“Undercover Mother” is a perfect example of how an episode can be so much more compelling when the whole cast is in on the action. It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve had all the detectives and Barba in the same episode. This A+ story provided something for everybody: action, drama, a solid guest cast and some surprises.
The SVU team, while working a stakeout at a brothel, arrest who they think is the madam, Martha Thornhill (played perfectly by Lili Taylor). But Martha explains she is working undercover - on her own - to find her daughter who was kidnapped 3 years ago. Barba has enough to charge Martha but Benson’s soft heart gets the SVU team involved in a sting to help locate Martha’s daughter Ariel. And then the surprises begin.
This episode brings back characters from previous cases. The first is Selena Cruz from the SVU episode “Girls Disappeared” from earlier this season. More notable and far more enjoyable was the return of Lieutenant Declan Murphy, who again is working undercover. His work, and the SVU case, cross paths in an unexpected way. Lucky for Murphy, the SVU team keeps his cover intact, but he is less than thrilled in what he perceives as Benson’s inability to think big picture. While I do understand Benson’s desire to reunite Martha with her daughter, I do question her judgment in going all in so quickly for an undercover operation AND for bringing Martha along, despite Barba’s prior instruction not to do so. I am sure Benson wanted to show that she can be assertive and decisive, but Barba clearly was displeased and disappointed in her actions.
This isn’t the first time SVU worked a sting and almost blew someone else’s investigation. I can’t recall the episode name, but Cragen once ordered a sting operation and later found the Feds had already infiltrated their targets. Cragen was rightfully pissed that he wasn’t informed of a Fed sting going on in his area, and maybe Benson should have been alerted by Murphy or by whomever Murphy is getting is orders. Rollins did check with Vice who said Martha was not working for them undercover, so I assume that if Murphy was working for Vice, Vice should have alerted them to their own operation at that time. If I recall correctly, SVU also stumbled on Brian Cassidy working undercover, so maybe it’s standard procedure for the NYPD not to share any undercover operations with other divisions. I’m not clear on exactly which NYPD organization Murphy is working for and I don’t know why, but something bugs me about his undercover work here.
Murphy shouldn't be putting all the blame on Benson for intruding on his operation. He's worked SVU and he knows the issues they face. He is engaging in illegal operations under the guise of gaining the trust of the people running them and in the process, he allowed girls to remain in danger. It seems he’s done little if anything to help those victims in order to preserve his cover. I understand he needs to behave a certain way to get himself further into the organization, but at what expense? In his defense, if there was a concern that the brothel was operating while someone at the NYPD was allowing them to do so, maybe Murphy did not know whom to trust. It’s a touchy situation for everyone involved, especially for the victims who continue to be held against their will and abused while Murphy infiltrates.
One question remains: will Barba charge Martha? She admitted she engaged in illegal behavior to find her daughter, but the fact remains she was party to the illegal operation, regardless of her motives. I’m curious: if this were a real case, what would a real DA do?
Regarding SVU staking out the house where Tracy and the girls were working, could they be any more obvious by sitting right in front of the driveway with the camera directly facing out the window? It’s no shock they may have been spotted. Likewise, Amaro and Rollins were parked in the same direction as Fin and Carisi, so when their mark made a u-turn, there was no way any of them could make a move without it looking obvious. Next time, park on opposite sides of the street with one car pointed in each direction.
The ending provided the biggest shocker to Benson: Johnny D, the leader of the pack, is Noah’s father. Things could get messy.
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 Carisi, Jr.
