Written By Jonathan Greene
Directed By Juan J Campanella
A young woman (Lily Rabe) is raped and a identifies prominent lawyer, Martin Trenway (Charles Shaughnessy), as her rapist. The Squad has difficulty making the charges stick until another victim (Robin Weigert) comes forward, but her testimony cannot be proven reliable. Finally, Beck manages to track down a third woman (Leslie Caron), whose testimony may be difficult to obtain given that she remains mostly silent and has been silent for decades.
Her performance for this episode won Leslie Caron the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
This episode provides examples of:
- Amoral Attorney: Martin Trenway, a former ADA and a Serial Rapist since he was a teenager.
- And Starring: "Special Guest Star Connie Nielsen", "Special Guest Appearance By Leslie Caron", plus the regular guest stars lineup ending with "And James Naughton".
- Beauty Is Bad: The Villain of the Week is played by the Tall, Dark, and Handsome Charles Shaughnessy.
- Bittersweet Ending: Heather Stark's rapist will never face justice and Martin Trenway will never get charged for his rape of Lorraine Delmas. But evidence that Ms. Delmas kept the night Trenway raped her is what finally proves that he's a Serial Rapist and gets imprisoned for his more recent crimes. The episode even ends with Ms. Delmas smiling triumphantly.
- Book Ends: The episode begins with a lowly perp escaping Stabler and Beck's clutches. The episode ends with them successfully incarcerating a high profile suspect.
- Chekhov's Gun: Beck mentions to Eliot early in the episode that she's European (Danish) and studied European language and culture. This came in handy in finally having Lorraine Delmas to open up about her rape, when Beck spoke to her in her native French.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The old woman who Eliot sees in Martin Trenway's first trial.
- Dark Secret: Lorraine Delmas was one of Martin Trenway's earliest victims and kept that to herself for forty years.
- Dirty Old Man: Martin Trenway, a man in his mid-fifties who is a Serial Rapist since he was a teenager.
- Hello, Attorney!: Martin Trenway is a good looking man in his mid fifties. Unfortunately, him being a notorious Serial Rapist makes it moot.
- Honorary Aunt: Lorraine Delmas was a close friend of Martin Trenway's mother, causing her to take on the role of a surrogate aunt toward him. That ended when she became his first victim.
- Karma Houdini: Heather Stark's rapist. Forensics prove Trenway didn't attack her, and even if DNA evidence could be used to identify Heather's rapist, the statute of limitations has run out.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Charles Shaughnessy (who plays Martin Trenway) is from London. His accent slips in several places during the interrogation scene with Stabler and Beck.
- Rape as Drama: The episode centers around three rape victims.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The main characters are well-aware that Martin Trenway may pull this trope due to him being a former ADA with friends in the department.
- Serial Rapist: Martin Trenway has been raping women since he was a teenager.
- Silver Fox: Martin Trenway. Of course being a Serial Rapist takes away from that.
- Villainous Breakdown: Martin Trenway finally loses it once Ms. Delmas is on the witness stand.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Martin Trenway is a former ADA and an upstanding citizen. He's also a notorious Serial Rapist.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: A crestfallen Heather Stark disappears from the story after Martin Trenway is proven not to have been her rapist and she realizes the statute of limitations means she'll never see her attacker brought to justice.
