SVU recap: "Closure II" (1/2)
Luna
-- luna
--
Last year on SVU, an episode featured Tracy Pollan as a rape victim who
couldn't identify her attacker. Apparently, she was so nice we had to see her
twice.
We start off in a 911 operators' office -- I'm not sure what you properly call
it -- with an operator on the phone. A New York accent complains about
traffic. The operator disconnects and takes the next call. A semi-frantic
female voice: "There's a rape. Right now, at 88 West Franklin." In the
background of the call, a dog barks loudly, a man tells the dog to get down,
and the woman shrieks, "Get away from me!" The operator switches over and
dispatches the police.
Olivia "Da Brat" Benson and Elliot "Eazy E" Stabler walk down the street with a
uniform officer. Uniform tells Benson and Hedges that they don't have an
apartment number, and the call probably came from a cell phone. They're
knocking on doors. Another uniform officer hands Olivia some item of jewelry
in a baggie. I can't see it, but it must have a name on it, because Benson
reads, "Lori." Via the radio, a voice calls, "Got her. 3-B." Benson and
Hedges go in.
Stabler identifies them to the cop in the apartment. The victim, in the
bathroom, freaked out when the cop tried to come in. Benson knocks on the door
and identifies herself as Olivia. Lori -- for it is she -- squeals, "It's
filthy in here!" Benson says they're there to help, and opens the door. An
actual cloud of steam pours out. I wonder how she did that; I could never make
my shower that hot. Benson pulls the shower curtain aside, revealing a
terrified woman. Benson shuts the water off and asks how long she's been in
there. Lori scrubs at the tub and murmurs, "This drain. I want the stuff out
of here." Benson: "What stuff?" Lori: "The stuff that he washed off me."
Benson reassures her that it's gone. Lori stands up slowly. Benson wraps her
in towels and helps her out of the tub. Lori, chilled: "This is really
happening, isn't it?" They leave the bathroom. Stabler looks on
sympathetically, because he burned himself in the shower when he broke up with
Lee Tergesen. Wait, wrong show. Really, as they emerge, Lori whimpers: "Is
this how you like it? That's all he kept saying to me." Benson sits her down.
Lori asks her to stay. She takes a second to tell Stabler the 'is this how
you like it?' remark, which we'll be hearing plenty more. Stabler adds, "His
favorite neighborhood, his type -- blonde, petite, single." Benson: "Bastard's
at it again." Stabler: "Why am I not surprised?" Guess he saw the promos.
Opening theme. The best part of the show is the hilarity of Ice-T's name in
the credits. Ice-T. Heh. I miss the walking-down-the-hall shot desperately.
The little desk panorama doesn't cut it.
In the Special Squadroom, Captain Don "Puffy" Cragen looks at a file. Olivia's
changed from her awful yellow shirt to a lime green one, so the color count's
at two. She asserts, "It's him. It has to be him." Cragen points out that
it's been a year since Cleary was a suspect. Stabler, seated on the desk next
to Benson, says it's the same M.O.: "He came in off the fire escape. He rapes
them, asks them if they like it; he bathes them, and then he steals a piece of
jewelry as a memento." Benson repeats: "It's him. Kenneth Cleary We had him
and we lost him." Cragen: "We couldn't keep him. Not our fault." Stabler
asks if he wants to tell the victim that, as an officer escorts a now-clothed
Lori into the room. Benson greets her.
In an interview room, Benson gets Lori's story. Cragen watches through the
mirror. Stabler, also on the observation deck, is facing away while listening.
Lori shakily recounts: "He pulled my blanket off me. My shirt was over my
eyes. A button got caught in my mouth. He hit me." Benson asks what happened
next. Stabler's stone-faced: "He tried to kiss her." Lori: "He tried to kiss
me." She goes on (we've heard the M.O., I'll spare you the details): "He kept
saying..." Stabler: "Is this how you like it?" Lori: "Is this how you like
it?" It's pretty spooky when he does that. Lori didn't see her attacker's
face. Stabler: "None of his victims could ID him." John "Slim Shady" Munch
opens the door, says, "Nothing from Forensics," and exits again. Stabler:
"There never is, with Kenneth Cleary." Benson asks if Lori called the police.
