It’s rare that I watch an SVU episode and find myself becoming increasingly disinterested - to the point of total boredom - as the story progresses. “Parents’ Nightmare” was one of those rare times. The story was predictable and the characters unsympathetic; more like a bad dream than a nightmare. It felt like a weak Criminal Intent episode. I was even unmoved when Owen ran out into the street between two parked cars and almost right into a taxi. One would think that living in an area as they did he would have learned to look first before leaping into the street. But, I suppose with having two dysfunctional parents, teaching a child the simple things tends to fall through the cracks.
I groaned at the opening scene where Benson finally gets Noah into a day care. The Noah story line will be prominent in the season finale and I can only hope they bring some closure to it as I find it tiresome.
The only segments of the episode that I enjoyed were Lt. (“Mother”) Tucker (acting likeable, god forbid!) giving a heads up to Benson about One PP wanting a Lieutenant at SVU; and the ending scene where she seems to anoint Fin as her #2. Fin says he wants no part of it but I suspect that look on Amaro’s face at the end may mean Amaro WOULD want it. With many rumors swirling about whether Danny Pino will be returning to the show, and with the tease for the season finale, “Surrendering Noah,” we can only speculate what will happen with Amaro/Danny. Fans will just have to tune in.
Benson continues to show her naiveté with suspects when she states, “A mother would never do that to her own son.” Working at SVU as long as she has, she should know by now that not all women are saints and not all mothers are perfect. Her comment also implies that the men/fathers are always the bad guys. We know Benson would never do something like this to a child but that doesn’t mean another mother wouldn’t use her child for her own gain. It turns out the father WAS the "bad guy" here but it could have easily gone the other way. Benson needs to keep an open mind and not use her own personal opinions and experiences about motherhood to cloud her judgement.
We get the courtesy of hearing that Barba is in St. Barts but nothing about Rollins’ absence. Were viewers supposed to think that the back of the blond woman’s head looking at traffic cams was supposed to be Rollins hard at work?
I hoped for a more exciting episode leading into the season finale; hopefully the promo tease will help bring in the viewers.
Here is the recap:
Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Sergeant Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino - Detective Nick Amaro
Raúl Esparza - ADA Rafael Barba
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, Jr.
Guest stars:
Robert John Burke - Lt. Ed Tucker
Brooke Bloom – Dana Farhidi
Navid Negahban – Sam Farhidi
Frankie Alvarez - Javier Rojas
Carmen Cabrera - Fabiana Caldera
Steve Rosen – Javier’s Attorney
Keened Ruparel - Owen Farhidi
Nancy Nagrant - Linda
Toni D'Antonio - Principal Jo Ann Stanwick
Lauren Elder - Mrs. Dugan
Amy Tribbey – Dr. Naomi Grodman
Jessie Barr - Yanina
Edmerald Gan = Diego
David Mason - Roy
Reggie Green – Clyde
Benson takes Noah to a day care for the first time and when she senses Noah may be upset, a day care worker suggests a quick and loving goodbye. Benson does so and Noah cries as she leaves.
Meanwhile, Owen Farhidi and his mother Dana Farhidi get him ready to go to school. She is dressed too casually to walk him to school and gets a neighbor, Roy, walking with his son, to take Owen with them. She promises to pick him up from school. Owen nearly gets hit by a taxi as he rushes across the street without looking. As they walk to school, Owen says hello to a familiar homeless man. Another man appears and begins to follow them.
At SVU, Lt. Tucker is already waiting in Benson’s office as she arrives for work. She asks to what does she owe the pleasure, and he asks can’t he just pop in? She replies no and asks what is going on. He says he was sniffing around One PP and heard they want a Lieutenant in SVU and they are not happy with a Sergeant running the squad. She comments the last that she checked she was doing a pretty good job and cites her recent successes. He counters that they have noticed and they are open to the prospect of her staying on, which is why he told them she filed for the Lieutenant’s exam. Shocked, she comments that she hasn’t, and he tells her to do it, and not to make a liar out of him. She says she is quite happy with the way things are, but he emphasizes they want a Lieutenant, and if it is not her, it has to be somebody else. She shakes her head and says she does not know what to say, and he states dryly, “That’s a first.” She gives him a glare and he tells her to think about it, and to also think about who her second in command would be; it’s better she pick than a blind draw.
Later, the man who was following Owen arrives at the school playground looking for Owen Farhidi, and tells Mrs. Dugan, the dismissal supervisor, that Mr. Farhidi called. She asks if his name is Carlos and he says yes so she points out Carlos. He walks over to Owen and says he is Fabiana’s friend and his mother told him to pick him up. When Own looks at him strangely, the man tells him he fixed his mother’s sink once. Owen seems more comfortable and takes the man’s hand.
