the Army.”

Back at the 2-7, Bernard is reviewing the case with Lt. Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson). She thinks the media is going to be all over it. She asks about the status of Megaphone Bob, and he says that the officers called to the scene the day before did not arrest him, they got his address but they weren’t valid. Van Buren tells Bernard and Lupo to check with the local precinct to see if there were any other problems with him and to do a news search to see if they can find anything on his protests. Lupo finds a comment on an on-line news article on the matter and it seems like someone may have witnessed some of the crime and was in the area with a video camera. Van Buren tells them they need to see the video.

Later, at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, they speak with the couple. They are teachers in Philadelphia, but they are filmmakers too. They watch the video, and Bernard slows it down to see someone on a bike with what looks like a brick in his hand. They take the video back to the 2-7, and Van Buren tells them the Chief of D’s sent over two woman to volunteer on the case.

The two women state they are from Operation Molly, they are “web sleuths” that use the Internet to help solve crimes like these. Van Buren tells them they are releasing a photo of a suspect today to get the public involved in helping ID him, and she tells them to call her about anything they find, and everything is “hands off.” They agree. Lupo and Bernard mumble about it as they leave the room, and another detective brings them a copy of a Times article on Megaphone Bob. His name is Bob Tavish, with a few unlawful assembly complaints from Seattle. He was on a short list of suspects for an arson in a condo project.

Later, they question Bob Tavish as he is locking up his bike. They check out his bike, and they tell him they know about the fact that Seattle is looking for him. He denies bombing the center. He said a guy came up to him yesterday at the center, his sister was killed in Iraq. He said she enlisted at the center, and he wanted to make sure she was on his casualties list. He name was Linda Sherman, and her name was not on his list.

The detectives go to the home of Derek Sherman, who is outside yelling at the two woman from Operation Molly who says they have a right to search his garbage. The detectives tell them to break it up, and a woman says he has some bricks in his garbage. Lupo asks to see it. Bernard takes Derek out back, and Lupo tells the women that they couldn’t search his trash until he put it on the sidewalk. They say they were able to identify him from his Panthers sweatshirt from their clothing identification and it was easy to track him from that. Lupo reminds them they were supposed to clear everything with them, and one woman argues the detective’s investigation was too slow. He tells them the bricks are now tainted as evidence and he tells them to back off. In the back, Bernard is talking to Derek, who denies firebombing the location. He says he was there and did see Megaphone Bob and said he wanted to be sure he had his sister’s name. Bernard thanks him for what his sister did for the country, but says he has to ask for his whereabouts and the time of the crime. He says he was at McMullen’s tavern, and he is a regular there. He wants them to keep the crazies away from him.

The detectives are at the Army records room, and they are told by a man working there that Sherman came in a few times, drunk, to ask about his sister. He also talked to Carly the day before. He also refers to the Carly and her husband as “Coal Crackers” which is what Mike said meant they didn’t want to follow their families into working or the mines. They find that Carly’s father in law is someone who sets off the explosions in the coal mines, and the detectives speculate that Carly had access to the blasting caps and the fact that she wanted them to now find her husband may be the motive for the explosion.

Back at the 2-7 speaking with “Leonard” who seems to be an expert on the explosives, he explains how the bomb cold have been made. They focus on Carly, Megaphone Bob, and Derek. Bernard argues that the sweatshirt and the bike implicate Derek, but Lupo says he had no access to blasting caps. Bernard asks what Lupo’s problem is with the girl, and Lupo says his problem is Bernard is ruling her out. Van Buren calls for a time out, and tells them to find out if Derek had access to the blasting caps, and to check with the Pennsylvania police to find out what kind of blasting caps Carly’s father would use.

Later, back at the hospital talking with Carly, she explains to Van Buren and the detectives the circumstances of her husband’s disappearance, and that when the troop was ambushed they came back without him. The VA hospital said no one saw Mike get shot. No one is paying attention to her, but they are paying attention now. Van Buren presses her and says no one will blame her, but Carly says “blame me for what?” She asks them to hand her a tote box filled with mail from people, and there is also a sweatshirt form Operation Molly, who she says is helping to solve the crime. It has her picture on a T-shirt. Van Buren tells her to stay there for a few days after she gets out of the hospital, and seems happy when Van Buren tells her they will put her up in a hotel. Carly looks at the image of herself on the sweatshirt and wonders if people will recognize her. Outside the hospital room, Lupo comments that Carly never mentioned the baby. Van Buren wonders if she just can’t deal yet with the death of her baby.

