Law & Order SVU “Nightmares In Drill City” Recap, Review, Discussion

I’m leaning toward disliking  “Nightmares In Drill City”.  I liked the overall production this season so far; the episodes look, sound, and feel much more real than they have in the past, invoking the early seasons of the show.   In this episode, they brought in the legal angle which makes the episodes more compelling.  They also gave Fin something more meaningful to say than just the occasional quip or comment and threw in a short back story for Velasco.

What annoyed me to no end was the unsympathetic “victim” – and I have that word in quote marks because I can’t completely buy in to Tori being a victim…as it relates to the murders. Was Tori a victim of rape and trafficking?  If we are to believe what she and Jasmine said about G, then she WAS a victim in that aspect.  But not as it relates to the robbery and murders.  Tori DID seem to buy into the lifestyle that G offered.  No one should get a free pass (or a slap on the wrists in this case) for  facilitating armed robbery and murder, regardless of what happened to them in the past.   I would have felt more comfortable with the outcome had the sentence involved some jail time.  Clearly, Tori doesn’t appreciate the easy sentence she got because she can’t even keep herself to its simple terms.   Benson should have not gotten involved with Tori after the sentencing and should have allowed the report of Tori’s violation of her probation to be handled through normal channels.  (For a story like this having a more satisfying outcome, watch Law & Order "Hot Pursuit" from season 6.)

I also didn’t care for the overused trope that the people in charge (in this case, Bureau Chief Phillip Baptiste and Trial Division Chief Lorraine Maxwell) are so blinded by their position that they are only focused on getting a conviction, leaving the lowly ADA to come to the rescue with the words of wisdom that changes everyone’s mind. Yes we get it. Carisi is brilliant and knows better than the people in charge (sarcasm intended).  I rolled my eyes when Maxwell parroted Carisi’s words to the press.  It wiped out my feelings of being impressed when Carisi pressured Tori on the stand during her trial.  This was Carisi’s first case with the homicide bureau, and despite the outcome that made him look like a winner, I’m not sure if he gained any fans in that office.  It’s okay to be a step ahead of the defense, but it did feel like he was bargaining against his own office

The events of this episode begin just before the episode Law & Order SVU “I Thought You Were On My Side”, the third episode of this season. 

Here is the recap: 

In  a car, in the back seat with Jasmine and one man, Tori sends a message and sexy pics of her and the other woman to Chris to entice him to give her his address.   Meanwhile, Chris and Milly  are working on a rap video when the door bell rings – the girls are there. But  once the door is opened, the girls are pushed out of the way and the men with guns enter and the shooting begins.  In the process, the bullets fly and Milly and Tori are shot.  The men rob the safe and one guy takes Milly's personalized chain and runs, along with Jasmine but they leave Tori behind. 

At Beth Israel Hospital at 281 1st Avenue on Friday September 17 , Benson arrives and Rollins tells her this is Carisi’s first case as riding DA – it’s the triple homicide last night in Alphabet City.  Carisi is there and he explains the perps are in the wind, except for an accomplice – Tori Warshofsky – who was left behind at the scene and refuses to talk.  Another surviving victim – Chris Miller, says that Tori was the “honey trap” that got the shooters inside.  Chris knew Tori but not the other girl, the rest wore masks.  Tori is under arrest and they need her to flip.  Benson asks if t his should be on homicide, and Carisi explains yes, but the doctor found bruises on Tori, plus she has two different STDs, which may indicate she may be a victim. 

Benson and Rollins speak to Tory and she doesn’t know who shot her.  They know she texted Chris for a date but showed up with a crew.  Tori said “he” made her do it but she can’t tell them who as he will kill her too. 

At SVU, Carisi explains TARU went through Tori’s phone and Chris is telling the truth about the texts.  Fin comments Tori is in this pretty deep, but Benson says she was afraid and didn’t want to ID them. Carisi says she will have to as she is facing multiple murder charges.  Rollins explains Tori is a senior at Edward R. Murrow High School who made the honor roll and lives with her mother. Her mother has been in Poland for the last month and is on a flight back now. She has no record. Rollins says the home invasion makes no sense, but Fin states she’s been running with gangsters so she must have crossed over at some point.  Rollins comments the hospital is ready to release her and Benson tells them to pick her up and bring her in. 

In SVU interrogation, Carisi explains the stakes and Benson and Rollins explain how she can help  herself.  After Carisi leaves the room,  Tori explains her involvement with the guy – who she knows only as “G” -  and says the girl with them was Jasmine Cruz but she didn’t shoot anyone. She used to be her friend. G is a rapper who goes by Gutta 18 and he and his crew have a YouTube channel and he is kind of a star. 

