All Things Law And Order: Zebras

All photos from NBC

OK, how can I say this? The season finale of Law & Order SVU “Zebras” was simply awful. Here’s why I feel this way:

First and foremost: Dale Stuckey. The character annoyed from day one. He was written badly, almost purposefully to make viewers hate him, maybe so we would later believe that he could turn killer so easily. What I found worse with this episode is that despite the fact that he screwed up a case, they continued to let him work it. In fact, there seemed to be no visible repercussions from his screw up with the evidence. Making matters worse is them taking what could be a piece of evidence – the collage – into the squad room and then letting Stuckey or anyone else handle it with their bare hands. Puzzling was when Stuckey complains that Stabler should be written up for accosting him, and seeing Stuckey push Capt, Cragen on the shoulder. Excuse me, but if I was a captain and someone touched me like that, I would have had him suspended on the spot. Cragen was far too kind with him and there should have been some sort of action taken against Stuckey right then and there.

Can anyone explain how Stuckey got such easy access to Donnelly’s apartment to set up the syringe? And how nice of Donnelly to be able to sit so squarely on it to get a full dose. While I am on Liz Donnelly, tell me, who in New York City would answer their door, in their bathrobe without looking through the peephole to see who it was? She sure seemed surprised it was Stabler at her door. I suppose because it looked like she had no peephole in the door so she couldn’t see who was there before she opened up. My next question - who has a place in NYC that doesn’t have a peephole on some equivalent in their front door? The only other person I know was Alex Borgia from the Law & Order mothership, and we all know what happened to her when she opened a door without checking first who was on the other side. A judge cannot possibly be that stupid and careless not to take precautions before she opens their door.

I also found it rather silly that once they realized the first victim had a baby with her, that they seemed to be checking everywhere but failed to see the stroller sitting all by itself by the tunnel, which should have been in clear view of everyone standing. But Elliot is the only one who spots it, from an area higher up and the trees no less? Please! Speaking of this murder victim, can someone tell me why Special Victims kept this case, when it turned out it was not a sexual assault? What made her a special victim?

How about the “escape route” that Harrison had leading from his hideout? It reminded me of one of those cartoon holes that cartoon characters leave when they get thrown through a wall. I don’t know why, but I laughed very hard at that.

Too bad they killed off O’Halloran, one of the best lab techs in not only the L&O universe but the whole TV CSU universe as well. Who could not love a guy who would help Stabler bury Stuckey’s body? RIP O’Halloran, and I hope Mike Doyle gets a nice job on another show.

Now, let’s talk about that final scene. First of all, Stuckey seemed quick to murder O’Halloran, yet he took his time with Stabler. Why? I guess it’s the same reason why all TV murderers must taunt their victims on screen, giving the victim plenty of time to find an opportunity to save themselves. Why did Stuckey even answer Stabler’s phone when it rang? He could have covered for his part in the murder of O’Halloran and later if he killed Stabler if no one knew Stuckey had been there. I guess Stuckey is an idiot after all. But the real shocker was Benson taking some real chances with Stabler’s life. In my opinion, her ruse to reel in Stuckey and gain his trust not only gave Stuckey more time to kill Stabler, but also she seemed to be giving him more of an excuse to kill him. What would she have done if when Stuckey put the gun back on Stabler that he didn’t shoot right away, rather than wait for her to whisper “wait” to him? Let’s not even go with the horror that I felt as I saw Benson plant that long and hard kiss on the icky Stuckey. Was it really necessary? She was already close enough, she was holding one of his hands, isn’t she trained to be able to disable him is she had at least one of his hands in her grasp? There was just something very off about that whole scenario, and I suspect it was only there so they could hype that Olivia kissed someone AND slapped someone in the same episode.

It was nice to see Munch with his wife Gwen, but I have to admit that it was just such an incredible coincidence that she would have a connection to the killer just a little too convenient.

It made no sense whatsoever why they couldn’t find a way to work Stephanie March into this episode. It’s their big finale, and we have to have her “stuck in traffic?” Please! I wonder what the big deal was with the show – or with Stephanie – that they couldn’t have her in there to do just one more scene.

