| "Prodigy" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 3.13 | → |
| Production number: E2326 First aired: 18 January 2002 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Dawn DeNoon & Lisa Marie Petersen Directed By Steve Shill | ||
Benson and Stabler have the gruesome task of identifying the remains of a man and woman who were stabbed in a park, a job made more difficult by the fact the woman's head and hands are missing.
Summary[]
A man and a woman are stabbed during a supposedly romantic park encounter. The woman's head as well as her hands are missing, which makes it difficult for detectives Benson and Stabler to identify the victims. They soon learn that the crime scene was staged and that the woman was an officer of the Manhattan Federation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This leads them to various people from her organization, as well as its opposers, and a young sociopath who had a troubled relationship with the woman. However they soon uncover a more violent suspect much more close.
Plot[]
When a man and woman (who was an animal rights officer) are found brutally murdered in a park and the woman's head and hands are decapitated, the detectives try to find out whether two main suspects: a sociopathic teenager who had a confrontation with the woman or a rapist who was recently released on parole are responsible for what happened. The rapist turns out to be responsible and Cabot manages to get him convicted on obscenity charges to keep him from escaping, but they have no proof he committed murder until while searching where they believe he dumped the woman's head, they find an earring she got for five years on the force with her DNA and his fingerprints on it. Stabler visits the rapist to gloat about their victory while the rapist is shown to be stunned that he got caught.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
- Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast[]
- Daniel Sunjata as CSU Technician Burt Trevor
- Joanna Merlin as Judge Lena Petrovsky
- Jill Marie Lawrence as Attorney Cleo Conrad
- B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang
- Fernando López as CSU Technician Ramone Vargas
- Lou Carbonneau as CSU Technician Harry Martin
Guest cast[]
- Michael Pitt as Harry Baker
- Brian Sullivan as Joe Poletti
- Mike Doyle as Assistant Medical Examiner Karlan
- Ira Hawkins as Humane Law Enforcement Supervisor
- Robert Clohessy as Vinnie
- Michele Pawk as Daisy Baker
- Antonio D. Charity as Siburt
- Michael Goduti as Dorsey
- Ellen Lancaster as Dr. Diremegio
- Michael X. Martin as Ned Rubens
- Mariann Mayberry as Candy Forrester
- Dan Musico as Jersey CSU
- Guthrie Nutter as Scotty Wells
- Lenore Pemberton as Edie Jenks
- Jacob Smith as Phillip Mahue
- Shaheen Vaaz as Shaheen Puniwar
- Katie Walder as Carey Thorne
- Joan Wooters as Mrs. Boggs
- Todd Etelson as Jury Foreperson
References[]
- 20th Precinct
- Andrew Johnson High School
- Broadway Bar
- Celadyne Industries
- New Jersey
- Riverside Park
- IDJ Chemicals
- Ed Boggs (victim)
- Edmund Kemper
- Pam Tilden (victim)
- Boston Strangler
- Jeffrey Dahmer
- Ted Bundy
- David Berkowitz
- Andrew Cunanan
- Kipland Kinkel
Quotes[]
- Munch: Garden State my ass! Guess Chemical Capital of The World just doesn't have the same zing to it.
- Benson: He's got a wedding ring. Is this a married couple?
- Stabler: Trust me, married couples don't have sex in parks.
- [on investigating Harry Baker]
- Shaheen Puniwar: Closest we came was a girl he had the hots for. She went in a deli, when she came out dog was gone.
- Cabot: Could be a coincidence.
- Shaheen Puniwar: The dog turned up the next day.
- Cabot: Dead?
- Shaheen Puniwar: Decapitated.
- [Trevor holds out a piece of the Jane Doe's thumb]
- Burt Trevor: You mind slipping this on?
- Benson: Why?
- Burt Trevor: Thumbs need to be similar in size.
- Stabler: [sees Olivia looking towards him] Too manly.
- [Although disgusted, Benson pulls on the offered glove, places the thumb piece and is printed.]
- [Benson and Stabler are searching Harry Baker's room]
- Benson: Tidy.
- Stabler: Yeah.
- Benson: Could use a bit of color.
- Stabler: [points to a bloodstain on the wall] There.
- Benson: Blood red wasn't what I had in mind.
- Vinnie: We had a conversation, is that illegal?
- Benson: Depends. What'd you talk about?
- Vinnie: Bitches.
- Cabot: Pretty grey-area stuff, I doubt a hearing officer would even go for it.
- Benson: I'll take anything at this point, what will it get him?
- Cabot: Whatever he still owes on his parole.
- Tutuola: Three weeks, two days.
- Stabler: THERE you go! Now THERE'S justice, three weeks for a double murder!
- Officer Dorsey: We called an interpreter.
- Olivia Benson: I can speak a little Spanish and French, and can Mirandize in three others. What is he?
- Stabler: Deaf.
- Vinnie: You know, this is entrapment. I'm a victim of a sting operation. I'm here under...
- Benson: False pretenses?
- Vinnie: False arrest.
- Stabler: Hey, man, you're not even under arrest, yet, so why don't you just settle down and tell us about your friend Ed?
- Vinnie: Hey, screw you.
- Benson: I can screw you harder.
- [discussing pacemakers]
- Munch: They had faults with their receptor wires. Pierced recipients through the heart.
- Tutuola: Now that's just wrong.
- Harry Baker: Criminology 101, Detective. If you're gonna break the law, you don't want witnesses around.
- Stabler: You think you're real cute, don'tcha?
- Harry Baker: Twenty-three cheerleaders can't be wrong.
- Stabler: I know where you live, I know where you learn and I know where you bury your kill. You get used to my face 'cause you're gonna be seeing it every time you turn around.
- Harry Baker: Don't lose your head, Detective. You're having enough trouble finding one.
- Tutuola: This guy, Jake, moves into his father's basement with his new bride, Missy. Father walks in on them on their wedding night.
- Munch: How is that animal cruelty?
- Tutuola: Missy's a German Shepherd.
- Munch: That's perfectly legal in twenty-six states.
- Stabler: That year you're gonna be doing on your head? Add 25 more and choke on it.
Background information and notes[]
- Michael Pitt, the actor who played sociopathic rape suspect Harry Baker, would eventually be charged with sexual abuse in May 2025.[1]
- Actor Mike Doyle appears for the first time in an episode from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In this episode he plays Assistant M.E. Karlan, but he is probably best known for his recurring appearances as Forensics Technician Ryan O'Halloran throughout the rest of the series.
- This is also actor Daniel Sunjata's first appearance as recurring character CSU Technician Burt Trevor. Sunjata previously appeared as a Bomb Squad Officer in the first season episode "Remorse".
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Office of Ned Rubens |
Broadway Bar |
Police Crime Lab |
Office of Dr. Diremigio |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Apartment of Daisy Baker |
Andrew Johnson |
Chambers of |
Trial Part 74 |
References[]
| Previous episode: "Protection" |
"Prodigy" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 3 |
Next episode: "Counterfeit" |