Law and Order: SVU

8.30PM THURSDAY / JUNE 12

Robin Williams guest stars in the 200th episode of Law & Order: SVU as Merritt Rook, a man who plays dangerous mind games with innocent people in order to trick them in to committing criminal acts. Masquerading as a policeman, Rook telephones a restaurant manager (Scott Adsit) and forces him to bound, gag and strip search one of his female employees. Stabler and Benson investigate and discover that Rook isn’t a policeman and has a sick habit of conducting these hoaxes all over the city. Although they manage to take Rook to trial, he ingeniously gets himself off and develops a large following by fellow supporters who admire his desire to make people aware that there are risks involved by leading unquestioning lives.

Law & Order: SVU Executive Producer Neal Baer said, “We are thrilled that one of the most talented and versatile actors around will be starring in this powerful and complex special 200th episode. We can’t imagine anyone else doing this role.” – Courtesy of NBC

Robin Williams Q&A
What interested you most about the character?
The idea that he is basically trying to get people to question authority, to not just blindly follow, was appealing to me.

Were there any surprises when you got to the set?
I didn’t know how funny Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni were. I found out later that Chris had been on Oz and that scared me. They were hysterical, and Diane Neal (ADA Casey Novak) can hold her own with any comic I know.

How on earth did you cope with the incredible hotness of Hargitay and the seething manliess of Meloni?
It’s more the seething manliness of Hargitay and the incredible hotness of Meloni.
* Robin Williams launched his acting career on television playing the title character in “Mork and Mindy”.
* This guest role in SVU is his first guest role since Friends in 1997.
* He has earnt critical acclaim for his dramatic performances, winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in “Good Will Hunting”, as well as nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role for “The Fisher King, Dead Poet’s Society and “Good Morning Vietnam”.

8.30PM THURSDAY / JUNE 5

The murder of money manager Jeremy Grandon leads to the exposure of his secret lover, Lincoln Haver (Bailey Chase), a well known professional football player. A blunder by Detective Benson outs Haver and leads to a catastrophic chain of events which affects Haver professionally and physically, when he is the victim of an attack from homophobic fans. Not only does Haver have to fight for his life, but also his innocence, as he becomes the prime suspect in his lover’s murder.

Benson is under scrutiny in regards to her unprofessional behaviour and investigations in to her phone account reveals she has had regular contact with an editor at a local paper and all is revealed – Benson has a boyfriend! Kurt Moss (special guest star Bill Pulman), plays Benson’s love interest and editor of the local newspaper. This is monumental for Benson, who hasn’t had a boyfriend for literally series. But all this good fortune on the love tree couldn’t possibly lead to a happy ending, or could it?

8.30PM THURSDAY / MAY 29

THIS WEEK IT’S DETECTIVE STABLER’S TURN TO TAKE CENTRE STAGE AS HE INVESTIGATES THE BRUTAL RAPE OF A YOUNG JEWISH BOY.

When David Zelinsky, a 10-year old Jewish boy, turns up at school visibly beaten and sexually assaulted, Detectives Benson and Stabler are quick to suspect his tutor, Jacob, who dropped him at school that morning.

But when Jacob’s alibi checks out, Stabler finds himself at a dead end with no further leads, and to make matter’s worse, he learns that David has been kidnapped.

CCTV footage shows David leaving the building with his father, Avi, and it looks like they are heading for Kehalit Moshe, a small Amish settlement, completely separated from modern society. Stabler and Munch race upstate and find David safe and sound with his local Rabbi. David says he asked the Rabbi to take him somewhere where he would be safe from the brutal attacks.

Meanwhile, forensics have a new picture of the perpetrator, he’s not an adult as originally assumed, he is in fact a young boy, no older than 14. With Dr. Huang’s psychological analysis and interview with David, the detectives make a breakthrough and arrest 14 year old Jack Trembley from David’s school.

When the detectives go to pick up Jack, they find him at home with his younger brother, watching a pornographic movie. He tells the detectives he’s watched a lot of movies like this and it’s fuelled his curiosity about sex.

Novak is disgusted by Jack’s actions and demands he be tried as an adult. But when Jack’s father abandons him, Jack spends the night in a cell, which hits a soft spot with Stabler, who begs Novak to try Jack in the family court instead.

Just as the trial gets underway in the family court, Novak interrupts with news of three further cases of sexual assault. As more details emerge of Jack’s assaults on three young girls, the case quickly escalates into a media circus which isn’t helped by Jack’s attorney, Roxanna Hickey, who uses the case as an opportunity for her own self-promotion.

