Pages

Friday, November 15, 2019

Law & Order SVU “We Dream Of Machine Elves” Recap & Review



Despite the Wizard of Oz references peppered in “We Dream Of Machine Elves”, we’re nowhere near Kansas. In this unsettling episode, Rollins pulls back the curtain – literally and figuratively – to see a former psych professor for what he truly is - mentally disturbed. Adam Arkin captured the essence of a creepy doctor who bought into his own hype, and who was also tormented by his own failures to solve his wife’s psychosis. Benson says that Rollins has a blind spot for men that she thinks are smarter than she, but I think it’s more complex than that. Rollins’ initial encounter was with Julius Adler while he was a guest professor in Atlanta for a psych course Rollins took. Maybe at that time, Rollins viewed him through rose-colored glasses and she is still wearing them in the present. Did something happen between them that he would recall Rollins attending his class in Atlanta after all this time? She seemed enamored with him.   Her experience with previous SVU cases should have told her that where there is smoke, there is fire. Yet Rollins naively can’t believe that Adler could be involved in such horrific behaviors. Luckily, Kat is the only one that had the smarts to check Adler’s background to find his wife was not dead, which was the beginning of unraveling Adler’s story.

Did Rollins lie to Benson when claiming she didn’t inhale during the session at the brownstone? Immediately after the raid, Rollins starts to have mild hallucinations. It’s clear she inhaled or ingested *something*. I have no idea why she didn’t say anything about this; even if she didn’t inhale as she said, somehow *something* got into her body. Likely she didn’t want to admit she DID inhale, maybe thinking that Adler’s methods could help her with her own problems. Still, this is no excuse for lying, or at minimum hiding the fact she was hallucinating.  I certainly hope she didn't get behind the wheel of a car.

The episode featured a very colorful depiction of the infamous DMT machine elves. One thing didn’t ring true right off the bat: Meghan knew what these hallucinations she saw were called, even though she didn’t seem the type to be familiar with DMT and its affects. If one is clued in enough to know what machine elves are, one should have been smart enough not to go with strangers OR accept any food or beverages from them. I also can’t believe she dug that huge hole in the ground with that shovel AND without anyone seeing them.

I laughed when Fin tells Carisi to trust them, and Carisi says he does but every time he goes out on a limb for them, somebody saws it off. I am sure Carisi regrets some of the "barbs" he threw at ADA Rafael Barba all those years.

Kat continues to be a a loose cannon, blurting out questions to Adler despite Fin outlining his more slow-paced approach. We’ve seen evidence that she is a bit confrontational and I suspect that this trait will come back to bite her in the near future. On a related note, a new title card in the opening credits has been added, reflecting Jamie Gray Hyder as a full cast member.

One burning – and amusing - question: For people who already wear glasses – what do they use to make themselves look smart, or go undercover, or both? This isn’t just an SVU thing, but it seems fairly common that eyeglasses are the go-to disguise for SVU when someone wants to NOT look like law enforcement.

As usual, I'm still proofreading the recap, please bear with me!





Here is the recap:

At night in the city, Meghan – from Kansas - looses track of her friends. Another young woman – a stranger – bumps into her, then offers to help her find her friends, saying she is local and says her name is Anais. After Anais talks Meghan into taking a pedicab with her, the pedicab driver offers Meghan a bottle of water which she accepts and drinks. Meghan realizes her phone is dead and Anais offers to have her come to her place to charge it. She accepts and then accepts something to smoke. Soon after, she is sitting on the floor inside a room, listening to a white-haired man talk, her vision blurry. A young man offers her something to smoke. Meghan later wakes up tied to a bed, breathing something from a mask. She sees bright colors and weird sights, and she calls for Anais. Anais walks into the room with three other people, and Meghan is shocked to see them turn into weird colorful beings with many eyes. She is horrified.

Later, she is in the park, digging a hole, and sees four colorful beings who tell her she spent her life as one of the walking dead and to climb out of her grave and find her true self.


