Written By: Wendy West
Directed By: Stephen Wertimer
A woman (Harper Anderson) is assaulted by a superficially polite rapist. No suspects are identified until six months later, when another woman (Jane Tyler) is attacked - but after all this time will Harper assist the detectives?
Tropes
- Blatant Lies: The rapist's answers about where he got his jewelry are pretty thin and in the case of the nickname answer, obviously made up on the spot. But the detectives can't disprove them so he gets away.
- Break the Cutie: Harper is a sweet woman who has already had her mother die a horrible, prolonged death. Then she gets raped and it only gets worse from there...
- Bystander Syndrome: The Peeping Tom watched the entire rape, but did nothing and only told the detectives what happened when they showed up at his door and saw his telescope pointed at Harper's building.
- Downer Ending: Harper, the only person who can finger the rapist, tells the detectives confidently he's not in the lineup, then collapses when Benson shows her a trophy taken from her by someone who was in the lineup.
- Embarrassing First Name: The rapist claims his grandfather had this, which is what led to the engravement of the name 'Leo' on his watch rather than his real one.
- Everyone Can See It: Elliot tells Olivia he can clearly tell she slept with Brian. She asks if everyone in the department knows it and he gives a vague answer
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: The rapist turns out to be a handsome man with dark blonde hair and a superficial charming exterior.
- False Rape Accusation: Cassidy suggests this about Harper because the soap in her shower isn't wet when the detectives examine it the next day, because her panties weren't recovered (it turns out she doesn't wear them to bed) and because she smoked pot but didn't mention it. When the detectives confront Harper about the pot it's the beginning of her alienation from them. The accusation also alienates Cassidy from Benson, or at least that is his explanation for the end of their brief relationship.
- Faux Affably Evil: The rapist, who Stabler describes as a "perfect gentleman", asks his victims to "please" do things, asks "is that how you like it"; in Harper's case he adjusts the temperature of the water for the shower he's making her take so it will be comfortable and tells her he won't insult her by asking her not to call the police. He is polite to the detectives when he shows up at the end of the episode.
- First-Name Basis: Harper asks Olivia to call her by her first name when they meet. She needs a little comfort after her traumatic rape from someone who is more than willing to be sympathetic to her.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Jane is ashamed because, despite having a gun, she failed to defeat her rapist. Benson tells her
You did the one thing you're supposed to do when someone threatens you - survive.
Lawyer: You don't have to answer that. I want to know what my client is being charged with.
Munch: You don't have to answer that.
- Married to the Job: After the time skip, Cassidy needles Benson because she has time for a new romance but didn't have time for him. He tells her that any romantic relationship she has will merely be an affair, second to her marriage to the job. Benson proves him right by abandoning her date, for which she dressed up because "it might be love", in order to interview the next rape victim.
- The Peeping Tom: The man with the telescope who watches Harper can tell the detectives she doesn't wear panties to bed but can't identify the rapist because "I wasn't looking at him."
- Refusal of the Call: Harper is cooperative initially but when the detectives come around again six months later no longer wants to cooperate because she wants to put it all behind her. She also winds up failing to identify the rapist in a line-up.
- Saying Too Much: The peeping Tom gives himself away by accidentally demonstrating he knows details he shouldn't.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The episode ends abruptly after Harper fails to identify her rapist, leaving the story with no more resolution than we had just before the time skip - no more resolution in this episode, anyway.
- Ship Tease: The episode opens with Cassidy and Benson in bed, having had a one-night stand; later Benson and Stabler lean in close to discuss it.
- Significant Haircut: Harper goes through one in the six months after being raped.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: After the attack, Harper claims she can identify the rapist. However after six months, she doesn't recognize him by sight or voice, and assumes none of the men in the lineup were the attacker until Olivia shows her the ring.
- Time Skip: Six months pass between the first part of the episode and the second, during which Benson has begun a serious romantic relationship and the rapist has struck again.
