Directed By Richard Dobbs
Written by Dawn De Noon & Lisa Marie Petersen
A young woman named Tracy suspected of being a prostitute is found dead just off of Times Square. While investigating the case, it leads them to discover a 30 year string of murders of sex workers, which leads Benson and Stabler to look at a fellow NYPD officer as a suspect.
Tropes
- A Deadly Affair: Dennis already had a girlfriend when he met Tracy. She became infatuated with him and he kept her on the side, implied because she was black and he was white, and that he was just keeping her around until he could get married to a "proper woman".
- The Alibi: One of Tracy's students who hasn't shown up for class at the literacy class is suspected until the detectives go to his apartment and discover he's been dead a week from a drug overdose.
- Dennis claims he was watching sports with his best friend, even having the friend's business card ready to show the detectives before they even ask for it. The fact he's a little too willing to prove his alibi makes them suspicious.
- All Women Love Shoes: Gender-flipped. At the crime scene, the team finds a unique Italian shoe print. The shoes belong to Dennis (the girl's rich boyfriend). He owns quite a few shoes, and in fact couldn't bear to throw them away.
- Benson while not shown to have a large collection of shoes, is able to recognize the brand name, correct its pronunciation, and known quite a bit about them. She admits to reading about them, and probably wishes she could own a pair.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Ridley's former neighbors reveal how he was left out all night in the cold and rain sometimes when his mother was with a john, having nothing but saltines to eat for diner.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Cassidy tries to sum up what they know about the case, blundering on about how the body wasn't posed because there was no body because the potential victim is still alive, and how the first and third bodies were posed because...there were bodies.
- Dirty Cop: Peter Ridley killed at least 18 prostitutes over his 31 year career.
- Disposable Sex Worker: The victim of the week is mistaken for a prostitute, and two other cops on the scene take this attitude. This belief is also probably why Ridley got away with his crimes for so long.
- The prostitute who got away from the serial killer cop also lampshades this. She asks the Armor-Piercing Question of why the cops are investigating this so hard. Is it just because it happened to someone who matters?
- Even the Dog Is Ashamed: Dennis's mother defends him, but when she realizes that the detectives are right and that he killed Tracy, she immediately is horrified and angry, asking him why he did it.
- Freudian Excuse: Ridley's motivations in killing prostitutes lie in his childhood. His mother was a prostitute and neglectful to him, leading him to angrily resent her choosing her johns over him. It leads to him killing in the present day.
- Indignant Slap: Tracy's mother gives one to Stabler when he mentions they suspect Tracy might have been a prostitute (an assumption which turns out to be false). He takes it since the mother is obviously in the throes of grief and angry. She later has her husband apologize on her behalf.
- Mistaken for Prostitute: Tracy is initially mistaken for one due to the skimpy clothes she had on and because she is Black. But when the autopsy reveals she's got perfect teeth, expensive health food, and no drugs in her system, the detectives begin to realize she's not what she appears to be.
- Noodle Incident: A horrifying example. One of the young prostitutes, Rose, tells Stabler and Benson that she was beaten up badly by a guy the same way as happened to their victim, who tied her up and then brought in his buddies to continue the torture. Thinking they've found a lead, they ask her if she remembers what he looked like. She reveals it was her own male relatives who did this to her before she ran away from home.
- Nosy Neighbor: A twofold example. The landlord of one of the possible suspects is all too happy to gossip about her tenant and hang around to see if he'll be arrested. Ridley's neighbors, an old married couple who knew him in childhood, are also eager to share the details of his past with Benson and Stabler.
- Not Me This Time: Ridley had nothing to do with the murder of this episode. He even makes a point to tell the detectives that he was not involved, as he wants his record accurate.
- Obscene OB-GYN: The doctor on trial sexually molested his female patients under the guise of treating their symptoms for hysteria, rather than just prescribing them something like Prozac as they requested.
- Plot Threads: The C-plot involves Munch testifying at the trial of a corrupt doctor who molested his female patients and videotaped them while doing so.
- Recovered Addict: Cragen and Briscoe are already established as recovering alcoholics, but some attention is given to that in this episode.
- Red Herring: D'Angelo is a total Jerkass, but he had nothing to do with any of the prostitutes' deaths. Or the victim of the week for that matter.
- Required Spinoff Crossover: It just so happens to be Lennie Briscoe who had previously worked at the precinct where the detectives suspect they have a Dirty Cop on their hands. This is Jerry Orbach's second consecutive appearance in an episode of SVU.
- Serial Killer: Ridley killed at least 18 prostitutes.
- Sinister Suffocation: How Ridley killed his victims, by suffocating them with a plastic bag over their heads. Dennis ends up killing Tracy this way as well.
- Slut-Shaming: The victim of the week is initially thought to be a whore simply because she's wearing a skimpy top and short skirt. It turns out she was dressed that way because it was hot out and she was going clubbing.
- Something Only They Would Say: "Do", rather. The detectives realize that a fellow cop is the Serial Killer in question when they interview a surviving victim and notice that the way she shielded her eyes from his flashlight means that he was holding it in the manner cops are trained to do.
- Son of a Whore: When he was a child, Ridley's mother would lock him out of the house as she serviced her customers, leaving him nothing but saltines for dinner.
- The Talk: Of the Awkward variety. Stabler has a talk with Kathleen while she is practicing her soccer kicks, telling her to "always guard her goal". It is obvious to her within seconds that he is not talking about soccer.
- Teen Pregnancy: Kathleen mentions one of her older friends has dropped out of school because she's pregnant. This affects her a lot and disturbs Elliot.
- That Was Objectionable: While testifying regarding a doctor who sexually assaulted a patient under the guise of treating her for hysteria, Munch gets the defense and the prosecutor to object simultaneously by explaining why the vibrator was invented.
- Unexpected Virgin: The victim of the week Tracy turned out to be one for her rich boyfriend. He thought she was experienced and slutty when he saw her at a club but it turned out he was her first.
- Unusual Euphemism: After Kathleen tells her parents a friend of hers (a 14-year-old) is pregnant, Stabler gives her a soccer lesson using tips on how to guard to goal as euphemisms for not having sex. She puts up with it for a while, before:"Dad! I'm a virgin, okay!?!
- Vomiting Cop: A rookie officer who finds Tracy's body is said to start puking when he sees it, so the seasoned officer sends him to go supervise something else.
