Law & Order SVU – Recap & Review – Trophy

photo: nbc

Law & Order SVU
Trophy

Original Air Date: Nov 3, 2010

Caitlin- Associate Staff Writer
caitlin@thetwocentscorp.com

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the SVU water, there’s another episode in which where we open has little to do with the majority of the events. Thankfully, things this week actually made sense- mostly, anyway.

This was also another episode with a heavily featured guest star; in this case Maria Bello. I’m no critic, but I think she did a good job with what ended up being a very intriguing storyline.

A woman’s body turns up in a load of sheets sent to a bulk laundry facility. The detectives talk to the man who signed off on the loads. He was off the clock for a while after doing so, but only because he and his girlfriend were, um, busy. Then security video shows that our victim was dumped by her killer. She is identified as an environmental activist named Sam, part of a group expressing their views through art. One piece used the carelessly disposed “waste” of a wealthy oil CEO- waste than included silk lined electrical wiring perfect for Sam’s project.

The CEO says all he did was throw Sam off his property. Another video confirms this, but shows she was attacked at his company. The car is registered to a dead man, but Olivia and Elliot find his son, who avoids them and then shoots at them through his closed door. When they go in after him, they find he has a boxful of assorted trophies, including a bracelet that was probably Sam’s- and items likely belonging to other unknown victims.

They start to interrogate the guy, Jason, but Cragen quickly pulls them out, saying they need a psych evaluation. Fin takes over and Jason desperately denies responsibility, saying he doesn’t want to go back to prison. His parole offer doesn’t think he’d be capable of murder, but mentions a padlocked door in his house, which is found to lead to a basement torture chamber. Jason says he never went in the room, but all the evidence speaks directly against him- that is, until one of the trophies is linked to a rape that occurred before he was even born.

Jason’s attorney wants immunity for his testimony, but the detectives have none of it. They consider Jason’s father as a rapist, but Cragen makes Elliot go talk to Huang, so Olivia goes to talk to past victim alone. The victim, unfortunately, is invalid with Alzheimer’s, cared for by her daughter, Vivian, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. Olivia tries to avoid having to give Vivian the news of what happened to her mother, but relents when she pursues her. When she mentions when the rape occurred, Vivian realizes she is a product of it. Devastated, she starts to drink and take pills. Olivia eventually manages to break past her anger by talking about her own mother’s rape. Vivian says her mother always hated her, and mentions the college she went to. It’s the same as Olivia’s mother’s.

Olivia thinks Vivian could be her half sister. She presents the case to Huang, mentioning her mother had a handkerchief like one in Jason’s trinkets. He, however, believes this idea is just a result of stress. Elliot is doubtful, too, but Olivia wants Vivian’s DNA tested. The detectives decide to look at the reason Jason is so afraid to go back to jail; in other words, his old cellmate, Walter. Walter is indeed a creepy old guy, found at a strip club. After they arrest him, he tries to hit on Olivia, and then demands a lawyer. Jason tells them Water terrorized him in jail, and then moved in with him. He says the older man killed Sam and forced him to dump the body. Unfortunately, because of his presence on the property, the trophies gathered from Jason must be thrown out.

Abruptly, Vivian’s son, Calvin, shows up at the station. His mom follows, clearly high. When Olivia pulls her aside, she says she’s trying to find her real father. Olivia tells her this won’t help anything and that she needs to get better for her son. Though she’s argumentative at first, she does relent, though a recovery doesn’t seem hopeful. In the hallway, she and Calvin run into Walter, who taunts both Olivia and them. Vivian launches herself at him, screaming, but is pulled back as he departs in the elevator. Later, as the detectives try to watch Walter, Jason goes into the home, and comes out with a bloody hand. Water’s been murdered.

Jason is at first arrested, but the case shifts completely when it becomes clear Walter was killef a fair time ago. Olivia tries to argue reasons he could still have done it, but the only possibility is that someone else killed him, most likely Vivian. A friend at her house says she left and didn’t say where she was going, and then Calvin shows up at the police station with a letter for Olivia. He says his mother dropped him off and drove away while he was inside. The letter he is carrying gives Olivia custody over him. Oh. Em. Gee. (That’s partially towards the actual ending and partially towards the idea that you can give someone custody of a child without their consent.)

The complete absurdity of that ending aside, I liked this episode and found it not quite as confusing as most of the other plot twist ones. I wish Sam’s murder had been more than just a way of introducing the main plot, though- especially with the oil exec and the relevance to the oil spill. Regardless, I’m curious to know whether we’ll see Vivian again, and what will happen with Calvin. I think there’s only a very slim possibility Olivia would actually adopt him, and that’s probably a good thing, as it would be really tricky to pull off. Though I must admit, it would be an interesting dynamic.

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