Written By Dawn De Noon and Lisa Marie Petersen
Directed By Steve Shill
SVU investigates the rape and abduction of 8-year-old Sophie Douglas (Andrea Bowen), but her mother's (Debbon Ayer) reluctance to have Sophie questioned interferes with the investigation at first.
But when another little girl named Kirsten Guzek is abducted from a parking lot, SVU discovers that Sophie & Kirsten's cases are connected to a Serial Killer (Jonathan Fried) who kills his victims after three days, prompting them to work around the clock to find the identity of the killer before it's too late.
Tropes
- Beard of Sorrow: Halfway through the episode, Munch begins sporting stubble to show how taken he is by the case. The rest of the squad manages to find time to remain clean-shaven.
- Bittersweet Ending: Clayton Mills is caught and arrested, and his latest would-be victim is rescued. The bitter part: Mills negotiates to disclose the location of his first victim, a little girl whose body was never recovered, in exchange for life imprisonment instead of the death penalty. And the episode ends just as Elliot and Olivia are about to inform said girl's mother about her daughter's fate.
- British Teeth: The rapist's distinguishing feature is teeth that look like Austin Powers; it's revealed that he feeds his victims (and presumably eats) only cupcakes, corn candy and fruit punch. He has a fetish for seasonal candy.
- Cant Get Away With Nothing: Sophie breaks the rules and goes to see a man's puppies just once, and she gets kidnapped and raped.
- Chekhov's Gift: The mother of one of the murdered girls gives Elliot the last school photo of her daughter, telling him to keep it on him when they arrest her killer. When the detectives go to question Clayton Mills at the photo studio he works at, Elliot recognizes the backdrop from the mother's photo to the backdrop in the studio, effectively confirming Clayton as their guy.
- Could This Happen to You?: The New York Ledger's headline is "LOCK UP YOUR CHILDREN! KILLER ON THE LOOSE!"
- Everyone Has Standards: Lampshaded by ADA Charlie Philips, who states even people who oppose the death penalty are making an exception for a murderous pedophile like Clayton Mills.
- The Queens detectives whom Elliot and Olivia go to for information. At first, the Queens guys make it clear they don't appreciate having another precinct question their police work, but after Olivia makes it clear that they are running on limited time to save a little girl, they drop the sarcasm and start taking the conversation seriously.
- Faux Affably Evil: The rapist gives each child a party and tries to entertain them before he photographs and rapes them.
- Innocence Lost: Sophie's mother announces that the rapist has "killed her daughter's childhood".
- It's All My Fault:
- Sophie blames herself for being kidnapped and raped because she broke the rules and went to see the puppies the rapist claimed to have.
- Mrs. Guzek blames herself because she let Kirsten stay in the car, since it was cold outside.
- Mama Bear: Sophie's mother cuts the interview prematurely short because she can't bear to see her child distressed.
- Married to the Job:
- Benson has to cancel a date with "Mr. Perfect" when Cragen calls the squad back because another child has been kidnapped. She tells Munch she has only managed to go on one date with him that hasn't been canceled due to her work emergencies.
- Stabler forgets to pick up the twins' birthday presents. His wife has to bring them over to the station for them to have a few seconds with him on their birthday. They give him presents instead of the other way around, a dress shirt and some hygiene product, which he leaves behind as he rushes off to the next break in the case.
