Law & Order SVU “Solving For The Unknowns” was a simple, no-frills story about a pair of creepy losers who use a special cocktail of drugs to make women compliant zombies so they can take full advantage of them. It had a nice balance of investigative work and legal work – something for everybody. The message was clear: dating apps can be risky and a person doesn’t always get what’s advertised. In this case, these women got more than they bargained for, and not in a good way. This was a decent, well-paced story. It was also a short episode, running a few seconds over 39 minutes from the open to “fade to black” at the end.
Right at the open, we find that Rollins has been promoted to Detective Second Grade. I never gave much thought to the NYPD ranking of detective, and never realized Rollins was at the bottom rung of that ladder. Despite her various “issues” over the years, the promotion makes sense. Let’s all hope she doesn’t screw it up in typical Rollins fashion.
Here is the recap:
Benson and Rollins are at a shooting range, practicing. Benson calls out to Rollins, calling her Annie Oakley and asking her for one more round and then go grab a quick drink. Rollins explains her sitter is on the clock. Benson tells her there are some changes in the squad room she wants to run by her. Rollins asks that Kat is not working out, and Benson informs her she just got off the phone with the Chief and he’d like Rollins to report to One PP on Friday. Rollins looks stunned and asks about what. Benson says nothing at first and Rollins tells her to just get it over with. Benson says she had a whole speech prepared but…Rollins is being promoted to Detective Second Grade. Rollins looks relieved and thrilled, saying “Oh god, really?” Benson congratulates her and Rollins comments she didn’t even know she was on the grid, after the year she had. Benson explains Rollins had some challenges this year but Rollins persisted. Rollins thanks her and hugs her, smiling. Benson says, “Congratulations, really.” Rollins laughs and says “Bottoms up” and they move to take a few more shots as Rollins shouts “whoo!”
An officer brings out a coffee to his fellow officer waiting in the car and she asks him if he got her anything sweet. He says, “my bad.” A woman driving a food truck with a giant cupcake on top is driving erratically, her vision blurry. The truck hits the car in which the officers are waiting. As they exit the car, they see the woman looks drunk and they asks if she is drinking. She doesn’t realize she hit them and says this is her truck but sounding confused as she says, “Jill’s Cupcakes.” She starts to collapse and the one officer says they will have to take her in.
At the police station, she is given a breathalyzer test. She seems confused as to how to work it, questioning the “in or out” instructions. She acts as if the fingerprinting process is hurting her. She ‘s in a large cell with other women, wondering what she is doing there.
In arraignment court part 7 on Tuesday, March 17, Carisi is arraigning someone as Jill Bailey waits in the gallery. Fin watches as Jill is arraigned on charges of driving while intoxicated. She seems confused and her lawyer pleads not guilty for her. Carisi asks Fin what he is going there, he told him his perp would plead guilty, and Fin explains he just wanted to the scumbag go down, it is good for his morale. As the judge says Jill can be released ROR, Jill shouts to hold on, this isn’t right, she wasn’t drunk. The judge tells her this isn’t the time nor the place to argue her case, and Carisi stops to listen. As the judge calls for the bailiff, Jill asks why no one is listening to her. Her lawyer suggests they go outside and talk, but she shouts she doesn’t need to talk, she needs help. Carisi asks her lawyer if everything is alright and when he says it’s fine, Jill says no, she just realized what happened. As her lawyer touches her on her am, she recoils and shouts she didn’t say he could touch her. He backs away and Carisi asks what happened here. Jill shouts she was raped last night – and they arrested HER. Carisi looks at Fin, everyone in stunned silence.
At SVU, as Rollins leads Jill in, Benson hears from Carisi and Fin that Jill was sexually assaulted but then drove her truck into a patrol car. Carisi explains Jill is 35 years old and she is a cupcake baker with no priors. Her blood alcohol content was .09, and Fin says it was barely over the limit but the officers that arrested her said she was wasted. Carisi adds Jill said her brain wasn’t working right and nothing felt real. Benson comments with 12+ in holding, she ate, drank, used the bathroom so as soon as they get her statement they need to do a rape kit. Benson walks over to the window to observe Rollins and Kat questioning Jill in the interview room.
Jill explains she was at a bar downtown with Luke, she never got his last name. They met via a dating app, True Heart, and he ordered funky “howler” drinks. She had 2, if that. They must have been strong. She felt – feels – not herself. Then - nothing. Her memory drops out and recalls trying to drive her truck. She could not stay in her lane and her body wasn’t listening to her brain and she felt drugged. She says it didn’t hit until she was in court that Luke had raped her. Her clothes felt wrong and she was sore, she knows she was raped. Kat states they need to contact Luke and asks if she has his number. Jill does not, but she can show him the message he sent her this morning. She brings up the message on her phone and then says it is gone. She explains he said he had a great time and asks if she got home okay. She messaged back “what did you do to me”. Kat says he deleted the match and ghosted her. Jill asks that they can’t find him, and Rollins states they can contact the dating app but right now they need to get her to the hospital and do a tox screen. She asks if that is to see she was drugged and Kat says the clock is ticking but there is a good chance, they test for over 300 drugs.
