| "P.C." | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 11.13 | → |
| Production number: 1113 First aired: 3 March 2010 | ||
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| Written By Daniel Truly Directed By Juan José Campanella | ||
Plot
Stabler and Benson investigate a series of rapes taking place within the lesbian community.
Synopsis
As a young couple is leaving a bar, the woman takes a picture of them with her cell phone, which is instantly stolen. A uniformed police officer who happens to be on the scene chases the thief into an abandoned restaurant. He then appeares to be about to surrender when he reveals the presence of an unidentified woman who is brutally raped and beaten nearly to death. With her last breath she seems to identify her killer to the officer - somebody named "Mitch."
Benson and Stabler are called in to investigate the crime as the woman dies on arrival to the hospital. At the scene of the crime Benson discovers some blood-stained graffiti on the wall written by the lead singer of the death metal band Vampyre Sacrifyce, who is known for "drinking the blood" of his groupies. As Fin puts a "face union" page up on the internet calling for the identity of the woman, Stabler & Benson arrest the singer, Trey Greenway, who seems to be on the verge of victimizing another one of his fans. The groupie, a blood bank employee named Mina, refuses to press charges, and Greenway is found to have an alibi, so SVU is forced to look at other options Upon doing so, a group of women hold up posters of the Jane Doe, the last of which is their leader, Babs Duffy, the head of a militant lesbian rights group.
The group, known as "LesBeStrong" accuses the police of neglecting the death of lesbians due to bias. All members, including the captain do everything to deny this, but she ignores them and accuses them of stereotyping when they try to find information about the victim. After being threatened with arrest and the symbolism of failure for their organization, Duffy finally reveals that her lover is a woman named Sharon Harris, a woman who works as a bouncer at a bar called the Kitty Corner. When Stabler and Benson interview the victims's lover, conveniently ignores Stabler simply because she's a man, but tells Benson that she and Alisa Davies were about to get married. Babs checks up on them, mostly to harass Stabler, Insisting that this is a hate crime, she claims that the chief of a bias crimes unit in Brooklyn agrees with her. However when they arrive in Brooklyn, they find that Detective Omar Ellis doesn't see eye to eye with her after all.
On their way to the Kitty Corner, they find Duffy's assistant Rosemary handing out fliers, and defending both Babs and the organization. Inside the club, the bartender reveals that Harris is a bouncer, and is both impressed and frightened by her strength. Evenually it is revealed that Harris has a history of domestic violence, and is part of a gang called "Big Apple Aggressives." An interview with another ex-lover of hers gives the detectives probable cause to arrest her, because "Mitch" turns out to be a a colloquialism of "my bitch," a pet name she made girls use with her during intimacy. While Babs makes a speech for the local news media, and chastizes a local print shop owner for a typographical error on their flyers, Stabler spots Harris, and insists on questioning her personally, who then slugs him and is taken into custody.
As Benson and Stabler interrogate Harris, and Duffy accuses them of police brutality, Harris finally admits that she has had problems controlling her temper, but still denies killing Davies. Just then Fin walks in and reveals that another lesbian has been victimized, and it turns out to be none other than Duffy's assistant Rosemary. Though she survived, she reveals that the person who attacked her is specifically victimizing lesbians, and worse, stole her blackberry, which contains the names of all LesBeStrong members, thus putting the entire organization in danger, and forcing the NYPD to place them under protection.
While under protection by Benson, Duffy is quite irritable. She tells Benson that she's not used to being alone and inactive, and in return Benson tried to ease her discomfort, but when Duffy lunges in to kiss her, Benson moves away and insists that she's straght. Though disappointed with this fact, Babs still admits to admiring her. She siezes the opportunity to leave when a uniformed female officer replaces her shift. Back at the precinct, Benson and Stabler examine a security camera of the attack on Rosemary which reveals that the man had a tattoo. They also learn that a man broke into her apartment with a tire iron, and is shot at by the uniformed patrol officer, who now has to join the rest of the NYPD in protecting him from Duffy's organization.
As the police examine the man's personal effects, they find that he has no tattoo, bur he does have a revealing picutre of Babs. Not only is he found not to be their prime suspect, but he's actually very close to Babs. In fact, the man is her secret male lover. Stabler and Benson convince her to reveal her sexuality, even though it may destroy her cause. LesBeStrong holds another rally for what they believe to be a victory over the recent rash of violence, while the detectives watch for another suspect. No sooner does Duffy come out as bi-sexual than the cops spot the man with the spider tattoo on his hand that they were looking for. As they capture him they find that he's none other than the man who was printing flyers for LesBeStrong; Ronny Watley.
The police are now convinced his homophobia is the motive, and Stabler tries desperatley to use this as a means of gaining a confession from him, but Watley denies having anything against lesbians. When this fails, Benson takes over revealing one of LesBeStrong's buttons on her blouse, thus making him believe she's a lesbian herself. Benson does everything she can to play on his hostility towards lesbians, and he finally cracks revealing that she would enjoy sex with him, just as he assumed his other victims did. Babs is thankful for the SVU's efforts for the first time, despite breaking up her boyfriend, and struggling to maintain the same support for her cause. She apologizes to Benson and Stabler and promises to be more cooperative with the detectives in the future, even going so far as to make a pass at Stalber.
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
- Tamara Tunie as Dr. Melinda Warner
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
- Stephanie March as Executive A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
Recurring cast
Guest cast
- Kathy Griffin as Babs Duffy
- Kate Udall as Sharon Harris
- Ashby Dodge as Alisa Davies
- Bryce Ryness as Trey Greenway
- Sutton Foster as Rosemary
- Curtis McClarin as Detective Omar Ellis
- Chad Donella as Ronnie Watley
References
- Death metal, Lesbian rights, LesBeStrong, Brooklyn, Domestic Violence, Big Apple Aggressives
Quotes
- Elliot Stabler: [to Olivia] I get hit, you get hit on.
- Alex Cabot [after Elliot is punched by Sharon Harris]: That was quick. She didn't punch you again, did she?
Elliot Stabler: Ah, you know, some women just don't want to talk man to man.
Babs Duffy: Stabler!
Elliot Stabler: I wish she would refuse to talk to me. - Olivia Benson: (to Babs) Let's go get some lunch. (Babs leans in to make out with her) Olivia: Whooa... That's not on the menu!
Background information & notes
- This episode was moved from its original air date of February 10, 2010. NBC announced the cancellation of the Jay Leno Show on Sunday, January 9, during the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour. Five days later, on January 14, NBC issued a press release with a revised post-Olympics schedule beginning March 1, including SVU's restoration to its normal Safe Harbor 10 pm time period. However, as a special two-hour event SVU hung onto the 9 pm slot for one more week in order to air this episode.
- The opening scene for this episode, where the couple walks out of the restaurant and gets robbed, was filmed at Bamiyan Afghan Restaurant, on 26th Street & Third Avenue in New York.
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"PC" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 11 |
Next episode: "Savior" |