Law & Order SVU “Dearly Beloved” Recap & Review

“Dearly Beloved” is one of those unmemorable, predictable SVU episodes. It was like a bread sandwich; there was no filling and  it was visually uninteresting.   Ice-T and Philip Winchester were missing in this episode, so even the bread in the bread sandwich was thin.

The story involves a doctor who turns out to be a “psycho” therapist - or is it a psycho-“the rapist”? In this case, both. At first it appears we are dealing with a woman who is a deranged liar and stalker, but hey, this is SVU, it’s a foregone conclusion the doctor would be using his practice to prey on his female patients. Maybe the story would have been more interesting had the doctor been innocent?

The episode also served as a vehicle to remind us – like we need reminding? – that Benson is a child of rape. Benson explains she once overheard her mother say “How could I love someone that was conceived by a monster” - the same words the victim had used. This gives Benson the chance to give the victim advice about what to do about her pregnancy. While I can’t technically disagree with what Benson said – that it's not the baby’s fault – I am not sure it was appropriate for Benson to offer an opinion on this matter.  It seemed like Benson was piling on the guilt at the end when she said  the victim's baby is innocent and deserves to be unconditionally loved.    The victim already needed therapy before her assault, and now that she has a new therapist, Benson should have just encouraged the victim to get help from her therapist to help her make the decision.

I give this episode a solid "meh" rating.

Here is the recap:

Dr. Joshua Hensley is getting ready for his wedding and his phone keeps ringing. But he is not taking any patient phone calls. In another room, his wife-to-be Lana is also getting ready. Later, Lana walks down the aisle and the ceremony begins. But when time comes to “speak now or forever hold your peace,” a woman stands up and says she does. She says she has good reason, saying that Josh raped her.

Later, Benson and Carisi approach the church, and the priest tells them he didn’t know what else to do. Benson assures him he did the right thing by calling them. The priest explains everyone is inside and it’s not pretty. Inside the church, the priest points out the wedding party and Kitty Bennett, the woman who voiced the objection. Benson introduces herself and Kitty says she is so sorry, she was just trying to help. Another woman asks with sarcasm if she has ever heard of a phone. Carisi introduces himself to the groom and Carisi suggest they go someplace to straighten this out. The groom says he is not leaving his wife. Another man says she is not his wife yet. Carisi gives the groom some advice, suggesting he does not want to be there. As the groom walks away, he calls out to his wife Lana, saying that he loves her while she cries nearby. Benson suggests to Kitty they go someplace where they can talk, and Kitty calls out to Lana, saying one day she will thank her for this. A woman pushes Kitty and Benson tells the woman to back up. As they walk away, Kitty tells Benson she just wanted somebody to know, and Benson replies that now everyone does.

Benson and Rollins speak with Kitty. Kitty explains Josh was her therapist and went to see him three months ago when her mother passed away on December 11. She wanted somebody to talk to. It was her first time going to therapy. She got there after work, about 6:15. There were a lot of other doctors that worked in the medical suite but the receptionist was not there, she may have gone home. He was nice and professional at first, and she gave him her history, She missed her mom so much she started to cry. That’s when he sat on the couch next to her and asked if he could give her a hug, saying it was normal. Benson says it is not. He gave her a hug and stroked her hair. She knew it was inappropriate but was afraid to challenge him. That’s when he pushed her back, put his hand up her skirt and pulled down her underwear. That is when she told him to stop but he didn’t listen and he forced himself inside of her. She lay there like a rag doll when he finished.

Meanwhile, Carisi speaks with Josh who is outraged. He has no idea who Kitty is. He denies raping her. He says she ruined the best day of his life.

Benson asks Kitty if she told anyone about the rape. Kitty explains no, she was too ashamed and thought that nobody would believe her. The next day she called in sick at the ad agency where she works and missed so much time because of this they’ve let her go. Benson says she is sorry. Rollins asks if she’s had any contact with Dr. Hensley after he sexually assaulted her, Benson adding it’s okay if she did. Kitty shakes her head no. Rollins questions how she knew he was getting married today? Kitty explains it was Instagram; she started to look at his photos, admitting it’s crazy. Benson states it’s normal to be curious after something like this happens. Kitty says she never thought the police would be getting involved. Benson counters that she did want people to know that he raped her. Kitty replies that she guesses she wants him to be punished and to be humiliated like she was.