In the morning, Meghan’s vision is still altered, and she collapses and falls in the park. Sometime later, Rollins and EMTs are on the scene and Rollins attempts to calm a terrified Meghan, who is babbling about elves who want to take her back to her world and they had her digging her own grave. Rollins assures her they will take care of her and then asks the EMTs to get a tox screen and pysch evaluation. Fin approaches and asks if the girl gave her anything, and Rollins explains she went on about machine elves, thinking it is drugs or a psychotic break or both. Fin hears Kat on the radio say she has something, and they find Kat standing at a huge hole, saying they tried to bury the girl alive. Rollins explains they got her to do it; she mentioned digging her own grave. Fin asks what the hell did they do to this girl?

Benson steps out of the elevator to a waiting Rollins and Benson questions the“machine elves.” Rollins explains Meghan is being tested for DMT and this is a common hallucination among users, Benson mentions it is a powerful psychedelic and she hasn’t seen this in years. She has ligature marks and she may be concussed and is not lucid enough to consent to a rape kit. Benson explains the Chief has called twice and she needs to find out what they are looking for. They ask a nurse how is Meghan doing and he explains she is still having a lot of terror and anxiety. They gave her diazepam to calm her down and they had to restrain her as they were afraid she would hurt herself.

In the room, restrained to the bed, Meghan asks where is she, commenting it is so light in there. Benson explains she is in Mercy Hospital in Manhattan. The girl is surprised she is still in New York, then says she wants to go home. When Benson asks if she knows where her home is, the girl answers it is at 190 Forest Avenue, Great Bend, Kansas, and her name is Meghan Gale. Rollins texts this information. At SVU, Fin gets the text and calls out to Kat that he has a name and address, and he hands her his phone. Kat tells him she is on it. Back at the hospital. Meghan explains it was dark, and they held her down. She cries as Benson and Rollins remove her restraints. Benson asks her to tell her about “they”, and Meghan mentions the machine elves. Benson and Rollins say nothing and Meghan continues to explain that before they came in, the room spun, flowers bursting. She mentions all the eyes, and when Rollins asks that the elves had eyes, Megan, crying, says they had a hundred, with purple yellow faces. They crawled all over her and inside her. It was like they were having sex with her. She tried to get away.

Back at the SVU, Kat is on the phone with Meghan’s mother to inform her. After she ends the call, Fin asks what was she doing in New York, and Kat says it was a bachelorette party and Fin wonders that they didn’t report her missing.

At Rixton Suites Express at 164 West 27th Street on Monday, October 28, Fin and Kat inform the friends. They has saw her at Fiddlesticks in Greenwich Village. They were just doing fireball shots and Meghan went to call her boyfriend and never showed up. Fin asks that they didn’t call police, and one girl explains they were there to party, it was their first time in new York.

Back at the hospital, Meghan explains she saw a hawk above her and she tried to jump on its back and fly away. Her hands melted into the headboard. Benson comments that she was on a bed, and as Rollins takes notes, Meghan says a woman brought her there and she thought she was helping her. She got them a chariot without a horse, The driver sat on a leopard and gave her water.


Elsewhere, Fin gets off the phone with Benson and tells Kat that Meghan is still not making sense and she said she got into a chariot with no horse. Kat shows him a picture of a pedicab with leopard printed seats. She says traffic cams caught them at Greenwich and 7th and it may make them easier to find. Fin tells her to send the still to Rollins and he can Kat will start walking.



At the hospital, Meghan sees the photo and identifies Anais and she told the pedicab where to go. There was an older man there with a white beard, like a wizard, and was teaching. He said depression was the child of repression. As Meghan has yawned, Benson asks if she is tired but Meghan recoils at going back to sleep, afraid she will go back there. Rollins assure her and that she will stay at the hospital with her. The nurse enters the room and asks Benson if she has a second. Outside the room, he explains there is a reason why Meghan was so out of it, it was 100 times the usual dose of DMT with traces of ketamine. He guesses also GHB which Benson thinks was too long ago to show on a tox screen. He adds that DMT overdose is not a regular Saturday night so he called the Bellevue nurse he knows to see if they have any cases and she said a girl was brought in two weeks ago, the same tox screen. She is still there in the psych ward – she never came back.

