| "Hell" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 10.17 | → |
| Production number: 100 First aired: 31 March 2009 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Amanda Green Directed By David Platt | ||
Summary[]
When a young girl is found nearly dead on the streets, the Special Victims Unit's only clue to the identity of her attacker is a picture of a devil she drew when asked who attacked her. As the police search for the assailant, they learn that the victim was a sex slave in Uganda, and suspect that her devil is a former member of the infamous Lord's Resistance Army.
Plot[]
A former African child refugee's throat is slashed though she survives, and SVU connects the case to two former Ugandan war criminals--one a ruthless killer, the other a sympathetic former child soldier trying to change his life. The former soldier, Elijah is initially blamed for the crime, but is revealed to be innocent while the other man, the Devil of Gulu, is the true culprit. Stabler realizes that the Devil is a man he met earlier working as a janitor and confronts and arrests him. The man is charged for attempted murder and is instead sent to The Hague to be tried by the International Criminal Court for war crimes which allow all of his victims to get justice.
In the meantime, despite Elijah finally being cleared from all charges for good, his request for asylum is denied as he turned eighteen while being a child soldier and is thus legally culpable, and he will be deported back to Uganda. Cabot and Stabler try to intervene and decide to have him seek sanctuary inside his church where the feds will not come after him, but once he learns of the deportation, he takes a children's choir hostage out of desperation. Stabler and Fin try to talk him down and get him to release the children as he knows better than anyone that they are innocent. Despite doing so, Elijah has no intention of harming anyone other than himself: he'd rather commit suicide rather than go back to Uganda and believes he is beyond forgiveness from God. The priest tries to convince him that this is not so, but starts to suffer a heart attack.
Stabler manages to convince Elijah to give up the gun and surrender, pointing out that the gun is not his friend as he was indoctrinated to believe. Elijah surrenders to Stabler and helps him get the priest outside for medical attention, but after seeing a crowd of reporters, he charges them and is shot down before Stabler can stop the ESU team. Elijah dies, but tells the earlier victim who he saw as his little sister that he sacrificed himself so that people would see the horror of the child soldiers. Stabler watches a montage of images of child soldiers with the priest and the two agree to spread Elijah's story and hope someone will listen and help bring an end to the horror.
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
- Michaela McManus as A.D.A. Kim Greylek (credit only)
- B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang (credit only)
- Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast[]
- Stephanie March A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
- Stephen Gregory as Dr. Kyle Beresford
- Sean Cullen as I.C.E. Agent Brett Trask
Guest cast[]
- Robert Wisdom as Father Theo Burdett
- Gbenga Akinnagbe as Elijah Okello
- Mike Colter as Joseph Serumaga / Samuel Mbazzi
- Andrew Guilarte as Rajiv
- Gordon Joseph Weiss as Homeless Man
- Cicely Tyson as Ondine Burdett
- Julyza Commodore as Miriam Burdett
- Joanna Bonaro as Doris DeNuzio
- Pietro Gonzales as Felipe
- Kola Ogundiran as Nathaniel
References[]
- International Criminal Court
- Kenya
- Child soldiers
- Staten Island
- Uganda
- Church arson
- Devil
- Ryan Seacrest
- Dylan Thomas
- White Horse Tavern
- Maury Povich
Quotes[]
- Munch: He goes by many names- Satan, Lucifer, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub, Old Nick...
- Stabler: Let's not forget Ryan Seacrest.
- Elijah Okello: Everything I touch, everything I love, I corrupt.
- Munch: [reading Mbazzi's immigration file] He lists his profession as janitor.
- Stabler: Well, I guess they didn't have a box for "warlord."
- Stabler: Oh, that's him.
- Cabot: Except his real name is Joseph Serumaga. A rebel commander wanted for war crimes by the ICC. He was about to be indicted when he disappeared.
- Stabler: And he's got some track record, he once locked an entire village inside a church and set it on fire.
- Cabot: Which earned him the nickname the Devil of Gulu.
- Stabler: Miriam was right. The Devil really did do it.
- Joseph Serumaga: More questions?
- Stabler: Yeah, I forgot to ask you what you taught in Uganda.
- Joseph Serumaga: Mathematics.
- Stabler: As in you plus a church full of terrified civilians equals massacre?
- Joseph Serumaga: I don't know what you mean.
- Stabler: Joseph Serumaga.
- Joseph Serumaga: You have the wrong man. My name is...
- Stabler: The Devil of Gulu.
- [Benson has learned that Joseph Serumaga has been handed over to the International Criminal Court]
- Benson: I'm trying to get justice for Miriam!
- Cabot: The ICC will be able to get justice for ten THOUSAND Miriams.
- Elliot Stabler: If Elijah isn't a special victim, then tell me who is!!
- Elijah: They said the gun was our only friend. Our mother and our father. That it would make us feel strong.
- Stabler: How does it make you feel now?
- Elijah: Dirty. [Elijah tearfully lets Stabler take and disarm the gun]
- Stabler: [Moves to help the sick priest] Let's go. Come on. Let's go. Let's go!
- Stabler: Miriam, can you tell me what he said to you?
- Miriam Burdett: He had to die. To make people see all the child soldiers...
- Father Theo Burdett: Suffer the little children.
- Stabler: What's the answer, Father?
- Father Theo Burdett: Tell Elijah's story. And pray someone will listen.
Background information and notes[]
- It is alluded to that ADA Alex Cabot graduated from Harvard Law School.
- This episode made Law & Order: SVU the first program airing on a broadcast network to feature the United Nations as a setting.[1]
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
La Poquita Bodega |
Residence of |
Residence of |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|
|
St. Adrian's Rectory |
Residence of |
United Nations |
Footnotes[]
| Previous episode: "Ballerina" |
"Hell" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 10 |
Next episode: "Baggage" |