Law & Order SVU fans deserve some loving too, and we got it in the form of a dynamic, layered, visually interesting story that offered something for everybody. When I see that an episode is directed by Jean de Segonzac, I know we'll get some action and I was not disappointed. The episode opened with the SVU trying to nab subway gropers, and it involved both members of the SVU team and the previously unheard of SVU “subway unit” - also referred to in this episode as the transit unit and the “cave cops”. Officers, including Kat, act as bait to catch gropers in the subway cars. They nab one man on their first try, but not until after a chase. It results in a near riot involving on-lookers who make incorrect assumptions about what is transpiring. (Sadly, this behavior happens a lot these days everywhere, and many times the video of an event doesn’t always tell the whole story.)
When the episode opened, I was slightly worried that we were going to have a story loaded with misandry. We’re barely into the episode when Benson, walking down the street, gets checked out by a runner (he smiles at her and says “hey hey” but keeps running) and soon after, a man, barely out of a taxi, asks Benson for a smile, calling her sweetheart. Then Rollins encounters a man-spreader in the subway and has to indicate to him she wants room to sit down. We get it, SVU thinks all men are sexist and/or inconsiderate pigs and that Benson can’t walk more than a few feet before being accosted by men because of her beauty and also because men are pigs (see above). When I start rolling my eyes this early in the episode, I get a pit in my stomach thinking I will be recapping a dog of an episode. But the feeling didn’t last long and the story bounced back nicely. The groper situation turned into a far more interesting case involving the appropriately named Rory O’Toole - a US Citizenship and Immigration Service manager - who exchanges sex for green cards. He truly is a pig and a tool (no offense to actual pigs or tools). But seriously folks - did we really need to see scenes with the *horrors* of what Benson experiences walking down the street and the trials and tribulations of mis-directed mail (sarcasm intended)? It's a waste of good story-telling time.
The SVU works with Sergeant Hasim Khaldun from the SVU subway unit to help bring Rory to justice. He goes undercover with Rollins as they pretend to be a married couple in search of a green card. Along the way, they seem to strike up a friendship that – who knows – may develop into something more, something that could either bother Carisi or liberate him. (I'm hoping for liberate.)
But the real drama in the episode belonged to Peter Scanavino. Carisi is reaching his stride in his ADA position. His case looks lost when one witness backs out, but when Rollins and Hasim manage to convince another witness to come forward, Carisi is empowered and uses this as a weapon against the always arrogant lawyer John Buchanan. Delaney Williams is another name that I enjoy seeing in the opening credits as Buchanan is one of those people I love to hate, and it usually means the legal side of the story will be very interesting. It was very satisfying when Carisi put Buchanan in his place.
There are two open issues:
1. What happened to the woman who called out that she was groped on the subway as the chase ensued? Did anyone hear or care? She got lost in the shuffle.
2. Did Benson eventually get her mis-directed mail that Marcos the doorman held for her? (wink)
Here is the recap:
Benson, stepping out of the elevator into the lobby at her apartment building, is on the phone with Fin. She hears something is going on at Bowery and Delancy. Marcos the doorman says good morning to her as she hangs up her phone, and she admits she didn’t see him there. He hands her her mail, saying it must have been in the wrong box. She asks if he can hang on to that for her and he agrees. She exits the building and as she walks down the street, someone running by checks her out and says “hey hey” and he keeps going, Benson shaking her head with a look of disgust. As she continues to walk, a man steps out of a taxi and sees Benson and asks her if he can get a smile, calling her sweetheart. She scoffs in disgust and keeps walking.