Later, at the hospital with Benson, Deputy Chief Garland asks about the two victims, dosed with DMT. Benson explains they are Meghan Gale and a Jane Doe, the latter was found two weeks ago at 6 AM, wandering, wearing a sheet by the fountain at Rockefeller Center. When Garland asks how did they miss it, Benson informs him the unis thought that she was homeless and EDP so they took her to the psych ward and she hasn’t uttered a coherent sentence since. She adds that the doctor says she stays awake for days at a time and might be afraid to sleep. They have no idea who she is - no ID, no DNA, no missing persons. The medical report shows signs of sexual assault and from the tox screen, she was taking prescription antipsychotics. When Garland wonders what are they we looking at here, Benson suggests it’s a man/woman team, who pick very young victims, take them to some group house, drug them with DMT, rape them and then dump them in some public space. Garland inquires if they’ve ever seen something like this before and could it be some kind of cult, but Benson doesn’t know. She explains Meghan remembers an older man talking to the group. She called him a wizard. As Benson’s phone buzzes, Garland instructs until they have more answers, to try to keep the details out of the press. But Benson, looking at the message, comments they may not be able to as another victim just turned up. Central Park, off 5th Avenue.

Fin and Kat are on the scene, the officer explaining they got a 911 call about a screaming woman dumped out of a pedicab. The driver had on a top hat. The woman was blindfolded and hands tied, nothing on. She said some language he’d never heard. The see the woman being assisted by EMTs and screaming and fighting against being restrained, speaking a foreign language.

At Hudson General Hospital at 1966 2nd Avenue on Thursday, October 29, Benson is on the phone with the Chief, explaining the woman is an exchange student from Sweden, Freja Bergdahl. She went missing two days ago and her roommate said she is a grad student and not a drug taker. Meanwhile, Rollins speaks with Freja who tells her the trolls kept her in the dark and they held her down and were inside her. A king was there with a white beard, like a fairy tale. He ruled the house. When asked how she got there, she recalls it being bumpy and a bicycle. They went past a giant stone woman and later, up a high stoop and many stairs. Rollins comments that as Freja is an art student, can she draw the woman and the trolls.

Afterwards, Garland looks at the drawings asks that this girl was dosed with DMT, and Benson said it was a huge dose, and also ketamine. Rollins explains both rape kits came back with semen from multiple donors, no hits. Rollins adds they have unlimited access to DMT which is tougher to get than cocaine, meth. Benson comments that shamans in South America use it access a higher dimension. Garland suggests the wizard gets DMT through a religious group or medical research. Benson comments they are checking clinical trials to see if they’ve had any of the drugs stolen. Rollins explains that Freja remembers passing a huge stone woman and Garland wonders if it is the Bust of Sylvette - the Picasso statue, which Benson comments is by the I.M.Pei Towers. Garland suggests they put Freja in a car and drive her around and see what comes back. But Benson explains she is quite traumatized. Garland says he won’t tell her how to do her job, but he knows she will be sensitive to her experience and to their needs. He hands her back the drawings and says they need a break.

Later, Benson is driving Freja past the statue and Freja identifies it as the giant stone woman. Freja says they were there. Freja recalls on the side of the road, there was a canopy of floating triangles. Benson drives her past the AIDS memorial and Freja recognizes it, saying they are close. Freja tells her to turn when she sees a green wall with posters. They stop the car and Freja and Benson begin to walk. Freja gets very upset when she sees a place with a red door and Benson assures her they are done and Freja is safe. As Freja cries, Benson sees the blinds open inside the brownstone and a white-haired man looks out the window.

