Written By Paul Grellong
Directed By Helen Shaver
A wealthy, cheating boyfriend (Jeremy Jordan) is the initial suspect when a Park Avenue socialite (Natalie Hall) is found dead in Central Park, but attention soon turns instead to a "family" of streetwise homeless kids headed by a serial thief (Thom Bishops) and his "wife" (Mae Whitman).
This episode provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Cole says that his father "beat him for laughs", which may or may not be true. Cole himself also qualifies given that he tortured and murdered one of his "daughters".
- Josie's mother's boyfriends rape her, and when she told her mother, she threw Josie out of the house.
- "Cassidy" claims her parents were abusive, but that turns out to be lie (though her father seems to think they might have been too hard on her in enforcing their rules and expectations).
- Alliterative Name: Cassidy Cornell is actually a subversion, as her real name is Helen Braidwell.
- Analogy Backfire: This exchange, once Helen's lies are exposed and Stabler points out her parents weren't abusive they were just parents.Helen: No, I'm a parent and I would never act that way.Elliot: Right, and now six people are dead.
- Antagonist Title: The title refers to Cole Roderick and Helen Braidwell aka "Cassidy Cornell".
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- Early in the episode, Shelby Crawford's parents sing high praises for her boyfriend saying he's every parents' dream. Said boyfriend is a Jerkass cheater.
- "Cassidy", while not morally perfect, seems to be a generally decent person trying to survive who cares about her children and only helps Cole in his crimes due to misplaced loyalty for saving her life. It turns out she's an Entitled Bastard who ran away from home because her parents expected her to get good grades and who instigated the murder of the Victim of the Week, a former friend of hers, so she could stay on the streets.
- Chain Pain: Cole Roderick's favored weapon in his killings.
- Consummate Liar: Helen's pile of lies is the final plot of the episode.
- Crazy Homeless People: The titular streetwise "family" robs people and even kills them if necessary.
- Criminal Found Family: The detectives discover a young homeless girl lives with a group of other kids who are "taken care of" by two homeless "parents", Cole and Cassidy. A character even informs detectives that many cities have such "street families." Unfortunately, the kids are encouraged to rob and steal in order to survive. When it's discovered that Cole is a murderer and that Cassidy isn't who she says she is, the Family falls apart.
- Deadpan Snarker: When Cole complains that Stabler is going to break his wrist, Stabler snarks that he might be Irish, but he's not that lucky.
- Death by Secret Identity: The real reason Shelby Crawford was killed is because she recognized Helen as they were schoolmates. Not wanting her life to be disrupted, she lied to Cole that Shelby insulted him, knowing he would kill her as being insulted is Cole's Berserk Button.
- Death of a Child: Poor Josie...
- Disproportionate Retribution: For Cole Roderick, insulting him (directly or indirectly) is punishable by death.
- Even Evil Has Standards
- Despite being a Consummate Liar, Helen genuinely loves her "children" and wants to help other homeless children have a Family of Choice.
- As he later pointed out, Cole Roderick never lies despite being an egotistical sociopath.
- Evil All Along: It turns out Helen arranged the murder of her former best friend simply because she recognized her, and Helen knew this could result in being forced to her old life.
- Eye Scream: There's a Gory Discretion Shot, but Olivia tells Helen that Josie's eyes were plucked out before she died.
- Family of Choice: Cole Roderick's makeshift family of runaways.
- First-World Problems: When Cassidy/Helen's true background is revealed, she rants about how terrible her home-life was thanks to her parents expecting her to get good grades, eat healthily, have good manners, be responsible, and get into a good college. Elliot tells her that's just what parents do.
- Food as Bribe: Benson and Stabler use this on Josie Knox to get her talking about the case they're investigating. Having not had a proper meal in a very long time, she eagerly chows down.
- Food Porn: Said food looks amazing. Benson makes a point to make her ice cream sundae look and sound as delicious as possible.
- Gory Discretion Shot:
- Unlike Shelby, Josie's corpse isn't shown on-screen (which makes sense, as Josie was 11 years old and was said to be tortured for 12 hours before her death).
- Averted later, however, when Stabler shows a picture of her corpse. The audience briefly sees a glimpse of her mutilated face.
- Killed Offscreen: Josie was kidnapped by Cole Roderick and is found dead hours later.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The social worker who genuinely tried to save Josie, and other children, is murdered by Cole.
- Outliving One's Offspring: The primary victim is a teenager.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Anyone who betrays Cole Roderick will likely end up dead.
- Riches to Rags: Helen actually came from a rich family, but finds her parents overbearing and leaves. She's been living in the streets since.
- The Runaway:
- Josie ran away from home due to being repeatedly raped by her mother's various boyfriends.
- Turns out "Cassidy" is one too. Her real name is actually Helen Braidwell, and she came from an overbearing rich family.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Once she returned home to her parents, Helen shows up in the next trial bathed and in decent clothing.
- She Knows Too Much: "Cassidy" set up Shelby to be murdered because Shelby recognized her as Helen and she didn't want anyone else finding out where she was.
- Sore Loser: Upon losing the trial, Helen tells Casey that she hates her guts. Casey just smirks.
- Spoiled Brat: Helen comes off as one when she describes her home life as a "living hell." Her complaints mainly revolve around being expected to get good grades, eat healthily, and get into a good college. Lampshaded by Elliot who says that her parents' actions sound pretty normal.
- Villains Never Lie: Cole Roderick argues that for all the things he's done, he never duped anyone, even casually admitting his crimes.
- Villainous Breakdown: Cole Roderick has a massive one when "Cassidy" sells him up the river in court and has to be dragged away by court officers.
- Would Hit a Girl: Cole Roderick murders Shelby Crawford, Josie, and two other women including his previous "wife".
- Would Hurt a Child: Cole Roderick murders Josie for snitching him to SVU.
