Written By Ken Storer
Directed By David Platt
A (supposedly) schizophrenic 16-year-old (John Magaro) is suspected of murdering his close friend and fellow con artist/mental patient (Pressly Coker) in a get-rich-quick scheme. However, the case soon turns to investigating his therapist (Ally Walker), who has been manipulating him into having sex with her for years and may have purposefully misdiagnosed him to keep him close by.
Tropes
- Abusive Parents: Andrew's mother Joyce is suspected of being this, but this is ultimately found not to be the case. She was indeed emotionally distant from her son, but viewers are quickly made to feel sympathy for her, too, after it is revealed that she never intentionally neglected him, but getting pregnant at an advanced age, after raising his siblings (who were all grown by the time he was born), only to be abandoned by her husband and thus forced to raise Andrew alone, drained her both physically and emotionally.
- And Starring: Ally Walker gets the citation in the guest stars lineup. She plays the Villain of the Week.
- Asshole Victim: Jack Robinson was a con man who had no compunction about fleecing money off of others, including his parents, for get-rich-quick schemes. To top it off, he was ultimately killed while attempting to force Andrew to perform oral sex on him. As a result, nobody who knew him is the least bit surprised by his murder.Jack's Father: I guess Jack finally conned the wrong person.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Andrew is the youngest of five siblings, having been born just as Joyce's fourth kid was leaving home.
- Beauty Is Bad:
- Jack Robinson is a noted Pretty Boy. He's also a notorious Con Man, and made an Attempted Rape on a guy who is supposed to be his friend.
- Fran Stanton is a certified Hospital Hottie. Too bad she's a manipulative rapist.
- Believing Their Own Lies: Dr. Stanton has fully convinced herself that her actions are not rape, but love.Dr. Stanton: Andrew is a man! He is my soulmate!
- Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: How Dr. Stanton manipulated Andrew into staying in their 'relationship' after she got pregnant with their son, reminding him how his own father abandoned him before he was born.
- Bury Your Gays: Gay Jack Robinson appears to be the Victim of the Week. It's eventually revealed he had it coming.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Ken vents out his frustrations towards Fin a couple of times this episode, among being how Fin assumes Andrew is gay just because Jack was, pointing out that straight men can have gay male friends.
- Chekhov's Gun: Andrew's mother mentions his False Rape Accusation in her first scene. At first this seems to be just part of his backstory to establish him as the supposed Villain of the Week, but it's actually instrumental on uncovering who the true Villainof The Week is.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- The supposed "victim" of Andrew's False Rape Accusation coming out and introducing herself as his girlfriend is the first Spanner in the Works needed to uncover Dr. Stanton's nature.
- The baby crying on Dr. Stanton's house. Once Fin and Huang figured out Dr. Stanton's machinations, it didn't take long for them to also figure out who the child's father is. Once the child's paternity is proven at court, everything goes to shit for Stanton.
- Chick Magnet: Andrew has two women and a gay man pining for him.
- Child by Rape: Dr. Stanton's rape of Andrew resulted in her becoming pregnant with Andrew's son. His paternity is used as proof of her abuse of his father.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Dr. Stanton gives a not so subtle annoyance upon seeing Andrew's girlfriend in the precinct.
- Death by Disfigurement: Andrew repeatedly smash Jack's face in self-defense, killing the latter.
- Death Glare: Joyce gives one to Dr. Stanton at her allocution, now knowing that she had been molesting her son, conceiving a child in the process, and was the one who had him accused of raping Mallory.
- Decoy Protagonist: Jack Robinson is initially presented as the episode's Victim of the Week. It's actually Andrew.
- Depraved Homosexual: Jack Robinson was a gay hustler who attempted to rape Andrew.
- Desperately Craves Affection: Implied to be the case with Andrew Hingham whose father left just as he was born and his mother, despite loving him, felt too emotionally drained to raise him, which led Andrew to feel emotionally distant from her and contribute to his depression. It becomes deconstructed later on after Andrew was sent to Dr Stanton to help him with said depression that she took sexual advantage and manipulated him into staying with her and their lovechild.
- Diagnosis: Knowing Too Much: Andrew's false diagnosis is deliberate and allows Dr. Stanton to cover her tracks.
- Disappeared Dad: Andrew's dad Phil divorced Joyce and moved to California when she got pregnant with Andrew, having had enough of fatherhood raising Andrew's siblings.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted. Dr. Stanton's rape of Andrew Hingham is treated as the criminal act it is. When Cragen questions going to retrieve Andrew from Dr. Stanton's house, Benson questions if they'd be having this discussion were Stanton and Andrew's genders reversed. Whilst interrogating her, Fin and Dr. Huang are seething with barely concealed contempt and telling her she will be imprisoned for statutory rape, and Judge Preston coldly tells her as she's being taken to prison that she deserves a life sentence for what she's done to Andrew.Judge Preston: (to Dr. Stanton) You have abused your professional relationship with this boy in the most contemptible way. If I could, I would put you away for life.
