Psycho kids are not new to the Law & Order brand; the topic has been covered in 2 excellent episodes, Law & Order “Killerz” (season 10) and Law & Order SVU “Conscience” (season 6). In my mind, the bar was already set very high for this epiode. Despite this being one of the most predictable hours of Law & Order SVU, “Born Psychopath” was still interesting, primarily due to the compelling characters and the actors who played them.
BD Wong reprised his role of Dr. George Huang; sadly his character was not used to the storyline's full potential. The question of whether Henry Mesner could possibly have been born a psychopath or if something made him that way was given light treatment, and possibly Dr. Huang could have been better utilized to highlight this issue. (Maybe seeing more of Huang's actual tests would have been beneficial.) On the surface, Henry’s upbringing seemed normal, living in a nice home and appearing to not want for anything. Henry has a pushover for a mother, a father who focuses too much on his work, and a younger, innocent and trusting sister. There’s nothing abnormal about this but there is a question whether Henry’s behavior started when his sister was born (which meant he had to share his parents’ attention) or if he was born with psychopathic tendencies, or if his parent's permissive attitude only gave any psychopathic tendencies room to grow. I would have preferred more scenes with Dr. Huang to explore this issue rather than having scenes with yet another ADA, which frankly added little to address the nature vs. nurture argument. An annoyance – the ADA's name was never mentioned. I find this rude to viewers, especially when a character appears in more than one scene (I found the name only by a Google search).
We also see Nick Amaro become more involved in his new-found son's life. His family day presentation at Gil’s school where he shows he wears a bullet-proof vest telegraphed that later in the episode that vest would be put to the test. It also served as an excuse for Amaro to later appear shirtless for a short while. (SVU fans can now debate whether Meloni’s or Pino’s physique makes for better eye candy.) Another point of debate: unlike Stabler, it seems that Amaro won’t shoot a kid. Was that a dig at Stabler, or was foolish for Amaro not to think this was a situation to shoot a kid? A head shot from Henry at that close range would have likely killed Amaro, and if he was thinking that the recoil would only allow Henry to get off one shot, it wouldn’t have mattered much if Amaro was dead AND Henry had time to get his hands back on the gun before the police got into the room, leaving someone else to kill a kid.
In this episode, we have two parents who are blind to their monster of a child, even when he has his own game called “monster.” Can parents really be this clueless? It is hard not to think of the shootings at Sandy Hook, CT., where one parent’s handling of a troubled child eventually led to the deaths of many children and adults. I suppose that there are people out there who are that naive. But not all troubled kids are psychopaths and parents must not be afraid to get help in understanding whether the child’s behavior is normal or signals deeper issues. A personal story: in the late 1960s, my younger brother (now deceased) slammed a door on my left hand (twice). I was bracing myself on the door and had my left hand inside the door by the hinges. (After he slammed the door on my hand he opened the door up and slammed it again.) I broke/fractured three fingers and 40+ years later I can still hear the bones crunch and remember the pain. At the time, I screamed and nearly fainted from the pain; he thought it was hilarious. He did later regret what he did and thankfully he quickly “grew out” of his “psycho-like” phase. I wonder, though, had he not changed his behavior, what would my parents have done with him? Sad to say, they may have acted more like the Mesners than I would like to admit.
Here is the recap:
Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Detective Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Richard Belzer – Sergeant John Munch
Dann Florek – Captain Don Cragen
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino - Detective Nick Amaro
Guest stars:
BD Wong – Dr. George Huang
Hope Davis - Viola Mesner
Ethan Cutkosky - Henry Mesner
Alex Manette - Tom Mesner
Larisa Polonsky - Irina Janovic
Andrea Navedo - Cynthia Mancheno
Jessica Phillips – ADA Pippa Cox
Adam Dannheisser - Adam Burke
Kiley Liddell/Brooke Liddell - Ruby Mesner
Jaden Matthew Rodriguez – Gil Mancheno
Sarah Megan Thomas - Leah
Kyle Sutton - Toby Burke
Emily Dorsch – Hannah Schwartz
Jessica Zinder – Alanis Grey
Andrea Gallo - Nurse
Caleb McLaughlin – Boy
Jerome McIntosh – Fire Fighter
At the Mesner household, Viola Mesner, her husband Tom, the nanny Irina, and the two kids Henry and Ruby, get ready for the day. Henry wants to go to school with his mother, so Viola caves in and has Ruby go to preschool with Irina. Ruby tells Irina she has to pee, and Irina is frustrated as she just put Irina’s tights on. Viola and Henry leave as Irina deals with Ruby,
Later, Ruby is in the school nurse’s office where Ruby complains that her head and her tummy hurts. The nurse notices a bump on Ruby’s head and a large bruise on her side.