The scene at Coney Island where Munch and Fin go into the dark ride wasted valuable time by showing all the “scary” things in the ride itself. It was 30 seconds that could have been spent on something else.

Personally, I think that they should have called this episode “The Kitchen Sink” because they threw everything in there BUT the kitchen sink. I think Stabler summed it up right at the end, “What a way to end.” You can say that again.

Here is the recap:

A father and daughter are rollerblading in the park. The father loses control and winds up face down over a railing and some bushes. When he comes up, he is covered with blood, but has not cuts. The daughter looks to see a dead body lying in the bushes.

Detectives Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) arrive on the scene. Stabler asks annoying CSU Tech Dale Stuckey “What’s up?” and Stuckey (Noel Fisher) says there is a body in the bushes with beaucoup lacerations, her body is all cut up, and he’s going to go out onto a limb and say she was sexually assaulted. Stabler says if he goes out too far you might fall off. Stuckey says there were deep stab wounds so he thinks that is the cause of death. Benson curtly thanks Stuckey and says they will see him later. Stabler pulls out a driver’s license from the body, it is Rachel Noss from Topeka Kansas, 32 years old. She is still wearing her wedding ring, so Benson assumes it was not a robbery. Stuckey comments that this is serious overkill for an unarmed woman, and starts some wild speculating on why she was killed. Stabler says, “”Someone’s hearing zebras.” Stuckey asks if he missed something, Benson says, “Dale, did anybody ever tell you that if you hear hoof beats in Central Park, don’t think zebras?” As Stuckey sees a police officer on horseback go by, Stabler has to explain to him that it means that the answer is usually the simplest explanation – it’s a garden-variety stranger rape gone bad and the perp cut her up. Olivia moves the victim’s hand away from her forehead, and the word “GUILTY” marked in blood on her forehead. Stabler sees a pacifier in her hand, and is concerned that the woman had a baby with her.

They begin to search the area for a baby, and while they check trash bins and the bushes, they fail to see – until Stabler sees it from a distance – a stroller sitting conspicuously unattended by the opening to the tunnel.. The baby is there, safe, with the words “innocent” on the baby’s forehead in blood. Benson says, “Maybe we are looking for a zebra.”

At the hospital where the baby is being checked out, Benson and Stabler speak to Rachel’s husband, who says they are visiting there and he went to a talk on hydroponics, and she went to central park to take pictures. Benson said they didn’t find a camera, and Mr. Noss says he took pictures of them all weekend and he hadn’t downloaded them yet, and they have to find that camera.

Benson and Stabler are in the park, and Dale Stuckey shows them a bagged camera, calling it a “crappy little point-and-shoot” and said it costs more in overtime to recover than it was actually worth. Benson shows her annoyance by telling him that “Mr. Noss doesn’t care about the camera, Dale. He cares about what’s in it. CSU Tech O’Halloran (Mike Doyle) has a laptop, saying he has recovered most of the photos from the camera’s memory card. There are pictures of Evan (the baby) from in the park, and the code on the last photo was 10:17. Benson said the call to 911 was at 10:26. Benson said 9 minutes after those pictures were taken Rachel was bleeding out in the bushes. Stuckey says he wishes babies could talk, and O’Halloran says he may have someone who can. He zooms in on the photo, and they can see a parks department work crew.

Munch (Richard Belzer) and Fin (Ice-T) talk to a parks work crew supervisor, who tells them they are not employees, just public service “grunts.” He said he noticed a dog that was off the leash in that area, a white boxer he thinks was named “Minnie” but he didn’t notice any offenders of the “non-canine” variety. The morning crew is over at the boathouse painting railings, except Peter Harrison, who left early. He cut his thumb on a broken bottle in the ivy. He was bleeding like a “stuck pig” and the supervisor said he told him to keep his gloves on. Munch sees that Harrison was doing 90 hours of community service for menacing. Munch thinks this is pretty good, considering he tried to push a woman off a subway platform. Fin asks for his address.

