(Photo curteosy of TVGuide.com)
By Trublu
PTR Staff Writer
Episode recap: The episode opens with a rape/torture/homicide of a mother and daughter. Beck gets a bit woozy at her first child case. We find out that the child had been helping a homeless man, who Dani and Stabler pick up, finding various clippings of SVU newspaper articles. Unbeknownst to them, the man is actually John’s uncle, which they find out after gaining a new suspect. Huang diagnoses Andrew with depressive pseudodementia, which John attributes to his father’s suicide.
Meanwhile the new suspect plays cool, but makes a mistake that allows the detectives to ID him as the killer. Andrew, seemingly better, stops by the squad room to thank Dani. He then overhears her talking to a previous victim about wishing New York had the death penalty.
In a one-two punch, Andrew bursts out in court, and Casey reports that the evidence and indictment were thrown out. Dani gets snippy with Casey and goes to survey the perp’s house. Andrew shows up, but Dani and Elliot convince him to stay put while the follow him to the subway. Andrew appears again, and shoves the perp into the path of an oncoming train. Munch and Elliot try to convince Andrew to take the right medication, but he wants to punish himself.
The case was obviously difficult for Dani in many respects. One, because it involved a child. It is (unfortunately) an initiation of sorts for the detectives, which we haven’t seen since “Serendipity” (5.05) with Casey. In addition, Tornado Beck has a hard time controlling herself. As she says later on, “I’m very impatient.” It’s weird seeing UnStabler being the Stable one.
“I’ll get used to it.” –Dani Beck
“When that happens, transfer out.” – Elliot Stabler
Totally true quote. I think Dani is starting to understand what it means to be a SVU detective… but she still has a long way to go!
Wow! When was the last time we saw Munch and Fin… working together! Amazing! And at 10:09 no less! ::Faints::
“(After perp walks away) *Over microphone*: “So, no chance of us finding your semen on her clothes?” –Dani Beck
For referencing purposes, the perp then bolted up the stairs to get Dani to be quiet. Absolutely amazing!
I’m so very glad that we get to see the thought process of Huang in this one! We always hear him talking hurriedly to the detectives, but it is always short. This was more intimate and it gave us a great idea of the motive and profile of the suspect.
Hey, I’m glad all the detectives know what is going on… shouldn’t they all get a nice look at the perp when he is arrested? Just in case, maybe, oh… I don’t know, one of them knows the suspect?! Munch shouldn’t be anywhere near that case when his uncle is involved. His uncle shouldn’t even be incarcerated, with the state he is in.
Hah! It’s been forever since we’ve had a mirror man suspect. (To clarify, a man that checks himself out in the two way mirror because he thinks he is just that cool.) Interview with a smarty pants, yay! Reminds me of Olivia’s blender incident…
Everyone loves minty fresh breath… kudos to the squad for using it as an investigation technique!
It was cool how they integrated Munch’s uncle’s illness with the case. The only thing is, they should have established that Andrew was Munch’s uncle before they introduced the real suspect. On the other hand, this is the first relative of Munch’s that we’ve actually met. With the exception of Huang, Casey, and Cragen, we’ve now met a relative of every one of the core characters.
Why in the world was Munch’s uncle allowed to stay with the pictures? There is no way he should have been anywhere near the investigation or Dani when she was talking with the victim. Then he melts down in court, and we’re right back to where we started. He obviously has further mental issues that need to be addressed.
“Don’t you know anything about SVU?” – John Munch
Erm, no. Funny thing, she was sort of dumped into the squad by her old unit without any instructions. That’s got to be a problem.
(After revealing that the perp is free):
“Don’t tell me it was my uncle’s meltdown in court yesterday.” –John Munch
“No. Though that was special.” –Casey Novak
Amazing quote! If I hadn’t already been sitting on the floor, I would have been rolling on it for sure. As if that wasn’t enough, they followed it up with this:
(After explaining that the judge threw away the evidence and indictment)
“Since that evidence was our case, he threw out the indictment.” –Casey Novak
“How could you let that happen?” – Dani Beck
“(Shrug) I guess I suck.” –Casey Novak
If that didn’t have you laughing, then you have no heart. Casey also played her “Don’t mess with me face,” which sends anybody running. Definitely tons of ammo for a Casey/Dani ship!
Aw. Dani and Elliot are stalking a perp together. How sweet. (Please excuse my retching sounds. We do not need a Dani/ Elliot romance!)
“How did you know I’d be here?” –Dani Beck
Duh. Anyone could have figured out that you would be there. But then Andrew calls, and breaks up the Dani/Elliot moment. (Gosh darn.)
Well now. Not only was the train hitting the guy very low tech, but Elliot confronting Andrew was faker than anything I’ve ever seen before. They couldn’t write a better line than, “Andrew, what have you done?” I think it’s very obvious what he just did. After all, it’s kinda hard to miss a man pushing a guy in front of a train.
“Dani, Munch reached out to us.” –Elliot Stabler
Write that one down kiddies, because that doesn’t happen often!
Andrew almost sounds like a kid at the end, sort of a fitting way to end the episode, given his connection to the murdered child.
I thought this was a fantastic episode. It was very focused on specific facts to the case- motive, profiling, etc. It was very cool to see Huang at work; I wouldn’t be objected to seeing that again.
Beck, Beck, Beck. It should be interesting to see how she handles other cases now, having handled this one. If she is a true detective, she’ll take this case and learn from it. This was a “not so open-and-shut” case. Beck definitely has to be a bit softer with the right people, especially with the kids. She can be too cold and disassociating sometimes.
Some great Munch character development in this episode, and he even opens up to Huang. This is a big step for Munch, and I hope the writers capitalize on this and take it further. We even got to see inside his apartment for the first time, which could also be explored later. Munch also reached out to Dani and Elliot, another first for him. I’m liking this.
Jerry Lewis, phenomenal as usual. The writers gave him a great character to play, and he carried it like a pro. He switched very easily between multiple personality traits, and his last scene was excellent!
Next Week: It’s back to the basics with this one, and it looks like they’re going to incorporate a little bit of everything and everyone. Looks like an enthralling episode, so pass the remote!
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