Law & Order SVU “Melancholy Pursuit” was a dull, lifeless episode, the weakest of this season so far. And, based on the emails I’ve received from viewers, some were quite annoyed with the way the episode was promoted. The promo showed that Noah went missing while he and Benson were in the park, implying something sinister occurred. Of course, being very experienced with the years of misleading SVU promos, I knew there was never any danger. I don’t blame fans for being upset at this clearly cheap ploy to get viewers to tune in to what turned out to be a non-event and something that added zero to the overall story line. Noah wasn’t kidnapped, he just wandered off and was playing with another child. I found myself wondering how such a little child could have wandered so far in such a short time, especially since we hardly ever see Noah walk; Benson always seems to be carrying him. (He’s also very quiet – almost too quiet. I suspect they have to pay the child actor more if he dares utter a word.) Think about it: in the apparent short time Benson had her eyes off him, Noah covered a lot of ground, so much that Benson was running quite a distance in the park to find him. Granted, we didn’t see what happened the whole time Benson was talking to the woman stranger (who was a little too friendly) so it is possible more time could have passed where Benson didn't have eyes on him than it appeared. It does make one wonder how Benson allowed herself to get so distracted, seeing that she seems like she can't go a second without holding Noah.
The case itself plodded along, very much like a normal investigation would, which can potentially involve a lot of suspects. While Dodds seemed very affected by this case, taking it too personally, I couldn’t feel anything for the victim, the family, or Dodds. Seeing Lily’s body in the morgue, Dodds almost reacted as if he’d never seen a dead body before. Yes, Dodds is kicking himself for making a mistake in misjudging the case, but he acted like he never realized bad things can happen to kids. I can’t put my finger on it, but this whole story line felt forced. Unlike Dodds, I felt nothing.
I know I have mentioned this in past recaps, but why is it that when detectives/cops approach a suspect that they call out the suspect’s name while they are very far away, giving the suspect a head start to run? This is not just an SVU thing, it’s a crime show thing. Dodds and Carisi were just plain stupid to call out to Gary while they were such a distance away. Gary clearly was in the middle of making a delivery so the they would have plenty of time to walk right up to him and prevent him from getting that head start. Yes, I know it is done to set up an action scene, but all it does is make the detectives look foolish.
It was great to see Tamara Tunie return as ME Warner. But no Raúl Esparza, again. What gives? That's the only mystery in this episode that is worth solving.
Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Lieutenant Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Raúl Esparza - ADA Rafael Barba
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, Jr.
Guest stars:
Andy Karl – Sgt. Mike Dodds
Tamara Tunie – Dr. Melinda Warner
Ali Wentworth - Shari Parker
Angelica Page – Mrs. Evans
Ross Gibby – Patrick Evans
Brian Avers – George Marino
Jonathan Judge-Russo - Gary Ryan
Joanna Bonaro – Camille Marino
Nick Cordero – Robby Marino
Alice Barrett Mitchell - Stella
Pilar Witherspoon – Helen Ryan
David Dean Bottrell – Stan the Homeless Man
Lorenzo Pisoni – Brendan Cahill
Carolee Carmello – Brendan’s Birth Mother
Pedro Morillo Jr. - Diego
Matthew Schechter - Peter Best
Tony White – Cleon Johnson
Sam Gedymin - Kyle
Bradley Dubow – Noah Porter Benson
Here is the recap:
Benson is in the park playing with Noah and another woman comes by and begins to chat with Benson. The woman asks Benson if Noah is “her only” and Benson states “for now.” Meanwhile, Fin and Carisi speak with Mr. & Mrs., Evans, in their home, about their daughter Lily, 15, who is late coming home from school. The principal had told the parents that Lily was out today. Her cell phone is going right to voice mail. They last saw her when she left at 6:15 in the morning for the swim team practice at Asphalt Green, who confirm she was there but left around 7:30. They have called everyone and no one has seen her.
Back at the park, the woman is still chatting with Benson who realizes the time and that she has to get Noah home. But when she looks for him, he is nowhere to be found. Benson calls out his name in a panic and the woman, whose child is still in the park, walks with Benson as she screams out for Noah.
Back at the Evans house, the detectives find that Lily’s friend Peter has also not seen or heard from Lily all day. Carisi sees her iPad but it is password protected, and asks what is her cat’s name or her birthday.
At the park, Benson, in full panic mode, races around calling for Noah, and the woman chatting with Benson asks if he wants her to call the police. Benson, breathing hard, puts her hands to her head,. But she turns and sees Noah sitting on the ground nearby, playing with another child. She races to him and picks him up, saying he gave mommy a scare.
