"Savior" | ||
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← | SVU, Episode 11.14 | → |
Production number: 11014 First aired (US): 3 March 2010 First aired (UK): 11 June 2010 First aired (CAN): 5 March 2010 First aired (AUS): 27 May 2010 | ||
Written By Mick Betancourt Directed By Peter Leto |
Summary[]
Two prostitutes are found murdered each with a prayer card leading detectives to a religious zealot. However, when they find a surviving witness, her testimony to put the killer away endangers Benson and Stabler's case when she endangers her own self and her newborn baby.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Richard Belzer as Sergeant John Munch (credit only)
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
- 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[]
- Delaney Williams as Defense Attorney John Buchanan
- Tonye Patano as Judge Linda Maskin
- Joel de la Fuente as T.A.R.U. Lieutenant Ruben Morales
- Amir Arison as Dr. Manning
- Tim Miller as Court Clerk
Guest cast[]
- Mischa Barton as Gladys Dalton
- Erin Dilly as Shawna Grant
- Elizabeth Marvel as Dr. Frantz
- Joanna P. Adler as Sarah Gallagher
- David Alan Basche as Michael Gallagher
- Lee Tergesen as Billy Skags
- Billy Griffith as Marmalade
- Breeda Wool as Lynn Drexel
- Ray Iannicelli as Stanley Koscheck
- Tracy Jai Edwards as Abby Mannion
- Boise Holmes as Pimp
- Alex Fanuele as Don
- Henry Zebrowski as Mark
- Zuri Reed as Macy
- Shawna-Kae Wray as Spud
- Sasha Toro as Sassy
- Jerome Preston Bates as ESU Leader
- Cornelius Jones, Jr. as Resident Doctor
- Tyree Michael Simpson as Uni
- Wolfgang Scheitinger as Nathan Gallagher
- Emma Nicole Christopher as Marilyn Gallagher
- Kent Burnham as Number One
- Phillippe Vonlanthen as Number Two
- Laura Enith Aguinaga as Prostitute (uncredited)
- Dennis Larkin as Lawyer (uncredited)
References[]
- Abraham
- Isaac
- Maine
- San Francisco
- Maggie Ortiz (victim)
- Spain
- Abby Mannion (victim)
- Eliot Spitzer
- Zadkiel
- Elliot Stabler, Jr.
Quotes[]
- Stabler: Why are you sweating?
- Lynn Drexel: Wouldn't you be if somebody just told you your best friend died?
- Stabler: No, I'd probably be crying, not sweating.
- Lynn Drexel: I'm not an addict.
- Stabler: You just like the way coke smells?
- Michael Gallagher: Look, I don't know what you're talking about.
- Stabler: Young hookers. You've got a thing for them.
- Michael Gallagher: Absolutely not. I'm a married man.
- Stabler: How about that fourteen year old you were caught diddling?
- Michael Gallagher: I was a kid.
- Stabler: Mike, you were twenty-two.
- Michael Gallagher: She looked older. I prayed for forgiveness. I never made that mistake again.
- Stabler: Until you met Maggie Ortiz.
- Michael Gallagher: Never seen her before.
- Stabler: No?
- Michael Gallagher: No.
- Stabler: How about Abby Mannion?
- Michael Gallagher: I don't know her, either.
- Stabler: Your penis does. Your semen was found inside her.
- Marmalade: [to Gladys] Cops don't give a damn about you, Sunshine. So shut your mouth!
- Stabler: You need to shut yours before I put my fist through it.
- Marmalade: I like a feisty bitch.
- Stabler: Well, then you're going to like being one when I throw you in the slammer.
- Billy Skags: God put me on this earth to fight Satan's grip on these girls' souls.
- Stabler: Did God tell you to put your death grip on these girls' necks?
- Benson: There are recovery houses, and I could take you to one. You'll have a safe place to live, get counseling, get a GED. You could have a better life.
- Gladys Dalton: That's what he said.
- Benson: Marmalade? What, did he follow you home from school?
- John Buchanan: [to Gladys Dalton] Don't worry, young lady. I don't think they'll arrest you.
- Gladys Dalton: Why would they arrest me?
- John Buchanan: Well, you are a prostitute.
- Gladys Dalton: Is he telling the truth? Are you going to arrest me?
- Stabler: No.