She didn't. Stabler realizes: "We've got a witness." Cragen tells Stabler to
move slowly or Cleary will walk again. Stabler: "Not too slow." Cragen:
"Well, move slow as fast as you can." That's our Cragen!
Stabler and Benson chung-chung it to the 'Public Safety Answering Center 911'
-- so that's what it's called! The operator plays back the call we heard
earlier. Benson says they may have two witnesses. Stabler: "Three, if you
count the dog." The operator tells them the call came from a pay phone on
Franklin, the victim's street. She hands Benson the tape and they leave.
Benson and Stabler walk outside Lori's building. Olivia points out that Lori's
apartment is on the third floor. Elliot agrees that there's no way anyone
could see into it from the street. They check out Lori's bedroom. Two
apartments have a view. One has a cute doggie in the window. Across the
street, the Dynamic Duo knock on a door. A woman's voice demands, "Who is it?"
Benson identifies. A woman in dark glasses -- Mrs. Walton -- opens the door
and asks to see a badge. Stabler realizes she's blind and lets her touch it.
Mrs. W. asks what's wrong. She says her neighbors have been on vacation for a
week. Benson mentions that her apartment looks into Lori's. Mrs. W. whips off
her glasses: "I'm blind, Detective." Olivia asks if anybody was with her last
night. Mrs. W. says "Billy" took her dog out for her: "The young man down in
1-G. He's a doctor." The detectives thank her. As they leave, she suggests
they look for Billy on the roof.
Sure enough, on the roof, a young actor studies hard to play an
arrogant-yet-committed med student. "'ER' will need fresh blood soon," he
says. "There's always 'Gideon's Crossing'!" Only in my head, though. He
quips that he thought he could "hide" on the roof. Stabler: "Well, Mrs. Walton
gave you up there, doctor." He says he's not a doctor yet ("City of Angels"
isn't hiring). They ask what time he walked the dog. Dr. No isn't sure: "I've
got sleep deprivation, light deprivation, time -- you know, if I don't pass
this exam--" Before he confesses his fear of ending up on "General Hospital",
Elliot interrupts to ask if the dog barked at a woman on a pay phone. Dr. No
tells them the guide dog didn't, and suggests they try the news-stand down the
block. They leave him to contemplate a small role on 'Strong Medicine'.
At said news-stand, an ugly, vicious mutt snaps at Benson and Stabler. The
owner -- call him Wally, in mocking memory of Deadline -- settles it down.
Stabler: "He can't be good for business." Wally says the dog's great for
theft. I bet; I wouldn't go near that thing. Stabler asks if the dog attacked
phone lady. Wally defensively says it didn't hurt the woman. Olivia asks him
to describe her. She was blonde, thin, and thirtyish. If you don't yet know
where this is headed, put your head down on your desk. Wally says he didn't see
her face, since he was busy with the hell hound, but he remembers her clothes,
right down to the panty-lines. Olivia calls him on it. Wally: "She had a nice
ass, which is more interesting to me then her face." Benson and Stabler give
him stony looks. He shrugs: "I'm an ass man!" and sticks a huge cigar in his
mouth. Yuck.
Cut to the Special Squadroom. Cragen sums up: "We have the dog, but not the
witness." From his desk, Munch snarks, "Maybe the dog could ID Cleary." He
doesn't make the obvious 'takes one to know one' comment. Cragen: "We don't
know that it's Cleary." Olivia insists that they do. Cragen tells her to be
open. This is beyond the abilities of Benson's one-track mind. She reiterates
how the rapes match up. Stabler pipes up: "At least he's not getting rougher."
Cragen asks after Lori. Olivia: "She's coming out of shock, going into numb."
Up walks "Vanilla" Ice-T, whose character's name just doesn't matter. He
announces that the 911 call was immediately followed by a call to Kenneth
Cleary's home. Benson starts up. Cragen: "Cleary sees you and Stabler again,
you're done before you start." He hands it off to Munch and Ice-T.
At Chateau de Sleaze, Mrs. Cleary (we'll call her Whippet, 'cause Mrs. Cleary
is too long) comes to the door. Munch asks if she got a call just after
midnight. Whippet: "Well, it's about time!" She says she's been after the
phone company to do something. Ice-T asks if there were other calls. Duh.
