Law & Order SVU “Glasgowman’s Wrath” Recap & Review

I was prepared to hate “Glasgowman’s Wrath.” I really was. Any drama series with a story based on a Halloween or “spooky” theme usually offers corny, silly stories.  I was surprised that I really liked this episode. It had a touch of the “Blair Witch Project” combined with the “Slender Man” fictional stories, and involved what seemed like innocent kids out for some scary fun without their parents’ knowledge. It may have been a frightening episode only to the very young, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t suspenseful for adults. There was something about “Glasgowman’s Wrath” that pulled me in.  I think it was the general unsettled vibe that came from the combination of subject matter, visually interesting locations/sets, camera angles, and the urgency to find the missing girls. A first, viewers wondered if the girls were in danger from the alleged monster the Glasgowman, but later had to wonder if these girls had simply plotted to kill innocent Zoe. Clearly, these two girls were psychos in the making, with the cat-killing Perry seemingly well on her way to the capital of Psychoville. This case was full of people influenced by fantasy and delusion. It all started with one babysitter who was working on a graphic novel fantasy based on a man who has mental issues and paranoid fantasies all his own. Mix in two young girls who used those fantasies to stage a possible murder of one of the girl’s sisters and you have a crime that no one really pays for. This would be one case that would be very interesting to revisit a few years down the road – if SVU is still on the air at that point – and see if Perry or Mia victimize someone else.

The detectives initially work the case of Zoe’s attack without Benson’s involvement, wanting to give her the pleasure of spending her one day off with baby Noah. Amaro smartly involves her once it’s discovered that it isn’t just a case of one girl being attacked, but two additional girls are missing. Benson gets slightly bent out of shape that Amaro didn’t call her immediately. I don’t think it is a power trip with her, but more of her concern that her boss will have issues with her new family getting in the way of work, or have doubts about her leadership abilities.

There is also slight tension between Amaro and Rollins when Amaro tries to protect Rollins from working in the park; she thinks he means she can’t handle herself. There are times Amaro is behaves like a chauvinist, and it annoys me too. Rollins may have wanted to work the park and not be at the hospital with Benson over concern that Benson will give her all the heat for not getting her involved sooner. Amaro and Carisi also seemed to be competing for Benson’s attention; Amaro was less than thrilled when Carisi felt he was the better detective to question Charlie.  (Did Benson ask Rollins for her opinion on the issue as a test for Rollins to see if Rollins could remain objective?) There is no doubt about it, Carisi is a smart detective and Amaro may view him as a threat for the boss’ attention. On a related note, Peter Scanavino is a true scene stealer and I am finding that I am more interested in his character more than the others on the show.

Here is the recap:

Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Sergeant Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino - Detective Nick Amaro
Raúl Esparza - ADA Rafael Barba
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick Carisi, Jr.

Guest stars
Will Harris - Charlie Dorsey
Jessica Phillips - Pippa Cox
Chloe Csengery - Perry Gilbert
Mina Sundwall - Mia Harris
Oona Laurence - Zoe Harris
Stephanie Kurtzuba - Joan Harris
Tricia Paoluccio - Robin Thornhill
Jeanine Bartel - Barbara Gilbert
Griffin Matthews - Leslie Connolly
Dashiell Eaves - Officer
Jayne Houdyshell – Judge Linden
Yvonna Kopacz Wright - Dr. Darby Wilder
Joanne Baron - Counselor Diane Schwartz
Toni Campisi – Counselor Steve Roth
Matthew Montelongo - Rick
Jodie Lynne McClintock - Nancy Earnst


At a girls’ sleep over, Zoe is rudely awakened by her sister Mia,  and Mia’s friend Perry films it. The girls are up for an adventure on the night after Halloween and race to the park. At the entrance to Inwood Hill Park, Perry, speaking to the camera, records a video about finding Glasgowman. She tells Zoe that she may not believe now, but he wouldn’t have called her if she wasn’t ready. As they walk into the woods, Mia continues to record them, Zoe says she wants to go, but Perry tells her not to worry, he likes the little ones. They hear odd screeching sounds and they thinks it is him. Mia tells them all to run, and as they do so, she tells them it is him and tells them not to look. As they run off, the camera drops to the ground and Mia yells for help, saying they got Zoe.