Back at the SVU, Benson explains the brownstone was bought 30 years ago by a foundation for radical therapy and gifted to Julius Adler for his institute. Carisi asks that he is the white-bearded wizard, and Rollins replies Doctor Julius Adler is an esteemed professor of radical psychiatry at Tompkins Square, a prolific author…and Fin finishes “and a freak”, adding her uses psychedelics as a cure all. Rollins comments it is controlled clinical studies. Kat explains she ran the building and it has non-profit status with seven complaints over the last year - noise, kids partying, a cello being thrown out a third story window. Carisi asks that both victims remember going into that brownstone and can they ID him, and Benson replies no, but Freja was clearly triggered. Freja thinks she remembers the red door and the high stoop. Carisi says “she thinks”, adding she also remembered trolls. Kat explains there is reason to believe he has DMT and psychedelics inside, but Carisi says if he is running clinical trials it may not be illegal. Fin tells Carisi he can trust them, and Carisi says he does but every time he goes out on a limb for them, somebody saws it off. He says it is a academic institute and he needs some patina of probable cause. As Carisi walks off, Fin asks, “Patina?” and Kat asks if that guy was really a cop. Benson reminds them he is just doing his job. Rollins suggests they take a run at Adler and see if he gives them anything. Benson thinks that is a good idea, telling Kat and Fin they are off to see the wizard.

At the brownstone with Kat, Fin rings the buzzer and when Kat asks what is their play, Fin says Adler is a shrink so he will try to read them. He suggests they suss him out and let him talk. Adler answers the door and Fin identifies himself as NYPD. Adler asks if this is about the cello, and Kat blurts out it is about the kidnapping of three young women. Fin gives her a look. Fin then comments they think they were brought here and Kat shows Adler their photos. He says no but says they have so many student and patients they could have audited an open house. She says they said they were raped and drugged here. He asks for details and Fin says it is confidential. Adler says he is a good therapist but even he can’t explain what they won’t describe. Kat says they were terrified and Adler says the work they do their pushed boundaries and maybe while they were in process, feelings of helplessness emerged or traumatic memories resurfaced? Fin says maybe, asking if they can come in and he can show them where the memories surfaced, Adler assumes they don’t have a warrant like they would have to respect confidentiality. He comments he hopes that was productive and he returns inside and shuts the door. Fin gives Kat a look.

Back at SVU, Rollins knocks on Benson’s door and enters, saying she heard Adler wasn’t helpful. Benson says nope, but he claimed so many students pass through his door he can’t keep track of them. Rollins mentions back in Atlanta when she was going through some stuff she took some psych courses at Georgia State and Adler was a guest professor. She adds he is brilliant empathically and a real healer and whatever happened to those girls she can’t imagine he’d be involved. Benson comments she hears Rollins but they both know that was a long time ago, and people change. Rollins counters that it sounds like he keeps and open door for students and it couldn’t hurt to make an approach. Benson sighs.

At the Department of Psychiatry at Tompkins Square University at 402 Bowery on Wednesday, October 30, Rollins is in a class hearing Adler speak. He says depression and anxiety are an organic reaction to oppression. He says this is a good place to stop, and as the class exits, Rollins races up to him and says she is a big admirer of his. She mentions she took a class years ago, and he actually recalls it was Atlanta. He says she is a fish out of water, and she says she was searching for a bigger pond. She explains she is finishing her masters in liberation psychiatry and all roads still lead to him. She mentions one of his books, saying it resonated with him. They talk about the book and Anais walks up and calls him dad, saying there are people waiting for him. Before she walk off, he tells Rollins he is having an open house study session tonight and invites her to attend. She smiles and say okay.

