| "Chat Room" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 1.18 | → |
| Production number: E0923 First aired (US): 14 April 2000 First aired (CAN): 14 April 2000 First aired (AUS): 3 July 2000 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Roger Garrett Directed By Richard Dobbs | ||
Plot[]
A teen's false claim that she was assaulted by a man who befriended her on the Internet leads to a case involving pedophilia.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
- Michelle Hurd as Detective Monique Jeffries
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast[]
- Jenna Stern as A.D.A. Kathleen Eastman
- Isabel Gillies as Kathy Stabler
- Erin Broderick as Maureen Stabler
Guest cast[]
- Paz de la Huerta as Karen Raye
- Reed Birney as Harry Waters
- Ben Shenkman as Max Knaack
- Siobhan Fallon as Melissa Raye
- Rita Gardner as Doris Harrington
- John C. Havens as Johnstone
- Ellen Muth as Elaine Harrington
- Mark Zeisler as McClintock
- Angela Bullock as Attorney Hammond
- Jeffrey Bean as Wallis
- Adam LeFevre as Principal
- Wally Dunn as David Marolo
- Ray Fitzgerald as FBI Agent Schreck
- Mark Matkevich as Keith Vaneshun
- Joanne Bayes as Betty
- John Fiske as Pedophile #1
- Richard C. Johnson as Pedophile #2
References[]
Quotes[]
- Stabler: Look. Someone comes to me and says they want to store illegal stuff in my garage, he's either my best friend or I'm getting something out of the deal.
- Keith Vaneshun: He's not my friend.
- Benson: No? So what's in it for you then, Keith? I mean, you're the one with the pictures of her and the e-mails and the pictures of dozens of other girls.
- Keith Vaneshun: I don't know how that got there.
- Stabler: Do we look like imbeciles to you?
- Keith Vaneshun: They're just pictures, man.
- Stabler: THEY'RE NOT JUST PICTURES! These are underaged girls, terrified, drugged and getting photographed without their permission.
- Stabler: We got anything on this guy or what?
- Cragen: Well, he propositioned her but no actual sex.
- Stabler: Actual sex. He flashed her. He perved her in ways she's not even aware of.
- Cragen: Okay. How about this? He entered into an improper relationship with a minor.
- Stabler: You just said 'No real sex'. According to her story.
- Cragen: He doesn't know that. He doesn't know what she told us.
- Stabler: Oh, now, Captain. You're not suggesting we lie to the poor man, are ya?
- Cragen: Absolutely not. Role-playing. Fantasy. Make-believe. That crap he's been peddling to us about victimless crimes.
- Munch: What do child molesters talk about when they get together?
- Unnamed Pedophile: She got her driver's license, and, well, that's when I learned I was just a glorified taxi service. Sally Ashton.
- Cragen: Don't you ever bad-mouth my people in their own station house.
- Schreck: Better get used to it. 'Cause when I tell Langley how an operation that involved 9 regional bureaus got blown, your name is gonna be prominently featured.
- Cragen: It's spelled C-R-A-G-E-N. And we were doing what we always do, which is to take pedophiles off the street!
- Schreck: 4 collars, at the expense of hundreds more, who, right now, are getting e-mail telling them the cops are on 'em.
- Cragen: It's a hell of a lot more than you did for us!
- Schreck: It was an undercover operation!
- Cragen: You were in my city investigating sex crimes, and you didn't seem fit to give me a heads-up?!
- Schreck: We're dealing with virtual world, which is everywhere and nowhere!
- Cragen: But eventually, you gotta put real-life cuffs on a real-life perp!
- Schreck: It's not just you! We were in Los Angeles and Chicago and dozens of other places! It's for the right reason. We wanted to bring in the big predators.
- Cragen: That's why the bad guys were runnin' rings around us.
- Schreck: Why?
- Cragen: Because they're workin' together, and we're not.
Background information and notes[]
- The episode ends with this message, thus making it one of two episodes of SVU to end with a message that isn't "to be continued" or a dedication to someone, the other being Responsible:
- At any given moment,
- there are 3.4 million
- anonymous chat room users
- on the internet.
- At any given moment,
- Considering this episode aired in 2000, the number would have dropped significantly due to the decline of chat rooms in favor of direct messages on such platforms as Instagram and Facebook, but the threat of predators on the internet would have risen quite significantly.
- Error: FBI Agent Shreck threatens to report Cragen's actions to "the boys at Langley". Langley, VA is where the CIA is headquartered. Shreck's report would go to the boys in Washington, D.C., where the FBI is headquartered.
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
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|
Home of |
Home of |
Home of |
| 4 | 5 |
|---|---|
|
St. Monica's High School |
Arbell's Restaurant |
| Previous episode: "Misleader" |
"Chat Room" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 1 |
Next episode: "Contact" |