Recaps are Spoilers Off per policy. All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned
Written By Amanda Green and Daniel Truly
Directed by Peter Leto
A tourist is found dead in Central Park with the word "guilty" written on her forehead and a conspiracy theorist as the main suspect as bodies start piling up. However, the real threat is much closer to SVU than initially thought, and soon Stabler and Benson find their lives at risk.
Tropes Used in this Episode:
- Badass in Distress: Stuckey is able to sneak attack Elliot and torture him.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: While Olivia is just as annoyed by Stuckey as everyone else, she's also the only member of the squad who consistently makes an effort to remain civil to him, and she also takes a moment to assure him that they'll find a way to get Harrison despite the paperwork error. When she later walks in on Dale torturing Elliot, he tells her that he "didn't want to have to hurt her too", and he's easily persuaded out of doing so.
- Bound and Gagged: Stabler by Dale Stuckey.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Peter Harrison and his friends are one. His posse includes Munch's ex-wife.
- Covert Pervert: Implied with Stuckey when he takes substantial interest in Peter Harrison's laptop after Munch's comment makes Stuckey think Munch found porn on it.
- Crossover: Munch's ex-wife from Homicide: Life on the Street (played by Carol Kane) turns up.
- Distressed Dude: Stabler due to Stuckey capturing and gagging him.
- Fake Defector: Olivia pretended a Face–Heel Turn to get Stuckey let his guard down for Elliot to land a Groin Attack.
- Foreshadowing: When the judge lets the perp released thanks to improperly handled evidence, Stuckey becomes belligerent and insists she's the one in the wrong, prompting her to sarcastically ask "Has everybody gone crazy today?". Sure enough, Stuckey becomes the main villain of the episode.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Deconstructed. The SVU team really couldn't stand Stuckey's attitude but him screwing up what should have been an Open-and-Shut Case was the last straw. This and the rebuking ends up causing Stuckey to snap and try to catch the criminal his own way.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: After Stuckey kidnaps Stabler and Benson calls to find out where he is, Stuckey tells her he went out for sushi. She comes to Stabler's rescue as she realizes Stabler hates raw fish (though there may be other factors that fueled her suspicion).
- Killed Off for Real: O'Halloran.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Annoying as he may be, the entire team's constant intolerance to Stuckey's quirks causes him to finally snap.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Olivia tells Dale that if he murders Elliot, he can be her new partner and lover. It's all a diversion so that she and Elliot can take him out and have him arrested.
- Off on a Technicality: The initial perp ends up walking free after it was discovered there was a error on the evidence paperwork. Stuckey is certain that there was none, but he is swiftly rebuked for it.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Played for Laughs when Judge Donnelly is informed that Peter Harrison attempted to murder her.Judge Elizabeth Donnelly: I can't believe that son of a bitch had the nerve to come after me. You pull him out of that jail cell, you don't bother bringing him to court, I wanna kick his ass myself, you didn't hear any of that.
- Pet the Dog: After Stuckey's mistake on the case, Olivia is the only one not to berate him for it and even tells him they'll find a way to fix it, even though she's clearly just as annoyed as everyone else on the squad. It's most likely what kept Stuckey from immediately shooting her when she accidentally stumbled onto his torture of Elliot.
- Sanity Slippage: The entire plot of the episode.
- The Schizophrenia Conspiracy: Peter Harrison, a dangerous schizophrenic, leads a circle of anti-establishment conspiracy theorists that includes one of Munch's ex-wives.
- Season Finale: The show's tenth.
- Soft Glass: Averted. Elliot has to use a tire iron to break the car window of Harrison's attorney, and even then it takes several whacks to break through.
- Spanner in the Works: A mosquito. It had been killed in the same gas attack that had killed the perp's lawyer and everyone knew it could reveal who the killer was. What they didn't realize was that the killer wasn't who they thought it was.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: Trailers for this episode emphasize a major character death. It's O'Halloran.
- True Final Boss: Stuckey is the episode's real villain and is encountered in the last seven minutes or so.
- Vigilante Man: Stuckey snaps at letting the perp go, causing him to Jump Off The Slippery Slope.
- Wham Shot:
- O'Halloran getting stabbed.
- Elliot seeing Stuckey's profile in the computer matching the DNA test O'Halloran was conducting.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Peter Harrison, while he’s not the episode's main killer he has killed for as little a crime of taking his photo and has attempted to kill others and his cult of conspiracy theorists even indirectly caused the main victim’s death and probably other untold tragedies. Suffice to say it’s easy to hate him… until you remember that he's a severely schizophrenic man due to losing his parents in a plane crash as a child causing him to believe that the whole world was "out to get him". That’s enough to make anyone sympathetic!
- You Didn't See That: When Judge Donnelly learns that "Harrison" is targeting her, she has some choice words for him before she remembers that she isn't alone.Judge Elizabeth Donnelly: I can't believe that son of a bitch had the nerve to come after me. You pull him out of that jail cell, you don't bother bringing him to court, I wanna kick his ass myself, you didn't hear any of that.Detective Olivia Benson: I was gonna ask if you're okay, but I can see you're better than ever.