Josh, upset, tells Carisi he needs to talk to Lana to make sure she is okay. Carisi says she is not okay and everybody is gone. Rollins walks into the room and tells Josh that Kitty states she is a patient of his and she came to see him in December when her mom died. He says that never happened. Carisi explains how they will search his office and Josh suggests they go now as there is no file or billing record. Rollins asks him to help them understand why she is accusing him, but he wishes he knew. Rollins suggests it was a fling but he says he never cheated on Lana. He says this will destroy him and they have to help him.

Back at the SVU, Benson tells Rollins and Carisi that Kitty is showing typical signs of a rape victim and Carisi says Josh says he never saw her in his life. Rollins says Kitty’s story checks out as far as the Instagram. Carisi says they can confirm the appointment when the medical office opens on Monday.

At Chelsea Medical Group at 297 8th Avenue on Monday, March 18, Carisi and Rollins speak with the receptionist who is reluctant to show them the appointment book, citing HIPAA. Carisi says they don’t need to see medical records, so it’s good. The receptionist buys that reason and says there is no appointment for 6:15 that day. Carisi notices the appointment book is written in pencil and is told the appointment could be erased of the patient canceled or changes the date. As they walk off, Rollins asks if Carisi saw the name of the next appointment, and Carisi comments it was Hannah Berkowitz, and he got the phone number too. Rollins wonders if Kitty was there, Hannah saw her leave.

At A Toe Above The Rest Ballet Studio at 97 West 19th Street on Monday, March 18, Carisi and Rollins speak with Hannah who explains she was a no-show that day. Rollins asks if Josh was ever inappropriate with her, and Hannah says she is gay, she came out two years ago, and the doctor helped her with her sexuality. They explain one of his female patients had an issue, and Hannah asks if that was Kitty Bennett. She explains that Kitty stalked her on Instagram. Hannah left a comment on one of the doctor’s photos and Kitty followed her after that, then came the private messages. Kitty kept asking her to meet for coffee to talk trash about Josh. She did not meet with her. But she made the mistake of replying to her first message and Kitty took that as an invitation to write her every day for a month and she finally had to block her, saying that chick is straight up psycho.



Back at SVU, Rollins says she tracked down three other patients of Josh and they had nothing but nice things to say about him. Carisi adds Kitty has had her share of run-ins with the law; disorderly conduct, shoplifting, and a restraining order, filed by Bo Albrecht.

At the Fitness Junkies Gym at 280 7th Avenue on Monday, March 18, Rollins and Carisi speak with Bo who says Kitty is Loony Tunes. He met her once at a cooking class and describes her weird behavior and eventually had to block her. She started harassing his girlfriend and he got the restraining order.

At SVU, Kitty walks into Benson’s office and asks if they’ve arrested Josh yet. Benson says there are a few things they need to clear up, and mentions her stalking behavior. Kitty asks if they talked to Bo, and that he lied about being single. Benson mentions the restraining order, and Kitty says that was for his girlfriend. When she saw them in court she apologized. Benson brings up Hannah, and Kitty said maybe she crossed a line with Hannah but was desperate to talk to somebody who had seen Josh and wanted to understand why he targeted her. Benson mentions speaking to the receptionist and there was no record of any appointment. Hannah is stunned, wondering if they think she made this up. Benson replies she is trying to understand what really happened. Hannah says she’s made some bad decisions but that is why he thought he could get away with it and they are proving him right. Benson suggests they start over. Benson tries to get her to give other details from that night, and Kitty says she recalls lying on his red leather couch, looking at the ceiling and pretending for it to be over.