On Bank Street in the West Village on Wednesday, October 30, Benson watches a feed from Rollins as she attends the study session. Fin asks how long they have to watch Adler hit on Rollins, and Benson explains they will wait for probably cause. Kat asks “or machine elves” and Kat explains she doesn’t believe in regular psychiatry, let alone this. Fin adds he’s with Kat. As they continue to listen to Adler spout off his beliefs, he explains this is not the only reality. Benson, Fin and Kat observe a white van pull up and a white male exit with large tanks possibly the pedicab driver. They suspect ether is in the tanks, Fin thinks they are cooking their own drugs. Anais offers a pipe to inhale the drug, and Rollins takes off her glasses. Benson comments they lost visual and tells them to move. They jump out of the van and as they move to the door with officers swarming, Fin tells the guy with the tanks to put his hands up. The man says this is all legal. Inside, Rollins hands the pipe to Anais and Benson barges in, announcing they are NYPD, telling them to put the drugs down and get their hands up. Adler says this is an academic seminar and they have the right to freedom of inquiry. As Kat cuffs Adler, she tells him he has a right to remain silent, and reads him his rights. Anais looks on as Adler tells her it is okay. Benson asks Rollins if she is okay, and Rollins explains she didn’t inhale. Benson asks if she is sure, and Anais is shocked that Rollins is a cop. Kat asks if everyone goes, and Benson replies that everyone goes until they find out who is a vic and who is a perp. As Benson instructs the others to leave with their hands up, Rollins looks behind a curtain but her vision is becoming very blurry. She sees Meghan’s hawk. Benson walks in, sees the bird hanging from the ceiling, and puts her hand on her shoulder to get Rollins’ attention.

With Alder in SVU in the interview room, he asks Rollins where did she go? He says he saw the light come on in her eyes and her soul leave its cage, saying she was on her journey and he is curious where did she go. Rollins says nothing. Carisi and Benson are watching and listening and Carisi asks what is Adler doing? Benson says Rollins is just letting him establish rapport. Carisi asks who else did they pick up?

With Anais in interrogation, she says they are family; maybe not the Brady Bunch as that was just an artificial construct to make them conform. Kat asks if her father told her that, and Anais replies and more, every day since she was three, when her mother died. Benson and Carisi listen. Anais explains he sacrificed everything to take care of her and what he’s built and taught, no one can take that away. She adds it is how to be whole; people come to him for an alternative path. Carisi comments to Benson that Anais drank the Kool-Aid too, and Benson adds they have Caleb, the pedicab driver and ten others who are all on video taking a hit from the pipe. Rollins enters the room and says Adler swears there were no assaults. Carisi says this is no surprise, asking what the victims say. Benson clarifies it's “Victim”, explaining Freja went back to Stockholm. She adds Meghan identified Anais and Caleb and she remembers Adler giving a lecture. Carisi comments after that, is was machine elves, inquiring if there were any DNA hits from the men. Benson replies not yet but admits they are in front of it. Rollins comments they claim it was a mutual psychotic sexual exploration. Carisi translates that to mean it was consensual. Carisi says Adler claims it is academic freedom but he is a puppet master who gets his acolytes to rape and torture girls. Rollins doesn’t think that’s what this is, but Carisi asks that Meghan wanted to dig her own grave and run around half naked in a bed sheet? Rollins glares at Carisi as Fin opens the office door and announces that Caleb’s parents are here.

Benson speaks with them, as they explain they drove down from Syracuse as soon as they heard. Caleb has had problems with depression and he is not taking any classes any more, it is like he in a cult. He met Adler in his freshman year about 6 years. He used to call them all the time but now not even on holidays. They had an intervention and brought in a minister and empty his retirement fund to pay for a de-programmer but nothing worked. All they wanted was to protect him. They try to do everything right but they don’t know if their son will ever come back.

Meanwhile, Adler tells Rollins these kids come from abusive homes, repressive schools and they arrive totally disconnected, unable to feel. Rollins says she gets all that but how does he go from there to gang rape? Adler says no, this is about cutting through their armor and freeing their libido. He says he is not angry at her for pretending to be interested in his work, adding that ruse was her job. He asks if she read anything he wrote and she replies she read all of his books. He wonders then why is she asking the wrong questions and what fear is blocking her from feeling what he knows what is inside her? She tells him not to do that, because she is the only friend he has in here. He questions friend, saying he is offering her the chance to journey to dimension she can’t imagine and thinks her reaction is to play the good cop card. He says he is so disappointed, adding he would like to leave unless he is being charged with a crime. She says he is being charged with possession for now, and he thinks that won’t stand. He states he has a government approved grant for research into DMT and his institute is a de facto extension of the university and if the great purge must proceed, then proceed it must.