The next morning, Rollins and Carisi are at the park while Zoe is being placed into an ambulance on a stretcher. She was found by a birdwatcher. They don’t know who she is. Rollins goes with Zoe in the ambulance while Carisi speaks with the birdwatcher. He finds she has photos of the man who she saw standing over the girl.

Later at the hospital, Rollins flips through those photos of the attacker on her phone, and Amaro comments that the suspect is Bigfoot and their Jane Doe is still a Jane Doe. Rollins comments that Carisi reported her description and local precincts are distributing it now. She asks him how was California, and he says it is confusing. Zara is thriving and she loves it there. The doctor enters and says the girl is lucky to be alive; aside from the head trauma, one of the stab wounds was millimeters from her femoral artery. There was no visible signs of sexual assault but they have to wait for consent to do a rape kit. Amaro asks when can they talk to her. The doctor informs them she is out of surgery but she lost a lot of blood and she will let them know. As the doctor walks off, Rollins asks Amaro if they should call Benson in, but Amaro says it is her one day off with the baby, Two women, Joan and her wife run up and show them a photo of their daughter Zoe, asking if this is the victim. Rollins says it could be, and Joan asks if Mia is with her, Zoe’s big sister. When Rollins doesn’t immediately answer, the women asks to see Zoe now. Rollins explains as soon as she is able they will get them in there. She adds she was hurt in the park last night. Joan becomes very upset and xx tells her to let them answer the question. Amaro asks if they know how their daughter ended up in the park alone, and Joan’s wife says they both went to a sleep-over at a friend’s house, Perry Gilbert. They didn’t answer their cell phones this morning. They called and texted her mom who is not answering. Joan’s wife gives them Gilbert’s address and said no one answered the door and their phone tracker app says the girl’s phones are inside. Amaro tells them he needs them to try and stay calm and to have a seat and look through their phones and find the most recent photos of Mia and Zoe that they can. Rollins worries one girl is attacked and now two girls are missing or worse they are not responding at that apartment. Amaro says “Let’s go… now we call Liv.”

Meanwhile, Benson is at home having quality time with Noah, the room a bit of a mess, when she gets the call. She tells the caller (likely Amaro) she has to get a sitter and will be there as soon as she can.

At the residence of Barbara Gilbert on Sunday, November 2, Amaro and Rollins arrive and hear what they think is a woman being held at gunpoint, but find it is only Barbara and her state police boyfriend fooling around. Barbara thinks Perry is at a sleepover with Mia Harris and her sister, they texted her yesterday. They check the apartment and there is no sign of the girls but they go find the girls’ phones in the hamster cage. Barbara is frantic. Amaro gets a message that Benson is on the way to the hospital. He tells Rollins he told Benson that Rollins would join but Rollins wants Amaro to take Benson at the hospital so she can go to the park. Amaro says they don’t know what they are dealing with her and Rollins is miffed that he apparently doesn’t think she can handle herself. He says this is not what he meant, and Rollins replies good, adding he is better at dealing with Benson and she is going to be pissed when she finds they didn’t call her right away.

Later, at the hospital, Benson comments to Amaro that next time, call her earlier. Amaro explains he didn’t want to bother her on her day off, and she counters that is not his decision, it is hers. She comments there is one girl stabbed, and Amaro finishes by saying there are also two girls missing. They found their phones and sent them to TARU but there were no social media postings yesterday. There is not much to go on with the suspect; Carisi has blurry photos and he and Rollins are cobbling together a search. Benson latches onto the word “cobbling” and Amaro explains today is the marathon and every cop in the city is working. He adds that at this point, nobody matching the description has been found. Benson tells him to call the academy and get cadets out there, auxiliary and scouts. The doctor interrupts and says the little girl is conscious and her mothers are with her. Benson races to the room as Amaro makes some calls.

