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"Manic"
SVU, Episode 5.02
Production number: E4401
First aired: 30 September 2003
  {{{nNthProducedInSeries}}}th of 502 produced in SVU  
{{{nNthReleasedInSeries}}}th of 502 released in SVU
  {{{nNthReleasedInAll}}}th of 1271 released in all  
Joe Blaine
Written By
Patrick Harbinson

Directed By
Guy Norman Bee

Misuse of a prescription drug is involved in the killing of two students.

Summary[]

Benson and Stabler enlist Huang's help in probing the connection between a teenage boy undergoing psychiatric treatment, the deaths of two high-school students, and an illegal marketing campaign by a major pharmaceutical company.

Plot[]

Detectives Benson and Stabler learn that an alleged victim of a school shooting that claimed two lives, was in fact the perpetrator. After learning about the boy's psychiatric problems from his mother, the squad realizes that a major pharmaceutical company is also responsible.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

Benson: One of your kids got into serious trouble, what would you do?
Stabler: I don't know.
Benson: Yeah, you do. You'd hire the best lawyer that you could and you'd tell them to keep their mouth shut.

Benson: Joe, why did you shoot Luke and Tyrell? [sets out pictures of the victims on the table]
Joe Blaine: [looking at pictures] I don't know them.
Benson: You don't know them? You told us that you went to school with them.
Joe Blaine: No, I didn't.
Benson: Joe. Joe, look at me. [Joe looks up and then looks back down] You're in serious trouble here, and you need to help yourself.
Joe Blaine: I don't want to.
Stabler: [laying a drawing on the table] Did you draw this?
Joe Blaine: Where's my pen? I want my pen!
Stabler: We'll get you one. I know you drew that now did you also do this?
Joe Blaine: Didn't draw that. Didn't draw that!
Benson: [points to masked figure in the drawing] Joe, who's this? Who's this person here?
Joe Blaine: [whispering] Zoltar.
Benson: Who's Zoltar?
Joe Blaine: [begins slapping himself and banging his head on the table] No! I won't! Stop! Stop, I won't! [after Stabler tries to calm him] Zoltars gonna kill you! He's gonna kill you! [Stabler picks him up out of his chair] Get off! He's gonna kill you! Zoltar's gonna kill you!

Joe Blaine: [describing how he murdered two classmates] They're running... and I'm shooting. There's blood everywhere, but they just wont die! Not 'till I get close. Bang! Bang! They finally stop. I heard sirens. I ran to hide. I went to the boiler room but the window was too high. So I put the gun to my head... [makes an imaginary gun with his hand and puts it to his head] I don't remember any more.

Moredock: Before you scoff, Alex, consult the Physicians' Desk Reference for the known side effects of Aptril: abnormal dreams, anxiety, insomnia...
Cabot: I suffer from anxiety and insomnia. I don't go around shooting people.

Cabot: What were you thinking, turning this case over to Barry Moredock?
Dr. Huang: I'm concerned about Joe Blaine. I knew Moredock would share my concerns.
Cabot: So it wasn't enough you had to call him in, you also handed him his defense?
Dr. Huang: I'm not against the use of psychiatric drugs to treat children, I just don't think they should be used as an instrument of school policy.
Cabot: Then publish an article. You had no business interfering in my case!
Dr. Huang: Thousands of children are being forced to take powerful drugs without psychiatric supervision. Before you crucify Joe Blaine, maybe you should hear what your detectives found out.
Cabot: What, now you're working on Joe Blaine's defense too?
Stabler: Alex... you weren't there, this kid is seriously troubled.
Benson: We spoke to his school counselor. She said that Joe was exceptionally creative, yet extremely disruptive. They suggested: counseling, medication - but, Joe's mother always resisted.
Stabler: She said he was special, needed special treatment - so in the end the school insisted that he go see their shrink.
Cabot: So that's who prescribed Joe the Aptril?
Stabler: Apparently not. Mom wanted a second opinion, so they went to go see a Dr. Engels.
Cabot: All right. Find out when Dr. Engels started Joe on the Aptril. Then I can decide whether I should take this defense as seriously as Dr. Huang seems to.

Munch: ER faxed it over, Joe Blaine's tox screen, negative for narcotics and alcohol - but not for phenyloxypropilamine.
Benson: Aptril.
Munch: That's the baby.
Stabler: How recently did he take it?
Munch: Well, based on the plasma concentration M.E. says he took a pill about 24 hours before the shooting.
Cabot: But if a doctor didn't prescribe Aptril, then how did Joe get it? I mean a 13-year-old kid can't just buy it over the counter.
Tutuola: Might've got it from school.
Cabot: What do you mean?
Benson: Well, you got millions of kids taking psychiatric meds - school nurse stations have more drugs than some hospitals.
Cabot: They're not handed out like candy?
Tutuola: Good as!
Stabler: And the drugs are being traded, I've heard of some college students snorting Ritalin - just to help 'em get through exams.
Tutuola: Or to get a good buzz, and too stupid to know they're burnin' their own brain out.
Cabot: Well, I know one person I could ask.

