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"Send In The Clowns"
SVU, Episode 19.17
Production number: 19017
First aired: 21 March 2018
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Svu1917
Written By
Julie Martin & Brianna Yellen

Directed By
Alex Chapple

Summary[]

The Special Victims Unit scour New York City to find a masked man that kidnapped a girl on a school trip. Also, Fin and Stone both get visits from family members.

Plot[]

In the squad room, Fin is at his desk when Ken and Alejandro come with a cake to wish him a happy birthday. Fin also sees his grandson, Jayden, and dotes on his family, while his coworkers express their happiness with his joy.

Meanwhile, teenagers from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, Haley Sadler and her friend, are out at a club while on a school trip in New York City. However, Haley goes missing from the club and SVU begins searching for her. At first, they suspect a man who works as a clown at the club and was dancing with her, Vincent "Vinny" Drago. The teenagers' chaperone, James Turner, later finds that he was sent a video of Haley in Drago's car. The police then arrest Drago and the case goes to trial. However, on the day Turner was supposed to testify, Turner checked out of his hotel and Stone asks SVU to look for him.

The detectives look for Turner, first by going to visit his home in Beaver Falls and interviewing his wife, Didi. There, Carisi and Rollins find pictures and a song that imply that James and Haley have a relationship beyond teacher and student. Benson tells her parents about their suspicions and the Sadlers mention Turner's friend Alan Hubert. They find out Hubert let Turner have a key to his Long Island home and then raid the house. Turner is found staying at the house, in bed with Haley. Disgusted, they arrest Turner while being stunned to hear Haley say she loves him.

On the way back to Manhattan, Haley mentions that the plan was to fake her death and that she and James would run away to Vienna. Turner also defends his relationship with Haley but the detectives are not buying it and voice disgusts at him for what he's done. As Haley arrives at the station, Anna hugs her daughter before slapping Turner in the face. After Turner and Haley announce their love for another, Anna is livid and deduces what tactics he used to seduce Haley. Chris asks about this, as Anna reveals she and Turner had an affair over a decade earlier, stunning her husband and daughter. Anna then makes an even more devastating revelation, the affair conceived Haley, making Turner her biological father. Anna condemns him for sleeping with his own child, while he suffers a breakdown. Chris is devastated by the news while Turner tries to tell him that he did not know but Chris tries to attack a pleading Turner before the cops separate them and take Turner away while he shouts for Haley.

In Benson's office, Haley is initially stunned by the revelation, though soon happily accepts it, explaining that it had to be the reason why the two of them had such a close bond. Haley remarks that she knew her father could not be a garbage man and smiles at this revelation while Benson is clearly disturbed by her manner.

At the courthouse, Benson and Peter Stone walk out with Stone revealing Turner pled guilty to statutory rape and incest, while also stating he was on suicide watch. He and Benson discuss the details of the case, with Benson stating its called genetic sexual attraction and describing it while hoping those involved get proper help. Benson asks Stone if he is having second thoughts about leaving for Chicago because of the case. But he says not a chance and reveals that he kept a promise to someone in New York. Stone says the person is his sister Pamela who is diagnosed with schizophrenia and her father always visited her but now that he is dead that responsibility falls on his shoulders.

Stone then goes to see his sister at the facility and she mistakes him for their father and he has to tell her that he is her brother.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

Carisi: He really seemed surprised.
Rollins: So nice. Ken and Alejandro did a good job.
Carisi: Look at Fin; he's just this happy, mellow grandpa.
Rollins: Yeah, my advice? Don't say that to his face.

Carisi: That's a cute grandkid you got there, Fin.
Tutuola: Thanks. I think I'll keep him.
Rollins: Hey, has Jayden seen "Paw Patrol"? I mean, Jesse is obsessed with it. You gotta watch it.
Tutuola: No, I don't.

[about Haley Sadler]
Benson: Okay, look, she is 16 years old. Best-case scenario is, she met a guy and she lost track of time. Worst case, let's not go there.

Peter Stone: So, our suspect is a butcher who likes to dress up as a clown?
Benson: Vincent Drago, 22. Has a history of DV, stalking, menacing. His ex-girlfriend has a restraining order out against him.
Peter Stone: Menacing?
Benson: He threatened her with a cleaver.
Peter Stone: Anger management issues and access to knives. Great.

Rollins: Lab results are back. The blood in his apartment and his car are a match to Haley, and they also found traces of bleach.
Peter Stone: Yeah, your working theory just became probable cause. Make the arrest.
Rollins: But there's... there's something else. CSU found that in his car.
Benson: [Rollins shows her a picture on her phone] That's Haley's necklace.
Peter Stone: She was in his car.
Rollins: They found that in his trunk.

Benson: I can assure you that we are doing everything in our power.
Chris Sadler: Not good enough. I... I want you to promise us that you'll find her.
Rollins: We wanna be realistic. We ask you to hope for the best, but prepare...
Chris Sadler: No, I'm not preparing for anything, all right? Haley needs me. She needs me to keep believing that she's alive. I'm the one keeping her alive. The only one.