Stabler and Benson arrive at the residence of Peter Harrison (Nick Stahl.) Stabler announces they are the police and to open up, but Harrison asks if they have a warrant. Benson makes up a story about them having to check him out since he was injured doing court ordered service and they need to assess his injury, and Harrison opens the door, leaving the chain on. Harrison shows them his thumb, which is covered with duct tape instead of a bandage. He says he ran out of band-aids and that they know that already. He is acting clearly paranoid, as he talks about their satellite surveillance and wiretaps. Stabler makes up that Harrison must know about rule 1063 , which says that any subject of intrusive police monitoring has a right to a binding cease and desist order against the department if he so chooses and sign a DD5 form. This gets Harrison out of the apartment and down to the SVU squad.

At the station, Harrison asks for the form, but Stabler stalls him. Benson asks about his menacing arrest for the woman on the subway platform, and Harrison called her an “operative.” He says the woman was trying to push him and he had a right to defend himself. Stabler asks if the woman in the park today had threatened him, and he said she was taking his picture and she was going to upload it into a database and geotag it, and he can’t let his location be compromised. He is clearly paranoid. He said he searched for a wire or transmitters, and he ordered her to abort the mission. Harrison’s lawyer Julia Zimmer (Kelly Bishop) enters, and tells the detective she is aborting this interrogation. When she moves to take Harrison out, he says he has to sign the form DD5. But the form inside Stabler’s folder is a restaurant menu. Harrison says they tricked him, and asks them, “Who are you people?” Zimmer says her client has nothing further to say. Benson says they don’t need him to say anything, they have a warrant.

In Harrison’s apartment, Munch, Fin, and Stuckey search for clues. His apartment is very sparse. Munch finds some information on his computer which shows Harrison’s paranoia. Fin looks in his closet and finds 5 shirts and 5 pants, but 6 pairs of shoes. They assume Harrison got rid of one set of clothes because that is what he was wearing when he killed Rachel. Fin asks why he kept the shoes, and Munch suspects it’s because nobody would look inside. Fin looks in and finds a bloody knife.

At the lab, O’Halloran says the blood belongs to the victim, and Stabler begins to say “bing bang…” but O’Halloran doesn’t let him finish, saying, ‘Don’t…say it. Please.” O’Halloran also found cast off blood on the shoe. Stabler says “Harrison’s toast” but Harrison’s lawyer Zimmer overhears and tells Stabler that he interrogated a mentally ill man incompetent to waive his rights. She said she came down to make sure they didn’t play it fast and loose with the evidence as they did the confession. O’Halloran says they don’t play, and they have the victim’s DNA all over Harrison’s knife. She asks to see the paperwork. O’Halloran says a diminished capacity argument can’t exclude blood evidence. Zimmer sees that contamination well, noticing that evidence from the murder scene and from Harrison’s apartment were listed under the same voucher number and that’s a big no-no. Stabler and O’Halloran look at the paperwork, and see everything is logged under voucher 11692. O’Halloran says, “Stuckey.” Zimmer says it looks like he commingled the evidence, meaning the DNA on the knife could have come from cross contamination, which means her client waltzes right out the door. As Zimmer leaves, telling them both to “sleep tight,” Stabler says to O’Halloran, “I’m gonna kill him.” O’Halloran responds “I’ll dump the body.” Stabler says he will try and save the case.

There is a knock on a door, and Judge Donnelly (Judith Light) opens up, in her bathrobe, asking if the person knows that time it is. She sees Stabler standing there. Stabler apologizes and says this is not a social call, handing Donnelly her the newspaper. She says then this is highly improper, and a pity. Stabler cites a case – Donnelly corrects it as a hypothetical one – where a defense is going to twist an error in paperwork to suggest DNA contamination at the lab. She asks if he wants to know if she would fall for it. He says, “Hypothetically.” She tells him that his problem is much bigger than he thinks. His squad’s work relies on DNA, and the “shoddy paperwork” would be disastrous. Stabler says, “Overturned convictions” to which Donnelly says, “Hundreds of them. Hypothetically.” She tells him to talk to Cabot before he goes any further, and to ask himself if getting this perp is worth setting a lot of guilty ones free.