Whippet: "Some woman's harassing me." Munch asks how. Whippet: "Last night,
she said, 'he's raping someone right now.'" Ice-T says there was, indeed, a
rape. Munch asks if her husband was home last night. Whippet stresses: "My
husband is *not* a rapist!" He repeats the question. She nervously says yes.
Munch: "He didn't walk the dog last night?" Munch made "walk the dog" sound
kind of dirty. Whippet: "We *all* walk the dog." Odd. Ice-T asks what she
did after the call. Whippet: "I went back to sleep." I don't like Whippet.
She's snotty to Munch and she's in more denial than NBC is when they call
"Cursed" Must-See TV. Ice-T wonders why she didn't tell her husband. Whippet:
"We don't both have to be awake for a harassing phone call." Munch asks if the
phone company offered to tap the line. Whippet says Kenneth refused, for
privacy's sake. She whines, "This woman is ruining our lives! Why don't you
stop her?"
Munch and Ice-T (the lunch detectives) return to the squadroom. Benson and
Stabler are checking phone records. Olivia asks if Whippet alibi'd Cleary.
Ice-T: "Yeah, but she was chokin' on it." That's the best line delivery he
gives all night. Stabler: "They all track to pay phones. She said she ignored
the first call thinking it was a prank, right?" Ice-T nods. Elliot says he
found a number from their files. In an un-shocking non-twist, he reveals that
the caller was, duh, Tracy Pollan's character. Stabler: "Looks like she's
stalking him. Sorry, Olivia." Maris(h)ka attempts to look stunned, but it
really looks like she's trying to remember where her keys are.
Cut to Tracy Pollan as Harper "White Zombie" Anderson. She greets the cops:
"You should be at his place, not mine." Benson says she can't stalk Cleary.
Zombie smirks that she surveills (which is awkward; it should be surveys) from
a legal distance. Benson says playing with semantics is dangerous. She and
Stabler follow Zombie into her crazy big apartment. Zombie: "I saw him go into
the alley. By the time I got to it, he was gone. And I saw the fire escape."
Elliot notes that she didn't see Cleary actually go inside. Zombie says she
considered the possibilities, then called 911. Elliot asks why she didn't
stick around. Zombie: "He ran out the service entry right after the sirens."
She followed Cleary, but insists it's not stalking. Benson fails to look
thoughtful. Stabler: "And this is art, not to be confused with obsession, or a
target?" We see Cleary's mug shot, blown up and framed. Yikes. Zombie: "It
goes with the room." Sure, 'cause it's big and ridiculous. She offers Benson
and Stabler wine. He declines. Zombie looks at her psychosis-poster and calls
Cleary a workaholic. Benson: "You couldn't identify him in a line-up. How do
you know he's the man that raped you?" Zombie says Cleary winked at her, at
his sentencing for possession of stolen property. She asks who Cleary raped
this time, and offers Stabler a drink again. He refuses. To be fair, if Chris
Meloni was in my apartment, I'd try to get him drunk and take advantage of him,
too. Benson says the police did all they could. Zombie: "You didn't follow
him! You knew he'd rape again!" Benson: "I'd like to follow every guy that I
know has a propensity to rape." Zombie mocks, "Poor police! So overworked!"
Well, they have jobs, unlike Zombie. Benson says Zombie's "not equipped" for
this. Zombie says she's doing what a private investigator would do. Benson:
"You're harassing his wife!" Zombie: "Give me a break! She's enabling a
rapist, and you're too busy to deal with him, so I will!"
Commercial break. Long ad for "In the Beginning," a.k.a. "The Fresh Prince of
Egypt."
We return to the squadroom. "Harper Anderson is dangerous," Stabler asserts.
Benson is wearing a plum-colored tank-top now. That's the third color tonight.
Does she shop at the Skittles Boutique? She claims that Zombie isn't
dangerous. Stabler: "She's stalking Cleary!" Benson: "He raped her; she's
following him to catch him at it." She's being so stubborn I'll have to call
her Oblivia Benson in this scene. Cragen, disapprovingly: "You buy into her
distinction between stalking and following?" Oblivia: "The system failed her,
so she's operating it herself as best she can. I mean, Cleary doesn't know
that she's there. She doesn't approach him. She doesn't threaten him."
