| "Solitary" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 11.03 | → |
| Production number: First aired (US): 7 October 2009 First aired (UK): 30 October 2009 First aired (CAN): 9 October 2009 First aired (AUS): 25 February 2010 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Amanda Green Directed By Helen Shaver | ||
Plot[]
When Lily Milton is reported missing, her boyfriend, Parker Hubbard, points Detectives Benson and Stabler in the direction of Callum Donovan, Lily's downstairs neighbor and convicted bank robber who spent nineteen years in prison. Stabler is convinced that Donovan was the perp and vigorously pursues him.
Later, Lily turns up alive, having gone into hiding in shame after a failed attempt to score drugs. Trying to be the bigger man, Stabler goes to apologize to Donovan, but finds him on the roof of the apartment building. Donovan panics and pushes Stabler off the roof.
Donovan is found with his mother and after one final moment, he is arrested. Donovan tries to run but is detained by Fin and he goads Benson to shoot him because he is a rapist and he killed her partner. However, he is told Stabler survived, that they uncovered Lily's lie and tells him the real reason as to why Stabler came to his apartment. Donovan is stunned by this news before he is taken away.
Stabler survives, and initially intends to help A.D.A. Paxton throw the book at Donovan, but after Donovan testifies that he was afraid of going back to prison because of the time he spent in solitary, Stabler resolves to enter the Hole himself to see if it can really make someone crazy.
When three days inside passes like a week for him he finds himself agreeing with Donovan. However Paxton refuses to sympathise with the perp and not only continues with the case but pushes to have him sent directly to solitary. Later while Stabler is in a bar feeling sory for the man, A.D.A. Paxton comes in and offers to by him a drink in congratulations for sending Donovan back where he belongs, only for Stabler to give her the cold shoulder in disgust.
Later on while visiting Donovan Elliot finds that Donovan had injured himself in his cell while attempting suicide. He will be in the prison hospital until he recovers, and thanks to some calls from Paxton he will be released back into the prison population. Donovan thanks Stabler for that, but Elliot replies it wasn't him.
Summary[]
Episode summary
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[]
- Christine Lahti as E.A.D.A. Sonya Paxton
- Joanna Merlin as Judge Lena Petrovsky
- Jabari Gray as C.S.U. Detective Keegan Timmons
- Stephen Gregory as Dr. Kyle Beresford
- Nathanael Albright as Paramedic Jones
- Erica Bradshaw as Court Clerk
Guest cast[]
- Stephen Rea as Callum Donovan
- Deborah Ann Woll as Lily Milton
- Bobby Campo as Parker Hubbard
- John F. O'Donohue as Stevedore
- Jessica Walter as Defense Attorney Petra Gilmartin
- Glenn Fleshler as Corrections Officer Kravitz
- Bernadette Quigley as Betty Jean
- Jo Newman as Tracie
- Samia Akudo as Veronique St. John
- Elizabeth Shepherd as Mrs. Donovan
- Bruce Faulk as Harbor Patrol Cop
- Alan Altschuler as Jury Foreperson
References[]
- US Airways Flight 1549 aka "The Miracle on the Hudson"
- Billy Chang
- Aryan Brotherhood
Quotes[]
- Stabler: [to Callum Donovan] NYPD. This is my partner, Detective Benson. I'm...
- Callum Donovan: Detective Stabler. And they say lightning never strikes twice.
- Stabler: Do I know you?
- Callum Donovan: How could you forget? The last time we met, you put me in jail for 19 years.
- Callum Donovan: [about Lily] I didn't touch the girl. Sure, she was a pain in the ass...
[the door opens] - Petra Gilmartin: And so are you, Cal. What happened? Freedom get boring? You want Detective Stabler to lock you up again?
- Lily Milton: Does being the victim of a crime give you guys the right to hack through my e-mails?
- Stabler: No, but you're not a victim either, are you?
- Lily Milton: I was abducted.
- Stabler: No, you weren't. You were not assaulted. You weren't kidnapped or tossed into the river. You were online at CopyQwik scoring drugs.
- Lily Milton: No, you... you don't understand.
- Benson: Okay. So make us understand, Lily.
- Lily Milton: I almost died.
- Stabler: Hey, what do you... you want pity from us? You were willing to send an innocent man to prison to cover your ass?
- [after Elliot is pushed off a building by Cal Donovan and ends up in the hospital]
- Paxton: [to Olivia] Does he do this often?
- Benson: What? Almost die in the line of duty?
- Paxton: Take a nap halfway through his tour.
- Stabler: I'm still alive. I can hear you, ladies.
- Veronique St. John: I don't ask my clients questions.
- Tutuola: You a hooker?
- Veronique St. John: The hell I am.
- Tutuola: You threw my friend off the roof, you got nothing coming.
- [after Donovan is arrested by Olivia and Fin]
- Callum Donovan: I'm a dangerous man. A rapist, kidnapper. Take me off the streets. You'll get a medal for it.
- Benson: Lily lied. Elliot was coming to apologize to you.
- Callum Donovan: Apologize?
- Benson: If you'd waited a moment longer, you'd be a free man.
- [Sonya has ordered the SVU detectives to leave Donovan alone]
- Stabler: Lady, I've had one hell of a bad day, and I'm in no mood to be told what to do.
- Stabler: [to Paxton] You know something? You have had a hard-on for me since the day you walked into this squad.
- Paxton: No, hon, not at all. I've got problems with anybody who doesn't play by the rules.
- Stabler: No, your rules. You act like the law's holy scripture. You don't give a damn about the law. You want control. You don't know me. You know me? I know you. I see perps like you walking here everyday of the week. They got to have control; the whole world falls apart, but inside they're scared, weak, damage... [Paxton slaps him]
- Benson: When I was in prison undercover, the worst part was never being alone. No private time, no quiet time, even on the toilet. I would have killed to do a stint in the hole.
- Callum Donovan: Detective Stabler, you'll never know what it's like to be truly alone, to go through endless days without seeing a face or hearing a voice. You can't imagine it unless you wind up there yourself.
- Stabler: [grabs a CO after being locked in solitary confinement] You son of a bitch! I said three days, not a week!
- Corrections Officer Kravitz: It was three days, I swear. It's Sunday night when you told me to let you out.
- Paxton: Where the hell you been?
- Stabler: At the hole. [pause] I want to drop the charges.
- Paxton: [laughs] don't be a wuss Stabler. You took a bad trip in your own head, and now what? you feel sorry for Donovan? Well that's your problem. Mine is convicting a would-be cop killer, who thinks doing a little time gives him the right to whack the first cop who looks at him cross-eyed.
- Stabler: It's not that simple.
- Paxton: Actually it is. If Donovan walks it's open season on law enforcement, for any perp that did a day in the hall.
- Stabler: Look, you don't have to set him a precedent, just cut him a deal.
- Paxton: If I plea-bargain Donovan, he's out in 5 years, and then what? Does he run down the cop who pulls him over for speeding? I won't take that chance.
- Stabler: I'll report you for assault. The DA will suspend you.
- Paxton: Go ahead. [pauses and then smiles] Thought so. You may of lost your balls in lock-up but, I still got mine.
Background information and notes[]
- Benson mentions the time she was undercover in a prison which happened in the episode "Undercover".
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Pier 19 |
Copyqwik |
Residence of |
Residence of |
| 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|
|
Arraignment Court |
Supreme Court |
Sing Sing Prison |
| Previous episode: "Sugar" |
"Solitary" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 11 |
Next episode: "Hammered" |