In arraignment court, Stuckey insists to Stabler and Benson that he did not contaminate the evidence. He said he made a bonehead mistake but he raises his voice, saying that he didn’t. Donnelly tells them to simmer down. Peter Harrison is being arraigned for one count of murder. Alex Cabot not there, substitute ADA Kristin Torres says Cabot is stuck in traffic. The defense moved to dismiss the complaint based on contaminated evidence. Torres said that Cabot had no objections, and told her to ask for leave to represent when they develop new evidence. Donnelly dismisses the case without prejudice. But Stuckey shouts out that she can’t dismiss, Harrison is guilty. She says, “You must be Dale Stuckey.” He says he is good at his job, and she tells him he is out of order and seriously deluded. If this was his idea of a good job he is in the wrong line of work.. But Stuckey says she doesn’t know him, and she says she doesn’t care to and tells him to sit down and shut up. She tells Harrison he is free to go, and he tells Donnelly she is a “lone beacon of hope in the struggle against global mind control.” She tells him to save it, and he’s a murder walking on a technicality, and if it were up to her he’d be in the nuthouse where he belonged. But Stuckey blurts out that she is the nut for letting him go. Benson and Stabler, stunned, look over to him, and Donnelly has the look of incredulity, asking if everyone is crazy today. She calls for a 5 minute recess, adding “People, take your meds!” Zimmer, says. ‘Thanks Dale, we couldn’t have done it without you.” Stabler tells Harrison they will be watching him, and Harrison says, “Who isn’t?”

As Benson and Stabler leave the courthouse, Stuckey calls out after them as he races down the courthouse steps. Stabler berates him for screwing up the case. He says he didn’t do anything wrong, and Stabler says everything with him is “I, I, me, me ” and that he is selfish. He adds he is going to do everything he can to get him run out of CSU and sent to the motor pool where the only thing he can screw up is an oil change. He says he didn’t mean for this to happen, and Benson puts her hand on his shoulder, saying everybody screws up and they will try to find a way to fix it. He asks how, as he sees Harrison walk away. She tells him Harrison has a shadow, and we see Munch and Fin following him.

Munch and Fin follow Harrison to Coney Island, where they proceed to lose him in a darkened horror ride.

Back at the SVU squad, Stabler can’t believe they lost him. Benson says they have half of Brooklyn south is out looking for him and they will find him. But Dr. Huang (B.D. Wong) says it won’t be easy, Harrison has a lot of practice shaking tails. He is a paranoid and used to the persecution. When Benson brings up Rachel Noss, Huang adds that persecutory delusions are rarely limited to the life of those suffering. Since they can’t tail him for 24 hours, Benson suggests they pick him up on a mental hygiene warrant, and Huang says he knows a few sympathetic judges who would civilly commit Harrison. But Capt. Cragen (Dann Florek) enters and says that is too late for that, Munch and Fin found another victim.

Back at Coney Island, there is another body located, the clothes slashed and the person knifed to death with the label of guilty on her head, the same as Harrison’s first victim. Stuckey, also on the scene, finds a can with a bloody thumbprint on it.

Back at the lab, Stuckey is checking out the thumbprint, and when he sees it is Harrison, he says, “Harrison’s your man. Bing bang bong.” Now all they have to do is find him. Stuckey had pulled information from Harrison’s computer from a web site “persectute-u.com” where it seems the paranoid crazies hang out and where Harrison bragged about how he stopped the NYPD. But Munch notices a familiar screen name that made comments on the site, “gwendolynoftheshadows” who tells Harrison if he needs help he knows how to contact her. Munch says, “so do I.” He knows her from another site on JFK assassination. He says he would prefer to talk to her in person and he knows where Gwen logs on to the internet.

