| "Smoked" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 12.24 | → |
| Production number: 12024 First aired: 18 May 2011 | ||
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| Written By Jonathan Greene & Daniel Truly Directed By Helen Shaver | ||
Detectives Benson and Stabler never see what is coming when the shooting of a rape victim leads to a bizarre confluence of an undercover sting, gunrunning by a federal agent, and a deadly shootout in the precinct.
Summary[]
When a woman is murdered during an afternoon shopping trip with her daughter, Detectives Benson and Stabler are called in because she was scheduled to testify in their high-profile rape case. As the detectives continue to investigate the correlation between the murder and their case, they discover unlikely friendships that will lead them to the truth.
Plot[]
The victim, Annette Fox, is gunned down in the street while her daughter Jenna watches. The detectives find out that Annette had been raped and was about to testify in the trial, so they track down the rapist assuming that he had killed her or had her killed.
Luke Ronson, the man accused of raping Annette, claims that the sex was consensual. Luke appears to be a model citizen, volunteering to cut hair at the homeless shelter. He doesn't seem to know that Annette has died, and claims he was with his publicist at the time of the crime.
The detectives search Luke's house and find a gun and a black hoodie, and get ready to arrest Luke. Luke says that he doesn't have a permit for the gun in NY, just in Arizona. However, owning an unloaded gun without a permit is just a misdemeanor in NY and not enough to keep Luke in holding. The gun doesn't match the murder weapon, either, so Luke is set free. Jenna spots him leaving the police station and becomes very upset.
Fin and Stabler follow Luke as he heads for the homeless shelter run by Sister Peg. They watch as Luke argues with one of the homeless men there, Eddie. Eddie was the person who said he saw that Luke had a gun. When Eddie sees the detectives, he bolts and is arrested.
Luke claims that he hired Eddie to scare Annette and make her life uncomfortable, but he never said to kill her. But Eddie says that he and Luke never agreed to that. Benson believes that Luke is telling the truth, and that Eddie was the shooter. However, they still don't have the murder weapon, and without it, they don't really have a case.
ADA West tells the detectives that they can arrest Luke for witness tampering and get Eddie on assault charges for attacking a police officer. Eddie gets his phone call and screams at the person on the other end of the line before Stabler takes Eddie back to holding.
Later Stabler is ordered to move Eddie to central booking, but when he goes to the cell, Eddie is missing, taken by the ATF because he's the key to busting a cigarette smuggling ring. Stabler cuffs Eddie and takes him away anyway, and ADA West calls DA Jack McCoy to help smooth things over.
Stabler works with Eddie undercover with the cigarette investigation, but the exchange gets botched and Eddie escapes in the confusion of gunfire. ATF is pleased with the bust, but SVU has just lost its killer.
The detectives track Eddie down to Luke's apartment, where Luke is being held at gunpoint by Eddie, who is demanding money. Stabler manages to convince Eddie to put the gun down and then arrests both Luke and Eddie. Eddie admits to killing Annette all on his own. He tries to bargain with SVU, saying that Luke told him a detailed story about the rape. If the murder charges against him are lessened, he'll give up the source of the gun he used to kill Annette.
The ATF agent is confronted by Benson and Stabler, and accused of giving the gun to Eddie. He is arrested as an accessory to murder. At SVU, Eddie and Luke are in holding, along with the ATF agent. Sister Peg visits the station to drop off evidence, a picture of Jenna and Annette with an address written in Eddie's handwriting.
Jenna arrives at the station, and Benson tells her that they have her mother's killer. They also have Luke in custody and they will go ahead with the rape trial. Jenna is brought to the "cage", and she asks about the third man in the cell. Benson tells her that it's the person who gave Eddie the gun.
Jenna then shoots at the three men in the cell, killing Greer and Luke, and then starts shooting her gun haphazardly. One of the bullets hits Sister Peg. Eddie taunts Jenna and says he should have killed her along with her mother. Jenna is about to shoot Eddie again but Stabler is forced to fire at her. As Jenna lies on the floor bleeding, Stabler runs and holds her in his arms. Jenna tells Stabler that she just got the gun off the street. Jenna and Sister Peg die from their wounds. The episode ends with a devastated Stabler cradling the dead girl.