At the office of Deputy Chief Christian Garland at 1 Police Plaza on Thursday, November 1, Garland refers to Adler as a false prophet and paraphrases Joseph Campbell, saying the mystic swims in the same water in which the psychotic drowns. Carisi comments the students believe what he feeds them, and Benson adds his daughter thinks he is a saint; the mother died when she was three so Adler raised her. Rollins says something happened to Adler 20 years ago; 20 years ago he was the foremost in liberation psychiatry and Carisi counters that whatever alternate reality Alder is in, in this reality he is either guilty of conspiracy to rape or sex trafficking. Garland agrees, telling Carisi to charge him with both. Carisi asks how, who will he put on the stand, Caleb or Meghan and her elves? Garland suggest to charge Anais and flip her. Rollins doesn’t think she will turn, but Kat thinks maybe that is another alternate reality he has created. Kat explains she found a marriage certificate that Adler married Kathleen Bell in 1994 but there is no obituary or death certificate. Kat shows Benson the information, and Benson comments if she is not deceased, then where is she? Garland tells them to find out.


Later, at a hospital, Benson and Rollins speak with a doctor who says Kathleen Bell Adler was admitted in 1997. She was a brilliant clinician until she was found naked in the middle of Harvard Square. He was diagnosed with hallucinogenic psychosis with underlying paranoid schizophrenia. She can communicate intermittently; this week she has been having agitated conversations with someone who is not there about her daughter. Benson says her daughter doesn’t know that her mother is alive. The doctor says Kathleen is worried about Anais. No one has ever visited her, at least not since she has been on staff and that is going on 15 years. After all this time at this facility, no one ever re-integrates from that. After Rollins thanks the doctor, Benson comments to Rollins that Adler did this to her and Rollins counters they don’t know that. Benson says she does, and Rollins walks off. Benson follows her and says she knows Rollins has a blind spot for men that she thinks are smarter than she, but Rollins argues she just wants to ask him about his wife. Benson stops Rollins and asks if she can even trust Rollins with him. Rollins counters who else is going to get through as Adler thinks the others are covered in armor that they will never open up. Benson’s mouth drops open and Rollins quickly walks off, turning back, adding “No offense.” Benson shakes her head and sighs.