At the Veterans Hospital, they talk to a man who was in Mike’s group when he went missing. He didn’t expect Carly to show up with the baby, and as long as her husband was MIA she could continue to collect Mike salary from the Army – “embrace the suck and take the bucks” and make her piece with it. Carly said it wasn’t about the money, and that Carly had a temper. Bernard gets a call, and it’s Derek. He tells him not to do anything and they will be right there. He tells Lupo that Operation Molly struck again.

On the street, Derek is showing them his mangled bike. He got called to make a delivery and someone was waiting and purposely knocked him off his bike. Someone also broke into his house and took his backpack and called him a baby killer. He points them out as being in a van nearby, one of the other delivery guys took the van’s keys out of the ignition so they could not flee. Lupo and Bernard approach the van, and asks “Gus” for the keys, so he turns them over. Bernard tells the two occupants to step out of the vehicle, an man and a woman, one of the Operation Molly woman. She says she took the backpack as evidence. Bernard demands the backpack, she gives it to him, and Bernard says it is stolen property and it is going into evidence. They arrest the couple for assault and robbery.

Back at the 2-7, Van Buren is having a conniption with the other Operation Molly lady. Van Buren says what they did was unacceptable, and the woman apologizes. Van Buren says their work has to stop now, and that was an order. She will arrest them if they interfere again, and the woman balks. Van Buren says “You don’t wanna try me.” Bernard knocks on the window to get Van Buren’s attention. He tells Van Buren and Lupo that the lab found traces of butane in the backpack, but Lupo thinks that won’t do any good, since the amateur “crimebusters” had the backpack in their possession as well and a good lawyer could say they planted the butane. Van Buren says they have good lawyers too, and to arrest Derek. They arrest him for murder in arson.

At Derek’s arraignment, ADA Rubirosa (Alana De La Garza), he pleads not guilty and Rubirosa request remand. But the evidence and the fact that the “vigilantes” had their hands on it comes into play. One of the Operation Molly men takes Derek’s picture and the judge orders his phone confiscated. The judge remands Derek Sherman and there is light applause from the gallery. As things break up, the defense attorney Mr. Wilson says “These people put Trekkies to same” and hands Rubirosa a motion to suppress the backpack and bricks. She tells Wilson he has a baby killer for a client, and to “live long and prosper.”

Back at the DA’s office, Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) talks with EADA Cutter (Linus Roache) and Rubirosa, telling him he can't believe the police let the Operation Molly people near the case in the first place. She reminds him that they identified the person and found the evidence, which Cutter reminds her may be thrown out. McCoy tells them if any evidence falls out, to make a deal. Rubirosa seems surprised at a plea bargain for a death of the baby, and McCoy reminds her that no reasonable person could have anticipated that a woman and her baby would be allowed to spend the night in a recruitment center. As McCoy rushes into an elevator, Cutter remarks, “Nice fig leaf.” McCoy retorts, ‘It covers enough.”

In the chambers of Judge Noreen Morrison, Cutter argues with Wilson about the evidence. Rubirosa argues the Operation Molly people were warned to stay out of things, but the Wilson argues that chain of custody on the backpack is still an issue. The judge allows the backpack in, but the bricks are out. Cutter mumbles to Rubirosa, “Fig leaf anyone?”

Taking with Derek and Wilson in jail holding, he admits he threw the brick into the window but nothing else. Cutter warns him about what he may face with the jury, and Derek gets emotional about his sister death and says he would tell them about that on the stand. He comments about how his sister got put in a convoy with nothing but hillbilly armor to protect her. He says “screw this, and screw you” to Cutter and demands for the CO to open the gate.