Cabot: Dr. Petrus, I thought you were here as a scientist, not a storyteller?

Cabot: I need your advice.
Dr. Huang: Lie down on the couch.
Cabot: Not that sort of advice.

Cabot: I think that Tauscher Leto's direct marketing tactics were responsible for Joe's manic episode which led to his shooting Luke and Tyrell. The company disclaims all responsibility. All the sales reps are taking the Fifth. The trial restarts tomorrow and I think I'm going to win. And I'm I'm not sure I want to.
Dr. Huang: Then plead Joe out.
Cabot: How does that get justice for Luke and Tyrell?
Dr. Huang: It doesn't. You can't help them, but you can help Joe. Plead him out and he'll get time in a psychiatric institution where his treatment will be decided by doctors. Not insurance and drug companies.

Arthur Branch: Alexandra, did you do a deal with Joseph Blaine?
Cabot: He pled guilty to man two.
Branch: Man two. For double murder. I think you let that oily-tongued Tennessee weasel Barry Moredock outmaneuver you.
Cabot: Mitigating circumstances came to light during the trial.
Branch: What mitigating circumstances?
Cabot: A particularly egregious instance of corporate greed.
Branch: Corporate greed is the beating heart of America, Alex.
Cabot: I'm not accountable to corporate America.
Branch: But you are accountable to me and I won't let two innocent boys die without punishing someone for their murder. Do you believe this bleeding-heart nonsense that Aptril made Joe Blaine kill?
Cabot: Tauscher-Leto put that medication into Joe Blaine's hands, substantially diminishing his responsibility for his actions.
Branch: So who's guilty?
Cabot: I don't know yet.
Branch: Then find out. And I don't care how high you have to go.

Dean Reynolds: What's this, a hostile takeover?
Stabler: Funny man! Are you Dean Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer of Tauscher-Leto?
Dean Reynolds: I am, and you are?
Stabler: The police. This is Alexandra Cabot of the D.A.'s office.
Reynolds: What are you doing here?
Cabot: Uh, this memo proves a direct marketing scheme wherein Aptril would be mailed directly to patients' homes. Do you recognize your signature Mr. Reynolds?
Reynolds: Where'd you get that?
Cabot: This approves of giving doctors off-patent meds free of charge in exchange for their patient lists. Is that your signature?
Reynolds: I don't have to listen to this. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll resume later!
Cabot: And this third memo threatens Tauscher-Leto employees with breach of contract lawsuits if they talk to either the press or law enforcement about the Aptril direct mailing scheme. Is that your signature?

Benson: Dean Reynolds, you're under arrest for reckless endangerment and for criminal diversion of prescription medication. You have the right to remain silent.
Reynolds: But I haven't done anything! Stop it, you're hurting me!
Stabler: Take some Aptril. That'll make you feel better.

Background information and notes[]

  • The release of information without the patient's consent is a violation of HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which went into effect on 14 April 2003. The HIPAA allows release of medical health information to occur, with an appropriate subpoena or in other specified circumstances, without the patient's consent, but psychological and chemical addiction treatment records still require specific consent, as they did before HIPAA.
  • The Columbine High School massacre is mentioned. Eric Harris was mentioned to saying in the library "All jocks stand up!". He was also on the anti-depressant Luvox, which was found in his autopsy drug test. A 911 call made by a teacher did record him shouting "Get up!", but it was Harris' accomplice, Dylan Klebold, credited with reportedly saying a line with that sort of language.
  • "Aptril" is not a real drug. It is said to be a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant and its chemical name is even given - phenyloxypropylamine. This is an actual substance, however not a psychoactive drug; though chemically closely related to fluoxetine. This appears to be another reference to the Columbine shooter, what is mentioned in the episode itself.
  • When Detective Benson and Stabler go with the crime scene unit to determine if the janitor could actually climb out the window and to determine other aspects of the crime, it was a Saturday. However when Benson found the gun in the furnace the gun was severely melted. Being a weekend, the furnace wouldn't have been on for a day allowing it to go cold, so the gun couldn't possibly have melted.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Clinton Hospital
Emergency Room
603 West 57th Street
Saturday, September 6

Security Office
Grand Central Station
Saturday, September 6

Office of Dr. Engles
182 West 44th Street
Monday, September 8

4 5 6

Trial Part 46
Tuesday, September 9

Chelsea
Neighborhood Clinic
588 West 14th Street
Wednesday, September 10

Juvenile Detention Center
Wednesday, September 10

Previous episode:
"Tragedy"
"Manic"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 5
Next episode:
"Mother"
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