8.30PM THURSDAY / MAY 22

With detectives Stabler and Tutuola working an extradition case in Montreal, detectives Benson and Lake investigate a double homicide where the female appears to be the latest victim of a serial killer known as ‘the woodsman’.

Special Agent Cooper (special guest star Erika Christensen) from the behavioural unit of the FBI gives Benson and Lake a powerful insight into the man she’s been trying to catch for years.

A park ranger found the victims in a remote area of Central Park after he received an email tipping him off about a dead dog in the vicinity. Lake traces the origin of the email back to an Internet café and scours the surveillance tapes looking for any sign of ‘the woodsman’.

Meanwhile, the Captain has news – the second murder victim found by the park ranger matches the DNA of ‘the woodsman’. No one is more surprised to hear of ‘the woodsmans’ aka Larry Moore’s death, than Cooper, how could she have missed the clues?

When Benson and Cooper ransack Moore’s apartment they find a key to a storage unit at the docks which reveals a disturbing torture chamber where Moore held his 23 female victims. Whilst there, Benson opens a drawer to find the 24th victim barely alive.

Meanwhile, Lake makes a breakthrough in the case when he spots Agent Cooper outside the Internet café just minutes after the tip-off email was sent.

Throughout the case Agent Cooper struggles with the heinous nature of the crimes committed, but as the case reaches its climax it’s detective Benson who suffers a breakdown as she witnesses a truly shocking and unexpected event.

TRIVIA:
One of the necklaces Detective Benson wears on the show is called the ‘fearless necklace’ from the Joyful Heart Foundation which actress Mariska Hargitay established to help rape and sexual assault victims. One hundred percent of the profits from the necklace go towards the foundation. For more information or to purchase your own ‘fearless necklace’ visit www.joyfulheartfoundation.org.

8.30PM THURSDAY / MAY 15

Shelby Crawford, a young Park Avenue socialite is found beaten to death and dumped in NYC’s Central Park. One of her diamond earrings has been stolen, and the detectives know it is only a matter of time before someone tries to pawn it.

When the police delve into Shelby’s final hours before her death, they discover her boyfriend Doug, and best friend, Anna, were also in the park the night she was murdered. Doug and Anna are brought in for individual questioning, but before a breakthrough can be made, a pawnshop calls the SVU to say Shelby’s earring has been cashed in.

Paige, a social worker from the area identifies the mystery customer as Josie, a young homeless girl who lives nearby. When detectives Benson and Stabler find Josie for questioning, she flees the scene along with a large group of her homeless ‘brothers and sisters’.

Benson eventually catches Josie and she’s brought into the precinct for questioning. She’s a stubborn girl, but she finally cracks when bribed with food. Josie says her ‘parents’, Cassidy and Cole, hit Shelby over the head and stole her earring, which matches the version of events from forensics.

That night, Josie stays with Paige, the social worker, while Benson and Stabler return to question Cassidy and Cole. When they arrive, they find hate messages to Josie scrawled on the wall and immediately fear for her safety.

Unfortunately, they are too late as both Paige and Josie have been murdered.

When Cassidy arrives to report Josie missing, she is devastated to find her dead, and begs the detectives for a deal. She will tell them everything she knows about Cole’s many murders in return for a one way ticket to San Francisco.

The deal is made, and when Cassidy testifies against Cole in court, he is sent to jail for 25 years for each of his six murders.

But just when the detectives think it’s all over, Cassidy’s parents come forward to claim their daughter. When put on the spot, Cassidy, aka Helen, reveals she went to the same high school as Shelby which complicates her involvement in the murder.

8.30PM THURSDAY / APRIL 24

In one of this season’s most dramatic episodes,
Detective Stabler’s wife, Kathy, and Detective
Benson are involved in a serious car accident,
which sends Kathy into labour prematurely.
When a family nanny is found gruesomely murdered, the obvious suspect is one of her three
internet love interests.
But it isn’t long before Detectives Benson and
Stabler come to suspect the nanny’s employers,
who have a few skeletons in the closest, including
the true paternity of their son, Tommy.
The investigation leads to a case of murder and
infidelity, which is further complicated when
Stabler’s own family suffers a tragedy that
leaves Stabler’s unborn child in serious danger.