Back in McCoy’s office, he is on the phone, saying, “You don’t know what this means to me, Adam. Alright. Good luck with Mr. Mugabe.” When he hangs up, Cutter questions, ‘Adam? Adam Schiff?” McCoy says “Yes, he’s in Africa with Jimmy Carter waiting for permission to enter Zimbabwe, he read about my candidacy on the internet of all places and just called to offer me his endorsement.” Cutter remarks, “So that’s where you’ve been getting your “let’s make a deal” advice.” Cutter tells him Sherman passed on a deal but admitted throwing the brick. Rubirosa enters and tells them that the Pennsylvania police say the blasting caps used for the bomb are the same as what Carly’s father uses.

At the Garlston Hotel, Van Buren and Rubirosa are talking with Carly. She is meeting a friend she just met in the lobby. Van Buren asks her to take a lie detector test to make sure she is telling the truth before the trial. Carly seems preoccupied with herself. Rubirosa says that what she says can’t be used as evidence and Carly gets wise that they are accusing her. She gets upset and denies any involvement and storms into the bathroom. Van Buren tells Rubirosa she will have the detectives head to Pennsylvania in the morning.

At the home of Carly’s husband’s father, Hank Di Gravia, he says that Carly leaves the baby with them on a regular basis, and sometimes says she will be gone for an hour and then leaves for a half a day. He says Carly is all about Carly. Lupo notices in a picture of Mike he has a few fingers missing on his right hand. Hank tells them Mike blew up a porta john with a blasting cap and butane and it blew up in his hand.

Back at the DA’s office, Cutter reviews the information with Rubirosa and McCoy. McCoy tells them to get on the same page with their suspects. Rubirosa notices that cay is on the front page of the Daily News web page, with a headline “Bomb Mom Gone Wild.’ Apparently the person who went barhopping with Carly the night before, Vicky Sandusky, said Carly admitted to the bombing because the Army treats the families of servicemen like dirt. McCoy tells them to talk to Sandusky and he will decide how to proceed.

Later, at Raoul’s Hair Salon, Vicky says she hung out at the hotel just to get to know Carly. She said she thought they arrested the wrong person so she wanted to do some “profiling.” Rubirosa says “Profiling. You work in a hair salon.” Vicky says she has amazing intuition. She says she is a walking Medea complex, and that she didn’t tell the newspaper everything. Carly told her she never wanted the baby, her husband wanted it to keep her on the straight and narrow while he was away. She had friends in Florida and she was going to move there and get a job on the beach. She recorded her on her phone and asks Rubirosa if she wants to hear it.

Later Rubirosa plays the recording for Van Buren, the detectives. and Cutter. Carly sounded drunk. They find that Carly also is checking out of the hotel, and Cutter says to arrest her and release Sherman, but Rubirosa asks if they should talk to Jack first. Cutter says McCoy is at a fundraiser announcing the Adam Schiff endorsement. Rubirosa says if they screw this up for him, there won’t be anything left to endorse. Cutter still tells them to go ahead, and Rubirosa is not pleased.

When they arrive at the hotel, a police officer is glad to see them. He says that a lady with the suitcase was trying to hail a cap when other people detained her. It’s the Operation Molly people, who said Carly was fleeing the jurisdiction. They arrest her while the Operation Molly people yell that she is a baby killer.

Elsewhere, McCoy exits the Law Offices Organization of New York Annual Award Gala, to speak to someone who had him called out of the room. He is shown a cell phone and after looking at the screen, angrily tells him to find Michael Cutter, and he doesn’t care if he has to drag him out of the bathtub, to tell him to be in his office in 20 minutes. He returns to the Gala.

Back at his office and livid, McCoy asks Cutter if he is trying to make things easier for (Governor) Shalvoy. He reminds Cutter what he told him, and says the case is now a minefield thanks to his arrest. He says he better have something good, and Cutter gives him the information about the recording. Now they have motive and evidence of flight. McCoy settles down, but when Cutter tells him not to worry, he’s covered, McCoy glares at him. He tells him to dismiss against Derek Sherman and to make a deal with Carly, quietly. When Cutter questions how that will look, McCoy says it’s better than the circus the trial would be. He adds, “And Mike, if Shalvoy’s hack wins this election, don’t for a second imagine you’ll get away with pulling half the crap you pull with me.”

At Rikers Island with Carly and her attorney Ms. Weller, Cutter and Rubirosa try to convince Carly to take a deal but Weller isn’t buying it. She also tells them to tell McCoy that from now until the election, she will nail this case to his forehead so when voters come across his name on the ballot all they will see is Carly’s grieving face. Cutter gives her a fake smile.

