Written By Kevin Fox and Brendan Feeney
Directed By Jean De Segonzac
Owen Farhidi, an 8-year-old boy, is kidnapped at school, but video footage proves that the boy knew his abductor. After receiving a ransom request, Owen's mother, Dana (Brooke Bloom), contacts SVU for help, placing SVU in the middle of a vicious custody battle between an estranged couple. Meanwhile, pressure from One Police Plaza for a higher-ranking commanding officer at SVU leads Benson to consider taking the Lieutenant's exam.
Tropes:
- Faked Kidnapping: A central point of the plot is SVU investigating Owen's abduction...and which parent is behind it.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Sam says that Owen is too trusting of strangers, and hired Javier to kidnap him from school by exploiting this.
- Kinda Busy Here: Invoked by Carisi when he went to Dana Farhidi's Yoga class to get the phone she left there. The receptionist is not letting Carisi in because it'd interrupt the yoga class's "listening to their bodies", so Carisi calls Dana's cellphone instead. The loud ringing interrupts the Yoga class and the receptionist has no choice but to let Carisi take the phone. Carisi grins with satisfaction.
- Mistaken for Terrorist: Dana's attorney during divorce hearings painted Sam as this thanks to his Iraqian origins.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Dana in spades, often running ragged and exhausted to the point where even if Owen reminds her of something multiple times, she'll still forget it.
- Spotting the Thread: The $37,000 ransom Javier demanded in exchange for Owen is stated by Amaro to be too specific of a number to ask. Then SVU detectives found out that the ransom is the exact cash amount Dana accused Sam of concealing from her during divorce proceedings, leading them to realize that the whole kidnapping was staged.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sam stages the fake kidnapping on his son in order to get Dana to wise up and take responsibility for the child she won custody of, since she would usually dump Owen on either him or her nanny Fabiana and her friends. The worst part is, this works, and the episode ends with Dana realizing she needs to take more responsibility in raising her son.
