Law & Order SVU celebrated its 400th episode, a huge milestone in television, and there aren’t many prime time scripted shows that have reached this number. (It’s technically not the 400th episode in airing order, but I’ll save that commentary for later in my review.) The episode was directed by Mariska Hargitay, and she had an excellent story to work with. A teenager shoots who he believes is an intruder raping his mother. But, as the story unfolds, we see it’s the mother who is the real rapist, preying on young boys, getting one of them killed by her own son when she misrepresents her raping him as him raping her. The heartless mother later fabricates a story to take the blame off of herself and place it on her innocent son. Viewers had the advantage of seeing the immediate events that lead up to the shooting, so it was obvious that when “mommy dearest” changes her story, we know she’s lying. It would have been interesting to see how viewers would have perceived her change of story had we not seen what actually happened. It could have created more doubt in the minds of the jurors - and viewers - and she may have gotten away with it.
The story was well crafted (written by Executive Producers Rick Eid and Julie Martin) and, coupled with Mariska’s directing, brought out the best in every performer. The guest stars added an extra punch to the episode; Sarah Wynter was excellent as psycho-rapist mom and Delaney Williams was in perfect pompous form. I particularly enjoyed the face Buchanan made when he moved to hold Nicole’s hand while Luke was testifying, and she yanked her hand away. It was almost comedic. There were also splashes of humor in the delivery of some lines: Fin’s comment about “definitely more wrong here than dirty socks” and Barba’s “thanks so much for sharing” wisecrack.
My only annoyance – the whiny Luke. Clearly he had anxiety issues as his mom indicated, but he just grated on me in the worst way. This is one kid in need of a psychiatrist, and not one from his own dysfunctional family.
Now, about that 400th episode thing. I’ve been saying for weeks that this wasn’t the 400th episode in airing order and this was no surprise to regular viewers. I am not sure if it was the 400th episode in
filming order but I suspect it wasn’t that, either. My understanding is that two episodes were filmed in 2016 before “Motherly Love,” both of which have not yet aired. “Great Expectations” and “Unstoppable” were scheduled to air in November but were yanked. (“Great Expectations” will air on February 15, 2017 and “Unstoppable” may never see the light of day.) Only those that know the production schedule can answer the question if it was #400 in filming schedule, so this is one mystery with this episode that remains publicly unsolved. It was NBC’s decision to alter the airing schedule so I don’t think we should blame anyone at the show for the fact that #400 is really #399.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the show for this amazing milestone, and know that fans appreciate your tireless work!
Note: 4 videos of deleted scenes have been added after the recap.
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:
Sarah Wynter - Dr. Nicole Keller
Delaney Williams - Counselor John Buchanan
Daniel Cosgrove - Dr. Daniel Keller
Aaron Sanders - Luke Keller
Jason Bowen - Det. Marcus Perry
Jenna Stern - Judge Elana Barth
Benton Greene - Charles Franklin
Chantal Jean-Pierre - Regina Franklin
Olivia Sargent - Alexandra Handley
Donald Dash -Trey Franklin
Patrick Boll – James Miller
Gage Polchlopek – Ethan Miller
Diedre Madigan – Allison Avery
Lauren Noble – Carmen
Marc Lavasseur – Attorney Alan Schwartz
Salma Shaw – Jury Foreperson
Tim Pettolina – Male Patient
Here is the recap:
Luke Keller is on his way home, calling his mother from a car but she doesn’t answer. He leaves a message, wondering why she is not picking up on his repeated calls. He says he and his dad had a fight. He arrives at home and calls out to his mother. He hears strange sounds from her coming from another room. He gets on the phone then goes to his room and pulls out a rifle and carefully moves to the kitchen where the sounds come from. He sees his mother bent over the counter and a man – his face is blocked by the kitchen cabinet – is penetrating his mother from behind. She looks stunned, and Luke looks stunned, and she screams “Help! He’s raping me!” Luke raises the rifle.
Later, Benson arrives on the scene with Fin, Rollins, and Carisi. and Benson introduces herself to Detective Perry from homicide. He explains the DOA is Trey Franklin, 15, it was a rifle shot to the head at close range. When Benson comments that he said the shooter interrupted a rape, Perry comments it was Luke Keller, also 15, who saw Franklin assault his mother, Dr. Nicole Keller, 45. Rollins asks if he kept them separated, and Perry answers yes the secured the scene and the weapon and took the kid’s initial statement. He adds that the kid is upstairs and his mother is in the living room. Benson comments they will take the disclosure, and Perry explains this is why he called them. Benson calls Rollins to come with her and Fin and Carisi will take the son.
