Recaps are Spoilers Off per policy. This recap contains unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned.
Written by Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters
Directed By David Platt
When a child is poisoned, suspicion falls to the mother. However, the judge handling the case soon shows bias that leads to significant consequences and Novak enlists Clark's assistance in finding evidence to remove the judge from the bench.
Tropes
- Bittersweet Ending: Alexis Campbell and Christine Silvo are dead, with the former's family likely ruined in the long term, and Rosalin Silvo will never get back the ten years she lost to wrongful imprisonment due to Judge Oliver Taft's biased decisions in her case. However, she now has been released from jail and has the chance to rebuild her life and regain custody of her surviving daughter, while Karen Campbell is in jail where she belongs for Alexis' abuse and murder, and Taft now faces severe damage to his career and reputation in the forms of public scrutiny, a reassignment to civil court, and an inquiry into all of his previous decisions to determine whether or not they were biased.
- Crusading Lawyer: This episode showcases Casey as this for going after a corrupt judge with a lengthy history of classist bias and unethical behavior. Played with a bit in that she's so focused on getting the judge off the bench that she initially doesn't stop to think about the innocent people the judge put away; when Rosalin Silvo's lawyer calls Casey out for this, she takes the comment to heart and immediately switches her focus to getting Rosalin exonerated.
- Foil: Karen Campbell serves as this to Rosalin Silvo. Both characters have stood trial for allegedly poisoning their infant daughters where Oliver Taft was the presiding judge and who made biased decisions on their cases. But their backgrounds and culpability set them apart. For Karen, she is well-off, educated and with a husband in the picture with whom she had all her children with, which Taft uses as an excuse to acquit her while disregarding clear evidence of her knowingly poisoning her adopted child Alexis. For Rosalin, she was poor, uneducated and a single mother with children by two different fathers, which Taft used to declare her guilty while disregarding potential evidence that proved her child Christine wasn't poisoned. Whilst Karen (despite her stable background) is revealed to have abused Alexis, Rosalin (despite her unstable background) loved Christine and was horrified that someone might have hurt her.
- Honor Before Reason: Much of the episode revolves around Casey going after a corrupt judge whose biased judgement allows a guilty woman who poisoned her infant daughter to walk free, against the advice of her mentor and even Elliot of all people.Stabler: Casey, it's not worth it. Look, what good does it do anybody for you to kill your career?
Novak: If that is justice, I don't want this career.- Averted with Rosalin Silvo's original lawyer. After it became clear that Taft was out to wrongfully convict his client, he filed to recuse himself from the case, only to be denied; afterwards, he left criminal law to avoid further harassment from Taft, and when Casey approaches him to ask for help in getting Taft off the bench, he declines to be involved.
- Hypocrite:
- Stabler says about Taft, "This guy abuses his power and gets away with it!" Stabler routinely abuses his power and has never suffered any consequences.
- Casey is horrified that Taft sent an innocent person to prison and is indignant that Rosalin Silvo's lawyer won't do anything about it. Silvo's attorney points out that her indignation rings hollow since it was the District Attorney's Office that charged Silvo with the murder she didn't commit. Casey acknowledges his point and works to get Silvo exonerated.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Karen Campbell was convicted of murdering the girl whose previous attempted murder she got away with. Taft was exposed as corrupt before the entire world and it was implied that he would be transferred to an insignificant position.
- Lower-Class Lout: It's implied that Taft thought of Rosalin Silvo as this and barely hid his contempt.
- Offing the Offspring: Karen Campbell is accused of trying to kill her adopted daughter, causing her permanent brain damage. After being acquitted of the first attempt, she goes home and shortly thereafter smothers the child with a pillow.
- Rosalin Silvo was accused and initially convicted of murdering her daughter, but was ultimately proven innocent.
- The Unfavorite: Alexis Campbell is this to her adoptive mother Karen. According to Karen's sister-in-law, she would emotionally neglect Alexis while doting on her biological children (seven-year-old Katie and a pair of twins born shortly after Karen and her husband Pete adopted Alexis from Romania). This could be attributed to the stress of raising so many young children at once, and for Karen, it was likely easier to take it out on Alexis due to her being adopted and Karen seemingly never having a chance to bond with her. The neglect then escalates into abuse after Karen fails to return Alexis to the agency that helped adopt her, and then to murder when a brain-damaged Alexis is brought home and Karen becomes overwhelmed by her constant crying and smothers her to death.
- Subverted with Karen's husband Pete, who appears to love all of his children, including Alexis; it's implied that he only doesn't witness or notice his wife's abuse of Alexis due to being at work most of the time. He even brings Alexis home from the hospital rather than let her go into long-term care despite objections from Karen and the doctors. While this ultimately leads to Karen murdering Alexis in the end, it shows that he likely felt that Alexis should be cared for and surrounded by her family.
- Villain Has a Point: Stabler being disappointed, even outraged, by Taft's ruling was understandable, but mouthing off to a judge is highly unprofessional and unlikely to result in changing his mind, which a detective should know. Even Casey and her mentor, Mary Clark point out that his behaviour didn't help the situation.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Silvo's attorney pointed out that when Casey learned Taft sent an innocent person to prison, her first instinct was to try to use it to go after Taft rather than actually help the innocent woman get out of prison. To her credit, Casey accepts the comment and immediately goes to the SVU detectives to reopen the investigation.