- Benson: No, Gladys, we just need you to identify the man that tried to kill you.
- John Buchanan: The police lie, Gladys, all the time.
- Stabler: One more word, I'll collar you for intimidating a witness. One more word.
- Buchanan: I was present, Your Honor. The witness never made a procedurally valid lD.
- Cabot: Because of the freaky deacon's crazed rantings, she fled in terror.
- Benson: Gladys, you can't ignore the fact that you're pregnant.
- Gladys Dalton: I'm not ignoring it anymore. I have an appointment at the clinic tomorrow and I'm taking my vitamins. You know, I don't think I've ever been this excited about anything.
- Benson: But you understand that if you decide to keep the baby, you're going to have to make some big changes in your life.
- Gladys Dalton: What are you talking about? Of course, I'm keeping my baby.
- Stabler: Well, if you change your mind, there are organizations that can help with adoption.
- Gladys Dalton: I won't change my mind. Look, I want a new life and this is my way to get it.
- Stabler: Gladys, you're giving life to the baby. It's not the other way around.
- Shawna Grant: [to Olivia and Elliot] You need to butt out of our family business. Who's going to feed this baby, buy the clothes, pay the doctor? You? [Elliot and Olivia don't answer her] I didn't think so. Now, get your do-goody asses out of here.
- Benson: [to Shawna about Gladys] Did you kick a pregnant girl out on the street?
- Shawna Grant: I gave her every chance at a normal life.
- Benson: You gave her a lousy sofa to sleep on as long as she could pay your rent.
- Shawna Grant: Look, I got two kids of my own, all right? And disability doesn't make ends meet. How am I supposed to pay for her and a baby?
- Benson: Not by abandoning her.
- Shawna Grant: Look, that girl makes her own decisions, all right? And she started when she got in that pimp's car.
- Benson: She was only 12 years old. Once she met him, that's the last decision she ever made on her own. Have you ever heard of breaking a bitch? That's what pimps do to young girls. Make them so dependent that they never have a chance. Shawna, Gladys has one now. Here with you, but only if you help her.
- Benson: [to Dr. Frantz] How is Gladys?
- Dr. Frantz: She had a grand mal seizure. Most likely brought on by pre-eclampsia with brain edema.
- Stabler: In English, Doc?
- Dr. Frantz: Her blood pressure was dangerously high, so I had to do a crash C-section, but Gladys is going to be okay.
- Benson: What about the baby?
- Dr. Frantz: Four months early, barely weighs a pound. She has respiratory problems, necrotizing enterocolitis, intraventricular hemorrhaging. Bottom line, at the very least, she's going to need multiple surgeries and months of care in the NlCU.
- Benson: So what are her chances? Seriously.
- Dr. Frantz: Babies born any earlier, we usually place in the hospice. This one, I'd say anywhere between 17 and 40%.
- Stabler: Still worth it.
- Dr. Frantz: I don't know if l'd necessarily agree with you.
- Benson: You think heroic measures shouldn't be taken.
- Dr. Frantz: I think withholding treatment is an option.
- Stabler: It's not an option. It's murder.
- Dr. Frantz: And pouring thousands, if not millions, of dollars into saving a baby who will be blind with cerebral palsy and severe mental retardation, you think that's what's best for her?
- Stabler: You cannot say for sure that this baby will not live a normal life.
- Dr. Frantz: No one can, but the odds are very small.
- Benson: Gladys wants to use heroic measures to save her baby.
- Stabler: I don't blame her. Whatever happened to "First, do no harm"?
- Benson: What if keeping her alive does more harm than good?
- Stabler: If you had kids, you wouldn't be asking that question.
- Benson: Oh, so just because I'm not a mother, I don't care about this baby?
- Stabler: That's not what I meant.
- Benson: Elliot, what if little Eli was going to die? Or he was so disabled that he would have to have round-the-clock care for the rest of his life?
- Stabler: I wouldn't play God.
- Benson: Then don't play doctor, either.
- Cabot: Listen, I need Gladys to testify.
- Benson: Alex, her baby is barely alive. I doubt she's going to leave the hospital.
- Cabot: I'm not putting that psychopath back on the streets and neither are you.
- Benson: What do you expect me to do?
- Cabot: Arrest her for prostitution.
- Benson: You're serious.