Inside, Carisi introduces himself and Fin to Luke who is being swabbed for evidence by a CSU tech. Luke said he had to do it because he was raping his mom, Fin tries to calm him, telling him to just breathe, they just want to know what happened. Luke explains he was supposed to spend the night at his dad’s but they got in a fight so he came home. Still upset, he states he left his dad’s about 9, saying he really wanted to talk to his mom. He tried calling but she wasn’t answering. He whines that his mother was staying home to do paperwork, she is a psychiatrist. He explains he got home about 10; it was dark and he heard a noise downstairs and he thought someone was breaking in so he called 911 and went to the closet to get his rifle. Carisi seems surprised about the rifle and looks at Fin, and Luke explains his dad gave it to him, his dad likes to go hunting. He walked into the kitchen and he was attacking his mom; she was staring at him and was so scared then screamed, “Help, he’s raping me” so he pulled the trigger. He didn’t think he was going to actually hit him.
Meanwhile, Benson and Rollins are speaking with Nicole who says she wants to see her son as he can’t handle the stress; he has a lot of generalized anxiety. Benson says she understands but right now they need to speak to both of them separately. Nicole, looking frazzled, agrees. Benson states she needs to know exactly what happened, from her perspective. Nicole explains she was in the kitchen getting some wine and she turned around and he was right there. She tried to get away but he overpowered her. Rollins asks if it was a break in or may be followed her home, and Nicole says no, she let him in. Benson and Rollins glance at each other and Benson mentions that Nicole let him in so she knew him. Nicole explains yes, he was her son’s best friend.
As Trey is being zipped into a body bag, Benson explains to Detective Perry that Nicole let Trey in voluntarily as he was Luke’s best friend. Perry comments this is why there is no sign of forced entry. When Carisi asks why, if Luke wasn’t; home that Nicole let Trey in, Benson explains that Nicole said Trey asked to come in and do his homework; apparently he is having a rough time at home. Perry asks that Trey just hung our while she was upstairs working, and Benson states that is what Nicole said. Carisi recaps that Luke unexpectedly walks in, hears his mother scream that he is being raped, and he fires, asking that they are not hearing premeditation at all. Perry comments that Luke called 911, and the rifle was locked up and registered to his father – technically not legal but the shooting sounds justified. He adds that Trey’s parents are on the way to the ME’s office and suggest he meet one of Benson’s guys over there. Benson agrees that is a good idea.
At Mercy Hospital at 365 West 32nd Street on Tuesday, January 24, Benson speaks to Nicole while she gets dressed after her medical exam. When Benson comments that Nicole said she knew she should not have let Trey in, Nicole said she had an instinct something was wrong, the way he looked at her. It made her uneasy. She is okay with him being friends with Luke as she felt bad for him as his family life is unstable. She said Trey came around 9 and she put her work away for the night and he asked where Luke was as they were supposed to study. Nicole told him there must have been a mix-up as Luke was at his father’s house in Westport. He asked if he could come in anyway and do his homework and she said yes and went upstairs to get ready for bed. She already had her nightgown on and had already started getting ready for bed when he rang the doorbell. Benson asks that she was in her nightgown when she answered the door and then went back up her upstairs and Nicole confirms she was already for bed and went back upstairs for about an hour. It started getting late so she went back downstairs and told Trey it was time to go home. Benson asks why she didn’t pick up when Luke called her, and Nicole claims she did not get the message or any messages; when she works sometimes she doesn’t even look at the phone and Luke was with his dad. Benson comments she was not working then as she said she wasn’t working then; Luke started to call at 9:30 to 10:00 and she had already put her work down for the night. Nicole agrees she had, she’d gone downstairs for a glass of wine to relax; that’s when she felt his presence behind her. She turned around and Trey was right there and he put his hands on her. She tried to stop it and tell him she understood sexual impulses and urges. She is a psychiatrist and she has dealt with this issue many times. He put her up against the kitchen counter and lifted up her nightgown and he forced himself inside her and she tried to scream but he put his hand on her mouth. There was a kitchen knife and she cries that she tried to reach it but it was too far away so she just closed her eyes and tried to survive and she thought about her son and she needed to stay alive for him. She looked up and saw he was there and she yelled help. The she heard the gunshot. She knew Luke had a gun in the house in a locked safe, it was a gift from his father, a hunter. Luke is not a hunter; he is so sensitive and hated the idea of having a gun in the house. He went hunting and there was a deer in his sight and he couldn’t even pull the trigger. She adds it doesn’t make sense and says she wants to see Luke.