Back at the office, one of the Operation Molly women is asking why she would have to testify at Carly’s trial. Rubirosa tells her that Carly’s lawyer will, to try to prove Derek planted the bomb. Cutter adds they will ask her, under oath if she ever did anything like spray butane on the backpack. He then says it will be his turn to rip her story apart and attack her credibility and could face perjury unless she tells the truth now. She admits she did spray butane in his backpack.

At trial, Mike’s father is on the stand he testifies about Carly, and Weller questions him about an email he sent to Carly. He is questioning why Carly doesn’t seem sad over Mike’s death. Weller makes it sound like Di Gravia blamed Carly for Mike’s death, but he says he did not lie about his testimony.

The jury then hears Carly’s recording made by Vicky Sandusky., which makes Carly sound shallow and self-absorbed. On cross, Weller asks how many drinks Carly had when this was recorded, and Vicky said she wasn’t counting, but thinks maybe 8 or 9. As Vicky only had one drink, Weller makes if sound as if Vicky got Carly drunk on purpose to get her to talk. Vicky says Carly only talked about her needs, she is a narcissist. Weller says she’s quite the expert in criminal psychology, and she asks if she’s ever heard of posttraumatic stress syndrome. Vicky says it’s when people have a shock and it changes them, and Weller brings up the fire and explosion and Carly losing her child and husband. When Vicky says that the police had arrested someone else, Weller sarcastically questions, “The police had another suspect?” to which Cutter objects and is overruled. Carly explains about Derek Sherman, whose only problems are he sells marijuana and hash and his tendencies are non-violent. Weller asks if this is her “professional opinion” - as a hairdressers assistant, and says she has nothing further. Cutter and Rubirosa look troubled.

As Cutter and Rubirosa leave the courtroom, Rubirosa is concerned that Weller is scoring points but thinks she can’t pull it off unless Carly takes the stand. Cutter asks if she knew Sherman dealt drugs, and she said he was kicked out of college for a drug related offence but the records are sealed. He says he needs to talk to narcotics.

Later in the office, Cutter and Rubirosa have Derek and his attorney present. The attorney is angry they have been called in again. Cutter asks him if he knows his client dealt hash oil when he was in college, and Derek denies it. Cutter said their amateur crimebusters dug up some of this former customers. Butane is used to extract hash oil from hashish, and they caught Derek in his lie when he previously said he knew nothing about butane. Derek says he stopped dealing two years ago and he threw away all the butane. He swears he only threw the brick.

Later, in Cutter’s office, they go over the fact that McCoy supported originally dismissing against Derek because they couldn’t link him to the device. But now they can. But they can only link Derek to the butane, but they can link the butane and the caps to Carly, but that is through her father in law, who may be trying to get back at her. When Cutter looks at the picture of Carly and says it doesn’t look like a mother of someone who tried to save her baby from an inferno, Rubirosa reminds him that is not evidence. McCoy reminds them they have a trial in 15 minutes and they have to tell Carly’s lawyer about it.

Back in the courtroom, Weller argues that this puts Derek back in play. She asks the judge to introduce this to the jury, and she wants to call in witness. She asks for a few days and the just agrees. As Cutter and Rubirosa leave, Carly says she is sorry for her behavior. She just felt she was at the bottom of so much hurt. They walk away.

Later in McCoy’s office, Rubirosa thinks that after Weller finished putting Sherman ’ on trial” the jury will never convict Carly. Cutter asks for suggestions from McCoy. He picks up the phone and asks to be connected to the public information office. He speaks to someone called “Kate” and says he is going to be sending over a press release in an hour about the Army recruitment center bombing. When he hangs up the phone, he says he is sure Cutter can strip the flesh off Carly’s bones on cross, he doesn’t think they can ram a plea bargain down his throat now, he’s declining to prosecute either Derek or Carly because they can’t say which one is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Rubirosa says she can see the headlines now, “no justice for baby Mikey.” McCoy shrugs, and Cutter says, “You’re gonna take a lot of heat for this.” McCoy puts on his glasses, and says, “ I can live with that. So can you.” As Cutter and Rubirosa leave, McCoy goes back to work, and with his sigh, we fade to black.


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