Law & Order SVU “Criminal Hatred” began with the SVU team chasing down a gay man who was hooking up with men and then raping, beating, and robbing them. Once they had their man but had weak evidence, ADA Barba tried to go the hate crime route in order to get a stiffer penalty. Barba finds himself up against an attorney who at first meeting he seems to condescend, maybe thinking her abilities are no match for his. She later turns out to be a formidable opponent. Nia Vardalos was enjoyable to watch as her character continued to find ways to foil the usually confident Barba. In fact, I thought the two had great chemistry as legal opponents.
The episode was light on action and fairly predictable, but as I have always been a big fan of the legal aspects of all the Law & Order shows, I enjoyed the courtroom scenes. Raúl Esparza is a bit of a scene stealer – I mean this in a good way. It’s hard not to focus on him. It’s not just because Barba is a sharp dressed ADA or that he has a cocky air about him. Esparza physically takes charge of the scene by simply using interesting facial expressions and/or body movements to punctuate his lines. Sometimes it's even the use of a prop such as a glass of scotch or tapping on a chair. When the story tends to be a little dull, as this one was, it’s good to have a character that brings a spark to the screen.
I am a little fuzzy on the argument about the crime not being a hate crime as it involved a subset of a protected class. I suppose I have to do a little more reading on the issue.
Again, no Cragen and no Munch. At least we got a passing explanation for Cragen’s absence. While the writers are doing a great job developing the witty banter between Fin and Rollins, I really miss Munch’s commentary.
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:
Raúl Esparza - ADA Rafael Barba
Nia Vardalos – Counselor Minnona Efron
Paul Fitzgerald – Charles Murphy
Victoria Rowell - Judge Delilah Hawkins
Max Carpenter – Jeremy Jones
Jenny Bacon – Laurel Dunleavy
Annika Boras – Melissa Murphy
Wass Stevens – Strip Club Owner
Fred Norris – Leon
Andres Quintero – Mason Clark
Jeff Talbot – Curtis Armstrong
James Lloyd Reynolds – Ethan Jackson
Greg Connolly – Todd Wyman
Miguel Pinzon – Jace
Tationna Bosier – Ingrid
Anna-Marie Cusson - Jury Forewoman
Connor Priest – Hunter Murphy
Fin and Amaro are working undercover, cruising a gay bar while Benson and Rollins watch from their nearby car. Benson says the suspect is a fit looking male, white, between 25-40 with blonde hair, hitting on other men. Benson says it will take cop instincts and Fin and Amaro will just have to sort through them.
Elsewhere, Melissa leaves the house with the kids and complains to her husband, Charles Murphy, that someone asked to meet him on a Friday night. Charles says it is an acquisition and they can’t be seen talking to the other side’s lawyer. Later, Charles walks into a gay bar and scopes things out. He locks eyes with a man with slicked back hair sitting at the bar. They later are in a hotel room and when Charles asks how he would like his drink, the man says “straight, like you.” Charles replies if he were straight they wouldn’t be there, and he is glad they are. He also says that the man has nice eyes, and the man says he has some other nice parts too, asking if he wants to see them. Charles swigs down his drink and puts down his phone.
Sometime later, Melissa is calling him on his cell but Charles is laying in the bed, beaten and groaning, and gagged.
Later, Benson and Rollins are in the hotel room as Charles Murphy is being taken by EMS. Rollins says the hotel only has cameras in front and Charles checked in alone and thinks his company used a side door, and she thinks he may have walked right by them last night. Benson calls it bad luck; whoever picked him up did his usual number. Rollins says he tied him up, rear entry, and stole his wallet. As Charles was beaten up, Benson thinks their perp is escalating. Benson looks at his phone and sees 5 missed calls from his wife, guessing he was supposed to be with them.
Back at SVU, Benson says Cragen is at One PP and they want to know how this could have happened when they were on the scene. Fin thinks it was because there was only 4 of them and 400 gay bars. Rollins adds that none of the previous vics want to talk about it. Benson says they are closeted gay men and the perp knows how to pick them. Rollins thinks there are more that never reported it/ Amaro gets off the phone and says that Charles Murphy just woke up.
Amaro and Benson walk into the hospital room and Melissa Murphy asks them if they found the man who attacked his husband. Benson says they are working on it. Melissa wonders why the attacker hurt Charles, he would have just given him his wallet, and she asks if he did this to other people. Benson asks if she can give her a list of the credit cards Charles had in his wallet. He tells her he has it at home and despite his wife not wanting to leave him, Benson says it would be a help. Melissa leaves the room. When Amaro questions the “mugger” excuse, Charles asks him what was he supposed to say, he’s been married for 16 years with 3 kids. Amaro asks if he can at least tell them what happened, and Charles states he will not be able to testify. Amaro says to worry about that later and to just help to get this guy. Charles says he doesn’t remember much and had a lot to drink. Benson says the man has done this to 4 others that they know of, hurting them worse as he goes along. Amaro says the man targets people like him, in places where they were not supposed to be. Charles says he gets these urges and tries to fight them and when Benson says they are not judging him, he says his firm is not gay friendly. If he loses his wife and his family he loses everything. He says to leave him alone, he is sorry he can’t help them. Benson and Amaro leave.
At a smoke shop, Fin and Rollins tell the owner that Charles Murphy bought a $200 water pipe and charged it to his Amex last night at 2AM. Rollins asks for surveillance video and of course he doesn’t have any. He describes the buyer as 5’10”, blond hair, and "gay face." Fin tells the guy he is coming to the station to help make a sketch. When he balks and as another man walks in, Rollins makes her badge obvious and the guy leaves. Rollins says they will stay there and keep him company till closing time. He grudgingly agrees to come with them.
