The Third Guy

"The Third Guy"
←	SVU, Episode 1.16	→
Production number: E0920 First aired (US): 25 February 2000 First aired (CAN): 25 February 2000 First aired (AUS): 12 June 2000
	th of 502 produced in SVU
←	th of 502 released in SVU	→
	th of 1271 released in all
Written By Dawn DeNoon & Lisa Marie Petersen Directed By Jud Taylor

An elderly woman is found dead in her apartment and has been sexually assaulted and robbed.

Plot

An elderly woman is apparently raped and murdered during a home invasion robbery. After catching the home invaders, Stabler and Benson learn that they were not the rapists, but a mentally challenged delivery man who found her later was.

Cast

Main cast

• Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
• Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
• Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
• Michelle Hurd as Detective Monique Jeffries
• Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen

Recurring cast

• Liz Larsen as Defense Attorney Regal
• Lance Reddick as M.E. Taylor
• J.K. Simmons as Dr. Emil Skoda
• Welly Yang as C.S.U. Technician Georgie
• William C. Mitchell as Judge J. Connolly

Guest cast

• Denis O'Hare as Jimmy Walp
• Eugene Byrd as Carlos Medina
• Katherine Borowitz as A.D.A. Fahey
• Rick Gonzalez as Alfonso Cardenas
• Vincent Guastaferro as Stan Bosick
• Peggy Pope as Sylvia Walp
• David Adkins as PD Trax
• Madison Arnold as Owner
• Diego López as Emmanuel Clemente
• Francine Beers as Francis Reiner
• P.J. Brown as Corelli
• Teddy Coluca as Landlord
• Cynthia Darlow as Waitress
• Patrick Garner as Patient #1
• Michelle Hurst as Gloria Milton
• Charlie Fersko as PD David Vento
• Randy Lewis as Tech
• Natalia Ortiz as Sonia Medina
• Philip McAdoo as Patient #2
• Jose Rabelo as Hispanic Man
• Stu "Large" Riley as Johnny Schmidt
• John Rafael Peralta as Hiphop

References

• QVC
• Jimmy Hoffa
• Hip hop
• Miranda warning
• Hero syndrome
• Richard Jewell
• Gilligan's Island
• DSM
• Board of Education
• Albert Einstein
• IQ
• Danielle Steel
• James Joyce
• Mensa
• Lenore Bernstein (victim)
• Winnie the Pooh
• Health Department
• Insatiable Bondage Sluts
• The Berenstain Bears
• Hot chocolate
• McDonald's
• The Third Man

Quotes

Tech: Guy ejaculated on her thigh. Take a look at this. Tied up with her own support hose.

Benson: The attacker came unprepared. The rape was probably an afterthought.

Stabler: How do you get those thoughts about somebody who looks like your grandmother?

---

Hiphop: [while being arrested] Me has embaucado, you douche!

Stabler: Yo, Hiphop. You want us to Mirandise you in English and Spanish, we can.

---

Benson: I could be wrong, but Good Samaritans don't usually rape elderly women.

---

Jeffries: [to Alfonso about Carlos] Why are you letting this boy gamble with your life? How old are you? Seventeen?

Munch: Look at me, take a good look. In 15 years, you're gonna be as old as I am.

---

Benson: [to Carlos] Let me explain something to you. You jerk us around, you jerk your deal off the table.

---

Dr. Emil Skoda: Guy starts a fire, reports it, helps put it out. Hero syndrome.

Munch: Or Carlos takes a hero and turns him into the patsy. Schmuck syndrome.

---

Munch: Insatiable Bondage Sluts. That's nice.

---

Munch: He was fired from McDonald's. That alone will win the case for him.

Background information and notes

• This is Lance Reddick's first appearance as Medical Examiner Taylor.
• This is also J.K. Simmons' first appearance as Dr. Emil Skoda in episodes from Special Victims Unit. Dr. Skoda was a regular character in Law & Order.
• This episode contains a number of references to the 1949 film The Third Man. Shared plot elements include mental disability, illegal traffic in prescription drugs, dialogue mentioning cuckoo clocks, and of course the title. In the Law & Order episode "Fluency", Jack McCoy interrogates a defendant by describing in meticulous detail the ferris wheel scene in this film. The suspect, charged with second degree murder for selling counterfeit packages of influenza vaccines resulting in the deaths of 16 people, breaks down while recounting the scene himself.
• Det. Jeffries refers to someone to be questioned as "Jonathan Smith," but seconds later, the intertitle card noting where Dets. Stabler and Benson are reads "Apartment of Johnny Schmidt."
• Rick Gonzalez, who played Alfonso Cardenas, would eventually join the main cast of Law & Order: Organized Crime as Det. Bobby Reyes.

Episode scene cards

1	2	3	4
Home Medical Supply Delivery Bronx, New York Monday, February 14	Stephen Foster High School 590 West 16th Street Wednesday, February 16	Rikers Island Correctional Facility Wednesday, February 16	Apartment of Johnny Schmidt 243 East 4th Street Thursday, February 17

5	6	7
Apartment of Jimmy Walp 175 West 21st Street Thursday, February 17	Home of Sylvia Walp 530 West 110th Street Saturday, February 19	Supreme Court Trial Part 31 Statement Hearing Monday, February 21

Previous episode: "Entitled"

"The Third Guy" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 1

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