| "Surrender Benson" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 15.01 | → |
| Production number: 15001 First aired (US): 25 September 2013 First aired (UK): 20 October 2013 First aired (CAN): 25 September 2013 First aired (AUS): 3 October 2013 | ||
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| Written By Julie Martin & Warren Leight Directed By Michael Smith | ||
Detective Benson fights for her life in the dramatic season premiere.
Summary[]
Hours turn into days, and with no word from Detective Benson, the SVU squad takes drastic measures to find her and her abductor. A trail of murders and rape victims leads them to fear it may be too late.
Plot[]
The season premiere continues from the end of last season's finale where William Lewis is shown inside Olivia's apartment, holding her at gunpoint.
The episode opens with a bloody and bruised Olivia being tied to a chair. Olivia tries to convince Lewis to leave, but he refuses. Lewis taunts her, saying that nobody will save her.
Back at the SVU precinct, Cassidy asks the detectives if they've heard from Olivia. The detectives get suspicious and send Rollins and Fin to Olivia's apartment. They are shocked when they discover the apartment in disarray and Olivia missing.
When the detectives pull Vanessa, Lewis' defense attorney girlfriend, out of court to talk to her, Vanessa says that she and Lewis spent the day together with her family.
When the police search her parents' house, Vanessa's father is found murdered and her mother is found hanging from a closet. In the ambulance, the mother reveals that Lewis raped her and forced Olivia to watch. Meanwhile while Lewis is driving, a rookie police officer stops him for running a light, but Lewis shoots him to death.
Olivia and Lewis are shown at a remote beach house where Olivia is cuffed to an iron frame bed. Olivia tries to seduce him in order to survive, but Lewis doesn't fall for it. Just as he is about to assault her, a maid and her young daughter arrive at the house and Lewis forces them inside.
Olivia is able to free herself from the bed and fights with Lewis over the gun. She is able to subdue him with an iron bar. She tells the maid and her daughter to leave the house.
Lewis is later shown cuffed and unconscious. Olivia speaks out loud about what she should do to him. Lewis regains consciousness and reveals details about his childhood. He taunts Olivia which angers her and she ends up beating him with the pole. Olivia is rescued by the detectives and surprisingly, Lewis survived his injuries.
Back at the precinct, Cragen assures Olivia that she is a hero. Olivia ends up going with Cassidy to his apartment. She is later shown cutting her hair short and talking with a therapist about what happened.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Danny Pino as Detective Nick Amaro
- Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins
- Richard Belzer as Sergeant John Munch
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- Raúl Esparza as A.D.A. Rafael Barba (credit only)
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring Cast[]
- Pablo Schreiber as William Lewis
- Dean Winters as Officer Brian Cassidy
- Robin de Jesus as Jose Silva
- Bill Irwin as Dr. Peter Lindstrom
- Lauren Ambrose as Legal Aid Attorney Vanessa Mayer
- Barbara Jimenez as Viva Nuñez
- Zach Appelman as Officer Jimmy Hamilton
- Jenna Rodriguez as Luisa Nuñez
- Kecia Lewis as Judge Constance Copeland
Guest Cast[]
- Susan Pellegrino as Liz Mayer
- Sue-Anne Morrow as Officer
- Brian Keane as Clerk
- Ned Luke as Mr. Thurber
- Corey Patrick as EMT
- Stowe Brown as Janey Thurber
References[]
Quotes[]
- Olivia: My partner, my squad, the entire department will hunt you down. You think that you've put people through hell? It will rain back down on you.
- William Lewis: You know what? Let it rain.
- [to William Lewis]
- Olivia: My old partner he'd know what to do. He wouldn't question himself after what you've done. He would kick your teeth in, break your legs, break your arms, break your back, break your face.
Background information and notes[]
- The title alludes to the signature catch phrase "Surrender Dorothy", the skywriting message the Wicked Witch left for Dorothy when she was taking sanctuary in Emerald City, in the children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its film adaptation The Wizard of Oz. Another episode in Law & Order has the title "Surrender Dorothy".
- Starting with this episode, Raúl Esparza has been elevated to series regular.
- The song that plays on the radio while William Lewis is driving Olivia Benson is "Ain't We Got Fun".
- Olivia's old partner Elliot Stabler is mentioned in the episode several times.
- Pablo Schreiber had previously guest-starred in the episode "Haystack" as Dan Kozlowski, sharing many scenes with Stabler.
- The medallion Stabler sends Benson in a deleted scene can be seen on the bottom of her gun when she is standing over Lewis's body.
- Right before Detective Benson frees herself from the iron-frame bed with one of the poles, Lewis already has blood on his face and t-shirt while he is unzipping his pants before she is free from restraint and has an opportunity to subdue him.
- The trial of William Lewis is shown in the episode "Psycho/Therapist".
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
Apartment of |
Arraignment Court |
Yaphank Hardware |
| Previous episode: "Her Negotiation" |
"Surrender Benson" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 15 |
Next episode: "Imprisoned Lives" |