Velasco is watching a video by G and Fin explains the music is called “drill” made famous by Chief Keef out of Chicago. It’s competition on whose crew is the hardest,  They see who could be Jasmine  on the video.  It sounds like a confession, and G is waving around the victim’s chain. Fin says the dummies want to be famous so bad they are doing their job for them. 

Benson and Rollins show the video to Tori and she says that is the alley outside the trap house in Bushwick – she’s spent a lot of time in the back room. When Benson asks doing what, Tori just offers the address. 

At 1251 Putnam Avenue in Bushwick Brooklyn on Friday, September 17, SVU with police raid the place and as people run off, and Jasmine and G are arrested.  He knows Tori “dimed” him out, and says she got them fooled, saying Tori planned the whole thing – and he can prove it. 

At SVU, Benson explains G is David Gram,  from the Flatbush project, with a sealed juvie record. He hasn’t lawyered up yet and doesn’t seem to care.  Carisi leaves and Benson enters interrogation where Fin is waiting with G.  The guns they found in his trap house match what was used in the shooting. When Fin says, “Congratulations genius, you’re gone”, G shrugs it off as the cost of doing business. He says Tori is going to go down with him as she played her part.   He mentions how that crew disrespected him. Tori knew Milly's (Mike's) little brother Chris from school and that they had been dealing drugs.  The robbery was Tori’s idea as she would suggest a hookup to get his address and he could not resist her. She was right.  He states that nobody dies without her. 

At Beth Israel Hospital on Saturday, September 18,  Rollins speaks with Chris who says he is a movie geek and was told he could learn doing clips for his brother.   He blames himself because she trusted Tori. 

At SVU, Jasmine tells Velasco  that nobody had to recruit Tori,  she followed them around and got hooked on drugs, sex, and the videos. She was down for it,  and she was the connection to Mike and Chris. She asks Velasco what kind of “mix” he is, and when he asks what does that matter, she says she didn’t think he’d fall for that white girl magic but she guesses everyone does. 

Meanwhile, Tori is in holding and complaining about being there. Despite the comments from others she says they made her do this.  Benson says she needs a full explanation and Tori asks if she can still get a lawyer. 

Later, in a conference room with Carisi, Rollins,  and Tori’s lawyer Nikki Staines, Tori explains her relationship with G and Jasmine. She allowed G to have sex with her.  Nikki reminds them Tori was 15 and he was 19, which is rape, and when Tori says G had her have sex with other guys, Nikki says that is trafficking.  He also beat her, and once cracked her skull but she told the hospital she feel down the stairs.   Nikki says none of this her fault.  Tori adds she was stripping and turning tricks and giving all the money to G. She went to school which was great but nights were hard. He would have killed her had she not gone along. 

At SVU in her office, Benson states Tori is telling the truth and was  clearly trafficked but Carisi reminds her in New York that is not a defense for armed robbery let alone murder.  Rollins says she was scared for her life and Carisi states not in the moment the crime was committed which is the legal standard. Velasco comments there literally had to be a gun to her head, and Carisi asks for a reality check – it is a triple homicide.  Benson reminds her she is a cooperating witness and asks that he can’t cut her a deal to testify against G and Jasmine.  He admits she did lead them to G and Jasmine and there should be some kind of a deal here but this is his first case with the homicide bureau and doesn’t know these people, he’s barely even met them.  Benson comments he will figure it out. 

At New York County Supreme Court at 60 Centre Street on Monday, September 20,  Trial Division Chief Lorraine Maxwell and Bureau Chief Phillip Baptiste finish  speaking  with reporters about the case.  Carisi approaches them about the case and get a complement on the arrest.  He makes a case for Tori and that she led them to the perps and that she was trafficked.  He argues against charging Tori for 3 counts of murder when she is cooperating, Maxwell reminds him that G’s video got 1 million hits in two days and Baptiste states there are a lot of eyes on the case.  Maxwell can’t have them charge a black man with triple murder and cut a deal with a white woman who set the whole crime in motion.  Carisi argues it is not as black and white as it sounds, saying they have to hear her story. Baptiste says he is sure it is tragic but the jails are chock full of sad stories and nobody gives a damn. Maxwell adds she was told Carisi is ready for the next step in his career and this is a high profile case, a chance to make his bones. He understands, staying he won’t let he down. 

Later, in the courthouse hall, Benson comments to Rollins they won’t give Tori a deal and while they discuss it, Tori’s mother Magda Warshofsky approaches. They discuss the situation and wonders what will happen to Tori. 

