Written By Dawn De Noon and Lisa Marie Petersen
Directed By Juan Jose Campanella
A woman, who happens to be the stepdaughter of a judge with a harsh reputation against sex offenders, is raped and murdered; leaving the detectives with slew of suspects and no clear killer.
Tropes
- Downer Ending: Patricia is still dead, Judge Thornburg goes to jail for raping her while her mother goes to jail for murdering her, and their two young boys are forced to be separated from their parents.
- Everybody Did It: Judge Thornburg raped his 11-year-old stepdaughter, who years later conspired with an ex-con to get revenge and murder Thornburg. After this revenge is planned out, the stepdaughter is murdered by her own mother, Mrs. Thornburg.
- Evil All Along: Mrs. Thornburg is revealed to be the one who murdered her own daughter Patricia in a fit of rage when the girl confessed to her that her stepfather (the mother's beloved second husband and a respected judge) raped and impregnated her when she was eleven.
- Hanging Judge: Judge Thornburg is stated to be one.
- Never My Fault: Mrs. Thornburg has this attitude when confronted with the truth about her daughter's rape and murder. Averted with Judge Thornburg, who eventually acknowledges that he ruined his stepdaughter's life and is a piece of crap.
- Parental Betrayal: Mrs. Thornburg kills her teen daughter Patricia in a fit of rage after the girl confessed to her that her beloved husband raped and impregnated her when she was eleven. When Benson and Stabler come to arrest her, they are horrified when Mrs. Thornburg shrugs off the rape by claiming that it was her daughter who seduced her husband and then self-righteously exclaim how insulted she was when her dying daughter looked at her as if she (the mother) was the one who betrayed her.
- Social Climber: It is implied that Mrs. Thornburg married her husband for a better life, and she devoted herself to him to the point that she failed to realize (or ignored) how harmful he was to her young daughter.
- You Are What You Hate: Judge Thornburg has a reputation for imposing harsh sentences on sex offenders, and it turns out he himself is a pedophile who raped his 11-year-old stepdaughter.