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
- B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang (credit only)
- Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner (credit only)
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen (credit only)
Recurring cast[]
- Francie Swift as A.D.A. Sherri West
- Joe Grifasi as Defense Attorney Hashi Horowitz
- Charlayne Woodard as Sister Peg
- James Chen as CSU Technician Adrian Sung
Guest cast[]
- Michael Raymond-James as Eddie Skinner
- Andrew Howard as Luke Ronson
- Pedro Pascal as Special Agent Greer
- Hayley McFarland as Jenna Fox
- Michael Cullen as Phil
- Al Sapienza as ATF Supervisor
- Alice Barrett Mitchell as Annette Fox
- Michael Genet as Lieutenant Harrison
- Nancy Lemenager as Mariette
- Athena Colón as Luisa
- Jeb Kreager as Sergeant
- Kevin Townley as Clarence
- Sandy Dell as Salon Client
- Mario D'Leon as Freemo
- Sean Ringgold as Tiny
- Amanda Elliott as Hair Salon Girl
- Odette Warder Henderson as Lookie Loo (uncredited)
References[]
- ATF
- Operation Short Fuse
- Xcelerator Salon
- Jack McCoy
Quotes[]
- Benson: [to the customers at Luke Ronson's salon] Well, be careful, ladies. You ask Luke for "a dye job," he might blow your brains out.
- Sister Peg: Luke's been a godsend.
- Stabler: He's also a rapist, Sister Peg.
- Sister Peg: Accused, not convicted.
- Stabler: Come on, Sister.
- Sister Peg: Congress cut my funding. I have to take all the help I can get.
- [after Luke Ronson is arrested]
- Salon Client: When can I reschedule?
- Stabler: About 25 years.
- [after Luke Ronson is released from custody]
- Jenna Fox: Where's he going?
- Benson: Jenna, he's going home. Sweetie, that's not the man that murdered your mother.
- Jenna Fox: But he raped her. You can't just let him go.
- Benson: Believe me, we're not.
- Jenna Fox: I don't understand. How could it not be him?
- Benson: We don't know that yet.
- Jenna Fox: Everything's falling apart. The trial's off, Mom's dead, she trusted you, I trusted you.
- Benson: Nobody is giving up on your mom.
- Jenna Fox: I was supposed to go to prom and now I have to bury my mother. And you guys have no clue who killed her.
- Benson: Jenna, these things take time...
- Jenna Fox: It's already taken two years! I put my faith in you and... and now I have no one!
- Benson: We're gonna get Luke. I promise.
- Eddie Skinner: Hey, let me ask you something, is it fun being a cop?
- Stabler: Fun? I love it.
- Eddie Skinner: Yeah, see, I thought so. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a cop when I grew up.
- Stabler: The problem there is you gotta care about people and the only person you give a crap about is yourself.
- Agent Greer: I get the feeling your partner's not a people person.
- Benson: You don't know the half of it.
- Stabler: Not looking forward to telling Jenna that her mom's killer is in the wind. Just feels as though we keep failing her.
- Benson: Look, it's not over till it's over. Besides, Eddie doesn't seem like the kind of guy who can stay underground. He needs attention, somebody to brag to.
- Stabler: Well, when we find him again and I accidentally run him over?
- Benson: I'll have your back.
- Agent Greer: The NYPD doesn't have informants?
- Stabler: Hey, WE don't hand over handguns with body counts on them and hope for the best. I don't know if you noticed but we've got a real handgun problem in this country, too many of them wind up in the hands of bad guys, and obviously they've been getting 'em from jackasses like you.
- Agent Greer: (to his boss) You're not going to let them arrest me?
- Greer's Boss: Yes, and shake their hands when they're finished.
Background information and notes[]
- This is the fourth time that Detective Elliot Stabler was forced to shoot and kill a suspect. In this case it was Jenna Fox.
- This is the last episode to feature Sister Peg.
- This episode marks Christopher Meloni's final contract appearance as Detective Elliot Stabler until the twenty-second season.
- This is the last episode to feature Christopher Meloni, B.D. Wong, and Tamara Tunie as main cast members.
- This is also the last episode to feature Neal Baer as showrunner. He is replaced by Warren Leight in the following season.
- Funnily enough, Michael Raymond-James would go on to portray a criminal named Jon Kosta on the second season of Law & Order: Organized Crime who Stabler would cross paths with while going undercover with to investigate a case.
- The title of this episode is also the caption of the final section of Carmen Maria Machado's story "Especially Heinous," which reimagines the first 12 seasons of SVU as paranormal horror. It appears in her award-winning collection "Her Body and Other Parties."
- Goof: The girl fires the handgun 20 times without reloading and the slide is not back indicating it still has a round in the chamber. No semiautomatic handgun has that capacity for ammunition unless it has a magazine that extends well below the bottom of the gun, which the gun shown did not have.
- Goof: All civilians entering a NYPD precinct are required to go through a metal detector and are searched thoroughly if they set off the detector. Therefore, it is impossible for Jenna Fox to sneak a gun into the SVU squad room.
- This is the final episode of the series to not have Mariska Hargitay at the top-billing "Starring" position, which, for the previous 12 seasons, had been held by Christopher Meloni.
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Xcelerater Salon |
Sister Peg's Mission |
Residence of |
Batfe |
44 John Street |
| Previous episode: "Delinquent" |
"Smoked" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 12 |
Next episode: "Scorched Earth" |