At the Overthrow Bookstore, Munch meets with Gwen (Carol Kane), who is happy to see him. She hasn’t seen him on the JFK board, and he says he is retired but he is working to expose the truth. But she also seems very paranoid. He mentions Peter Harrison, and says he met him long before. She says he knows too much. Munch calls out to Fin who is looking at books that this is a private conversation, and Fin walks off. Gwen says he always made her feel safe. He says he really needs to contact Peter, saying that Peter said that he trust her, that she is the only one on persecute-u.com that gets him. She says he’s right, they won’t let Peter be silenced, he has followers. She asks Munch why he wants to find him, but Munch says he can’t say he doesn’t want to risk putting her in danger, he asks him to trust him, she knows him and what they meant to each other. She tells him about an empty store at 88th and Broadway and Peter rents the basement and he made it into a safe room. She tells Munch that she is thinking of going back on her medication so they can be together again. He says, “Goodbye Gwen, I gotta go.” She begs him not to leave her, but he continues to pull away. As Munch walks off and catches up with Fin, Fin says, “Sly dog, making moves on looney lady.” Munch responds, “She’s my ex-wife.”

At Harrison’s Broadway location, Stabler and Fin are there, Fin asking Harrison to show himself, Stabler calling out that he is cornered. Harrison is hiding behind metal shelving and pushes it onto the detectives. Pete tells them that the judge told them to leave him alone, but Stabler says “not before you killed that girl on Coney Island.” He says he didn’t kill anyone there. Fin says they have his fingerprints. He says he didn’t do it, and he didn’t kill them, they did it to themselves. Pete pulls onto a lever and dumps a barrel of a liquid into a tub, and a cloud of gas forms. Stabler helps Fin get out as they are being overcome by fumes.

Later, Stabler asks Fin if he is all right, and Fin quips “Ten years in the car with Munch I’ve smelled a lot worse. “ The CSU people are on the scene, and find that the fumes were caused by two chemicals mixing together, hydrogen sulfide, made by mixing toilet bowl cleaner and other household products. O’Halloran found his escape route, a hole in the wall, with a ladder to a sewer grate in the street. Stabler knows someone who may help find Harrison.

Stabler and Benson are at Julia Zimmer’s office, but and Benson asks her to break attorney/client privilege. But Zimmer isn’t buy it, telling them if he contacts her she will urge him to turn himself in, but meanwhile she will do her job and they should do theirs. She adds that Harrison has never been this delusional before, she’s tried to get him on meds but he refuses. She has know him since he was 17, his parents were killed in a plane crash and she represented him in the civil suit and got him a good settlement. She was his trustee until he turned 21. Benson tries to play on Zimmer’s maternal instincts, but Zimmer says she wants to help as he is a danger to himself and the community, but as his lawyer she can’t betray his confidence. Benson asks if there is anyone he would turn to for help whose hands are not tied, and Zimmer says before he got sick, Peter was at the Gotham School of Fine Arts and was close to Professor Edgar Rodzinski.

They head over to the Gotham School and talk to Rodzinski (Ronald Guttman). He says he has not seen Peter in months. He knew his illness was getting worse because of how his work looked and Peter continued to paint. They look at some of Harrison’s disturbing paintings and collages, that are in his studio. Harrison became obsessed after 9/11 and conspiracy theories took over. Benson finds one painting that has yesterday’s newspaper headlines in it.

Manhandling the painting in the SVU squad, Stuckey comments out loud about how this is better than the confession Benson and Stabler didn’t get. He sees them and begins to comment on the images in the painting and how it relates to the murder, saying one thing is obviously a knife. Stabler, annoyed, says “You’re obviously in the wrong building. “ Fin says “Stuckey’s solving our crime for us,” Munch adding, “As usual.” Stuckey says it is clear, but Stabler tells him to put it down before he contaminates more evidence. He says one of the pictures in the collage of a young beauty queen looks like Liv, a little younger. Stabler gets irate and grabs Stuckey by the neck, saying “You are an obnoxious little jackhole.” Cragen walks up and tells Stabler to let him go. Stabler tells him to “get outta here.” Stuckey pushed Cragen on the shoulder and says that Stabler just assaulted him and he has to write him up. Cragen says, “Only one getting a rip around here it you, Dale.” Dale says Stabler just accosted him. Cragen says, “If Elliot puts your head through a wall I’m gonna have to do a lot of tiresome paperwork. Get out of my squad.” Benson has just received a call and puts it on speaker. They overhear Julie Zimmer trying to calm Harrison. Cragen tells them to go.

