Written By Celine C Robinson
Directed By Tricia Brock
A decade-old cold case is reopened after its missing young woman is found alive. However, detectives become suspicious when parts of her story do not match up and a disturbing secret in the family's past soon comes to light. Meanwhile, Benson and Sheila continue to fight over the parenting of Noah, with Sheila getting on Benson's nerves by bringing up the recent child abuse allegations against Benson.
Tropes
- Downer Ending: The original victim Emma was Dead All Along. Her big brother Glenn is locked up for killing her, and her father as well for aiding and abetting in a failed attempt to protect his son. Her mother, left alone in life, tells Benson that she wishes she'd never found the fake Emma, as she's only made everything worse and taken the last hope from her life. The fake Emma is left without the loving family she so desperately needs. And Sheila remains a part of Noah's life, which for genre savvy viewers can only be a disturbing prospect.
- I Didn't Mean to Kill Him: Glenn claims to have accidentally smothered his little sister with a pillow after she wouldn't stop dancing in front of the TV, a claim the detectives swallow in their zeal to lock up his father for aiding and abetting.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Fake Emma picked out a family with a missing child and pretended to be her because she wanted a family that loved her, to make up for her mother's treatment of her: cigarette and chemical burns.
- Imposter Exposing Test: After fake Emma can't explain her travel details, DNA testing exposes her lies.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Sheila sees Noah's existence as a chance to make up for not being there for Ellie. Olivia tells her Noah is a child, not a way for her to alleviate her guilt.
- Suddenly Always Knew That: Carisi demonstrates obscure knowledge of Emma's kidnapping at the beginning of the episode and explains he watched a ton of TV about this case back in the day while sitting around the hospital waiting room while his father was ill. Later on he is able to crack the case by noticing Glenn is changing his story to tailor it to the fake Emma's.