Guest stars:
Tamara Tunie – M.E. Melinda Warner
Donal Logue - Lt. Declan Murphy
Lili Taylor – Martha Thornhill
Danielle Burgess - Nina Soren
Amanda Warren - Tracy
Justin McCarthy - Tommy Strickland
Charles Halford - Johnny D
Nikki M. James – Detective Gail Dunbar
Laura Gomez - Selena Cruz
Jas Anderson - Timmer
Jay Patterson - Judge Evans
Bronwyn Reed - Lucy Huston
Justin McCarthy – Officer
Derrick Baskin – Det. Cash Gillette
Jamila Velasquez – Pilar Morenas
Emily Althaus - Jessie
Danika Yarosh - Ariel Thornhill
Josh Saviano – Counselor Don Taft
Danielle Burgess – Nina Soren
Candace Gordon – Federal Prosecutor
DK Bowser – Frank
Shannon Garland – Officer Denice Legrange
The SVU team is working a stake out, Benson and Rollins are in a van and Fin and Amaro are in a car. Carisi is undercover inside. A camera is in his eyeglasses so Benson and Rollins can see what is going on inside. He approaches the house madam, acting impatient about his wait and she tells him it is worth the wait, the girls are young and fresh. Fin radioed that a minivan with blacked out windows has arrived. Benson and Rollins watch as young girls exit the van and Benson recognizes the female handler as Selena Cruz, someone they’ve picked up once before and whose son they got out of Mexico. Rollins comments Selena is doing what she knows. Benson radios to Fin and Amaro and all the other units that the female handler is known to them and they will have to secure her before she gets upstairs. All the others copy Benson’s information.
As the girls are being taken to the entrance, they are arrested as Selena opens the door. The other NYPD cars move in and the other detectives and police storm inside. Carisi continues to pretend he is a customer. Another detective corners the madam who says it is a private party and it is legal, claiming she is just a waitress. They arrest everyone, including Carisi,
Back at SVU, Benson tries to get the girls to talk but is unsuccessful. She tells Rollins to talk Selena – calling her a piece of crap – into holding. The guy Amaro is bringing in says the girls are all 18 and to check their IDs. Amaro states they did and they are all fake.
As Fin brings in the madam, she asks to speak to someone in charge, and Benson tells her it better be good. The woman claims she is undercover and has been tracking this ring for a years. When Benson asks for who, the woman says they have her daughter,
As the woman walks into Benson’s office, she looks to the interview room and tells Benson that she needs to talk to those girls SVU picked up. Rollins enters the office and states that vice doesn’t know her and she is not UC. The woman says she is not a cop, her name is Martha Thornhill and she is from Calgary and her daughter Ariel was kidnapped three years ago. Benson asks if Martha thinks that Ariel was taken by traffickers, and Martha says she knows she was’ she has been tracking her from Toronto to Minneapolis to Buffalo. She has seen her pictures in sex ads; if they took her to New York 6 months ago. Rollins asks Martha if she contacted NYPD, and Martha replies no. When Benson asks why not, Martha states Toronto police didn’t believe her. She explains Ariel was 13 and they were on vacation in Toronto, they were having lunch in a café and she went to pay at the register and she was gone two minutes tops. The Toronto police thought she and her boyfriend had something to do with the disappearance. Rollins bluntly asks if she did, and Martha replies no. The adds that the three days the police spend grilling them is when they lost her. Benson seems skeptical and asks Martha why should they believe her, they just caught her red handed trafficking, Martha asks them to let her show them.
