History Recap / LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS11E22Ace

* BigDamnHeroes: Captain Cragen, Fin, and some members of TheSquad track down Anton Petrov's den and save Sophia Zorav from being killed.
* BoomHeadshot: How Anton Petrov killed Lili Denkova. Sophia Zorav nearly met the same fate until Cragen shoots her executioner moments before pulling the trigger.
* ChekhovMIA: Sophia Zorav is the VictimOfTheWeek, but she spends most of the episode captured by Anton Petrov's men and later FakingTheDead with the FBI and Marlowe to catch him.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: The episode concludes with Anton Petrov going to prison for the rest of his life, Sophia Zorav reclaiming her baby, and having her and her parents process their naturalization (her baby was born in the U.S. and thus a citizen).
* EventTitle: Jo makes a TitleDrop that Sophia Zorav (FakingTheDead with the FBI) is her "ace in the hole".
* FakingTheDead: When the {{FBI agent}}s who were guarding Sophia Zorav sees Anton Petrov's planted bomb on their transport vehicle, they decided to [[XanatosSpeedChess play into Petrov's plans]].

* HalfwayPlotSwitch: The episode begins with Sophia Zorav being the victim of a serial rapist, then switches to protecting her and her child from a child trafficking ring.

* {{Irony}}: Fin accuses the immigration office employee of racism for suggesting that Sophia shouldn't have been issued a visa while pregnant (as the child automatically gets citizenship if born in the U.S.). Ironically, Sophia and the immigration employee are both white (Sophia being Bulgarian).[[note]]Although what Fin was probably trying to get at is that the particular variety of anti-immigrant sentiment the employee was expressing ''does'' tie in with racist ideology, even if race isn't at issue in this particular situation.[[/note]]
* KarmaHoudini: Defense attorney Buchanan is not charged for his role in the murder conspiracy, nor is the issue handwaved away or even discussed. In fact he remains a recurring SVU character in good standing.
* KilledOffscreen: Lili Denkova was executed by Anton Petrov [[WeHardlyKnewYe after her introduction]]. {{Subverted|Trope}} by Sophia Zorav who is revealed to be FakingTheDead.

* VillainousBreakdown: When Sophia Zorav reveals herself to be FakingTheDead, Anton Petrov loses it.
* WhamShot: TheReveal that Sophia Zorav is only FakingTheDead.

* XanatosSpeedChess: Upon realizing that Anton Petrov has frighteningly unknown connections after finding his planted bomb, the FBI decides to fake the deaths of Sophia Zorav and her assigned guardians until the perfect opportunity to screw him presents itself.

* {{Irony}}: Fin accuses the immigration office employee of racism for suggesting that Sophia shouldn't have been issued a visa while pregnant (as the child automatically gets citizenship if born in the U.S.). Ironically, Sophia and the immigration employee are both white (Sophia being Bulgarian).[[note]]What Fin was probably ''trying'' to get at was that a lot of these sorts of anti-immigrant beliefs have their roots in racist ideology, even though racism doesn't apply in this particular case, but it's poorly phrased.[[/note]]

* {{Irony}}: Fin accuses the immigration office employee of racism for suggesting that Sophia shouldn't have been issued a visa while pregnant (as the child automatically gets citizenship if born in the U.S.). Ironically, Sophia and the immigration employee are both white (Sophia being Bulgarian).[[note]]What Fin was ''probably'' trying to get at was that a lot of those sort of nationalist, anti-foreigner ideals have their roots in racism, even if racism doesn't apply in this particular case, but it's poorly phrased.[[/note]]

* {{Irony}}: Fin accuses the immigration office employee of racism for suggesting that Sophia shouldn't have been issued a visa while pregnant (as the child automatically gets citizenship if born in the U.S.). Ironically, Sophia and the immigration employee are both white (Sophia being Bulgarian).[[note]]What Fin was ''probably'' trying to get at was that a lot of those nationalist beliefs track back to racism, even if it doesn't apply in this particular case, but it's poorly phrased.[[/note]]

* DaylightHorror: Munch and Fin catches the SerialRapist while he's targeting another woman at noon.