| "Penetration" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 12.08 | → |
| Production number: 12008 First aired: 10 November 2010 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Christine M. Torres & Dawn DeNoon Directed By Peter Leto | ||
Summary[]
FBI agent Dana Lewis is the victim of a sexual assault, but Benson and Stabler's investigation could compromise her undercover operation involving a right-wing militia group.
Plot[]
Benson is still trying to get used to having guardianship over Calvin while his mother's on the lam. On top of adjusting to her new responsibility, she also gets a surprise late-night visit from undercover agent Dana Lewis, who has a special request. She gives Benson a rape kit to run. When Benson asks who the Jane Doe rape kit belongs to, Dana says it's hers.
Benson tells Stabler about Dana's case. They can't reveal Dana's identity during their investigation out of fear her cover will be blown. The two head over to Dana's New York apartment where she was raped. Dana goes over her story of being attacked and says she was injected with a drug that causes temporary paralysis. After Dana tells her story, she agrees to cooperate more with the rape investigation, as long as it doesn't affect her undercover work.
Benson and Stabler tag behind Dana to an anti-mosque rally. In the midst of the chaos, she's kidnapped by a group of men in a van. Stabler radios a call to track the van down. When they find it, it's on fire, and the driver's been shot in the head. All the other passengers seemed to have vanished, including Dana. Back at the FBI, Stabler and Benson are shocked to hear Dana left the FBI a year ago. The passengers and murdered van driver all belonged to an anti-government militia. When the detectives hear about a militia raid in the city, they go to investigate, and are shocked to find Dana there.
Her boss didn't want to blow her cover, so he lied to the detectives about her quitting the FBI. Dana tells the detectives that she was about to close her case, but when the cops called in her kidnapping, the militia panicked, shooting the driver and burning the car. That's when they all ended up back in the city, and a shoot-out began. All the other van passengers were killed except for Dana. Fin and Munch discover another rape similar to Dana's took place in Soho. Similar except that the other victim didn't survive the much more brutal attack.
Benson and Stabler go back to Dana's FBI office and tell her they need her complete cooperation in their investigation. The young victim worked in the jewelry district, and Dana says the FBI had been investigating another case involving stolen gems. The detectives discover the second victim belonged to a prison pen pal program, which put her in contact with a violent criminal who also fits the description of Dana's attacker. But Seth Coleman has no connection to any militias. Stabler gets Coleman's new address from his parole officer and he and Benson head over to question him. The detectives find that Dana has trailed them. Benson reminds Dana that she can't be involved in her own rape investigation.
Coleman spots Stabler and Benson outside his apartment and makes a run for it. Dana gets back on her motorcycle and chases him down. Benson and Stabler trace them to a construction site, where Dana has her gun aimed at Coleman and he has a nail gun aimed at her. Dana taunts Coleman as the detectives watch and tell her to back off. Coleman puts the nail gun down, but Dana continues to train her weapon on him. Dana lets her emotions get the best of her and shoots at Coleman. The bullet ricochets off a beam and nicks Stabler in the shoulder. While at the hospital, Dana apologizes to Stabler for the shooting. She's been suspended from work and lost her gun privileges. Back in the interrogation room, Coleman continues to deny raping Dana, but he does confess to raping and murdering Jennifer, the second victim. When Dana learns that Coleman refused to admit he raped her, she pays him a visit in prison. He continues to deny raping her and calls for the guard. Dana keeps asking him, "Why me?" Benson drags her away from Coleman's cell.
The next day, Dana is called to testify at Coleman's trial. Coleman's defense attorney keeps bringing up Dana's reckless actions against his client, including trying to shoot him. After Coleman's defense attorney begins to question whether Dana was ever really raped, ADA Hardwicke redirects Dana's testimony, asking for more details. Dana reluctantly tells the jury things Coleman said to her during her rape. She also describes all the ways he violated her while she was temporarily paralyzed. Benson listens to Dana's emotional testimony about her ordeal, and something clicks when Dana says her attacker called her a "star." The Judge orders a 10-minute recess so Dana can regroup. Benson points out that Dana's FBI alias was "Star" when she investigated a neo-Nazi militia five years ago. Benson and Dana realized Coleman joined an Aryan group while in prison that was run by the man Dana put away, Brian Ackerman.