Carisi and Rollins are back at Josh’s, who admits he does have a leather couch in his office which is burgundy, not red. Carisi comments “Red, burgundy, we’re not really Sherwin Williams here.” He asks how would Kitty know that if she was never there? Lana suggests his professional web page, adding there’s a photo of Josh at his desk, the couch is in the background. Rollins asks why make this false accusation against him, and Josh states he has no idea. Carisi questions if there is any chance he had a casual interaction with this woman, something that maybe she construed as flirtatious, but Josh can’t think of anything. Lana asks if Kitty has a history of this kind of thing, and Rollins replies they are still investigating, asking if anything had come up on their phone or social media accounts that seemed out of the ordinary. Lana states that last month somebody sexted Josh a bunch of nude pics. Carisi questions that they are just bringing this up now, and Josh admits he didn’t see the connection. He adds that the photos were all different women like they were pulled for a porno site and he figured it was just spam. Lana brings up a dating profile; she got an email at her work address with a link to Josh’s dating profile page. Josh states he’s never done any online dating. Lana admits she was furious but when she really looked at it she could tell it was fake; the photos of Josh were also on Google and some of the information was wrong. Carisi asks if she replied to the email and try to figure out who sent it, and she explains she did the next day and the reply just bounced right back. Josh informs them they had a burglary about two months ago that they reported it to the 11th precinct. Nothing was stolen and they figured it was just some kids; they poured a bottle of tomato juice all over the wedding invitations.

Later, Benson and Rollins explain this to Kitty who denies breaking in. Rollins brings up the harassing and Kitty insists she is trying to protect Lana. Kitty insists she saw him for therapy. Benson explains the inconsistencies in her story and they are trying to figure out what happened. Lana gets up and runs to the bathroom to vomit and Rollins sees a pregnancy test in the trash. Benson asks if she is pregnant and she says she missed her period after her appointment and she took the test before they got there. She is pregnant, and he did this to her.

Later, at a doctor’s, Benson is there with Kitty as some blood is drawn for another test. Kitty worries that a judge can make her keep the baby, and Benson says of course not. Benson says even if he is the father, he has no right to do stop an abortion. Kitty says she could never love a baby that was conceived by a monster. This gives Benson obvious pause, and Kitty asks that Benson doesn’t think she should keep it. Benson says whatever Kitty decides, and Kitty asks what would she do? Benson admits it is hard for her to be objective; she thinks Kitty is raw right now and with some distance she will realize that this baby is half hers and no matter what happened to her, he or she…it’s not their fault. Kitty wonders if she waits and it is too late to do anything, and Benson thinks maybe she should talk to someone. Kitty scoffs at the idea of another psychologist, and says as soon as the labs some back she is going to the clinic and getting rid of this thing. As Kitty steps into the elevator, Benson stays behind, looking stunned. She raced to a stairwell, looking upset, then anguished.

Meanwhile, at SVU Josh is having his DNA taken for a test, thinking if Kitty thinks he impregnated her she has a personality disorder. Josh asks that once the DNA test clears him this will all be over. But Rollins and Carisi are not so sure. Josh says after the case is dropped he will sue Kitty for every penny in her bank account. He storms out.

Rollins checks up on Benson, who is in her office starting out the window. Benson says she is okay, and Rollins says Kitty is not her mom. Benson says she might as well be. Benson whispers that when she was 15 years old, he overheard her mother on the phone and hear her say “How could I love someone that was conceived by a monster?” Benson tears up, and says this is exactly what Kitty said to her. Carisi barges in and says the paternity test came back and it is a match. She tells Carisi to pick up Josh.

Later, Carisi, with Rollins, pounds on Josh’s door, and when he opens the door Carisi tells him that the paternity test came back and Josh is in. Lana is shocked. He tells Lana he did not rape her but she screams at him to shut up, and as they cuff him, he tells her he loves her and not to give up on him.