At Martha’s apartment in Flushing Queens on Thursday, January 29, Benson and the detectives enter to find one of her walls covered with photos and information tracking her daughter. Benson seems to believe Martha now, and when Martha says she is not a criminal, Benson says they will have to speak with the DA. Martha says they have to let her go, but Fin reminds her she told their UC she had underage girls coming to the brothel. Martha explains that Ariel was to be there, she called her 6 days ago. Martha gave her number to a girl that knows her and Ariel didn’t know it was her. She was crying that they wouldn’t let her go. Benson presses for the name of the girl but Martha is reluctant to say because the girl thinks she is a madam. She is her only connection to Ariel and she is not giving up until she finds her daughter,
Back at SVU, Barba looks at the info on the board and says that the woman saying she is pretending to be a sex trafficker is a new defense. Rollins explains the Toronto police confirm Martha’s story. Fin explains the police suspected the boyfriend Brian Marks, a pot dealer. Amaro states Marks has since died from a heroin overdose, the police could not implicate and the trail went cold. Carisi adds how Martha kept searching and Benson explains local precincts blew Martha off so Martha went deeper into the life, putting herself at risk. Barba wisecracks “Touching story” and asks them to tell him how posing as a criminal and engaging in criminal activity doesn’t make you a criminal. Benson explains Martha has recorded every single job and every single pimp, and is better than any US they’ve seen. Barba counters it is because she IS a trafficker. Benson says Martha has been searching for her daughter, which Barba understands. He adds that, assuming Martha hands over all her records and turns state’s evidence, he MIGHT take that into consideration. Benson argues that it has taken Martha three years to get this far, she is not going to work with them unless they help her get her daughter back. Barba states firmly that Martha is not going back in. Benson pauses, then suggests maybe they go in for her.
In the interrogation room, Martha is shocked and questions that they are going to charge her. Barba reminds her she broke the law - kidnapping, sex trafficking – and she is looking at 20 years. Martha counters that her daughter has been passed from pimp to pimp for three years, she has been in New York for the past year and they have done nothing. She argues that she finally finds the pimp who has her and they decide to move in NOW? Barba reminds her she is running a brothel. Martha insists she is infiltrating to get to Ariel’s pimp. She adds that they scared him off and she may be lost forever. Benson informs her they are going to keep looking for Ariel, but Martha begs that they let her keep looking. Barba states Martha is out of this game and if she does not want to do time, they need her names, her intel – all of it. Benson adds that the girl who gave Ariel Martha’s phone number is where they start. Martha says she can’t, it will blow her cover; she promised she wouldn’t give her away to anyone. Barba answers, “Well, guess what – you lied.” Benson asks if she thought Ariel was going to be delivered last night, and Martha states that Selena told her boss she was going to bring 7 girls. Then she called and said she was just going to bring 5. Her pimp held back 2 so he could discipline them. Barba asks who is the pimp, and Martha says they call him Timmer; if a girl gets out of line, he boot-stomps them in front of the others. Benson asks who told her that, and Martha replies that she has not saved her daughter yet but she bought and sent home 6 girls. Barba questions “Bought?” and Martha explains if a girl causes enough trouble, a pimp will sell her for $1,200. Benson comments it is a slave trade. Barba tersely asks where does Martha get the money, and she explains it is from donations from her church. When Barba raises his eyebrows, she adds it is a cash business. She explains the pimps deliver the girls at the beginning of the night and when the night is over, they take them home; they get 70% and the house gets the rest. Benson concludes that Martha was going to buy back Ariel last night, and Martha confirms it, and also buy her friend. Barba thinks the girls they picked up last night should know Ariel. Martha insists they will not talk to him, Timmer owns them. Barba states not any more, adding Martha has a choice: cooperate with them or he will charge her. He walks out of the interrogation room. Martha begs Benson not to do this, adding her daughter might be lost forever. Starting to cry, she says, “Please.” Benson says she promises her that she will do everything she can not to let that happen. Benson gets up and leaves the room.
At the Parisian Suites Motel in Queens Village, Queens, on Friday, January 30, Rollins speaks to one of the girls who is reluctant to give Rollins any information. Rollins brings up Timmer’s name but it doesn’t do any good. Rollins shows her a photo of Ariel and asks if she is still alive.
Meanwhile, in the same motel, Carisi works another girl for information. The girl calling Ariel a “snow bunny” and said Ariel mouthed off and Timmer stomped her in front of them. Carisi continues to press but the girl isn’t buying.
At prison, Amaro and Fin press Selena about Ariel and use Selena’s son as leverage Selena thinks the other girls are lying but Amaro and Fin aren’t buying it and explain how things will play out for her. But Selena still will not talk.