Back at the Evans home. Dodds has arrived and asks Fin that SVU gets called for missing teens now, and Fin says the lady is a clerk at the DA’s office and she didn’t want lights and sirens. Dodds seems to blow it off, saying they made a courtesy call and unless there is contact with an older male…Fin states if it a junk case they will kick it back to the precinct. Carisi shows Dodds photos Lily had on her tablet in provocative poses. Carisi asks the parents if Lily ever talked about someone named Diego, and they state Lily does not know a Diego. Carisi explains she was texting him photos this morning. He shows them a photo of Diego and they don’t recognize him, saying he is no one Lily knows. Dodds states they will track him down and ask.
Back at SVU, Benson races in and Dodds tells her that email was just an update and she did not have to come in. But she chides him for not calling her earlier, asking how long the child has been missing. Dodds states maybe 12 hours, and she is not a child, she is 15, probably a runaway, and explains she was sexting to Diego. There is no trace of her cell phone. Fin is retracing her steps and Carisi is talking to the parents, implying they are in denial about their daughter. Dodds explains all the other things he has checked and done so far, and states she has been acting out. They found cigarettes and condoms in her bedroom and Dodds comment she doesn’t want to see the selfie. Carisi comes in with Lily’s friend Peter Best who is concerned for Lily.
Later, in the break room, Dodds speaks with Peter who says Lily has been weird lately, cutting class and leaving at lunch and coming back. She smelled like cigarettes or pot a couple times.
Meanwhile, Carisi and Benson speak with the parents in another room who says Lily is not moody and is always smiling and singing and she likes cats and swimming. Mrs. Evans is upset they haven’t sent out an Amber Alert and Benson explains they have to be certain it is an abduction.
Peter tells Dodds that Lily said she could not talk to her parents, and she has been hanging out with a new squad and she said she wanted to go from a pool girl to a cool girl. The cool girls have been crashing frat parties at Tompkins Square.
At the Tau Omega Fraternity House at 39 Stuyvesant Street on Tuesday, October 6, Diego enters the frat house and his friend Kyle asks if he is here to party. When Diego sees no one else is there, he wonders what is up. Fin enters calls out he is NYPD and for Keith to put his hands up. Keith asks Kyle if knows about this and set him up, but Fin tells him not to talk to Kyle, talk to the detectives. Carisi finds no weapons but did find some weed. Fin shows him a photo of Lilt and asks where is she, and Keith claims he does not know who that is. Fin shows him another photos of just her body, and Keith says anything she says about him is a lie. Carisi asks when was the last time he talked to her, and Keith replies when he found out she was 15, 15 will get you 20. Carisi tells him he’s got that right, and it makes the pictures on his cell phone child pornography. They take him away.
Later, Keith is in interrogation as Fin and Carisi continue to question Keith who says he doesn’t know what happened to her. Benson watches from her office and Fin walks into Benson’s office, saying Keith claims he was at work all day and asks if anyone checked his alibi for that morning. Dodds replies that Keith was teaching extreme combat class all morning. Dodds confirms Keith has no connection to where Lily swims, and that is upper east, and Keith is in Brooklyn. The police checked his apartment and there is no sign of the girl. Carisi exits the interrogation room and tells the others that Keith swears he was in Brooklyn since last night and only came into the city when Kyle asked him for weed. He adds Lily is not the only girl sexting him; Carisi doesn’t think Keith is good for this. Benson says they have enough to hold him, and asks Fin to see if Keith can think of anyone Lily would be hanging with. She shakes her head, saying that 16 hours – she could be anywhere. Carisi comments along with all the other teenage girls that slipped out tonight. Dodds adds that his dad has a saying: little kids you find, elderly you find, teenagers you solve. He thinks she’s hooked up with someone she knows, they just have to find out who that is. Benson counters that, no offense to his father, but the longer this goes on, the less likely that scenario is. Carisi, looking at his phone, comments that he has something – a homeless guy just tried to use her debit card and said he found it when he was looking for cans and bottles, and the unis are with him.
At 2347 12th Avenue on Tuesday, October 6, Carisi and Dodds speak with Sam the homeless guy who shows them where he found the debit card. They see what is likely Lily’s bag.
Back at SVU, the Evans confirm that is Lily's bag and Benson explains they are bringing in the homeless man. Mrs. Evans loses her cool and Benson and Mr. Evans try to calm her.
At 791 West 135th Street on Wednesday, October 7, Carisi, Fin and Dodds are on the scene with a group of officers and dogs scanning the area and Carisi sees a foot peeking out under a moving blanket. He calls the others over and he carefully opens it as Fin says he will call Benson and the ME. They see it is Lily and she is dead. Dodds is taken aback.
