Whenever Brian Cassidy appears, mayhem ensues. In “Chasing Demons,” Brian can’t control himself on the witness stand, causing the mistrial of a doctor who had been sexually abusing young boys. But that’s only the start. It’s always great to see Dean Winters reprise this role as it usually means the episode will be filled with trouble, which seems to follow Cassidy wherever he goes. He’s the SVU version of the Charlie Brown cartoon character “Pigpen” where a cloud of dirt and dust follows him everywhere. In this case, most of that trouble is of Cassidy’s own making.
The episode takes a different, and welcome, approach by opening up with a trial already in progress. It looks like Stone has things under control, but Cassidy blows up on the stand and then gets suspended, just minutes into the story. Of course, Cassidy, who has horrible impulse control, makes the dumb mistake of visiting the pervert doctor who is later found dead. As the story progresses, Cassidy sucks Benson into his mess, and explains he found the body and was then knocked out, getting blood on him. Benson decides to allow Cassidy to stay at her place while they investigate. Did Benson make the right choice here? I suppose that she knows Cassidy well enough that she felt comfortable in risking her career for him. Then again, why let someone who is drunk AND bloody into your home where your young, recently kidnapped son is sleeping? And what kind of security does Benson’s building have that someone can just walk in and get access to her apartment door? I suppose Cassidy still could have had a key to the door or pass code from when they lived together.
I enjoyed the barroom scene with a drunk Cassidy whose voice is dripping with sarcasm when he told Benson she has to “do her thing” because she “is the best”. It’s as if Brian Cassidy is channeling all the fans of the show who get annoyed that Benson must always be perfect.
We discover that Cassidy has been “chasing demons” his whole life as he was the victim of sexual abuse by his little league coach. His father beat up the coach when he found out. (We don’t hear for sure but I suspect the coach was never brought up on charges.) Cassidy explains this is the reason why he left SVU years ago - he couldn’t handle it. Long time viewers knew Cassidy couldn’t hack the type of SVU cases, and now we know why.
Cassidy also tells Benson she is the love of his life but that she was never going to bare her soul to him. Benson seems to be happy only when she is with Noah; maybe at this point in her life she feels that a relationship with a child is “safer” for her than a deep, meaningful relationship with an adult? She never struck me as a person who could open up completely to anyone but at least she admits she wasn't going to do so with Cassidy.
I found Rollins' outrage over the situation amusing. She comments to Benson that Cassidy is “notorious for making really bad decisions” which describes Rollins perfectly as well. Thankfully, Cassidy calls her on this issue when Rollins says that Cassidy is covering his ass and to hell with everybody else. Rollins still doesn’t get it, saying her situation was different. Rollins and Cassidy, in my opinion, are cut from the same mold.
While Cassidy was hiding at Benson's, Rollins was tasked by Benson to take Noah to breakfast and then to school. I wonder who was watching Rollins’ child while she did this? It seems like Benson’s child care needs take precedence over everyone else’s, which I know annoys the Rollins fans.
We also get two tidbits about the new ADA Peter Stone. He explains he played for the Cubs for a very short while until an injury permanently sidelined him and this deeply affected him. He also says that he took this ADA position as something came up after his father died that he “didn’t see coming.” I’m sure we’ll hear more about this in a later episode.
Detective Holiday was mildly annoying, maybe because she was so quick to assume that Cassidy was a racist, plus she seemed to have a major chip on her shoulder.
It may be my imagination, but I think we had more yelling between characters in this episode than in any SVU episode in a long, long time. The only people that seemed to keep their cool were Fin and Carisi (who apparently needs to find a new dry cleaner).
Note: this is the first appearance of Philip Winchester in the title credits.
Update March 4, 2018 - an extended scene with Dean Winters and Philip Winchester has been added after the recap highlighting an extended "confession" from Brian Cassidy.
Here is the recap:
The episode opens on February 13 with a trial of Dr. West in progress, who has been sexually abusing boys. Peter Stone is prosecuting; he got the case two weeks ago from Barba. Benson provides compelling testimony, but when Brian Cassidy gets on the stand, the defense brings up sexual relationships that Cassidy had with prostitutes while he was undercover. One was murdered and one accused him of rape, of which he was cleared. The attorney brings up a beating that West received when he was arrested and Cassidy explains West resisted. The attorney said Cassidy smashed West’s face on a desk and called him a monkey, and Cassidy says this is a lie. The attorney continues to press his buttons and Cassidy becomes so enraged that he leaps up and begins to yell about what West did to those boys and all the other ones, saying West is lucky he didn’t put him in a goddamn body bag. The defense moves for a mistrial and gets one and the defense gets lowered bail for his client. Cassidy says he is sorry.
The families of the young boys are furious that Cassidy has created his setback, not to mention new ADA Peter Stone, who can’t contain his anger with Cassidy and suspends him.
Carisi and Rollins, and separately, Benson and Stone, speak with the parents of the abused boys about this setback to try to calm their upset and give them hope for a new trial. Understandably, they aren’t taking the mistrial well.
Later, Benson gets a message summoning her to McCaffree’s Pub to calm down a very drunk Cassidy who is in a fighting mood. She tells Cassidy that he doesn’t think, the doctor might walk because of Cassidy’s “epic tantrum” and she doesn’t think the families can handle another trial. He tells her she has to talk to them and “do her thing” because she “is the best”, saying this in a sarcastic tone. She tells him to go home but he says he IS home.
Later that night, Benson is startled awake by a banging on her apartment door. It’s Cassidy, still looking drunk but is now bloodied. He says he needs her help.