At SVU in interrogation, Josh continues to deny to Benson he raped Kitty. He admits he lied; he and Kitty had consensual sex three times before he ended it. Benson says she doesn’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth. He asks her to hear him out. He says Kitty was never his patient, they met at a bar near where she lives. It’s called the Empty Room, on 20th, between 9th and 10th a block from Kitty’s apartment. He says she was sitting alone at the bar, he bought her a drink and talked to her for 10 minutes and realized how easy it would be. He says she is vindictive, and realized Benson doesn’t believe him. He pulls out his wallet and says after the second time with Kitty, she gave him a key to her apartment, and he puts the key on the table, saying it is 4B.

At the apartment of Kitty Bennett at 91 West 21st Street on Friday, March 22, as they approach the door, Carisi asks Rollins if Benson has been okay with this. Rollins says this has been a tough one but she is handling it. Rollins knocks on the door and there is no answer, and when Carisi suggests using the key, Rollins asks if he is sure this is kosher. He says yes, telling her to see if it fits. It does not. Rollins wonders why play them if Josh knows it is not her key? Carisi sees a security camera and suggests they go to the videotape.

Back at SVU, Rollins tells Benson the building manager pulled last 6 months of security footage from the camera on Kitty’s floor. Carisi says TARU found the days Josh claims Kitty took him home. They see Josh knock on the door and Kitty answering, and then kissing him and pulling him inside. Benson, appalled, says they are both liars.

Later, Kitty is back in SVU and they show her the video. She says she knows how this looks, but she says she slept with him a few times, but it was after he raped her in his office. Benson mentions Josh said they first met in the bar, Rollins adding the bartender saw them together, Kitty claims that was a few days after her appointment. Benson reminds her it is an appointment nobody can confirm. Rollins asks if Kitty gave Josh her key, and she admits she did, and changed the locks after he dumped her. Rollins thinks this is what this is all about, but Kitty says that is not how it happened. Kitty says after he raped her, she confronted him outside his office and said she was going to the police, but he talked her out of it. He insisted they go to a bar so he can explain himself. He said she wanted to be overpowered and there is a condition for it – erotic rape fantasy disorder – and he said how she played with her hair and crossed her legs so he can see under her skirt, that she was consciously trying to seduce him. Benson comments that’s when Kitty took him home. Kitty claims Josh said she had intimacy issues and that the grief from her mom was masking the real problem and he would help her work that out. Kitty said she is sorry, she knows she screwed this up. She asks if Josh is in jail. Rollins explains he was arraigned and made bail, so if he tries to contact her, she has to let them know. Benson explains they will continue with the investigation but if there is anything else…she says there isn’t, and apologizes for not telling the whole truth. As she leaves, she sees Lana arrive, and Kitty asks what is she doing here. Kitty starts to run toward her and says Lana is not the victim, she is and mentions her “disgusting fiancé’s baby”. They keep the two women apart and as Benson pulls Lana into her office, Lana wonders why does Kitty hate her and is she destroying her life? In her office, Benson tells Lana it may have something to do with her fiancé. Lana says last weekend she was getting married and now the nightmare keeps getting worse. She explains John admitted the affair. Lana states Josh was her therapist but it wasn’t like that – they didn’t start seeing each other until she stopped seeing him professionally. She is a real estate broker and he reached out to her when he started to look for a loft in Manhattan. She was going out with another guy at the time and he convinced her to break it off. Benson asks if she wanted that, and Lana doesn’t answer. She comments that Josh has always been good to her, explaining all the things he did for her and place he’d take her. Benson asks if those were things she like to do, and Lana says Josh makes all the decisions. Benson asks like what, and Lana says in the bedroom. He likes to be dominant. Benson asks if that is what she likes, and Lana blankly says sure.

In the break area as Benson gets some coffee, Rollins asks how it is going with Lana and Benson says Lana is a mess. Josh is doing a number on her. Benson explains Josh was Lana’s therapist and they didn’t start dating until after she stopped seeing him. Rollins says by that time he knows what makes her tick, and Benson adds and how to manipulate her. His power over her is almost pathological. Benson is starting to believe that Kitty is telling the truth. Carisi walks up and said he just got a heads up from the 11th precinct that patrol is responding to a 911 call at Josh’s address right now. They race off.