Meanwhile, Amaro is at Gil’s school for family day and he explains his job, and, upon being prompted by a question, shows his bullet-proof vest. Gil refers to Amaro as his “uncle.” Amaro gets a phone call and has to leave, but promises Gil they are still going to see the Rangers the next day.
At the hospital, Benson apologizes for pulling Amaro away from his son, and Amaro whines that Gil does not know he is his son. Benson explains a doctor found bruising on Ruby’s torso and swelling on her hip and that she has a cracked rib that occurred within the last 12 hours, plus some other marks. Viola is waiting there and Tom is en route from Hartford. Amaro decides to talk to Viola and has Benson talk to Ruby.
In a separate room, Ruby tells Benson that she fell, but when Benson continues to press, Ruby said she was with a monster who pushed her and then the monster told her to shut up.
Meanwhile, Viola wonders why, if the school said Ruby was OK, that the police got called. Amaro explains that the unexplained injury requires reporting. Viola explains that Irina took Ruby to school and her husband left for work and she took Henry to school. Ruby was fine when she saw her last, it was Henry having the meltdown about Irina taking him to school and Ruby agreed to the switch. Benson enters the room and asks if Viola can tell them what happened but Viola says Ruby was fine when she left. Irina is new and Henry wanted to go with his mommy. She adds there have been some miscommunication with Irina about her hours and whispers that Irina is illegal. After drop off, Irina works for another family in the building. Benson asks if Viola has noticed any behavioral changes in Ruby lately, and Viola says no, Ruby is her easy one. When Benson asks about nightmares or bed wetting, Viola admits Irina said Ruby has had some accidents. When Viola asks if she can take Ruby for her piano lesson and that Henry has swim class, Benson says no, Viola will need to cancel the piano lesson and they will have someone bring Henry here to the hospital.
At the residence of Leah Thomas, Fin and Rollins speak with Irina who says Ruby was OK but Ruby did fall down some stairs. Ruby had spilled milk and she told Ruby to get new tights and she went into the laundry room. When she heard Ruby cry, she found Ruby halfway down the stairs but did not see her fall. She did not tell Viola as Ruby said she was not hurt and she was not supposed to leave the kids alone. She said Henry did not hear Ruby cry, he was sitting eating waffles, smiling. Leah returns home and asks what is going on, and Rollins explains it is just a routine matter.
Back at SVU, Benson explains to Captain Cragen about Ruby’s injuries and that a “monster” pushed her down the stairs. Amaro says the exam showed some healed bruising and an old spiral fracture, Benson adding there were 4 ER visits in the last year. Ruby had a concussion from a fall, a finger pinched in a door, and two burns. Viola is an AmEx VP and Tom is a systems engineer with Amtrak; they have been married 14 years and Henry is 10 and there have been no domestic violence reports. Fin and Rollins enter and Fin explains that Irina claimed she was doing laundry when Ruby fell down the stairs. Rollins explains Irina is there illegally from Soviet Georgia and she has worked for the Mesners for 5 months, Benson adding it is for all of one of Ruby’s ER visits. Rollins said Irina works for another mother who has reported no problems. Fin says Irina did not see it happen but also did not tell the mother. Rollins explains the father had gone to work, the mother was in the shower, and Henry was at the table. Cragen instructs them to talk to Henry and examine him, concerned that no one is looking out for the girl. He adds they should talk to the neighbors, teachers, doormen, and keep the 2 kids at the CAC until they sort this out.
Later, at the Child Advocacy Center, Benson and Amaro speak with Henry, who says he was eating waffles before he heard Ruby yell upstairs. When they ask about Irina, he gets coy and says he should not talk about it. But when Amaro assures Henry he is not in any trouble, he says he saw Irina at the top of the stairs and she was trying to get Ruby’s tights on and Ruby was cranky. Benson continues to assure him and Henry says Irina made her mad face and pushed Ruby down the stairs. When Amaro asks Henry if he is sure it was not an accident, Henry states that Irina told Ruby to shut up, and then she pushed her. He adds that saying to shut up is not nice. He said he ran back to the table and Irina came back to get the ice bunny, and Henry didn’t say anything. He begs them not to tell his mom, adding his dad always gets mad when they have to switch nannies.
Meanwhile, Cragen and ADA Pippa Cox watch the questioning from another room and Cragen wonders that with Henry’s age if he swearable. Cox says there is a lot of detail and she will see what the judge rules. As Irina is illegal, Cox tells Cragen to pick her up, they don’t need another bad nanny headline. Once they get the full statement from the Mesners they can take their children home.
