Written By Peter Blauner
Directed by Jean De Segonzac
The kidnapping of a young boy from a street corner reminds Benson and Cragen of a similar, unsolved abduction that occurred in the same neighborhood 13 years earlier.
Tropes
- Actor Allusion: Amaro takes a visit to the Cold Case unit.
- Basement-Dweller: Lomatin is living in his mother's attic.
- Bilingual Bonus: Mrs. Rodriguez cries out "¡Pendejos!" in her anguish. This means asshole, idiot, or fuckers in Spanish.
- Bittersweet Ending: Turns out Hector Rodriguez is really Dead All Along, but his remains are finally found and his murderer is put to justice. The latest victim, Wyatt Morris, is also spared the same fate, and his parents are heavily hinted to reconcile because of the ordeal.
- Book Ends: The episode opens and closes in Hector Rodriguez's mural while "Waiting"
by Norah Jones is playing. - Chekhov's Gunman: The family passing by Hector Rodriguez's mural during the Time-Passes Montage below. The child will be the present day Victim of the Week while the father's family is connected to the Villain of the Week.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Up to a point, at least. Lomatin is clearly off his rocker, but it turns out that he actually had picked up on something of a legitimate pattern.
- Dead All Along: Hector Rodriguez was kidnapped and murdered in 1999, but authorities and his mother didn't confirm it until this episode.
- Death of a Child: Hector Rodriguez was kidnapped and murdered in 1999.
- Finally Found the Body: Hector Rodriguez has been missing since 1999 and his mother is unaware if he's still alive or not. Unfortunately he's Dead All Along and buried in an old building.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Poor Hector's remains isn't shown to the screen when his body is finally found.
- History Repeats: Wyatt Morris was kidnapped in the same block as Hector Rodriguez was.
- I Will Wait for You: Hector's mom never stopped believing he would come home one day. The song "Waiting", which plays at the beginning and end of the episode, has lyrics that reference this trope, too.Hush, now, watch the stars fall
Into a fire wall
I am waiting here
Waiting for you to come home
Sinking embers glow
Melting icy snow
I am waiting here
Waiting for you to come home
And I watch them burn
When will I ever learn?
If I wait, it doesn't mean
You will return - Maybe Ever After: Wyatt's parents are heavily implied to have reconciled or at least considering it towards the end of the episode. The recently divorced Amaro is visibly jealous.
- Missing White Woman Syndrome: Alluded to by Dolores Rodriguez. She shades Olivia for revisiting her son's case only because the son of a wealthy realtor is recently kidnapped. Olivia proves that this isn't the case.
- Older Than They Look: Lomatin barely aged in since 1999. It doesn't helped that, unlike Olivia and Munch, the footage showing him in that year isn't Stock Footage.
- That One Case: Hector Rodriguez's unsolved disappearance in 1999 still haunts Olivia and Munch.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Poor Dolores Rodriguez, who bogged down with her son's Uncertain Doom for thirteen years until SVU Finally Found the Body.
- Remember the New Guy?: Hector Rodruguez's unsolved disappearance in 1999 is presented as one of those cases that haunted SVU since, but it is not a Season 1 episode.
- Room Full of Crazy: Subverted in the episode, when a Officer Stephen Lomatin's Room Full of Crazy turned out to be exactly right about the crime they were investigating.
- Stock Footage: Olivia and Munch's respective flashbacks to Hector Rodriguez's disappearance are manipulated footage from Season 1 episodes. Olivia's is from "Bad Blood", while Munch's is from "Nocturne".
- String Theory: Steve Lomatin has a wall of evidence trying to solve not just Hector's kidnapping but Wyatt Morris's as well.
- Time-Passes Montage: The episode starts with the disappearance of Hector Rodriguez in 1999, showing Morningside Heights and a mural dedicated to him changing over the years.
- Uncertain Doom: Hector Rodriguez was missing since 1999 and both his mother and SVU are unsure of his status (though the latter team expected the worse). Unfortunately, he really is Dead All Along.
- Victim of the Week: The episode has two; Hector Rodriguez who is missing since 1999, and Wyatt Morris who is kidnapped in the present during the episode's Cold Open.