- Ephebophile: Dr. Stanton has been raping Andrew since he was 13, and having him father a child at 15.
- Faking the Dead: After killing Jack in self defense, Andrew leaves his ID on the corpse so he could leave his life behind and start over again.
- False Rape Accusation: In order to have Andrew all to herself, Dr. Stanton went to his girlfriend's parents and falsely claimed that Andrew sexually assaulted her. This allowed her to argue that Andrew needed to be in a psychiatric hospital rather than prison, giving her the chance to use drugs and manipulation in order to maintain control of him.
- First-Name Basis: Andrew refers to Dr. Stanton by her first name, Fran.
- Foreshadowing: Dr. Stanton reacted like a Clingy Jealous Girl upon seeing Andrew's supposed "rape victim" instead of a professional worrying about her patient's mental state if he encounters his "victim" by chance.
- Hospital Hottie: Dr. Fran Stanton, a blonde Statuesque Stunnernote which Fin even lampshades, to the point she gets a scene in a bathrobe. Of course being a manipulative Ephebophile takes away from that.
- I Will Wait for You: Played for great creepiness. Andrew's psychiatrist, Dr. Stanton, developed feelings for and seduced a thirteen-year-old Andrew Hingham, who was sent to her by his mother. When Andrew was fifteen, he fell for someone his own age and had sex with her. Stanton went to the girl's parents and told them that Andrew had raped her. When they pressed charges, she (fraudulently) diagnosed the boy with schizophrenia, and convinced everyone that what he really needed was treatment, under her care, of course. At some point after that, she got pregnant, and prevented him from running away by guilting him with how his father had walked out on him. It worked until a con artist wormed his way into the facility and orchestrated a mass escape. When Andrew was found months later, after killing the con artist in self-defense, Dr. Stanton got him placed back into her care and immediately started drugging him. Once everything was uncovered, she accepted a plea for a twenty-year sentence. As she was being dragged off, she yelled at Andrew, who was sitting next to his mother and his child by Dr. Stanton, that she would wait for him—this coming after she spent most of her allocution continuing to claim what she did to Andrew was "love."
- Like Father, Like Son: Dr. Stanton invoked this trope when Andrew wanted out of their 'relationship' after she got pregnant with their son, telling him he'd be no different than his father.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Discussed when Andrew tells Benson how Dr. Stanton used her pregnancy to get him to stay in their 'relationship.' Benson mentions how he couldn't have even been sure the baby was his, to which Andrew tells her Dr. Stanton maintained he was the only person she was sleeping with. Sure enough, the baby is Andrew's and serves as physical evidence that Dr. Stanton molested him.
- Medication Tampering: The team discovers that Dr. Stanton intentionally faked Andrew Hingham's schizophrenia diagnosis, including using medication to induce symptoms, because she was having an illicit sexual relationship with him.
- Mistaken for Gay: Everyone assumes Andrew is Jack's boyfriend when they are just Heterosexual Life-Partners. The mistake is understandable given that Jack doesn't have friends, just people he uses. Sure enough, Jack eventually tries to rape Andrew.
- Practically Different Generations: Deconstructed. Andrew was an unplanned pregnancy and born right when the youngest of his four older siblings was leaving for college. His father divorced his wife and moved to the opposite side of the country because he couldn't handle raising another child. His mother tried her best, but she was so worn out from raising her other four children and her husband divorcing her that she just couldn't put in the energy. These factors combined to cause the depression and other mental issues that put Andrew in Dr. Stanton's care to begin with.
- Predatory Prostitute: Jack is a gay sex worker and a con artist who tries to rape Andrew, and gets murdered in self-defense.
- Psycho Psychologist: Dr. Fran Stanton.
- Raised by Grandparents: Joyce receives custody of Andrew and Dr. Stanton's son after his paternity is proven, presumably until Andrew comes of legal age.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Andrew is a Rare Male Example. He has pale skin, dark brown hair, and three characters pine for him.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Dr. Stanton is based in part on Mary Kay Letourneau, a elementary school teacher who molested her 12 year-old student, becoming pregnant with his daughter.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Dr. Fran Stanton abuses her profession so she could have Andrew for herself. Judge Preston rightfully calls her out on this.
- Spanner in the Works: The supposed "victim" of Andrew's False Rape Accusation introducing herself as his girlfriend and saying that whoever told her parents Andrew raped her had lied causes a domino effect that ultimately causes the Villain of the Week's downfall.
- Unwanted Harem: Andrew, though it's Played for Drama. Three characters want a piece of him; his girlfriend Mallory, Jack Robinson who made an Attempted Rape on him, and Dr. Fran Stanton who unfortunately succeeds (repeatedly).
- What the Hell, Hero?: Fin scolds Ken for not telling him that he knew more about Andrew's whereabouts that he initially let on.
- Weakness Turns Her On: A darker example where it's implied Dr Stanton started seducing Andrew when he poured out how unloved he was feeling. By her own admission, she had a string of abusive boyfriends before meeting Andrew.
- Yandere: Dr. Stanton.