In the hospital room, Zoe says it wasn’t her idea. Mia took her mother’s phone and texted Perry’s mom saying that she could sleep over the house. Joan says Perry’s mom texted her saying that the two girls were staying with her. Zoe explains that was Perry pretending to be her mom. They made her promise not to tell. Joan snaps as Zoe, asks what was she thinking, and Joan’s wife says “not now.” Benson tells Zoe they are not angry at her, and Amaro adds they just want to know how she ended up in the park last night. Zoe says they were going and they said they couldn’t be left alone. When Joan starts to get upset, Amaro tries to get her out of the room but she says she is not going to leave her daughter alone. Joan’s wife says that Mia is still out there, and, grabbing Joan’s hand, pulls her away, telling her to let the police do their job. The two women leave the room. Benson stresses to Zoe she is not in any trouble but they need her to help her find her sister. Amaro asks why did Mia and Perry want to go to the park at night, and Zoe explains they said it would be scary; right after Halloween, the spirits are out…zombies, fun scary. Benson asks what was the plan. Zoe says they left at midnight and Perry had a camera just in case they saw somebody scary and said they would show it to everybody. Mia and Perry did see something, and they were screaming at her to run but he caught her and knocked her down. She saw his face; it was the Glasgowman.

Back at the park, Carisi and Rollins pass out flyers with info for law enforcement who are doing the search for the two girls. The all fan out into the woods and quickly find Zoe’s backpack under a pile of leaves. Rollins gives the backpack to an officer to get it to CSU as they arrive at a cave with a man inside. The man comes out with a stick and Rollins reminds the officer they want him alive. He does not put it down so the officer uses his taser and the man doesn’t immediately drop to the ground. Carisi orders him to turn the taser off and the man finally drops as Carisi tells him to stay on the ground. Rollins cautiously cuffs him.



Later, at SVU, Perry’s mother sees the man in interrogation and doesn’t know him. She is worried that they have him and not the girls that the girls are dead.

In Benson’s office, Amaro tells her that Zoe thinks it is him and is convinced he is Glasgowman but she doesn’t remember being stabbed. Carisi enters and says Perry’s mom is no help and her boyfriend has his hands full with her. Rollins explains that Glasgowman is Charlie Dorsey, 36, the local precinct has seen him going through the garbage collecting cans. Carisi adds he has been in the state asylum until they dumped him back on the streets in 2003 when they closed. Amaro states after that, Charlie stopped taking his meds, ramped up to assaults and then stabbed a guy in the kidney at a homeless shelter and got 3 years in Attica. Rollins adds he got released 2 years ago, met once with his parole officer and then went off the grid until today. Carisi comments that it was only a matter of time, you can’t unscrew the top of a saltshaker and not be surprised when it spills all over the table. Rollins explains there is no sign of the weapon and it is negative on the rape kit and they are running his clothes now for DNA and his eye patch is just for show and he got agitated when they tried to take it off. They could not find anything in the cave and it is tiny, and Benson thinks he has to sleep somewhere. Amaro states they haven’t found anything yet and the woods are dense, it is the last primeval forest in the area. Carisi explains Charlie has clammed up and has no idea about the girls. Amaro offers to take a run at him but Carisi tells Amaro that , no disrespect, that Charlie trusts him. When Amaro comments that Carisi just said Charlie clammed up, Nobody says anything and then Benson solicits an opinion from Rollins. Rollins says that Carisi did get them to stop tasering him and helped talk him down. Amaro looks less than happy, Benson reminds them that it has been over 12 hours since two girls went missing, then takes Carisi into the interrogation room with her.