Cragen: "Mrs. Cleary feels threatened." Oblivia says Whippet will have to face
facts. Pot, kettle. Munch: "She doesn't have to face it unless we prove it."
Cragen doesn't want Whippet pushed by Zombie. Ice-T does a third-rate Meldrick
Lewis voice: "Street justice is always bloody." Really, Ice-T? Huh. The More
You Know. Cragen tells them to bring Zombie in for "a blunt talking-to." He
sends Benson and Hedges to get in Cleary's face: "It may not go to making a
case, but I want to defuse this tinderbox before it blows." Tinderboxes have
fuses?
When Elliot and Olivia arrive on Cleary's street, they find fliers with his mug
shot and the word "rapist." Up the street, Harper the Harpy is taping them up
while Whippet tears them down and shriek, "Get out; you can't do this! My son
will see these!" Zombie: "He should know where he comes from!" The detectives
rush over and separate them. Whippet calls Zombie a bitch. Zombie: "You're
sleeping with a rapist!" They scream at each other as Kenneth "Ick!" Cleary
rolls up in a convertible. He asks what's going on, recognizes Elliot, and
goes to his wife. Stabler tells him about the recent rape. Cleary
automatically says, "I was home." Zombie: "You're lying! I saw you!" Cleary:
"What, every time a woman's raped, you're going to come to me?" Stabler: "Not
every time, no." Heh. Kenny sneers: "How long do I have to bear the brunt of
this woman forgetting to take her lithium? She's obviously damaged." Zombie
seethes, grabs a convenient metal pipe, and smashes the windshield of the
Sleazemobile. Benson restrains her. Zombie snots, "Perfect, arrest me -- not
the rapist." As they leave, Whippet looks darkly at her husband and walks
away. He looks grim under the Vaguely Groovy Guitars Of Tension.
--Continued in part 2--
"This goes out to intelligent life forms everywhere, and to everyone
else - the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys."
Kayleigh19
>An
>actual cloud of steam pours out. I wonder how she did that; I could never
>make
>my shower that hot.
Yeah, and all those huge apartments in New York that struggling, starving peon
workers seem to be able to afford......
>Stabler looks on
>sympathetically, because he burned himself in the shower when he broke up
>with
>Lee Tergesen.
Shhhhh! You'll summon the slash queens!
>Benson: "Bastard's
>at it again." Stabler: "Why am I not surprised?" Guess he saw the promos.
After all--it's Must-See-TV....
>I miss the walking-down-the-hall shot desperately.
>The little desk panorama doesn't cut it.
Agreed. But, maybe TPTB were here for the after-premiere flap over who had
their own "mug shot" or was or was not in the ubiquitous Hallway Stomp. Maybe
they were just trying to spare us more pain...:)
>In the Special Squadroom, Captain Don "Puffy" Cragen looks at a file.
<howl> Must breathe.....do not eat Oreos and read Luna's recap with clogged
sinuses....
>Olivia asks him
>to describe her. She was blonde, thin, and thirtyish. If you don't yet know
>where this is headed, put your head down on your desk.
And wasn't the firing range scene just as cleverly subtle?
>Maris(h)ka attempts to look stunned, but it
>really looks like she's trying to remember where her keys are.
Or if she just smelled a fart--I haven't determined which yet.
>To be fair, if Chris
>Meloni was in my apartment, I'd try to get him drunk and take advantage of
>him,
>too.
Oh, get real! You'd have him staked out naked over satin sheets in a trice.
And Benson would be just plain staked out.
>Benson is wearing a plum-colored tank-top now. That's the third color
>tonight.
> Does she shop at the Skittles Boutique?
<snort> Can I tell you how much I love these damn recaps?
> Ice-T does a third-rate Meldrick
>Lewis voice: "Street justice is always bloody." Really, Ice-T? Huh. The
>More
>You Know.
<Cue irritating music, as crowd rushes local 7-11 stores in search of ipecac
and enemas...>
Ah, Luna....you are such a gem. I needed a good laugh tonight. Just not one
out of my nose.
Kayleigh