The arrive at Zimmer’s office as Harrison is in a paranoid rant. They burst in, Stabler knocking down and restraining Harrison. Zimmer said Harrison showed up out of control, showing her a newspaper headline saying “Madman on the lose” with Harrison’s mug shot. Benson says tomorrow it will say the city is safe again. Harrison yells to Zimmer that she is a traitor and deceiver, saying she will pay and all deceivers will pay.

In the parking garage, Stabler loads Harrison into their car, and Zimmer says she will meet them there. But as Stabler and Benson drive off, Zimmer starts her car and is engulfed by fumes. She can’t get out of the car as the locks will not unlock. She honks her horn, and Stabler drives back. Benson attempts to open the doors with no luck, and Stabler breaks open the window with what looks like a golf club. But they are too late, Zimmer is dead. Harrison screams, “Death to all betrayers! All of them!”

Later, with police and CSU on the scene, Stabler tells a police officer to take Harrison to Bellevue. O’Halloran tells them the car had the same set up to create the chemicals as Stabler and Fin saw in Harrison’s hide out. It was hardwired to the ignition, and it also shorted out the locks to the car doors. Stabler sees the word “guilty” written on her mirror. They suspect that Harrison felt Zimmer betrayed her and he may have rigged something for other people who he felt also betrayed him. Stabler will have Munch pick up Gwen, and they will to get Rodzinski.

In the SVU squad, Gwen and Rodzinski are in a conference room. Munch enter and thanks the professor for coming in. He tells Gwen this is for her own safety, but she is very suspicious, and says friends don’t lie to each other or drag them off the street to lock them up. She slaps him hard on his face. She says, “You’re nothing to me anymore, John. Do you hear me? You’re nothing!” She throws her coffee at him as he walks off. Fin says, “Clean up on aisle three!” Munch tells him she is just scared. Stabler says they haven’t; found any other bobby traps. Benson says she fells sorry for Gwen, and Munch says yeah she married him. But Benson says no, it’s for the nightmare she is trapped in – in her head. Fin asks if her sympathy extends to Harrison, and she said if he didn’t murder everyone who looked the wrong way. Stabler gets a call from O’Halloran, who says he wants to “bug” them.

They head to the lab, and O’Halloran tells them there was a mosquito in Zimmer’s car, gassed to death, that may have the blood of the killer in its stomach. He is working to confirm the DNA. He also said the perp scribbled more than they thought, he didn’t see it until he took the mirror off the car. It said “One down, three to go.” They think Harrison is out for revenge, the first was the lawyer and then Gwen and Rodzinski. But this leaves one more, and they believe it to be Judge Donnelly.

They head over to her place, and they are checking out her place. Donnelly says they should yank Harrison out of jail so she could kick his ass herself, and adds they didn’t hear any of that. O’Halloran says the bomb squad says her place is clear. Stuckey says they even flushed the HVAC system to make sure he didn’t screw with the air. O’Halloran tells him to put it all back the way he found it. O’Halloran says he has to get back the lab and finish on the bug, which makes Stuckey ask if they mean a listening device. Benson tells him about the mosquito. As they try to convince Donnelly to go to a hotel, she says he home is safe. She sits down and yells “Ow!” and says that something stuck her. She begins to feel sick. Benson finds a syringe in the seat cushion and says she got a whole dose. Stabler carries her out and they race to take her to Mercy Hospital.

At Mercy, Stabler puts Donnelly on a gurney and the doctor says she is coding. Donnelly has been stabilized and she will be OK, she is sedated, There was potassium chloride in the syringe, the same drug used for lethal injections. Stabler tells Benson that O’Halloran is almost done with the DNA, and Benson tells him to go, she wants to stay with Donnelly for a bit.