In interrogation, it is obvious that Charlie is very paranoid and has mental issues. After careful questioning and showing him a photo of him with Zoe, he says he did not hurt her. He found her bleeding and as the last Good Samaritan in this dying society, he helped her. He doesn’t know anything about the other two girls and mention it was filmed on a device that he found which is now in his dwelling. Carisi suggests that he take Charlie back there and the device will show Charlie didn’t do it. He agrees it is a good plan but asks for his eye patch back. He looks in the mirror at their reflection and tells them not to threaten him with medication, just treat him like a man.

Later, Carisi and Rollins, along with Charlie and more officers, arrive at another location in the park. They go in to the overgrown cave area and Carisi finds the camera. He tells Rollins to make get 24 hour guard on the cave to be sure no one disturbs it until Charlie is released. Rollins calls for CSU. Charlie wants to stay there but Carisi reassures him it will be OK and Rollins assures him no one will disturb his cave. After Charlie and Carisi leave, Rollins searches the cave and finds bloody knives.

Back at SVU, Rollins announces there is no trace of the other girls around the encampment and the dogs picked up no scent. Carisi adds that Charlie claims the knives are for hunting and fishing and also that the blood came from bluefish. Rollins states they are running it now for prints and DNA. Carisi sent the camera to TARU and Amaro thinks it belongs to the girls. Carisi gets the video from TARU. They see the video the girls made about looking for Glasgowman and he will take them to his mansion. They mention a map. Benson comments that Zoe didn’t mention any of this.

Back at the hospital with Zoe and one of her mothers, Zoe is reluctant to speak about it as she did not want to break the pact. Finally she admits they were going to Gateway, where you meet Glasgowman before you go to his mansion. She is afraid he will kill the girls. She says if Glasgowman likes you, he lets you into his mansion where there are no rules and no school. There are portals inside to other routes but she doesn’t know where it is. They got the map from Leslie, a man who is Perry’s babysitter. Perry has had a lot of sitters. They got the map Thursday. Leslie tells a lot of scary stories.

At the apartment of Leslie Connolly on Monday, November 3, Rollins, with Benson and Amaro, knocks on Leslie’s door and as he opens it, she pushes her way in. He says he last saw the girls on Tuesday. His apartment is filled with drawings and Rollins sees a huge drawing of a mansion and asks where is it. He explains it does not exist, it is all in his head. Benson pushes his shoulder so he faces her and says they don’t have time for this; they girls went into the woods with his map looking for Glasgowman, and she opens his jacket to show him wearing a t-shirt which says “Glasgowman.” He says Glasgowman is not real, and when Amaro shows him a photo of Charlie, Leslie recognizes him. He brings Charlie food and Charlie tells him crazy stories. The kids call him Glasgowman and he just amped it up and created the lore. Benson tells him Zoe got stabbed and almost died, and he denies having anything to do with that, adding he adores Zoe. Rollins brings out a drawing, asking if that is why Leslie drew her covered with blood. He says Perry likes scary stories and he wants to do a graphic novel but it is all fiction. There are six books and he just started editing this weekend. Rollins says they were using his map, and Benson asks again where is the map? He says he doesn’t know where they are, and Benson orders the detectives to rip the place apart. As Amaro begins to pull his drawings off the wall, Leslie freaks and when Benson sees the larger drawing on the wall and asks if this is the map, Leslie explains in the story, Glasgowman goes over the bridge up and down the river. He points out the area as the lizard’s tail on the map. Amaro thinks this is the Hudson. Leslie says this is the gateway to the mansion, like the portal to the other realms. He based it on one of Charlie’s hideouts. It is upriver somewhere at Spuyten Duyvil Park. Amaro takes a photo of the map.

Later, the detectives, along with additional officers, arrive at the location. They find a graffiti filled, decrepit structure. Inside they discover a knife and a dead cat. As they search the location, they find Perry and Mia, both laying on the ground and alive. Perry has been stabbed. Mia mumbles asking for help. Perry says Glasgowman did this; he said he was coming back to bleed the devil out of them but he never did.