As they walk, Owen pulls at the man’s hand when he senses the man is walking somewhere else, he tells him home is another way. The man says they are going to stop first, it is a surprise. Owen agrees and they continue to walk off.
Later, Owen’s mother Dana races into the school and apologizes for being late, asking where is Owen. Mrs. Dugan looks shocked.
Meanwhile, Owen is now asking the man where are they going? The man barks to do as he says, and as he pulls Owen by the hand, Owen complains he is hurting him. The man tells him to be quiet and get into a van. Owen resists but the man orders him in and forces him into the fan.
Mrs. Dugan and Dana race into the school yard and out to the street. Mrs. Dugan comments that Owen seemed to know the man. Dana asks the school guards if they have seen Owen, and then she continues to race off, shouting his name.
Later, Benson and Fin arrive on the scene where Amaro and Carisi are already working. Amaro explains that Owen was last seen with a Hispanic man and no one got a good look at him. Carisi adds the man wrote his name as Carlos Riva on the sign out sheet and said he was a friend of the family. They are met by Principal Stanwick and Mrs. Dugan, their dismissal supervisor, who signed Owen out. Dana is in her office. Mrs. Dugan thought Mr. Farhidi authorized Carlos to take Owen . Stanwick says they contacted Mr. Farhidi after Dana arrived late to pick up Owen and he insisted he did not make the call. She adds they are recently divorced.
Inside, a scatterbrained Dana tells Benson and Carisi usually her friend’s nanny Fabiana picks up Owen. When Carisi asks her to make sure and check her phone, she can’t find it. She thinks she last used it before yoga. She has been separated a few months now and says there are huge custody issues. Sam is Iranian and he wanted to take Owen there over spring break and she wouldn’t let him. She worries that Sam is behind this. Carisi asks if her son has a passport and Dana says the judge ordered Sam to give it to her but then can’t recall if she ever got it. She is not sure of anything now, she just wants Owen back.
Afterwards, Carisi tells Benson that Dana is a space cadet. He tells Benson they will call Port Authority and ICE and put an alert out on the kid and his passport. Benson instructs him to radio the squad car and keep Mr. Farhidi at his restaurant – at the moment, he is a suspect. Fin arrives along with Amaro and Fin explains they have the security footage and they also pulled all the traffic cams in the area. Amaro adds the unis have canvassed and so far there are no witnesses. Benson tells them to check other surveillance and see if they can get the kidnapper walking away. She tells Fin to get a sketch artist for Mrs. Dugan and Amaro should go to the restaurant and speak with Mr. Farhidi; there are passport issues and custody issues – the works. Fin asks about Mrs. Farhidi, and Benson instructs him to take her to the precinct. She tells Carisi to go the yoga class and find that phone. He says he is on it and he races off.
Carisi arrives at the yoga class and explains he is there to pick up a cell phone. But the attendant tries to block him from going in an interrupting. He says he will be quiet but she isn’t having it and tells him unless he has a warrant he can’t disturb the class. He calls the phone number and it rings loudly inside the room and then goes in and grabs it and leaves.
Meanwhile, at Farhidi’s on Tuesday, May 5, Amaro speaks with Sam Farhidi about the situation and he says he did not call the school. Amaro checks Sam’s phone, and Sam thinks they are looking at him as a terrorist as Dana used that card during the custody battle. Sam shows his anger about Dana getting the judge to block Owen coming to Iran with him, but insists he did not take Owen, Dana was supposed to pick him up. Amaro seems unmoved. When Amaro says she was running late, Sam angrily says “Again?” adding he knew something like this would happen. Sam swears he did not send a male Hispanic to pick up Owen.
Back at SVU, Benson is looking at images from the security video and Fin says it is pretty grainy and not much help. Dana rushes in and she asks where is Sam and if they talked to him and asks if he has Owen. Benson replies they don’t think so but there is a detective with him now. They have her look at the images and Fin asks if she recognizes the man. She does not but admits she can’t see his face. Benson states they need her to come with her, and she brings her into the interview room and shuts the door. She asks Fin if there is anything else, and he explains the rest of the security footage is no help. Benson observes that the kidnapper knew to keep his head down and hide his face. She asks if there is anything on the traffic cams, and he replies they are going through them now. Carisi enters and says he has the mom’s cell phone; there were 8 missed calls - ignore the one from him - and there were two messages from a blocked number which she can’t access without a password. Benson tells Carisi that Dana is in the interview room and adds to get the images to Amaro and see if the father can make an ID.
In Benson’s offices, Dana gives Benson and Carisi her voice mail code – OWEN – and they listen to voice mails from Owen begging her to answer her phone.
Meanwhile, Amaro shows Sam the photo of the man and he does not know him. He says Owen is too trusting.
