| "Flight" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 12.15 | → |
| Production number: 12015 First aired: 2 February 2011 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Dawn DeNoon & Christine M. Torres Directed By Alex Chapple | ||
Summary[]
A twelve-year-old girl is raped and pictured nude.
Plot[]
The episode begins when a fight between a male and female airline passenger erupts. The girl says (in French) that the man next to her raped her, which provokes another passenger to attack the alleged rapist.
Back at the station, detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler find that the man on the plane did not rape 12-year-old Dominique Moreau. However, she was raped two nights ago, so the detectives presume she has post-traumatic stress disorder. When Benson and Stabler ask the French female rape victim to stay in the United States so she can testify that a billionaire put his hand on her at a New York birthday party, she refuses. They vow to find him anyway.
The detectives check the newspaper to see who attended the elite party. Jordan Hayes, a high profile member of New York society, becomes a suspect after investigating his past and the circumstances. Dominique claims that Jordan brought her from Paris to New York. Benson and Stabler print photos given by the Immigration Enforcement Customs that verify who was on Jordan’s plane for the Paris to New York trip. Two young females were on board (Nicole, Dominique) and one older female (Dahlia).
When the detectives question the private airline attendants, they receive no new information. The detectives question Jordan’s “girlfriend,” Dahlia, but she doesn’t have much information other than the two girls on the flight can’t hold their liquor and that her boyfriend didn’t touch the teenage passengers. Ari Nathan is Jordan’s private physician who only makes house calls to the wealthy. Benson and Stabler are on their way to question the physician when they see Jordan enter the police station. Jordan is there to file a complaint about Dominique.
Captain Cragen, Stabler, Benson, Jordan and two of Jordan’s high-powered lawyers step into a private office. Jordan says that Dominque raped him. Apparently, he went into his private massage room at the party to receive a special gift from his girlfriend, Dahlia. He fell asleep and was awoken to manual stimulation by a female. When it got rough, Jordan claims he asked Dominique to stop. He claims Dominique threatened to scream rape if he refused to continue with the sexual relations. Jordan reveals that his girlfriend brought Dominique to the party.
Cragen agrees to seriously investigate this case, without any media involved. The detectives visit the girlfriend’s house, where they find that she has overdosed on prescription drugs and is being aided by the private doctor, Ari. Dahlia is taken to Mercy General Hospital, where detectives question her. She seems like she is about to give away valuable information, but then Jordan walks in. She tells Jordan that she didn’t say anything, and he tells her to fully obey the police.
The other young female from the plane, Nicole, comes forward to say she was at the party with Dominique. She backs up Jordan’s story. A few days later she is in a beauty advertisement. After Dominique’s rape blog posts go viral, numerous young females come forward to confess their rape. They say that Dahlia told them they could make some fast cash if they want to give a massage. They didn’t realize that the massage would be naked and that they would be raped. Many of the teenagers received cash for the ordeal. They all pin Jordan as the rapist.
Jordan is arrested for underage rape. Dahlia is charged with being an accomplice. Dahlia is on her way to being processed while Jordan remains in his cell. Then the NYPD is told to hand over Jordan to federal agents, and Stabler and Olivia assumes that Hayes will be sent off to a "federal country club" prison rather than having to serve his sentence in a maximum security prison. Dahlia is left crying at the police station while she faces up to 80 years in prison.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Richard Belzer as Sergeant John Munch
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang (credit only)
- Tamara Tunie as Dr. Melinda Warner (credit only)
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast[]
- Melissa Sagemiller as A.D.A. Gillian Hardwicke
- Robert Klein as Attorney Dwight Stannich
- Zach Grenier as Judge Miranski
- Joel de la Fuente as TARU Lieutenant Ruben Morales
Guest cast[]
- Kelli Barrett as Dahlia Jessup
- Christian Campbell as Dr. Ari Nathan
- Timothy Doyle as Ernest
- Colm Feore as Jordan Hayes
- Kristina Alexandra Makarian as Dominique Moreau
- Aaron Krohn as Attorney Braden Doucey
- Anthony Cochrane as Giles
- Mark Kenneth Smaltz as Customs Officer Daley
- Richard Lyntton as French Interpreter
- Norm Golden as Dr. Ari Cohn
- Isabella Grasso as Nicole Phillipe
- Deborah Twiss as Pilot
- Bill Hoag as Howie
- Suzanne H. Smart as Brenda
- Rob Leo Roy as Tom
- Shawna Christensen as Kelly Chee
- Alexander Blaise as French Officer
- Erin Moriarty as Dru
- Nicole Ehinger as Astrid
- Anna Friedman as Allison
- Kasey Russell as Lucy
- Tsarina Merrin as Rhonda
- Katherine McNamara as Jasmine
- Anne Horak as Stewardess
- Hans Longo as Claude
- Brandon Morris as FBI Agent #1
- Valence Thomas as FBI Agent #2
References[]
Episode references
Quotes[]
Episode quotes
Background information and notes[]
- This episode aired less than a month after Isabella Grasso, who played Nicole Philippe, died in a head-on collision in East Meadow, Long Island, New York.
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Teterboro Airport |
Design Studio of |
Brownstone of |
Mercy General Hospital |
Search Warrant Application |
| Previous episode: "Dirty" |
"Flight" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 12 |
Next episode: "Spectacle" |