At arraignment court part 7 on Tuesday, September 21,  G pleads not guilty but get remanded.  Jasmine pleads not guilty and is remanded.  Tori is arraigned and under the watchful eye of Baptiste, Carisi recommends remand and she  and is also remanded.  Magda calls out to Tori as she is being taken away.  Rollins says they 8th floor doesn’t care that she is a victim and Benson moans all they care about is the optics. Benson thinks if Tori’s story gets out, that will be the tipping point.  Rollins thinks they are done, and the rest is up to Tori’s defense. Benson counters maybe not,  they are SVU. They can open their own investigation into G as a rapist and as a trafficker. 

Later, Benson meets with Maxwell and Batiste and with Carisi, brings up the beating where Tori got a skull fracture.  Benson mentions that a black male dragged Tori out before she could file a complaint.  Carisi brings up a nurse who can pick G out of a lines up and state Tori was terrified.  Maxwell asks whose side is he on, but Carisi counters the investigation into G has uncovered a credible pattern of abuse and forced prostitution and tells Maxwell she knows better that he does but isn’t this all Brady material?  Benson adds when the defense sees it they will call her and she will have to testify in her experience, Tori was coerced and acting under duress from years of abuse she played her part in these homicides.   Maxwell says the law is clear here, and Carisi states it is but juries can be swayed and the press certainly can – an immigrant’s honor student daughter who is pimped out and beaten and forced to stand trial with her abuser, adding it doesn’t get more lurid than that.  Maxwell says he made his point and not to oversell it. 

At Rikers Island Correctional Facility on Tuesday, September 21, when Tori is offered conspiracy in the second degree, Nikki says that is up to 25 years but Carisi and Benson try to convince her to take it. Jasmine has been offered the same deal and is taking it.  They continue to try to convince her to take it now otherwise it is off the table. 

Leaving the precinct, Fin get off the phone with Rollins then  tells Velasco that Tori is not taking the deal. Velasco doesn’t blame her, saying it was obvious it was coerced.  Fin questions she is counting on the jury to believe that, and when Velasco asks that Fin doesn’t, Fin explains they agree she got turned out but once she got a taste for the life…he adds he had a partner who was gutted by a sweet-looking girl he was trying to help and she stuck the blade in his stomach and twisted it slow - anybody can go wrong. Velasco doesn’t think that is Tori because he gets where she is at. He explains when he was 14 he was running errands with a crew in Juarez and wanted to be in with the leader, Hector,  any way he could.  One day Hector said “Little Joe, I need a favor” asking him to lure a rival into a location – the guy Angel was into boys. He just had to get him there and he did and Hector’s crew was waiting for him. They took him into the bathroom and tortured him. Like Tori, he got caught up and she swore to god if he lived he’d do good from then on. He lived. Angel  gave up his stash, saved himself, and he told his mother her was in trouble and two days they went to Nebraska.  They were in Washington Heights a year later. He got away with it and kept his promise. He never told anyone that. Fin says he did his share of dirt back in the day – a lot of it – and is still trying to balance the scales himself.  They do a fist pump and Fin says “Peace.”

At the court house, reporters are talking about the case and Benson sees Maxwell, joining her in the elevator. and tells her she told her the press would be all over this. Maxwell asks Benson if she thinks she wouldn’t have figured this out on her own, saying they offered a deal. Benson says it is one she knew Tori would turn down. Maxwell testily says they thought Carisi would be able to close that out, adding she is sure Carisi was a great detective for Benson but the jury is still out on whether he will be a good prosecutor for them.  She tells Benson to have a good day and exits the elevator. 

In Supreme Court Part 55 on Monday, November 1, Tori is on trial. Carisi has Jasmine on the stand who explains how the planning for the robbery started and that it was all Tori’s idea. Tori told her to send Milly the pic but didn’t think anyone would get killed. She says Tori is playing a good Catholic girl, but she started the text and was the first one through the door.   Under cross, Nikki brings up the deal with the DA’s office, saying the first rat gets the cheese. 

Chris is on the stand, being questioned by Baptiste, who explains what transpired, and his sister Delia yells from the gallery that Tori killed his brother.  The judge calls for order.  Nikki has no questions, and the prosecution rests and the judge adjourns.  Tori’s  mother wants to stay there while Tori is on the stand. 

