| "Deadly Ambition" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 14.15 | → |
| Production number: 14015 First aired (US): 20 February 2013 First aired (UK): 26 March 2013 First aired (CAN): 20 February 2013 First aired (AUS): 2 May 2013 | ||
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| Teleplay By Julie Martin & Warren Leight Story By Peter Blauner & Kevin Fox Directed By Jim McKay | ||
Detective Rollins' sister returns to wreak havoc on the entire SVU Squad.
Summary[]
Detective Rollins comes home to find her sister Kim in her apartment, beaten up by her abusive boyfriend, and this time, pregnant. The SVU squad does all they can to keep her safe, but an unexpected visitor forces Rollins to take drastic action. Once again Internal Affairs must open an investigation into the SVU's unconventional methods, and the squad is in jeopardy of losing one of their own.
Plot[]
The SVU detectives are practicing their shooting, and it turns out Rollins is nearly spot-on. Later on, Rollins returns to her apartment to find her sister, Kim, waiting for her, wearing sunglasses in the dark of night. It turns out that Kim's abusive ex-boyfriend and "baby daddy", Jeff hit her. Amanda files a court order for Kim against Jeff, so he could be taken into custody for being remotely near Kim. Kim shows up at SVU when Amanda isn't there, and Amaro gets her Chinese food as she waits; when Amanda returns, Kim is escorted home while Amaro and Amanda go back to business. When Amanda arrives back home, her door is locked via chain and Kim is screeching. She forces the door open and makes her way to Kim, to see that Jeff is on top of her and hitting her again. Kim warns Amanda that Jeff has a gun, and before Jeff can do anything more than reach his gun, Amanda shoots him twice and he's gone. Kim is hesitant about getting a rape kit, because Jeff was about to, but never got to the point of raping her. The case is going swell for Amanda, she just has to wait for labs..until Kim approaches Lt. Tucker herself, telling him of Amanda's prior threats to Jeff.
Later at home, Amanda flips on Kim for changing stories, and much to Amanda's surprise, Kim tells her about the life insurance policy she took out..with both their names, making both of them "rich." Even though Amanda is the one that brought the insurance papers to Tucker, given she is in debt from gambling, and the papers have her name on it, it looks notoriously bad in her case. Rollins reappears at SVU, Kim disappeared..all her stuff is cleared out of Fin's apartment, she's not answering calls, and then she's called into Cragen's office. Rollins explains that the only way Kim would get the money if the deceased wasn't killed while committing a felony..so she recants her claims of rape. Kim is seen being arrested and Tucker shows up to arrest Rollins for the murder of Jeff. The other detectives of SVU gather to discuss the probability that Kim staged the rape for the insurance policy. Bail is set at $250,000 for Rollins, Cragen covers it, and fellow detectives, Cragen and her lawyer all warn Rollins to not contact her sister, she's a witness for prosecution. She goes to Kim anyway, and finds out she asked Jeff to come to New York, and set both him and Amanda up.
Kim has another meal with Amaro, and she spills that she just wanted Jeff gone, he was a bad man, and she didn't want Amanda to get shot, but thought it'd look sketchy if only her name was on the insurance policy. Amaro was recording the whole thing on his cellphone and the recording is shown to Tucker, who says he'll drop the charges on Amanda if the recording checks out. Tucker goes to Kim's hotel room, but it's abandoned; Rollins and Fin go to Amanda's apartment, to find everything gone and deserted, with a note that says "I helped myself to some things." from Kim.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Danny Pino as Detective Nick Amaro
- Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins
- Richard Belzer as Sergeant John Munch (credit only)
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring Cast[]
- Lindsay Pulsipher as Kim Rollins
- Robert John Burke as I.A.B. Lieutenant Ed Tucker
- Joe Grifasi as Defense Attorney Hashi Horowitz
- Isiah Whitlock, Jr. as Captain Reece
- Mary B. McCann as Delegate Didi Denzler
- Jayne Houdyshell as Judge Ruth Linden
- Michael Mastro as Judge D. Serani
- Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
- Theis Weckesser as Jeff Parker
- Joel Brady as Officer Jimmy Nolan
Guest Cast[]
- Rafael Sardina as Shooting Range Lieutenant Diego
- Gabrielle Ruiz as Tina
References[]
Quotes[]
- (After the charges have been dropped against Amanda)
- Rollins: Lieutenant, you can clearly hear on that recording, he threatened her, he abused her.
- Tucker: She'll be arrested. I'll ask the DA to pursue murder charges.
- Rollins: I don't want that!
- Cragen: Amanda, you have to let her go.
- Rollins: (tearfully) But she's still, still my sister.
- Jeff Parker: Amanda can't keep me from my baby.
- Benson: You want us to bring you in right now? [Jeff doesn't answer] I didn't think so.
- Dr. Olivet: Detective, I know you've been through this before, but this session is...
- Rollins: Is to make sure that the department is covered if I eat my gun. I won't.
- Dr. Olivet: Okay. What you just said, I think we should talk about it. Have you had suicidal thoughts?
- Rollins: No, I'm annoyed.
- Dr. Olivet: Annoyed?
- Rollins: Yeah, the guy I shot had it coming. You know, my sister didn't help. She invites drama into her life and she drags me into it, so "annoyed" pretty much sums it up.
- [about Kim]
- Amaro: We've all met this girl, right? She's no criminal mastermind. She's...
- Benson: Crazy.
- Rollins: [to Fin] You know, we didn't have parents that really... um, took care of us, so if something went wrong, I was the one who fixed it.
- Tutuola: And she never had to grow up 'cause you were always there.
- Kim Rollins: [to Amanda] Mama used to say that all that ambition would get you in trouble some day.
Background information and notes[]
- Dr. Elizabeth Olivet returns to the Law & Order franchise in this episode after last appearing on Law & Order 4 years from when this episode first aired and twelve seasons from her last appearance on SVU.
- Tucker brings up a few incidents from Amanda's past including:
- Her shooting a second suspect in a little over year. She had shot Liev Bodrov in the episode "Russian Brides".
- Her pointing a gun at Jeff Parker the first time, which happened in the episode "Friending Emily".
- Her gambling problem and her debts to her bookie, Connor Murphy from the episode "Home Invasions", who is given his first name in this episode (he was just called Murphy in his appearance).
- Benson mentions that Tucker tried to take her badge which happened in the episode "Perverted". Like Amanda, Tucker tried to charge Benson with murder as well.
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
Kevyn's Place |
Downtown YMCA |
Queens Mercy Hospital |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|
|
Office of |
Internal Affairs Bureau |
Arraignment Court |
| Previous episode: "Secrets Exhumed" |
"Deadly Ambition" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 14 |
Next episode: "Funny Valentine" |