Later, at the hospital, Mia explains they were running in the woods and Glasgowman saw them and she started chasing. They ran and she tried to grab Zoe but she tripped and Perry said he was right behind them so she kept running. She says this is all her fault. They went back and saw him over Zoe’s body and he was going ballistic, just stabbing and stabbing. She yelled for him to leave her alone but he came after them and caught them both. He showed them his knife and said that if they didn’t know with him he would bleed them out right there. He covered Zoe with leaves and left her there.

Later, with Perry, she said they walked for hours and before they got to the mansion, Mia started crying and said she wanted to go home, which made Glasgowman mad. He went ballistic. Benson questions “ballistic?” and Perry nods. She adds he forced them into the gatehouse and threw them down and threatened him with his knife. He tied her up and said they weren’t going anywhere. He did not tie her up, he tried to but she fought him off. He said he heard helicopters so he stabbed her and killed the cat and then he took off. She did not see him cut the cat, she heard it. This happened last night, Sunday night. Carisi glances at Benson and then says they just want to make sure they got the right guy. She says she is tired and asks if this can wait. Her mother comments they already have him and to let her daughter rest. Perry looks stunned and then asks if they have Glasgowman. Carisi asks her to tell them, showing her a few photos. She picks out Charlie and asks how he got that close. Benson asks if she is sure that is him, and Perry says a million percent – the scar, the beard, he had an eye patch too and she is not joking. She adds they have to lock him up, he said he would kill her if she told anyone what happened.

Meanwhile, the doctor tells Rollins the girls are suffering from dehydration and exposure and they had food in their backpacks which was mostly candy. The stab wounds on Perry were not as deep as the ones on Zoe. They were all on the left side of her body and mostly on the arms, no organs. Perry was disoriented and Perry stated she was attacked last night but there was no inflammation and no bruising. The injuries are fresh, an hour old, 2 at the most. There were no defensive wounds. Rollins walks over to Benson, Amaro, and Carisi and Benson said the girls’ timeline is way off and they are both blaming Charlie but they had him is custody since Sunday afternoon. Amaro thinks they may be confused but Rollins counters that the doctors said Perry’s wounds are fresh. Carisi thinks they are covering for someone and suspects the two girls went off with some Svengali. Rollins checked the girls’ social media and their texts and emails and there are no boyfriends or any other friends. There was just a lot of back and forth between Perry and Mia, they are in their own world.

Back at SVU, Benson speaks with Zoe who admits that maybe Perry would want to hurt her. Perry told Mia only babies share their rooms with their baby sister. She comment they’ve hurt her by accident. Once she walked into the room without knocking and Perry got mad and ran out and pushed her down. Mia just stepped on her foot when she ran after Perry but Mia would never do something like that on purpose. She knows she annoys her sometimes but they are sisters and they love each other.

Later, Benson informs the detectives that the knife they found in the gatehouse only had Perry’s prints. They think she stabbed herself after she tied Mia up. Benson adds that DNA from Zoe was on the blade on the knife found in Charlie’s camp and on the handle, there is touch DNA from Charlie and Perry and Mia. Carisi comments Charlie was telling the truth, he picked up the knife the same as he did the camera. Benson tells Carisi to give Charlie the good news. As Carisi walks off, Benson tells Rollins and Amaro to bring the girls back in there and to tell their mothers why. Rollins asks if they should call Barba, and Benson explains both girls are under 14 years old and Zoe lived, so they can’t be tried as adults. Benson says she will call Corporation Counsel.

Carisi speaks with Charlie and Carisi explains that Charlie is crazy but not paranoid; he did not stab those two girls and didn’t tie the other one up. He really is a Good Samaritan and he saved Zoe. Carisi explains he did violate his parole and suggests they get Charlie into a program and on meds. He knows how Charlie feels about that but asks him to trust him on this. Charlie says for a while, yeah.