Later, Nikki questions Tori on the stand showing how G beat Tori. Tori explains her fear and that she went along with anything he wanted.  She adds she was  gang raped several times and was forced to do the robbery.  If she refused he said he would sell her to someone else and he had a gun in the car. She feels sick about Chris and Mike but had to do it.  Under cross examination by Carisi,  he mentions how she went home every night and slept in her own bed, and she could have told a teacher or a friend. She didn’t think to call the police. She admits to doing drugs and drinking and keeping his gifts. She admits she wanted G to love her, she liked it at first and Carisi keeps pressing her saying he knows how hard it is to say no once she got a taste.  He mentions her going on vacation with her mother to Poland and resumed the life when she got back and never told anyone she was being exploited until she was arrested for murder.  She admits she never told anyone, and Carisi asks how will the jury know if she is telling the truth or just  an excuse to avoid prison. The testimony ends and the judge adjourns.  Baptiste tells Carisi that’s the way it’s done, adding, “Nice work.”  Carisi looks conflicted.

Outside the courtroom, Rollins has been waiting for Carisi and expresses her disappointment, saying he never saw him as a bully. He says he can’t pick and choose how to do his job. She says she is not mad at him, just sad at him.   He comments he doesn’t know how to take that, and he walks off. Rollins comments to Benson and Velasco that the cross may get her convicted and there is no one to corroborate her side. Benson counters there might be, asking if anyone doubts Jasmine was turned out the same way.  Rollins reminds them Jasmine made a deal, but Benson thinks they didn’t get the whole truth. 

At the prison. Fin and Velasco speak with Jasmine with her lawyer present.  They try to convince her to turn  on G, explaining they are trying to make a case against G. But she says she is no snitch.  They keep working her on the issue and Velasco says she is worth more than this. She disagrees, saying she is spending the next decade there, what will she be worth then?  Fin says G is the bad guy, not her, and pleads for her to help them. 

Later, Carisi explains to Maxwell and Baptiste the situation with Jasmine, and SVU is looking to get more charges of sex trafficking and rape against G.  They didn’t come to him before they talked to them but now Jasmine has made a series of new disclosures to SVU about her abuse and the abuse of Tori she witnessed.  Maxwell reminds him Tori is on her way to conviction and asks what is Carisi doing?  He explains he is giving them a heads up – it is one thing for Tori to claim that she was trafficked but another thing for Jasmine to get on that stand and back Tori’s story and they want to avoid that.   They need to get in front of it an re-negotiate her deal and Tori’s. Maxwell says this office doesn’t bargain against themselves.  Baptiste adds that according to the law, none of this has any bearing on Tori’s guilt.  Carisi says they know the law is a lagging indicator and society is changing and they no longer ruin a teenager’s life because he got caught with a joint. They’ve moved on from prosecuting sex workers for prosecution and are prosecuting the johns.  Baptiste says he is well aware of that too but Carisi is at the end of a murder trial and the only question is, is Carisi a closer or not? Carisi looks frustrated and states these women were brutalized and they all know it.  They use their discretion all the time and for the rich and connected, why can’t they do it here?  Baptiste tells Carisi to answer the question but Maxwell says to let  Carisi finish.  Carisi takes a breath and says sometimes justice  is about compassion and the question should be what kind of office do they want to run. 

Later, outside the courthouse, Baptiste, with Maxwell, speaks to the press. He explains they are dismissing the murder charges against Tori and Jasmine and have accepted a deal on robbery charges and a sentence of 200 hours of community service, counseling, and 10 years probation.  He says they have no interest in prosecuting women for crimes when they are the real victims.  Maxwell parrots Carisi’s words about the lagging indicator and compassion.  Rollins, listening with Carisi,  comments this sounds like something Carisi would say, and he is just glad they saw the light. He asks if they are good and she says they are, and they decide to get out of there.

At St. Czaplicki Roman Catholic Church at 331 Eckford Street in Greenport, Brooklyn on Sunday, November 7,  Benson speaks with Tori who is vaping.  Tori says she will graduate on time and looking an SUNY New Paltz. Benson is there as Tori has missed two of her sessions which is a violation of her probation.  Benson thinks  Tori thinks she should be in prison.  She admits she thinks of Chris and his whole family and how she is out there free and they lost everything, Maybe she could have stopped it. Benson says it is natural she feels guilty, but Tori says she doesn’t feel anything. Benson says Tori was 14 when all this started, and she had to put on a lot of armor to protect herself. Tori feels like she can’t take it off, and Benson thinks she can and she will but it will be uncomfortable and feel different. She will have to retrain her brain and be patient with herself. Tori says she has to get back inside, and Benson tells her to work the program and make the most of this chance.  It’s the one thing Benson will ask of her, and Tori says she will try. Benson stops her, and holding on to her arms,  says no, telling Tori she can do this, she knows that she can.  Tori walks off and Benson watches her go into the church, sighing as we fade to black.