8.30PM THURSDAY / APRIL 17

WITH SPECIAL GUEST STARS FORREST GRIFFIN AND ICE T’S WIFE COCO NICOLE
AUSTIN.
Detectives Tutuola and Lake investigate the murder of 17 year old Julie Donovan,
whose body was found dumped in the woods with a man’s baseball cap by her side.
DNA evidence leads the detectives to an ultimate fighter named Mike Kona (guest
star Forrest Griffin) who already has a rap sheet for burglary and rape. But the rape
victim is his fiancée, Traci (guest star Coco Nicole Austin, pictured), who dropped
the charges after he proposed. She does however supply the police with footage
from a hidden video camera that shows Kona did sleep with Julie on the night of her
murder.
But when Kona is released with a rock solid alibi, Julie’s father shoots him dead
anyway. Meanwhile, further DNA evidence from the crime scene matches a former
juvie offender, Jadon Odami.
Jadon and his brother Ezra are scholarship students and met Julie at a frat party the
night of the murder. When the cops pay them a visit, they flee and the detectives discover they had a tough childhood and
went through several foster homes. Their upbringing strikes a chord with Lake.
Lake and Fin track down the boys’ mother, Janelle, a junkie / prostitute and bring her into the station where they meet
Jadon who has come to turn himself in. He confesses to the murder but Ezra is still in the wind. More digging reveals that
the brothers are part of a tight gang that sometimes requires them to rape girls as part of initiation into the group.
The cops track down the ringleader, James McDonnell, and drop by to pick him up. But before they can get to him there’s
a shootout between Ezra and McDonnell. While Lake tackles Ezra, McDonnell flees the scene with Fin and Cragen on his
tail. He jumps into a garbage truck and is tragically crushed to death by the compactor.
Ezra claims that McDonnell killed Julie and tried to frame him and Jadon. But because Jadon confessed and McDonnell
is dead, it seems like the case is closed. While Novak prepares for Ezra’s trial, Lake isn’t satisfied with the result. As a
product of the foster system himself, he feels he needs to help these boys and with the support of Stabler, they set out to
find the truth.
TRIVIA:
Ice T met Coco when he was on a movie set. He says he was in a bad mood and his boys knew he was grumpy, so when
they saw Coco they introduced her to him to try and cheer him up!

8.30PM THURSDAY / APRIL 10

LAW & ORDER’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY JACK McCOY MAKES AN APPEARANCE
WHEN A.D.A CASEY NOVAK OVERSTEPS THE PROFESSIONAL
BOUNDARIES.
Detectives Benson and Stabler find an 11-year old kidnapping victim barely
alive in the boot of a rental car. The victim, Sabrina, was raped and hit with
a rock and now lies unconscious in hospital.
The rental car where Sabrina was found is traced to Saul Picard, an eccentric
artist, who claims he returned the car the day before Sabrina was
abducted. The car was stolen off the street, but when evidence points to
Picard again, he’s already skipped town in another rental car.
Sabrina wakes up and easily identifies Picard from a photo line up. She
says he kept calling her Francine and took her from a bookstore. Soon
another girl is kidnapped from the same bookstore, and Stabler realises he’s seen Picard before; he’s a children’s
book author.
The detectives find Picard and the kidnapped girl asleep in the car in a park, and while Benson leads the girl away,
Picard becomes violent and throws Stabler through the rear window of a car. Stabler hits his head so hard that’s he
gone blind. While the doctor says his condition is only temporary, everyone is worried for him.
Meanwhile, Dr. Huang diagnoses Picard with schizophrenia – he suffered a psychotic break when he witnessed his
11-year old sister being attacked and raped. In his mind, when he kidnaps the girls, he’s saving his sister, Francine.
A.D.A Novak is surprisingly sympathetic to Picard’s situation and strikes a deal with his attorney to put him in a mental
institution for life, instead of jail. Novak prepares for trial and persuades Stabler to testify against his attacker,
despite Benson’s concerns that Stabler isn’t up to it yet.
When Stabler is on the stand, Novak changes her line of questioning and asks about Picard’s strange actions, which
causes Picard to have a breakdown in court, and the judge declares a mistrial.
Benson is furious that Novak threw the case and tells her she let her situation with her schizophrenic ex-fiance
impact on her professionalism. Novak was attacked by her ex-fiance when he was off his medication, and despite
being seriously hurt, she feels guilty that she couldn’t help him. When the new D.A. Jack McCoy hears of Novak’s
actions, he threatens to fire her if she misbehaves again. Will Novak be able make up for her mistakes?