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Recap / Law And Order Special Victims Unit S 16 E 23 Heartfelt Passages

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Written By Warren Leight and Julie Martin

Directed By Alex Chapple

Correctional Officer Munson's wife, Lisa, solicits Benson's help as she plans to divorce her husband. Sergeant Dodds volunteers to accompany Benson to the Munson household, where Lisa packs up to leave with her kids. When Benson goes outside to take the kids to the car, Munson brandishes a pistol and takes Dodds and Lisa hostage. A struggle for the gun later ensues, causing a bullet to discharge into Dodds' abdomen. Although he survives the surgery, Dodds suffers a stroke in the Intensive Care Unit and dies after blood clots form in his brain. Meanwhile, Barba seeks SVU's help as the threats he is receiving continue; Tucker reveals to Benson that he plans to transfer out of IAB and into hostage negotiations; and Carisi puts his plans of becoming an ADA on hold.

Tropes

  • AB Negative: Downplayed. The episode indicates that Mike is B-negative (one of the rarer blood types) and Carisi is O-negative (not as rare but noteworthy for being the universal donor type), but it's a fairly minor element and has little impact on the rest of the story.
  • Hope Spot: Mike survives surgery and initially seems to be doing as well as can be expected (even joking around a little with his father and Benson), only to end up having a major stroke and dying a few hours later.
  • Hostage Situation: Munson holds his wife and Dodds hostage.
  • Manly Tears: Dodds tries to keep his composure when he's telling Benson about Mike's condition, but when he finally has to say the words out loud, it's too much and he breaks down.
  • Mood Whiplash: When Benson brings Alice in to visit Mike, the general mood is light and optimistic; even when Benson expresses a little concern, there's no sense that anything is especially serious. Cut to Mike having a major medical crisis.
  • Not So Stoic: Chief Dodds understandably loses a lot of his characteristic calm in the second half of the episode, ultimately breaking down in tears when he tells Benson that Mike is brain dead.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Chief Dodds at the end of the episode.
  • Put on a Bus: Subverted. The early part of the episode makes it seem like that's what going to happen to Dodds, but it plays out differently.
  • Season Finale: The show's seventeenth

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