Recaps are Spoilers Off per policy. All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned
Written By Judith McCreary
Directed By Jonathan Kaplan
When Alicia Harding (Debra Messing), host of the television series Neighborhood Predator, begins to receive personal threats, her lifelong pursuit to find her sister's abductor emerges. Detectives Olivia Benson and Odafin "Fin" Tutola are joined in the investigation by ADA Sonya Paxton, who may be too involved in the case. As Harding thinks she is getting close to the truth, another life hangs in the balance.
This episode provides examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Olivia says that Alicia fixating on the case of her sister's murder isn't healthy, Sonya responds "And how long did you look for the man who raped your mother?"
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Averted, Grafton apparently remembers all of his victims.
- Cassandra Truth: Alicia figures out pretty quickly that her stalker is the same man who killed her sister, but everyone else doesn't think so for awhile.
- Dying Clue: After being attacked and fatally injured by the killer, Sonya Paxton just manages to gasp out "I got him" before succumbing to her injuries. Justified in that the killer was a stranger so she didn't have a name to give, and she didn't have enough air for more than a few syllables due to her trachea being severed in the attack, so she was doing her best to get the full message across with that limitation. It ends up working well enough; Olivia figures out pretty quickly that Sonya was trying to tell her that she'd managed to get the killer's DNA, in part because Olivia knows that's what she would do in the same situation.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: Adam Grafton isn't given much characterization. He's just a random Serial Killer who fixates on the Harding sisters. He lived a few blocks from them as a teenager, but otherwise there's no connection between him and Alicia or Vanessa.
- Good Is Not Nice: Alicia's got good motives and is helping to expose pedophiles, but she isn't a very pleasant person.
- Gone Horribly Right: Alicia goes on national TV to call the serial killer a coward, and hopes that this will enrage him to make him sloppy. He does gets angry enough to make a mistake, but murders Sonya Paxton in the process.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Referenced. Alicia's public challenge to the killer made Sonya want a drink...but she's a Recovered Addict, so that meant "I need to go to a meeting".
- Killed Off for Real: ADA Sonya Paxton is attacked by Grafton and knifed to death in the bathroom.
- Manipulative Bitch: Olivia guilt trips Alicia into talking to Grafton so that other families can get peace by knowing what happened to their loved ones. She's unamused, and even calls Olivia this, word for word. Not that it doesn't ultimately work, as she still goes to interview him with Olivia.
- My Greatest Failure: Sonya Paxton regards her inability to solve Vanessa Harding's murder as this. She is able to help bring the killer to justice by biting him during a struggle, but loses her life in the process.
- Serial Killer: Adam Grafton is responsible for the murders of Alicia Harding's sister Vanessa, Sonya Paxton, and 42 other women.
- Smug Snake: Grafton is quite smug during the final interrogation, taunting Alicia and Benson mercilessly.
- The Sociopath: Stabler profiles Grafton as such. Given that he's murdered 44 women, it's hard to argue.
