Review of "Contagious" (Tuesday, January 11, 2005 NBC Episode of "SVU")
Wallyhorse
First, a reminder that this episode will repeat on Sunday, January 23,
at 11:00 PM ET/PT on USA Network. See below for more:
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This episode opened with accident victims being brought into a
hospital for emergency surgery when it was the girl (Holly Purcell,
Jeannette McCurdy) went into a fit when the doctor tried to take off
her pants. They then brought in Dr. Rebecca Hendricks (Mary Stuart
Masterson), who brought in another female doctor who noted that Rebecca
was right in that she was abused. Her parents (Larry and Sonya) were
dealing with surgery when this happened.
After Elliott and Olivia arrive, they quickly get Casey to get them an
order to have Holly examined for abuse as her parents were still in
surgery. Elliott then talks with Holly, getting her through having a
needle stuck in her arm to take a sample to see who possibly abused
her. Olivia is then talking with Larry (David Landsbury), who notes
that Holly actually fell from her bike, which did happen, but Rebecca
then noted that the injury was not consistent with abuse.
Holly quickly recovers, and we then see her talking with Olivia about
the accident, with Holly quickly denying her being abused when Olivia
then asked and being afraid that the person who did this had a gun and
would shoot her to death if she told, like another girl he did in a
park. Her father was a witness to all of this via video. That girl
turns out to be Laura Swift, who apparently had been killed earlier.
Like how Rebecca is able to explain to her parents how she would get
Holly to draw pictures and work with her in trying to find out who it
is, while from the drawings, Elliott, Olivia, Munch and Fin all talk to
people at the places she draws. In one of the drawings, Holly draws one
girl who was off to the side and notes that she hated gym class. From
what Holly said (and crying for a while), it turned out to be the man
she called "Uncle Mark" as in Mark Dobbins, whom Elliott and Olivia
find coaching a high school football game and arrested.
We then see Mark in custody at SVU headquarters, with it noted that
Mark was in Flushing Meadow Park when Laura was murdered, with her body
hidden. Mark was denying that he did anything to Holly. It turns out
that Mark molested two other girls who went forward, with their mothers
not wanting their daughters to talk to the Detectives at first until
they were informed that they had to in order to charge Mark with the
crimes. Both girls then told Elliott and Olivia about what happened.
Several additional parents then call, noting their daughters also were
molested by Mark. His wife then denies that Mark did anything, claiming
she was there when Elliott when into a shouting match with Mrs.
Dobbins. Elliott then reveals to Olivia how his own separation has been
very hard on him.
There then was a charge 18 years earlier of Mark raping a 15-year old
that turned out to have the charges dropped, noting that was a forgery
and his claiming he was being screwed. He also denied all charges and
was ready to go to trial.
We then see Elliott sleeping in the back of the SVU when Olivia awakes
him to reveal that Holly wanted to see him, and Holly then telling
Elliott in private (where Casey was prepping Holly for trial) that she
lied about Mark molesting her. Rebecca thinks either her father or Mark
threatened her and some of the other girls who were molested. They are
with one of the girls (Danielle), who said how her mother badgered her
into saying that Mark did this. All charges are dropped against Mark
after that, which was a big surprise in the way it was done. We then
see Mark talking with Larry about what happened, with it turning out
that it was another man who raped Holly, and it turning out she named
Mark because the man who actually did it threatened to kill her and her
father. Rebecca is there when that happened, with Rebecca then
realizing that it was actually a lacrosse player named Kevin Wilcox who
actually molested Holly, which Olivia very carefully got out of Holly.
It also turned out that Kevin killed Laura Swift, which was discovered
when the gun found in Kevin's trunk matched bullets found where Laura
was killed, noting Laura was buried in a vacant lot.
The last scene had Elliott's kids bring him a birthday cake, which was
a great scene, but then Mark Dobbins and his wife walk in to tell
Elliott he had been fired from his job and they had to move upstate as
a result of his being falsely accused of what happened.
Yet another great episode of "SVU."
Walt