By Trublu
PTR Staff Writer
NBC Recap
The opening scenes of “Responsible” have us all asking: what would it be like to find a random child dead in your home? We learn that if you never want to know the answer to this question, you should never hire a dog walker that you meet on the street that out sources her business.
How ridiculous do those two sentences sound? The first thing we get is an assumed murder scene of a teenager, only the people who own the place don’t know who she is. After a bit of chatting and a long game of “degrees of separation,” we find out that the dog walker the owners hired while they were on vacation out sourced the job to a random “trusted” teen dog walker, who in turn loaned the keys to her friends so that they could throw a party. They were all under age and drinking, so after another long list of chats, Benson and Stabler narrow down what happened: the girl was drinking and passed out, but no one thought to call 911. The things people will do to avoid getting in trouble.
It wasn’t like there was a ton of evidence on them anyway. Casey tells Elliot and Olivia to pick up the three teens, but there was really no way she could charge them with anything. They all claimed to have left before the girl passed out, and nobody can pinpoint where they got the alcohol. Whoever supplied it is the real culprit.
The kids might actually deserve to be in jail, though, because after Donnelly lets them out with a court order to abstain from alcohol, they post on their web pages where the next party is and who is bringing the booze. Now, this is the extremely fuzzy, “what in the world was Donnelly thinking” part of the episode, because she lets them go again! Its only when they post a video online (how stupid can these kids be?) making fun of Elliot and Donnelly, while drunk, that Donnelly finally puts them in jail.
Munch: You could start a bonfire with all the alcohol this one drank. What’s your poison, honey?
Reagan: Shut up you dirty old man.
Munch: Who you calling old?
If you didn’t fall out of your chair at that comment, shame on you! Not only did we get to see Munch for more than five seconds, but he says something classy like that!
Boy: You can’t do this, I want my parents!
Munch: Yeah and I want the troops home, the Kyoto protocol signed and an oil job from Miss February.
*Falls out of chair again.* Can you say that on national TV? I guess so! Of course, references like that have been made before, but I’ll let you bask in this one.
The truly sobering (pun intended, sorta) part of this episode was the car crash that kills Jordan and Reagan. It highlights on of the most tragic drinking and driving incidents; Reagan was totally sober, but she got into a car with Jordan, who was too drunk to see straight, let alone drive. It was so extremely important that the writers created the scene this way because it will help people understand that getting into a car with someone who is drunk is just as dangerous as driving when you’re drunk.
Casey: So your daughter is not an alcoholic?
Lillian: No. I live with her, I would know!
Casey: What planet are you on? She’s in rehab.
Lillian: Those places say everyone’s an addict. I love chocolate, maybe I should check in.
Casey: That’s a great idea. (Lillian starts walking out the door). Maybe you’ll gain insight into your problems, like why you have sex with teenage boys or why you’re so desperate to be liked that you buy kids’ friendships with alcohol. It’s pathetic!
Some comic relief, definitely. I was on my floor laughing at Casey during this scene. And yet, its also part of the most serious and devastating section of the episode, Becca’s ordeal.
The entire time she had been drinking, right under Benson and Stabler’s noses. Even when I was watching her at the beginning, I didn’t suspect a thing. But she was good at hiding it, so nobody noticed. Even more appalling was the fact that Lillian, Becca’s mother, had been supplying everyone with alcohol the entire episode. The only thing that got her to admit what she had done was the photographic evidence of Becca’s brain and liver that showed them slowly being eaten away.
Elliot burning Kathleen’s license? Priceless. Extremely belated, and it seems like it would be an incredibly stupid thing to do, but the best thing none the less. While Daddy bailed her out of a record and charges, she has no license, is probably forbidden to get a new license, and will probably have to pay for a new one once she is allowed to get one.
I’m willing to bet that one common reaction to this episode was the question: why was this a SVU episode? It was truly a SVU episode because in essence, Lillian was endangering the children around her. It’s true that they probably could have gotten alcohol without her (as exhibited by Kathleen easily ordering a drink in the restaurant, without being carded), but Lillian provided them with alcohol and mistakenly made the assumption that as long as she could control their drinking, then it was okay that they were under age. Common, and deadly, mistake.
I’m really glad that the writers came up with this episode. Hopefully it shows one teen or one parent how dangerous drinking really is. This was taken from the end of the episode:
2,449 youths under 21 were killed in alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2005. That's an average of 7 deaths every day.
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