Written By Bryan Goluboff
Directed By Jim McKay
A well-respected basketball coach (Dan Lauria) is accused of sexual abuse by a former pupil (Aaron Tveit), and SVU (now joined by Elliot's replacement Nick Amaro) investigates a trail of possible victims going back decades and continuing into the modern day, including the man's star pupil (Mehcad Brooks).
Tropes
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Coach Ray Masters looks and acts like a stereotypical Cool Old Guy. He's also a pedophile and Serial Rapist.
- Chekhov's Gun: Prince Miller's manager brags about the custom-made prototype shoes he is wearing. When he kills Stevie, he unknowingly stepped on some of the latter's blood and leaves some very distinct footprints.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Prince Miller is mentioned in the Cold Open as Coach Masters' absentee alumni.
- Creepy Gym Coach: Basketball coach Masters is revealed to have sexually abused numerous players over the years, including his star pupil.
- Dawn of an Era: With Nick's introduction, the show's new status quo is officially formed.
- Decoy Protagonist: Stevie Harris is introduced as the primary Victim of the Week. Then he gets killed in the episode's halfway point, leaving the role as the episode's central guest character to Prince Miller.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: Benson (to Amaro): "A cop who doesn't eat donuts? How can I trust you?"
- Double-Meaning Title: "Personal Foul" is a sports-related term (in this case Basketball) involving usually physical contact with or deliberate roughing of an opponent. The episode also deals with a tenured Basketball coach and all his students that he molested.
- End of an Age: The impact of Elliot's departure is alluded throughout the episode, from Cragen asking Olivia to clean Elliot's desk citing "it's not a shrine for him [Elliot]" while Fin and Munch somberly watch to Fin filling in Nick about what Elliot and Olivia have been through and unfavorably comparing his own failed marriage to their bond, to Alex consoling Olivia about said departure, and finally Olivia starting to make peace with it.
- Evil Teacher: Coach Ray Masters, a tenured basketball coach who is sexually assaulting his students for God knows how long.
- Famous, Famous, Fictional: The episode opens with pictures of Ray Masters hanging out with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, Manny Pacquiao, and Prince Miller.
- Foreshadowing: Rollins says that Prince Miller cost her a lot of money when he made a buzzer-beater shot. This is the first indication that Rollins has a serious gambling problem.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: Nick is introduced with a shabby beard. Cragen asks him to shave it, resulting to him gaining the Tall, Dark, and Handsome appearance he is known for.
- He Knows Too Much: Prince Miller's manager murders Stevie Harris for trying to convince his client to testify against Coach Masters, fearing that such scandal would ruin the career of his money maker.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: One of Coach Masters's prior victims said Coach never did anything to him. He said it before the detectives had a chance to say he did.
- Manly Tears: Prince Miller and Coach Masters' current victim shed them during the former's Rousing Speech regarding his experiences.
- The One Who Made It Out: Prince Miller is the most successful student of Coach Ray Masters, making it to the NBA.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Prince Miller acts as a typical Jerk Jock who is always wearing his Cool Shades. When he finally comes out to the public as a rape victim, he removes his shades, drops the cocky attitude, and breaks down.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Stevie's murderer frames his death as overdose. But as Amaro points out, not only was Stevie been serious about getting clean since The Squad met him but the needle marks on his arm were so shabby to be done by a seasoned junkie.
- Pædo Hunt: Coach Ray targets boys as young as 9 and stops when they get older (15), then moves onto younger victims.
- Rage Against the Mentor: The episode is about a coach sexually assaulting his charges for decades, so the episode naturally deals with him being called out on it.
- Rape as Backstory: The main premise of the episode is finding Coach Masters' former victims, particularly Prince Miller coming to terms with it.
- Ripped from the Headlines: This episode is based on the Graham James and Jerry Sandusky cases.
- Second Episode Introduction: Nick Amaro is finally introduced.
- Too Dumb to Live: A manager of the basketball star Prince Miller had told detectives he was wearing custom-made prototype shoes. He wore those shoes when he killed a man who would effectively expose the fact that Prince had been sexually abused by his coach years ago.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Ray Masters is such a respected coach that it becomes hard to believe when his dirty laundries start getting out.
- Womanchild: Downplayed. Mostly due to dealing with Stabler leaving, Olivia is not at her most mature in this episode.
- When Olivia finds out another detective is coming to replace Stabler, her reaction is closer to a child throwing a tantrum than a professional who should understand that working with whoever her commanding officer assigns her to work with and training new detectives is part of her job.
- When Amaro arrives, Olivia greets him with all the passive-aggressiveness of a high school mean girl.
- When Warner doesn't reach the conclusion Olivia wants on Stevie's autopsy, she whines and pouts to try to get Warner to change the report, which is not only improper, it's borderline illegal.