At the scene, an office tells Benson and Rollins it is some sort of dispute with a female intruder, Kitty. They did not go in, being told to wait for SVU. Benson and Rollins enter the apartment for find Kitty holding Josh with a broken bottle as his neck and Lana distraught. Benson tries to calm Kitty and she says if they come closer she will just do it. Rollins says then she will have to shoot her. Benson continues to try to calm her but Kitty is upset over the baby, saying she did not want any of this. She screams for Josh to tell them the truth, but he says she needs help. But she isn’t having it, yelling at him about his rape fantasy and body language BS. Lana is shocked. As Kitty continues to talk, Lana suddenly says to go ahead and kill him. She shouts that she knows Kitty is telling the truth, and knows that Josh raped her. Kitty replies “How dare you” but Lana says he said the exact same words to her, asking Josh if he remembers – the first time they had sex after he raped her. She sobs. Kitty is stunned, and she puts down the bottle and Benson hugs her, saying it is okay, it is over.

Back at SVU, Lana explains to Rollins how her relationship with Josh grew and that they day he assaulted her, they went to see a couple listings. She had on a red silk dress and heels, planning to go out with friends that night. They looked at a loft in Chelsea – the one they live in now – and she explains how he raped her and how she told him to stop, which only made him more aggressive. She drove him home, and she was so confused about what happened and he then told her to make an offer. When the offer was accepted, he showed up with flowers and champagne as an apology. He said it was okay she used her sexuality to cement the relationship. Rollins asks if she is willing to testify against him for what he did to her. She did not want to admit what he really was, but when Kitty repeated the same things he said to her…yes, she will testify. Benson, who is observing with Carisi, tells him to pick up Josh – again.

Later, Benson opens the interrogation room door to let in Josh’s lawyer, who wants to know what is going on. Josh is there, and Benson says it is rape 1. Benson tells Josh a grieving woman came to him for help and in the space of an hour he destroyed her life. Benson says the complaining witness is Lana. The lawyer says very funny, and Josh says no way. He says Lana would never turn on him, but Benson says she is testifying in front of a grand jury as they speak. Josh explains he gave those women exactly what they wanted. Benson raises her voice, saying he conned them into believing that’s what they wanted. She adds like any good con man, he’s convinced himself his victims got what they deserved, stating firmly, “YOU…are done, doctor. You’re done.”

Later, as they walk outside near the river, Kitty tells Benson she has been seeing the therapist Benson recommended and she is helping her out already. She still has a lot of work to do and hasn’t decided yet about the baby. She thought she was going to have an abortion but she felt the baby kick this morning and it reminded her about what Benson said, that what happened to her is not this baby’s fault. Benson explains that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be hard, she’s known women in that same position who have decided to raise the child and some days they don’t think about it. And other days…She says even though her baby was conceived in an act of violence, her baby is innocent and deserves to be unconditionally loved. She asks Kitty to promise her if she decides to be a mother, that she will remember that. Kitty says she will. Benson tells her to take care, and Kitty walks off. Benson stands alone, reflecting on this, as we fade to black.



Cast:
Mariska Hargitay - Lieutenant Olivia Benson
Ice-T - Sergeant Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, Jr.
Philip Winchester – ADA Peter Stone

Guest stars:
Shiri Appleby - Kitty Bennett
TJ Thyne - Dr. Joshua Hensley
Maureen Sebastian - Lana Stallworth
Poppy Liu - Hannah Berkowitz
Dov Tiefenbach – Fitz
Josephine Huang - Heidi
Michelle Yazvac - April
Shannon Weiss - Beth
Gabriella Certo – Mindy
Garrett Turner - Bo Albrecht
Casimir Gregory - Eric
Matt Riker - Alan
Kurt Uy – Todd
Ron Domingo - Bill Stallworth
Amor Owens - Samantha Stallworth
Tod Engle - Priest
Gillian Glasco – Dominique Rivers
Pamela Jayne Morgan - Attorney Goffman
Maria Farrow – M.E. Carol Paz



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