- Cabot: Cuff her to the crib. Do whatever it takes to keep her from running. I'll cut her loose after the hearing.
- Benson: What if her little girl gets even sicker while she's in court? What if Gladys has to make a decision and she can't get back to the hospital?
- Cabot: What if Gladys doesn't testify and Billy Skags murders another young girl?
- Benson: Gladys, I need your help. I need you to testify against Billy Skags.
- Gladys Dalton: What? I'm not leaving my baby.
- Benson: Gladys, if you don't, I have to arrest you for prostitution.
- Gladys Dalton: I'm not going anywhere.
- Benson: Gladys, please don't make me do this.
- Gladys Dalton: Go to hell.
- Gladys Dalton: Look, I may have made some stupid decisions, but I'm not blind.
- John Buchanan: These stupid decisions. Does that include dropping out of the eighth grade? Becoming a drug addict? Having anonymous street sex while you're 24 weeks pregnant?
- Gladys Dalton: Hey, that man over there tried to kill me. That happened. I'm not going to let him get away with that.
- John Buchanan: My client isn't getting away with anything because he's the victim of your vicious lies. You're the criminal here.
- Cabot: Mr. Buchanan wants to talk about you being a criminal, Gladys, so let's just do that. How long were you under the control of your pimp?
- Gladys Dalton: Since I was 12, so ten years.
- Cabot: And how many nights a week did he force you to work?
- Gladys Dalton: Five.
- Cabot: And how many men did he force you to have sex with each night?
- Gladys Dalton: Like, at least six.
- Cabot: And since you were 12, you couldn't consent. And because you were forced, you were raped. So would you estimate you were raped a total of 13,000 times over those 10 years?
- Gladys Dalton: Yeah.
- Cabot: [to Buchanan] I hope I cleared things up for you, Counselor. That is a victim... [points to Skags] and that is a criminal.
- Billy Skags: I'm a criminal?
- Judge Linda Maskin: Sit down Mr. skags
- Skags: [after Gladys' testimony against him] Satan has penetrated you 13,000 times, you whore. God demands your repentance! Not mine!
- Gladys Dalton: Back there in court, everything that lawyer said about me is true.
- Benson: You've turned a page on that. That's behind you now.
- Gladys Dalton: It will never be behind me. What am I supposed to tell my baby when she grows up?
- Benson: Gladys, you love your little girl and that's all that matters. And if you make the right decision for her now, she'll understand.
Background information and notes[]
- This episode marked the program's return to the 10:00pm time period, although it remained on its new night, Wednesday.
- The costume department had to modify the earrings they had provided for Mischa Barton when they found out that she was unable to wear them. This was because Mischa had only recently had her ears pierced, and had been told she couldn't wear earrings on thin wire hooks for several months afterwards as they could damage the holes in her earlobes. As the earrings the costume department had provided were on that type of wire hook, Mischa had to tell them that she couldn't wear them. So the costume department had the earrings remounted on "post and butterfly" studs that Mischa was able to wear.
- At the beginning of the episode, Benson identified the first victim as Maggie Sanchez but she was later called Maggie Ortiz.
- On the NBC website, the summary for Savior states that the baby died on the table after Benson gave the doctors permission to operate. It was also stated by Neal Baer that the baby was dead on Twitter.
- This is the first appearance of character actor Delaney Williams as defense attorney John Buchanan. This is also the first SVU appearance of award-winning actress Elizabeth Marvel; however, she appears as a NICU doctor and not as recurring character defense attorney Rita Calhoun.
- Buchanan and Calhoun teamed up to defend serial killer Carl Rudnick in the season 17 episode "Criminal Pathology". They were on opposite sides later that season in "A Misunderstanding".
- Gladys Dalton's ACS form lists her DOB as 12-18-2001, which would have made her only eight years old at the time this episode takes place. Olivia said Gladys' age at the time of her first arrest in 1998 was 10, meaning she was born in 1988. It also says she aged out of the system at the age of 18 in January of 2004. She would have only been 16 in 2004.
Episode scene cards[]
1 | 2 | 3 |
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Apartment of |
Residence of |
Pat's Diner |
4 | 5 | 6 |
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Arraignment Court |
756 Sullivan Street |
Supreme Court |
Previous episode: "PC" |
"Savior" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 11 |
Next episode: "Confidential" |