Back at the SVU, Rollins leads Adler into the interrogation room. He comments that by altering his external reality Rollins thinks she will alter his responses. Rollins asks him about his wife, and he says she is gone. Rollins says she is gone but now dead. He wants her to leave his wife alone, and Rollins asks like he did? Adler says time in this world and this plane has stopped for her and she is well taken care of, but the kind of break she suffered there is no return. Rollins states the journey he took her on she can’t get back, but he insists this is not the cause. Kathleen battled demons her whole life, and her parents treated their dog better than her. Rollins reminds him she was a doctor but Adler says it was not his fault, her father raped her when she was a child and she completely disassociated from herself and by the time she came to him she had been seen and been failed by a dozen therapists. He was initially her doctor after a suicide attempt. Rollins asks that he slept with her, and he says after he began treating her. Rollins thinks it was hallucinogens, but Adler adds it was also love and positive sexual energy. The only way to heal her was to go back to the cause and reprogram her response. Rollins comments it was re-enacting, and Adler states yes, and it did work for a time. They were happy and they conceived a child but as Anais grew, Kathleen’s memories came back earlier than she let herself remember and he did everything he could. He lost her and since then he has dedicated his life to saving other victims. Rollins says that is what she wants to hear about. He says there are some many of them and it is more common then they realize. The both sit down as he mentions Freud knew it, seeing how pervasive child sex assault was but academia won’t discuss incest so he categorized their memories as childhood fantasy. Rollins brings up the Oedipus complex, and Adler calls it the original sin of psychotherapy. Rollins asks that these students are drugging and assaulting these woman as therapy? Adler says these young people are drawn to them and have deep wounds and by altering their perception of reality and reenacting their abuse he is able to reconnect them to their true selves. Rollins argues back loudly about the woman in Bellevue and his but he shouts this is not his fault. He says they are broken and he tried to save them, saying she knows this, calling Rollins Kathleen. He pauses as does Rollins while Benson, Garland and Fin observe. Adler says they sent her to silence him and Rollins asks what is going on here? Adler paces and Rollins says he was brilliant and look what happened to his mind. He argues that his mind has evolved and that is why people are so threatened by him. He looks at the mirror and asks who is out there, the AMA, American Psychiatric, adding that forces conspire against him. He mentions big pharma, reminding Rollins she said that they were only interested in drugs in order to numb the soul. He screams at the mirror, asking who is out there. Rollins tells him no one is behind that glass but her Captain. He starts ranting off “Captain, my captain…” and Rollins asks him to come back and stay with her. He says that is the last thing he will do is sit there with her and eat green eggs and ham, he will not give a false confession and he will not be complicit in our society’s blood lust for a scapegoat. He tries to climb up the metal grating on the window and Rollins explains he can't get out that way. As he continues to scream, officers enter the room to assist in restraining him but Rollins motions for them to stay back. She gets Adler to come back down and he kneels at her feet, happy, thinking Rollins is Kathleen. He keeps rambling and sobbing as he kneels at Rollins’ feet. Fin tells Garland he has an ambulance on the way, and Garland wonders if this is an elaborate act. Benson thinks he has just escaped.

Later, as Carisi sits in an empty courtroom working and making notes, Rollins enters and says she checked on Adler who has been at Bellevue for the last three days. He hasn’t eaten or spoken or slept and is completely unresponsive. Rollins doesn’t think it is a ruse but Carisi still plans on arraigning him and his disciples including Anais. Rollins understands but asks for 24 hours before he arraigns Anais and he agrees. He asks what is her deal with this guy and she explains she wanted to hear his side of the story and had no idea how far gone he was. She explains there was a time that she was lost and thought he had the answers and wanted to learn from him and follow him. Carisi reminds her she didn’t; she was smart. He adds that she dodged a bullet. She replies, “yeah.”

At LaGuardia Psychiatric Hospital at the Roosevelt Island Facility at 800 Main Street on Tuesday, November 5, Benson and Rollins are with Anais as the doctor takes her to meet her mother. Anais asks if she will know who she is, and the doctor says it has been 20 years and not to expect her to know too much. Anais explains she didn’t know she was alive, and Rollins explains that the doctor understands. Benson comments if Anais is not up for this they can turn around now, but Anais says she is her mother as she proceeds into the room. Anais tells her mother it is her and asks if she minds if she sits. Kathleen asks if she is okay, and Anais cries, questioning is she; she doesn’t know. Kathleen says she was just talking to her father about her. As Kathleen goes back to her craft, Anais looks back at Benson and Rollins, and as Rollins turns to walk away, we fade to black.


Cast:
Mariska Hargitay - Captain Olivia Benson
Ice-T - Sergeant Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Peter Scanavino - ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, Jr.
Jamie Gray Hyder - Katriona "Kat" Azar Tamin


Guest stars:
Adam Arkin – Julius Adler
Demore Barnes - Deputy Chief Christian Garland
Beth Malone - Doctor
Andy Mientus - Caleb Williams
Stephen Wallem - Rudy Syndergaard
Sarah Catherine Hook - Meghan Gale
Eve O'Brien - Anais Adler
Maureen Mueller – Kathleen Adler
Annie Hägg - Freja Bergdahl
Gloria Biegler –
James Healy, Jr. - Carl Williams
Hannah Lynne Miller – Tara Crane
Ivy Croteau – Courtney Holden
Thamer Jendoubi - Officer Kivlahan
Jac Bernhard – Matteo
Kyle Fox Douglas – Rhys



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.