At the lab, O’Halloran hears a knock and tells Stabler he is in there. But someone grabs his arm and sticks a knife into his chest. O’Halloran collapses to the floor and dies. Stabler then calls out to O’Halloran, and getting no answer, looks at his computer screen. He sees Stuckey’s face on the screen as the match for the DNA in the mosquito. He looks down on the floor and see O’Halloran lying there dead. Someone knocks Stabler out. It’s Dale Stuckey. He takes Stabler's gun and cell phone, which is ringing. It is Olivia. When asks where is Elliott, Stuckey says he went out for bite to eat and left his phone. He said the DNA hasn’t popped yet. He says Stabler won’t be long, he went to get sushi. After he hangs up, he drags Stabler away.

Later, Stabler comes too and sees Stuckey looking at him, Stuckey saying Stabler didn’t think he could do anything right. When Stabler asks what he has done, Stuckey questioned why he hasn’t already figured that out. Stuckey takes the knife out of O’Halloran’s chest, and Stabler says Stuckey tried to kill Donnelly and he gassed Zimmer. Stuckey says he killed O’Halloran too and now Stabler. He cuts at Stabler’s chest, complaining that Stabler should not have been mean to him and they were always making fun of what he did or said. He said he was trying to help the case as Harrison was bad man and should be in jail. He admits he screwed up a bit. Stabler states that Stuckey followed Munch and Fin to Coney Island and murdered that other woman. Stuckey says he put the thumbprint on the soda can to get Harrison. Stabler finishes the thought saying that this was so Harrison could go back to jail and Stuckey would be forgiven. Stuckey claps and says “Yay!!!! Now you’re figuring it out. Now you’re a detective.” Stabler reminds him that Harrison is in jail and that they can’t pin any of this on him. Stuckey continues to cut at Stabler, saying that one of Harrison’s paranoid pals could be implicated once he gets rid of the mosquito. But Stabler asks what makes him think that is the only evidence. Stuckey continues to be upset that everyone thinks he is stupid. Stabler asks if Stuckey is going to kill everyone who hurt his feelings. Stuckey covers Stabler's mouth with duct tape, and Stuckey says he has been a very busy little zebra. He continues to cut at Stabler as Stabler cries out.

Benson arrives at the lab and calls out to Stabler. She sees him, but Stuckey has hidden. Stabler tries to signal to her. Stuckey pulls the gun on her and tells her not to move. He tells her to put the gun down and she complies. He asks what she is doing there, and doesn’t want to have to hurt her too but he doesn’t have much of a choice, she has seen a little much. Benson begs him to calm down, sans says he did good. She comes up with the story she can tell Cragen to cover for them. She begins to work a head game on him, making him think that she can’t stand Stabler and she would be happy with him out of the way. She goes so far as to slap Stabler repeatedly, calling him a prick, saving “Liv do this! Liv do that!” as she hit him. She takes off the duct tape, and says she is sick of it and wants to hear him scream. Stabler tells her not to touch him. Stuckey tells them to both shut up, but then tells Benson to hit Stabler again. He says, “Don’t do it bitch” but she slaps him anyway. She yells, “No more orders out of you pal.” But Stuckey is not falling for it. She says if he knew half of what “this prick” has done, and somebody needs to take him out, she just didn’t know he felt the same way she did. Stabler tells Stuckey that Benson will turn on him too, and Stuckey hits Stabler. Benson says, “When this sonofabitch is out of the picture, I’m gonna need a new partner.’ When Stuckey asks what about Cragen, Benson tells him she has Cragen wrapped around her little finger, and the same goes with Munch and Fin. If she says the word, he will be it. She says she and Stuckey “get each other” and they are “connected.” She holds his hand. He says, “Let’s take care of the third wheel” and moves the gun onto Stabler. But Benson whispers “wait a second.” Benson says she wants him to watch, and when Stuckey asks “watch what?” Benson moves in closer and kisses Stuckey. She moves her hands to his face, and turns his back to Stabler. Stabler kicks Stuckey between the legs, and Benson knocks Stuckey out cold. She releases Stabler. He asks, “How’d you know?” Benson says that “Stuckey says you went to get sushi. You and raw fish? “ They look down to O’Hallloran’s body, and then to Stuckey. Stabler quips, “What a way to end” as we fade to black.

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