Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter
Written by Dawn De Noon & Lisa Marie Petersen
Stabler and Benson investigate the death of a journalist named Gretchen Quinn with a dark secret. Eventually, her possibly murder starts pointing back towards her abusive father.
Tropes
- Abusive Parents: Mr. Sidarsky was one to his daughters.
- Alliterative Name: Gretchen Quinn's real name was Susan Sidarsky. She changed it to get away from her father.
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Broken Aesop: The episode begins with Benson and Stabler taking the case from an old fashioned cop who was quick to dismiss the possibility that the victim was raped because “she wasn’t wearing her refusal outfit”. He was portrayed as a Straw Misogynist, emblematic of antiquated police. This portrayal was undercut by the fact that he turned out to be right, it wasn’t a rape-homicide, the victim had consensual sex before committing suicide. - Call-Back: Cassidy is in court to testify in the case that Cragen assigned him in the series premiere, "Payback".
- Child Abuse Is a Special Kind of Evil: Mr. Sidarsky is shown as being particularly monstrous for sexually abusing his daughters as children. Elliot is shown as discussing just how horrible it is and how he can't believe it with his wife.
- Continuity Nod: Cragen mentioned Internal Affairs suspected him of being corrupt because of his pool. This happened in the mothership Season 1 finale “The Blue Wall”.
- Driven to Suicide: Gretchen Quinn couldn't bear the sound of her own thoughts and the abuse she endured overwhelmed her.
- Every Man Has His Price: Robert tried to buy off his daughters' silence with cushy trust funds. While Gretchen's sister Ellen took the money, she never touched a dime of her own.
- Goodbye, Cruel World!: Gretchen lays out all the reasons she's taking her own life in a suicide note she sends to her sister.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Every man in Gretchen's life she got romantically involved with turned out to be a slimeball. Not surprising after the childhood she endured at the hands of her father.
- I Love the Dead: A man is put on trial for fondling a woman on the subway. At first he thought she was just asleep or passed out but it turns out she was dead. He wasn't bothered by this fact and continued on until he was caught.
- Intimate Psychotherapy: Gretchen eventually ended up sleeping with her therapist, despite both of them knowing it was ethically wrong to do so.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Robert Sidarsky got away with raping his daughters all his life. At the end, Ellen says she's going to testify against him and send him to jail for what he did to her.
- Oh, Crap!: Played for Laughs when Elliot turns on the garbage disposal and his son asks if he's seen his pet turtle.
- And Played for Drama when Olivia reveals to Gretchen's sister Ellen that she's now got a little half-sister whose at about the same age she was when her father started molesting her.
- Parental Incest: Robert Sidarsky has been raping both his daughters since they were teenagers, eventually driving one to suicide.
- Plot Threads: The C-plot involves Cassidy testifying in court against a man who fondles a woman in the subway he thought was just passed out but turned out to be dead.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gretchen gets a posthumous one when she lays out the reasons for why her father ruined her life in her suicide note.
- Straw Misogynist: Dallas Warner brushed off Gretchen, one of his dates, as an intrepid reporter and thinks lowly of Olivia. Only Elliot gets through to him, as a fellow man and a father.
- Suicide, Not Murder: The police all initially conclude that Gretchen was thrown through her window, as a suicide would have at least opened the window first. Turns out she really did commit suicide, she just didn't bother opening her window
