I must admit I wasn’t expecting much with Law & Order SVU “Missing”. It didn’t have any significant guest stars, and previews and photos didn’t grab me. But I was surprised that, at least for most of the episode, that I was pulled in to the story. It starts with a child being found in the trunk of a car, the victim of a kidnapping. When the kidnapper is identified quickly, I knew a twist was coming, which was easy to spot in this episode. (It took the detectives a little longer to figure out that the kidnapper was not who he seemed.) The pacing of the episode slowed down considerably during the last scenes with the kidnapper’s mom and then with the kidnapper/kidnap victim.
Benson was in a “take no prisoners” mode when she single-handedly ends a hostage situation, using Oreos and aspirin as distractions to the hapless perp. Going in to this hostage situation alone wasn’t the smartest thing as she didn’t have any clue as to what she was walking into. I suspect that Benson is still trying to make amends for Mike Dodds’ death in a hostage situation by now taking matters into her own hands. She is fortunate that the perp was so easily fooled.
I’ve been enjoying the writing and pacing more with each episode. In “Missing”, the lead characters interact with each other in a comfortable, realistic manner. Fin’s witty quips and comebacks get better each week. We learn that Fin doesn’t like puppets, but Carisi finds puppets funny. (For me, it depends on the puppet and/or the "puppet master.")
Of course this show is fiction but seriously, what are the chances of the police arriving on the scene of a fight within seconds after it started? I know New York City is a big place and has a huge police force, but the light-speed arrival arrival of the police made me laugh. It was also very fortunate that the stalker surrogate managed to grab a photo of the kidnapper. Too bad she didn't see the actual kidnapping!
Here is the recap:
A man is in traffic and is irate, waiting for a parking space. Someone else driving a Saturn pulls in the spot he’s been waiting for and the first man gets out of the car and starts a fight. Police arrive immediately and the man who took the parking spot runs off. A woman captures this on video. The man who was waiting for the spot explains the situation to the officers and the woman shows the video to the police. The guy tries to explain his actions and one of the officers look in the car of the man who ran off. She hears a noise from the trunk and opens it to find a little girl who calls out for her daddy. The officers call for a bus and SVU.
Benson and Rollins arrive at the hospital and Rollins explains the girl’s name is Bailey Shaw, she is 6. Her parents are Griffin Shaw and Jamie Johnston. Jamie took Bailey ice skating in Central Park and he went to the bathroom and when he came back she was gone. They speak with the doctor who says Bailey is on fluids and she is cold and hungry, she was in the trunk for a while. Her pants were on inside-out. The rape kit showed no sign of penetration for foreign fluids. She is scared.
Benson and Rollins walk into the room to speak with Bailey, her father Griffin is with her. Benson makes the introductions. Bailey explains that her father told her to wait for him, but she walked away with the man. She did not know him. He gave her a candy apple and said he was a friend of her father. He was nice to her and let her wear his scarf to get warm. She said it was yellow like Big Bird. He said they could wait for her father in his car which was better than standing in the cold. Then they drove off and the man said her father would meet them. She thinks they went to his house; they took their clothes off and took a nap. Her father is stunned. The man did not tell her his name, only saying she could call him Big Bird but she thought that was silly. They just snuggled under the blankets. Another man walks in the room and introduces himself as Griffin’s husband Jamie. He kisses her and she says she is sorry, but he assures her she did nothing wrong.
At SVU, Benson speaks with Fin, who says CSU pulled prints of the Saturn, no hits. The cell phone video is with TARU and hopes to get a hit with facial recognition. He called in an arrest-for in all 5 boroughs, saying the guy can run but he can’t hide. Carisi enters and said the registered owner of the Saturn died 2 weeks ago and his son sold it in an estate sale last week. The new owner is a mystery man who paid cash and never registered the title. Benson thinks someone must have seen something, and Carisi explains they already canvassed. Frustrated, she tells them to canvas again.
While Fin and Carisi go back to the park, Rollins speaks with Griffin and Jamie. They explain they used a surrogate and Griffin’s sperm, and Jamie adopted her. They said Paige, the surrogate, would not change her mind…but then wonder…
At the apartment of Paige Black at 469 East 9th Street on Wednesday, February 26, Benson and Rollins question her. Paige states that once Bailey was born she relinquished all her rights to the birth father, Griffin Shaw. When Benson asks if she was never curious, Paige replies she was, adding she carried her for 9 months but a deal’s was deal. The agency prepared her with counselors and shrinks. She asks if something happened to Bailey. Rollins explains Bailey is fine – now – asking if her boyfriend home. Paige questions what does he have to do with anything, then worries that she doesn’t like the way this is going. She gets a message on her phone and she grabs it and walks away from them. Benson asks if Paige minds if she takes a look at that, and Paige replies she does. Benson doesn’t back down, saying, “Okay Paige, so let me tell you where we stand. I can take you down to the squad room where you’re going to sit and you’re going to wait until Detective Rollins gets you a search warrant.” Rollins adds “And we’ll be in the exact same position we are now except I will be extremely pissed off you ‘cause you would have wasted two hours of my life.” Benson asks Paige to unlock her phone and open the photo app. Paige complies and hands Benson her phone. Benson scrolls through many photos of Bailey, and Benson then tells Paige she is under arrest. Paige is shocked, asking why. Rollins explains it is for stalking for starters, and thinks they will tack on kidnapping. As Rollins cuffs her, Paige questions that it is a crime to take pictures of my daughter. While this is happening, Benson has received a call from Fin, and she asks him where. Rollins explains to Paige that this is the part where she has the right to remain silent. Benson tells Fin she is on her way. After she hangs up, she explains they got a hit on the driver of the Saturn, telling Rollins she will get this and instructs Rollins to take Paige down to the squad room.
Benson arrives at the Village Gourmet Grocery where Fin and Carisi are already waiting. Fin explains an off-duty cop on the way home spotted the guy at a bodega. He was not armed so he stepped outside and called it in. When the officer went back in to confront him, he pulled a switchblade on him and he is now holding the bodega owner hostage. Carisi says ESU on the way. Benson asks if there is a back door, and Carisi states odds are, there is. Benson looks around.
Soon, Benson is inside the store and picks up something from a shelf. The man asks Benson who is she, and she asks if he is writing a book. He tells her to get out of there, and she says not without her Oreos. He tells her to go someplace else. She walks up to the counter where the owner is being held hostage. She says, “Sweetheart, I’ve had a very bad day, okay?” She looks for money but the man says it is on the house. She asks the owner is that is okay with him, and he says he is good. The hostage taker tells her to get out of there, but she asks for some aspirin. When he reaches for it and turns back, Benson has a gun on him. She tells him to drop the knife. He throws the aspirin at her and runs and Benson chases him. He tries to hit her and she blocks him and punches him, then quickly gets the knife out of his hand and gets him into a kneeling position. She pulls her gun back on him and says, “Looks like we’re both having a bad day, huh?.”
Back at SVU in interrogation, the man moans why did he take a car with a baby in the trunk. Fin doesn’t believe him. He explains where he stole the car from, saying he is a moron and too stupid to kidnap someone. Fin chides him for not being a good thief as he stole a 2003 Saturn. He said he was with his girt Leanne and she was late for a job interview and he dropped her to stop for a pack of smokes and that’s when that maniac slugged him. Fin says that might have been the best thing that happened to him.