Benson: Are you gonna charge Drago?
Peter Stone: It's tough to make a murder case without a body.

Benson: How long are you gonna torture her parents?
Stone: Are you always this persistent?
Benson: Wait 'till you get to know me.

Benson: I thought you were in court.
Stone: My first witness, James Turner, the chaperone, was a no-show.
Rollins: He's not at the hotel?
Stone: No, he checked out last night. He's not answering his cell. I called his wife. She said last time they spoke, he was nervous about testifying.
Tutuola: You think Turner went home?
Stone: I sent local PD to sit on his house. The wife won't let them in. I could get a warrant.
Carisi: That could take all day.
Rollins: [on her phone] I mean, Beaver Falls is six hours away.
Carisi: The way you drive, we can make that in four.

Carisi: Turner's prolific. There's a ton of compositions here.
Rollins: What were he and Haley doing? Writing music together?
Carisi: Yeah, maybe. Hey, look at this. "Haley's Song. Music and lyrics by James Turner."
Rollins: Okay, so maybe it-it was just a mentor/student relationship.
Carisi: [showing her provocative pictures of Haley] Maybe not.
Rollins: [with a groan of disgust] Oh... okay, then. I'm calling Liv.

Anna Sadler: You stupid...!
James Turner: I love her!
Anna Sadler: I bet you fed her that nonsense about "the fugue" and "two voices". Works every time, doesn't it, Jimmy? That and a few glasses of Chardonnay?
James Turner: Anna, stop!
Anna Sadler: How many seductions is enough? Huh?
James Turner: This was different. This was real.
[Anna scoffs]
Chris Sadler: Anna... what are you saying?
Anna Sadler: We slept together. James and me. It was one time... one time... seventeen years ago.
James Turner: Anna?
Anna Sadler: [to James] So you wanna talk about real? Yeah, it's real. Do the math.
[James slowly begins to realize what she's trying to say]
That's right, Jimmy. She's yours. You've been sleeping with your own daughter!
[James starts groaning and yelling]

Haley Sadler: James is my real father. It makes perfect sense.
Benson: What?
Haley Sadler: I've always felt this connection. We both love music and art. We're alike. I played the Hammerklavier when I was 12. I knew my father couldn't be a garbage man. I just knew it.

Stone: Turner pled guilty to rape two, kidnapping, endangering a minor, and incest.
Benson: Well...
Stone: He's on suicide watch. He had no idea Haley was his daughter?
Benson: No, he didn't, and neither did Haley.
Stone: So, how...
Stone: It's called genetic sexual attraction. When a father and daughter don't grow up in the same household, and then they meet as adults... it can happen.
Stone: What do you do?
Benson: You recommend the best therapist you know, and you... pray to God that they can work through it.

[about the case]
Benson: I hope this doesn't put you on the next train back to Chicago.
Stone: I made someone a promise.
Benson: Jack McCoy?
Stone: Actually, my sister, Pamela. She's in a facility upstate. She has schizophrenia.
Benson: I'm so sorry.
Stone: Our father used to visit her once a week. Now that's on me.
Benson: That's a lot. Look, if you, uh... if you ever feel like talking...

Background Information and Notes[]

  • "Send in the clowns" is a sarcastic expression used to voice exasperation over the fiasco of a situation, as it's most commonly used in circuses to begin clown acts. It's also the title of a song by the late, great Stephen Sondheim, from the musical "A Little Night Music".
  • Benjamin Stone's daughter Pamela, who was first mentioned in the Law & Order Season 3 episode "Skin Deep", makes her first appearance.
  • Fin's birthday is celebrated at the beginning of the episode.
  • Ken and Alejandro have succeeded in adopting a child, a boy named Jaden. An adoption for the two had been mentioned first in the episode "Intersecting Lives".
    • Back when Fin's son first told him to expect a grandson in "Intersecting Lives", Fin exclaimed that his grandson would call him "Fin". He was adamant that he did not want to be called "grandpa" or anything like it. This episode marks the first appearance of the child, and Fin adorably refers to himself as "Pop-Pop", a variation of grandpa.
  • Benson, being familiar with the relationship James and Haley had, references similar cases such as in the episodes "Taboo" and "Father Dearest".
  • When the police visit the home in Oyster Bay, there is a Suffolk County Police cruiser. Oyster Bay is located in Nassau County.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Balzarini Brothers Butcher Shop
153 York Street
Dumbo, Brooklyn
Wednesday, March 14

Apartment of
Vincent Drago
290 West 10th Street
Wednesday, March 14

Gowanus Bay Waste Terminal
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Saturday, March 17

4 5 6

Alan Hubert Productions
439 Grand Street
Williambsburg, Brooklyn
Tuesday, March 20

Supreme Courthouse
60 Centre Street
Wednesday, March 21

Bayview Mental Health Facility
South Salem, New York
Wednesday, March 21

Previous episode:
"Dare"
"Send In The Clowns"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 19
Next episode:
"Service"
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