Elsewhere, a young woman walks down the street and a young man decides to follow her. She races into the subway and he follows her in, standing very close behind her. The next stop is Bowery and Delancy. Kat also enters the same subway car along with another man who raises his eyebrows at her. The young girl reacts, saying “What the…?” as if the man standing behind her has groped her. He moves off. Rollins enters another one of the subway cars and asks a man-spreading man if he minds, and he moves over to make space for her to sit. As the subway continues to move, the guy who was following the young girl pushes into another woman as the subway lurches forward and she also reacts like he groped her. He moves on an reaches Kat and as he tries to move closer, she walks around so he can’t get close. The man who raised his eyebrows at Kat signals to her, and as the young man moves in, Kat punches him in the groin and he reacts by saying “Bitch!” As she restrains him, Kat says, “Got you, grope-a-dope!” The man who signaled to Kat announces he is NYPD and tells people to move so he can assist Kat. The groper exits the subway car and Kat and the other detective follow. A woman steps out of another one of the subway cars and calls out to them that the man groped her too. Rollins races out of the other subway car and radios that the subject is male, black, 30s, gray hoodie. The other young woman who the man initially followed into the subway also radios that the subject is heading north on the Delancy – Bowery platform. All the NYPD officers and detectives continue to chase the man through the subway station. Fin almost catches him on the subway stairs as the man tries to break up his cell phone, which he throws by the train rails. Fin looks down at the rails. Police continue to pursue the man, who has turned his jacket inside out to show a different pattern, and adds a cap, in order to disguise himself. But Kat sees him anyway and apprehends him, getting help from the other officers. He claims they have the wrong guy and says he didn’t do anything he was on his way to work. Witnesses record the arrest on their phone and with calls of “police brutality” and a woman questioning why they are harassing a black man who is on his way to work. Other people shout out their own opinions. Rollins tells everyone to stand back. Finally Fin shouts out for the crowd to chill out, the man was a groper and to imagine if it was their mother or sister. A bystander pushes Fin and Fin restrains him, with the crowd chanting “police abuse” and the scene descending into a near riot.
Later, at SVU in Benson’s office, they watch a news story about the “subway melee”. Benson tells Chief Garland that it went as viral as the flu. He asks what brilliantly conceived mission triggered this. Sergeant Hasim Khaldun answers it was his unit, and Benson explains they were helping him and his SVU subway unit target serial grinders. Carisi asks if it was worth it, and Hasim replies they caught three perps, the transit unit made 8 arrests on rioting. Garland comments that’s a lot of work for three miss D’s (misdemeanors). He asks if there was anybody with a record or on parole, and Benson replies a decorated firefighter – second offense – and he violated his ACD. Hasim explains he was caught fondling a high school girl. Carisi asks if it was just one, and Hasim tells him not to worry, they have him on three separate offenses. Garland questions if that is an issue, and Carisi explains you want more than one, otherwise the guys claim it was accidental. Benson, at the observation window, turns on the speaker as the firefighter guy says his hand must have had a mind of its own. Kat asks “three times” and asks if it was all with girls under 18. He says he needs his lawyer and his union rep. Benson turns off the speaker and Garland asks about contestant #2. Benson states that is Enrique Alvarez, and she walks over toward the other observation window and turns on that speaker. Fin is questioning him, asking that he blames the weather. Enrique says it was the first warm day in two weeks, no overcoats, and he couldn’t help himself. Hasim comments his nickname is Too Bits, his MO is to drop a quarter, bend for it, rub his face against a woman’s privates. Carisi comments that is colorful, asking if they have any priors. Hasim replies 139, and Carisi states if he gets the right judge, he goes away. Benson motions for them to follow her, and she leads them over to the third interrogation room where Rollins is questioning a third man. Garland asks if this is the gentleman who started the riot, and Benson identifies him as Duane Varik, he is the data clerk for US Citizenship and Immigration Service, it’s his first offense. Carisi asks that he has no priors, saying it’s another misdemeanor. Hasim states maybe not, before they caught him, he threw his cell phone onto the tracks. Garland asks with sarcasm if they are adding littering, and Hasim states it a good guess he has up-skirt photos or worse on his phone. Carisi comments that up-skirts in winter are slim pickings. Benson counters these guys are obsessed, there’s a short circuit in the hard wiring. Garland questions if they were able to get anything off the phone, and Hasim replies he smashed it, tossed it on the tracks, it landed in a puddle. TARU is going over it but so far it is too damaged to recover any data. Benson thinks Dwayne is enjoying his alone time with Rollins a little too much, and Hasim moves to enter the interrogation room, saying he is on it.
