Written By Jonathan Greene
Directed By Jonathan Kaplan
A young girl is raped and murdered, but Captain Jackson (Jeremy Irons) tells detectives that the culprit could be a female predator given the care in disposing the body. The investigation leads detectives to the girl's piano teacher (Elizabeth Mitchell), who along with her half-sister (Agatha Nowicki) might be suffering abuse of her own at the hands of her overbearing elderly mother (Lisa Banes).
This episode provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Elaine molested and sodomized both her daughters and continues raping Katie well into adulthood.
- Accidental Murder: Katie slips Marnie all of June's sleeping pills, thinking it was medicine, before raping her. Marnie fatally overdosed.
- Anti-Villain: Katie Cavanaugh becomes mentally broken due to her mother's sexual abuse. Because she was "accustomed" to it, she did the same thing to Marnie when she met her at June's house thinking it was normal.
- Artistic Licence – Law: An interviewee merely musing that she might need an attorney is not a sufficiently clearly invocation of the right against self-incrimination to require a halt to interrogation. That being said, SVU's been burned on this in the past, so it's possible they're just being a little extra cautious to avoid a repeat.
- When Katie is to be institutionalized, the detectives tell June that "she'll never be free again". In reality, a defendant deemed not guilty by reason of mental defect, which is what's being suggested in the scene, would be directed to be held "until such time as [they] are no longer a threat to [themselves] or to others", rather than for any set stretch of time. This can, and in many cases does, result in the person being held for life, but it wouldn't be something that's predetermined at the time of sentencing.
- Ass Pull: In-Universe. Jackson decides, based on no evidence, that the killer is female, which is convenient for the narrative since the detectives are at a dead end. The detectives Lamp Shade it through their skepticism.
- Bathroom Search Excuse: Stabler asks to use the bathroom as an excuse to search June's house.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: June's family seems well-off judging by her Big Fancy House and her mother and half-sister's lofty apartment, but boy do they have issues.
- Broken Bird: Both June and her half-sister Katie were raped by their mother for years.
- Bungled Suicide: June attempted to overdose on sleeping pills over her role on Marnie's death, but SVU are there so she was immediately taken to the hospital.
- Bus Crash: Cap reveals that his daughter Anne ultimately succumbed to her injuries.
- Call-Back: This isn't exactly a Sequel Episode to "Mask", but several elements of the episode are relevant here, particularly Cap's psychiatric background and his experience dealing with Parental Incest.
- Continuity Nod: Hudson University, rape capital of the world, gets a cameo when one of the sexual predators the detectives are investigating explains Hudson can't fire him because he has tenure.
- Cooldown Hug: Fin gives one to Susan Foster, Marnie's surviving mother, after SVU conforms that her daughter is indeed dead.
- Cruel Twist Ending: It appears Marnie's killer is June's abrasive rapist of a mother, who is easy to root against. Turns out it's actually June's mentally unstable younger half-sister who was also raped by their mother (though her murder of Marnie was accidental).
- Death of a Child: The entire episode is centered around Marnie Foster's murder.
- Depraved Bisexual: Elaine Frye Cavanaugh rapes her daughters, both from different marriages, for years. Katie is also probably either this or a Psycho Lesbian.
- Double Standard: Rape, Female on Female: Played with. Elaine's abuse of her daughters is regarded with as much revulsion as if she were a man. However, one of her daughters raping and (accidentally) murdering a little girl and the other daughter helping to cover it up is treated almost thoroughly sympathetically because it resulted from Elaine's abuse, sympathy that a man would never have probably received.
- Evil Cripple: Elaine Frye Cavanaugh is permanently crippled in her left leg due to a previous fall. She also started raping her daughters way before that.
- Evil Old Folks: Elaine Frye Cavanaugh continues to rape her younger daughter well into the latter's adulthood.
- Happy Ending Override: The ending of "Mask" implied that Cap and his daughter could still reconcile but he reveals that she ultimately succumbed to her injuries.
- Insanity Defense: At the end of the episode, the detectives tell June that they expect Katie will be sent to a psychiatric facility rather than prison, as she's clearly so messed up as to be unable to understand the consequences of her actions.
- It's Always Sunny at Funerals: Marnie's takes place in broad daylight.
- Lonely Piano Piece: June is playing the Moonlight Sonata before her Bungled Suicide.
- The Maiden Name Debate: Elaine Frye Cavanaugh. Frye is her original married surname which she hyphens with her new one.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Cap reveals that, after the events of "Mask", he lost his daughter, his practice, his credibility and may possibly lose his licence. This is because allowing Elliot to go undercover at his support group in order to catch a killer, violated doctor-patient confidentiality rules.
- Mrs. Robinson: Olivia mentions the Trope Namer while discussing the possible rapists.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Marnie's death to her parents. Cap is also grieving his daughter Anne's passing. It also applies for Marnie's teachers, as several of them are visibly saddened over her murder.
- Parental Incest: Elaine Frye Cavanaugh sexually abuses her daughters for decades. SVU is rightfully disgusted.
- Rape as Backstory: June and her younger sister Katie are both sexually abused by their mother for decades.
- Ripped from the Headlines: This is based on the murder of Sandra Cantu
. - Shout-Out: The episode features Jeremy Irons' character as a doctor (returning from a previous episode) who claims that a woman may have been responsible for the latest rape and murder of a girl. In discussing what kind of women seduce younger people, Olivia brings up "Mrs. Robinson-types.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: We're told Cap's practice failed thanks to him letting Elliot slip in, which violated his patients confidentiality and it's implied that he's fighting to keep his license to practice.
- Taking the Heat: Knowing that her mentally unstable younger sister was the one who killed her student Marnie, June confesses to the crime to spare her from going to prison.
- Tragic Villain: Katie Cavanaugh raped and killed Marnie, but she herself is raped by her own mother and is mentally damaged as a result. For what very, very little it's worth, she only intended the drugs to knock Marnie out long enough to rape her, not kill her.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Although the episode has several aspects directly taken from the Real Life murder of Sandra Cantu—the use of a wooden kitchen utensil, the disposal of the body in a piece of luggage, the child being drugged with medication—everything else was created by the show, such as the killer's extensively tragic background.
- Villainous Incest: The two rapists, Katie and her mom, share a bedroom, although Katie's consent in the relationship is iffy at best.
- Would Hurt a Child: Marnie Foster's murder kickstarted the episode.