Benson, Stabler and Dana visit Ackerman in prison. Dana accuses him of sending Coleman after her to get revenge, since she killed his son, Kyle Ackerman, to save Stabler's life during the boy's courtroom shooting rampage five years earlier. Ackerman confesses to sending Coleman after Dana. He is confident that they can do nothing more to him while he is already in prison. However, Stabler then reveals to him that because he confessed, he will be put in solitary confinement for the rest of his life for ordering Dana's rape. Stabler further confirms that Ackerman will be cut off from the rest of the inmates because of this. Ackerman, in shock, still admits that he will take joy in knowing the pain Coleman caused to Dana. In return, Dana tells Ackerman her real name and says that she has a husband and two beautiful children to watch grow up; something he'll never have.
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 M.E. Melinda Warner (credit only)
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring Cast[]
- Marcia Gay Harden as F.B.I. Agent Dana Lewis
- Melissa Sagemiller as A.D.A. Gillian Hardwicke
- Joe Grifasi as Defense Attorney Hashi Horowitz
- J.C. MacKenzie as Brian Ackerman
- Patricia Kalember as Judge Karen Taten
- Charlie Tahan as Calvin Arliss
Guest Cast[]
- Jeremy Davidson as Seth Coleman
- Dion Graham as F.B.I. Agent Dowley
- T. Ryder Smith as Tom Marshall
- Bruce Winant as Gerald Kauffman
- Nick Sullivan as DCJS Rep
- Rosie Benton as Trooper McPhee
- Brendan Averett as Bullhorn Guy
- Rob Morgan as Perp
- Richard D. Busser as Uni
References[]
- al-Qaeda
- Aryan Brotherhood
- Attica Correctional Facility
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Militia
- Park 51
- Barack Obama
- Sovereign citizen movement
- St. Paul's Chapel
- Revolutionary Aryan Warriors
- Kyle Ackerman
Quotes[]
- Stabler: (about Dana Lewis) She's not going to be happy until I'm dead.
- Stabler: (about the new victim) Well they're connected. Is she FBI?
- Munch: Much more dangerous: accountant.
- Seth Coleman: I never raped no FBI skirt.
- Benson: Look, your already facing 25 to life for Jennifer's murder. Admitting you raped Agent Lewis is not gonna add anything to your sentence.
- Seth Coleman: Bitch ain't my type.
- Benson: Your type?! Your type, seems to be anything with.... lady parts.
- Dana Lewis: Long time no see - how's prison treating you?
- Brian Ackerman: It's given me a whole new population to educate...the Revolution Aryan Warriors is stronger than ever.
- Stabler: Really? Since you went away, we elected a black President.
- Brian Ackerman: Yeah, I hear he's Muslim...
- Benson: Don't believe everything you read on your own website.
- Stabler: Enjoy your lifetime spent in solitary.
- Brian Ackerman: Hey... you know what's gonna get me through... Starr?... Replaying everything Coleman did to you.
- Dana Lewis: Name's Dana... and I'm gonna get past this... I'm going to go home, to my loving husband, and I'm going to watch my kids grow up... unlike you, I'm going to have a life.
Background information and notes[]
- In the final scene where Dana confronts Brian Ackerman in prison with Stabler and Benson, she is seen wearing Benson's gold fearlessness necklace.
- Munch jokes to a jeweller that it is his and Fin's ten-year anniversary. The first episode with them as partners, "Honor", aired October 27th, 2000, while this episode aired on November 10th, 2010, almost exactly a decade later.
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
St. Paul's Chapel |
Park51 |
Federal Bureau |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|
|
The Learning Arena |
322 Braisted Avenue |
Kauffman Fein Jewelers |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Division of |
Office of |
Supreme Court |
Attica Correctional Facility |
| Previous episode: "Trophy" |
"Penetration" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 12 |
Next episode: "Gray" |