Law & Order SVU “Unintended Consequences” Recap & Review

I’m on the fence about “Unintended Consequences”. Overall I enjoyed it; the story line was a welcome break from the constant “rape of the week” theme and the interesting case moved at a fast pace. What detracted a bit was too much focus on the Benson-Noah-Sheila story line and one completely unrealistic scenario.

When the episode opens, we see a young girl being abducted, and then another girl is found sexually assaulted and dead of a drug overdose. The investigation is speedy, starting with a visit to Narcotics by Fin where he identifies the drug dealer - Andre “Hackapulco” Johnson. Fin and the detectives quickly arrest him and bring him to SVU interrogation. This is where we get Benson’s comment “I’m the bitch that’s gonna smack your pretty face next time I hear you say “ho”, which sounded absurd rather than threatening, coming from her. They quickly find the identity of the dead girl – 15-year-old Natalie Curtis – who was also pregnant and was supposed to be in a drug rehab facility. The parents haven’t seen her in 3-4 months. (What kind of parents put their teenager in rehab and then don’t see him/her for months?) The parents explain that Natalie broke her ankle and the doctors gave her oxycontin and she quickly became hooked, then switching to heroin after the doctors cut her oxy off.

We later discover that the kidnapped girl at the beginning of the episode was Kristi Martin, the kidnapping arranged to get her into rehab.

The detectives uncover that Dr. Dennis Barkley, the head of the rehab facility Lux Residential Treatment Center, is taking advantage of "Obamacare's" improved coverage for addiction issues and Barkley is inflating medical bills and medical procedures to bilk the insurance companies. In tandem with the Altbrook Sober House, the addicts find themselves bouncing back from the sober house to the treatment center, creating a easy way to keep the “customers” in the system, generating more opportunities for more (fake) charges to the insurance companies. Later, Barba comments the “unintended consequences” is what will happened as a result of the doctor gaming or cheating the system; the doctor will find himself in violation of the RICO statutes – racketeering, drug dealing, insurance fraud.

The unrealistic scenario: Rollins goes undercover (this means wearing a skirt and dowdy clothes) by attending an opiate addiction seminar at Lux, headed by Rosemary Taylor, Lux’s social worker and “den mom”. Rollins strikes up a coversation with Rosemary, and Rosemary hires her on the spot to be her assistant. What person would hire a stranger to be their assistant – without a background check or even a drug test, considering this is a rehab facility - and give them virtually immediate access to patient records?

When Benson hears of what Rollins found in accessing and downloading some records,  she’s livid that Rollins conducted an illegal search. I'm a little confused here as it almost sounded like Benson had no knowledge of Rollins' undercover situation.  If Benson didn't know, how did Rollins explain her absence at SVU to work the job?  If Benson DID know of the undercover operation, did Rollins disregard any ground rules Benson gave her?  Rollins explains that the insurance companies are being raped, using Kristi Martin’s records to show the inflated medical billing. Benson reminds her the records are inadmissible but then she thinks of inevitable discovery.  Rollins and Carisi eventually get to Rosemary’s previous assistant, and discover Lux's connection to Altwood Sober House. The sober house is also where they find a 19-year-old in charge there - Anthony Parker – who appears to be trading sex with him for drugs, and he’s the father of Natalie Curtis’ baby.

Rollins confronts Dr. Barkley on the billing issues, his lawyer and Benson present. Benson also brings up the sober house connection and states they will prove it in court. But Barkley’s having none of it, storming out after saying that these drug addicts won’t make credible witnesses. This eventually leads them back to Rosemary, and when they clue her in on the connection between Barkley and Atlbrook sober house, she seems in denial. The detectives later see on surveillance video that Anthony Parker helps move the girls from one facility to the other. After they see this connection, Rollins gets a phone call from Rosemary and when she and Carisi get to Lux to meet with her, they find Rosemary sitting there calmly with Dr. Barkley laying on the floor. He’s dying from a drug overdose of fentanyl, with Rosemary admitting to administering it to him. He dies, and Rosemary says they can arrest her.

The Benson-Noah-Sheila story line seemed to break some great momentum that the SVU case was building, and I found myself wishing they’d left these scenes out of this episode. Benson is giving Sheila more time to spend with Noah, allowing her to read Noah a bedtime story. Sheila reciprocates later by giving Benson a child’s baseball mitt that belonged to her daughter, and Noah’s mother, Ellie. At the end of the episode, Benson brings Sheila back to her apartment, telling Sheila that in this town, “a good babysitter is hard to come by.” Noah hugs Sheila and calls her grandma and Sheila is thrilled. Benson gets a mixed look on her face, first smiling and then looking a little sad. (By the way, what did Benson give Noah for breakfast? I couldn’t quite make it out. It looked like broken up…something.) Now all we have left with this story line is to wonder when Sheila will “kidnap” Noah. The way Law & Order SVU works, we can only assume this is where the story is headed!



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:
Brooke Shields - Sheila Porter
Peter Scolari - Dr. Dennis Barkley
Annie Corley - Rosemary Taylor
Gus Birney - Kristi Martin
Christiane Noll - Sarah Curtis
Robert Eli - Glen Curtis
Kathryn Kates – Judge Marlene Simons
Noah Gaynor – Anthony Parker
Logan Rose Nelms – Isla Danby
Jason Cadieux – Brett Erikson
Antino Crowley-Kamenwati – Andre “Hackapulco” Johnson
Angela Oh – Katherine Lee
Joshua Pagan – Tom Higgins
Anthony Cason – Henry Gold
Ella Cardelfe – Debbie
Anna Dale Robinson – Blanche
Khadija Griffith – Martha
Charles Techman – Owen
Danny Schoch – Male Nurse
Ryan Buggle - Noah Porter-Benson






All Content (Recaps, Review, Commentary) Copyright © allthingslawandorder.blogspot.com unless otherwise noted

Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.

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