At Corner Lounge at 179 Spring Street on Tuesday, March, 17, Fin tells Rollins that Kat isn’t getting anywhere with True Heart. Rollins is not surprised, the DMV is more user friendly than these dating apps. Rollins sees a sign for the howler drink and asks the bartender what’s in them. He explains it’s white rum, palm sugar, mottled pandan leaves and coconut cream. The bartender asks if they want two, and Rollins explains that is not why they are here, they are NYPD, and shows her badge. He looks at Jill’s photo and says maybe she was in last night with some guy with dark hair who paid cash and he counted out loud as he put it down. Fin asks to see the footage from his security cameras, and the bartender says they are not his, he’s a freelance. Fin tells him to find the manager and they will wait. He agrees.
Back at SVU, Benson asks the group where are they on Jill’s timeline, and Rollins explains the security cameras put her and Luke at the bar from 8 to 8:50. They watched all fifty minutes, Kat adding they had two drinks each and from one angle he doesn’t seem to spike her glass and wonders if they are just strong drinks. As they watch them leave, Jill doesn’t seem incapacitated or visibly drunk but Benson says she doesn’t remember leaving the bar, saying it is textbook drug facilitated rape. Rollins adds they pulls street cam footage and followed their route after the bar at and 9PM they head south on West Broadway and they lose them. Fin comments she is still walking normally, and asked that they pick them up later that night. Kat explains an hour goes by and he walks her out to her truck on the corner of North Moore and kisses her good night. Benson observes Jill is standing but not responsive. Rollins states the crash was 10 minutes later. Fin concludes he either drugged her in the bar or in the hour with no video. Benson says they know what blocks they were on and when, so somebody saw them.
On 13 Beech Street on Tuesday, March 17, Kat and Fin question a doorman who’s seen the guy and is always telling him to keep his dog off the planters and he even brings his mutt into the bodega nearby. They question a man at the bodega says the guy gets two beers every night, pays cash, and counts it out. He knows where he lives as when it rains, he orders in – two beers and a pizza.
Fin knocks on Luke Mitchell’s door, shouting “Pizza, pizza, pizza, baby.” A man shouts from behind the door that he didn’t order any pizza. When Luke opens the door, Fin is standing there with Kat, Fin holding up his badge and says they need to talk to him. Luke says the place is a little messy, but as Kat walks past him and into his apartment, she says it’s nothing they haven’t seen before. Inside, Luke said he thought he and Jill hit it off at the bar. He says she drives a cupcake truck, and when Kat asks what happened, he said they came back here and, comments he thinks it’s okay since she already spoke to them, they had sex. Fin questions whose idea was that, and Luke replies both of theirs, he always asks these days. Afterwards he even walked her to his truck. Fin says they know, they checked the security cameras. Luke comments about the police state these days and that’s a good thing. He repeats he made sure she got to the truck alright, and Kat states he is a gentleman. Luke agrees, adding he messaged her the next day and told her what a great time he had. Kat questions if she said she had a great time too, and he says now that they mention it, she messaged him back something really weird. Fin asks if it was like “what did you do to me?” and he nods and says yeah, he didn’t know what she meant. He states he supports all the “me too” stuff and is one of the nice guys. As a dog starts to bark, he says the pendulum swings too far, these women come up with ideas and blame anybody for anything. As the dog continues to bark, he says he has to walk his dog. Fin wonders if he has to get his two beers, and as Kat continues to glare at him, Luke he says no disrespect, he knows they are working hard and all, but he asks them to leave.
As Kat and Fin walk out, Kat asks if he seems like a nice guy to him, and Fin replies “for a rapist.”
In her office, Benson, along with Fin, shows Jill the video of her at the truck and being kissed and Jill doesn’t remember any of that. She does not recall being in his apartment and Fin explains they have security footage of the two of them in the elevator. Jill has no memory of that. Benson explains her tox screen came back negative, and Jill wonders how that can be. Benson explains the drug may have already left her system or she was dosed with something they may not have a test for. When Jill gets upset that she was told they test for 300 drugs, Fin confirms they do but there are people out there designing drugs they can’t ID and they can’t keep up. Jill asks that they are drugs that turn women into zombies, and Benson explains they all have different effects but what they found with a lot of these drugs is that the victims may be able to walk and talk but may not know where they are or what is happening to them. Jill asks that they don’t have tests for them, and as Benson shakes her head, Fin explains they buy stuff on line and mix up the ingredients in their kitchen – tranquilizers, anti-psychotics, antihistamines. Jill says they are undetectable and wiped out her memory, so no one is going to believe she was drugged. Benson states they believe her – her affect and demeanor and everything she described is evidence to them. Jill comments it is still hard to get a conviction on something like this, and Benson tells her to let them worry about that.