13 comments:

  1. This episode put the focus on Rollins. In doing so they completely forgot about the victims. Too many holes and unanswered questions. Who exactly assaulted these girls. I don't think it was ever made clear. Did Adler take part in the the assaults, or watch only to supervise what he thought was therapy? How did they pick these girls and why were they targets? Why were they being so nice to Anais when she was involved in the staging of the assaults by letting her meet her mother? Was it only to get her to turn on her father? Did they even need that after his meltdown in interrogation? How could Adler have remembered Rollins from Atlanta or was that a lucky guess? Did she have a thing for him and why did she believe him so strongly? Why would Benson even allow her to be involved in the "undercover" operation if Rollins was showing signs she wasn't being objective? Why didn't we see Fin rip Kat for blowing off his instructions? Why did I bother watching this episode?

    ReplyDelete
  2. And when and why did the SVU bosses decide to abandon the pithy,succinct, one or two word episode titles and go with pseudo-poetic nonsrnse sentences instead?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The number of letters in the episode name correspond with the season and Warren Leight has done this for every episode in the seasons in which he’s been showrunner. This practice started back up when he returned in season 21

      Delete
  3. This season's episode titles all have 21 letters in because it's season 21. Yes, it is a silly annoying gimmick.

    I groaned at the use of "White Rabbit" in the opening, but this wasn't a bad episode as this season goes. But yes, it ended with SVU being remarkably kind to the person who lured victims into the trap.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I feel like this season there must be new writers
    The stories are not as interesting as years past. New people with little backstory, shallow plots and
    Carrisi’s new role is not sitting well and the new ADA is a bust😡

    ReplyDelete
  5. This could have gone so many interesting directions, but just stalled out. Also, SVU is really typically sensitive to mental health, and Fin being all, "Yeah, what she said!" when Kat made a dig about therapy being nonsense just didn't ring true.

    Several really good episodes this season, but this one was really muddled about what it wanted to be.

    Also...why are all naive tourist characters either from Kansas or Indiana?

    ReplyDelete
  6. GET with it SVU or you will not have a Season 21!!!!! I like ADA Carisi - hate any episodes that are even slightly centered around Amanda and trying to convince the audience that she is NOT the TRAMP that she is (is she sure this Professor was not among the LONG list of men she shacked up with). Also GET RID OF THE CHARACTER OF KAT - she is annoying, in your face/going to kick your ass ,the fans can't stand her (plus the actress can NOT act - is she a friend of Warren Leigh's or something, is that how she got the job). You are FAST losing long time fans, like me

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Jess - they bashed Ohio in a recent episode too. I just think they hate the Midwest in general - and probably the south too. It's as if they think there aren't any naive people in New York State. But if you really think about it, all these crimes happen in New York or New York City, so I suppose they are a hotbed of perverts (wink)!

    ReplyDelete
  8. @unkown seems like you need to sort out your issues with women. It’s the 21st century which means that women can have sex with various people without being called names.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Any Law and Order lovers, I would love your help. I'm looking for as many episodes that involved the exclusionary rule. This is a court made rule that allows or doesn't allow evidence admitted to court. It's based on mistakes made by police or others that in certain circumstances are ignored and the evidence is accepted. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Patriotusa25 - All I can offer is a link to my blog which contains a separate link to a Law & Order database showing the outcome of all the Law & Order episodes for all 20 seasons. There may be something you can glean from this database that may help you. Good luck!

    Link: https://allthingslawandorder.blogspot.com/2012/11/law-order-20-seasons-database-link.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. Why is this “Unknown” freak allowed to keep calling Rollins sexually degrading names? I’m so tired of misogyny being ignored.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Does anyone else find Rollins' undercover acting skills to be infuriatingly awful? I would never trust her or believe a word she says when she is undercover!

    ReplyDelete