Later, Mia is in interrogation and under pressure, places the blame on Perry, that it was her idea. She said Perry tripped Zoe and Perry told her to stab her but she would not. Perry went crazy stabbing Zoe and there was so much blood. Mia says Zoe was lying there and Perry took her knife and the camera threw it away and made her cover Zoe with leaves. Perry held a knife to her throat and said they were going to Glasgowman’s mansion and she would have to forget about Zoe. Her eyes were buggy and she looked like a maniac. She thought Perry was her friend but she is crazy

Afterwards, Benson and Amaro speak with Perry and explain that Mia is blaming her and that stabbing Zoe was her idea. They want to understand why she would want to hurt Zoe. Perry says it wasn’t her idea, she was simply following Glasgowman’s orders. He comes to her at night and they communicate He stared into her eyes and told her his mission and if she failed, he would take her breath away at midnight. She had to prove her loyalty. Her mother, frustrated, asks where is she getting this? Her lawyer asks her to let Perry talk and asks Perry to explain how she proved her loyalty. Perry states she had to take innocent blood, Zoe’s. That is how you get to be a proxy. But when Zoe was lying there bleeding she did not feel Glasgowman’s presence and she started to doubt, which is why Zoe survived – he must have switched the plan. He led them to the gatehouse in the form of the cat but she knew it was him because he had Glasgowman’s eyes. When she looked into them, he told her to murder Mia. She says the cat was trying to make a hypnotic connection and she couldn’t take it so she stabbed it through the heart because she didn’t want to kill her friend. She cries as she says Glasgowman tricked her. Her mother is upset and steps back, saying she swears this is not her daughter, she has never heard her talk like this before. They lawyer asks for a moment with Perry and her mother. Benson and Amaro step out.

In the hall, Benson sees ADA Pippa Cox, who has been observing. Cox states she is not competent to stand trial. Benson comments that there was no sign of this behavior before Perry knew they were on to her. Cox comments that Perry took two girls into the woods and stabbed on and then stabbed herself and killed a cat. Rollins is not sure Mia is involved, and Carisi thinks Mia is under Perry’s spell and she is scared to death. Cox asks if they have any proof of conspiracy, and they have none. Cox will order a psych eval and see where they are.

In Family Court Part 21 on Wednesday, November 5, Perry testifies that Glasgowman tricked her by saying he would like in his mansion and have a true life. He got angry when he wouldn’t stab Mia. She tied her up but could not stab her. She stabbed herself instead, she was outside her body, arguing with herself, like a devil and angel. Her body got hot and she could feel her blood swirling and boiling inside her so she stabbed herself so she could let her blood cool off. Under cross, Cox asks if Perry understands that stabbing Zoe was wrong, but Perry says the police were wrong; since they entered Glasgowman’s realm and saved them, the world is and unbalanced place. Cox asks if that is a yes or no, and Perry says Cox doesn’t get it, Glasgowman’s partners from the other realms will come back to seek vengeance, and they are all going to die. Judge Linden stops the questioning, saying she thinks they have all heard enough. Linden makes her ruling, prefacing it by saying the mandate of family court is to be therapeutic, not punitive. She tells Mia that she was a victim and declares her not responsible and releases her to her parents’ care, and recommends weekly psychiatric care and recommends that for Zoe as well. She adjudicates Perry as a juvenile delinquent on the underlying charge of assault one but based on her testimony and the psychiatric report, in lieu of juvenile detention, she is remanding her to Creedmore Psychiatric Center and remain there until she is no longer danger to herself or others.

As they clear out of the courtroom and walk to the elevator, Rollins comments to Carisi that Mia will walk and Perry gets soft time. Carisi thinks justice was served; Perry is loony tunes and Mia and Zoe will never hurt each other. Rollins replies, “If you say so.” They step into the elevator and Mia and her parents also step in. Before the doors close, Barbara Gilbert holds open the door and she and Perry, along with an officer, also step in. Perry and Mia stand next to each other. As Carisi stands behind them, he sees the two girls briefly intertwine their pinky fingers. He looks over to Rollins who is staring blankly away. Carisi gets a look of concern on his face as we fade to black.




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