Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Intoxicated

Season 6, Episode 19, Aired 3/29/05

Episode Summary

When Denise Eldridge finds her fifteen-year-old daughter Carrie in bed with twenty-one-year-old Justin, she immediately calls police to have Justin charged with statutory rape. Benson intercedes on behalf of Carrie, calling a children's rights lawyer to assist her, but when Denise turns up dead, Carrie and Justin both end up on the suspect list. Benson tries to get some help from Simone Bryce, but Bryce is obligated to protect her client.moreless

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Cast & Crew

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Dann Florek

Capt. Donald Cragen
Mariska Hargitay

Det. Olivia Benson
Christopher Meloni

Det. Elliot Stabler

Fan Episode Reviews (11)

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Law and Order Special Victims Unit!

10

"Perfect"

By ourkissgoodbye, Jun 24, 2010 Report Abuse

Denise Eldridge walks in on her fifteen year old daughter, Carrie, engaged in questionable acts with her twenty one year old boyfriend, Justin. She immediately puts a stop to it, and wants Justin arrested for rape. However, Carrie says that whatever happened was consensual, and does not want to report anything. This leaves the Detectives with no case, unless they can prove that the act of sex did in fact take place. And the only way to do that would be for Carrie to report it or to have a rape kit done. Carrie refuses, but her mother does not want to drop it. After Detectives Benson and Stabler find that Denise was murdered, and that Carrie was behind it, they are now looking at a case of murder. The case hits a little too close to home for Detective Olivia Benson, and she asks ADA Casey Novak to plead Carrie out, because she knows what it was like to be in Carrie's shoes. This is a great episode. You get a glimpse into what it must have been like for Olivia Benson to grow up with her alcoholic mother. Like Carrie, Olivia had to deal with the fact that her mother drank all the time. She admitted to Casey that she knew what it felt like to wish that her mother was dead, and that is why she did not want Carrie to have to go to trial for her mother's murder.moreless

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2 0
For some reason, this episode left me with tears in my eyes.

10

"Perfect"

By gumcurls, Jun 24, 2010 Report Abuse

Great episode!
This episode is amazing. I think Danielle Panabaker should win something for it, because her acting was awesome.
The story was classic SVU, with a lot of twists! It was about a young couple who was controlled by the girl's mother. Both the girl and the guy were annoyed with the mother, so when she is found dead, they are the first suspects.
Olivia can relate a lot to the case, since she says at the ending of the episode that she was in a similar situation. When she was sixteen years old, almost the girl (Carrie)'s age, she dated a twenty-one year old (the same age as Carrie's boyfriend). Her mother forbid Olivia from seeing him, and it ended in a violent battle between Olivia and Serena Benson.
The episode really got me thinking. First you think that the boyfriend is guilty, but my point of view was shifted many times. I could feel deeply how Carrie felt, being controlled by her mother. I could also feel how the mother felt -- like she was losing her little girl.
For some reason, this episode made me very emotional. I love episodes that do that to me, and I think the writers did a fantastic job! Carrie and Justin were so loyal to eachother, and I totally felt how Carrie felt, like Justin was the only one she had.
One word to describe this episode: Amazing.moreless

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3 0
Olivia re-visits the ghost of her past in Denise Eldridge

9.8

"Superb"

By ozsvuaddict, Jun 24, 2010 Report Abuse

We open with a girl and guy seriously making out in bed, when the girl's mother comes in and screams the house down. Uniforms are called, but they're forced to call in Benson and Stabler as soon as the mother cries 'rape'. Turns out the boyfriend's 21, and she's 15...."That's statutory rape" as wonderful (not!) Denise kindly points out.

At the stationhouse, Elliot and Olivia try to get the story straight, but when you have a crazy like Denise (the mother) hanging around, it gets a lot harder. After both Justin and Carrie (boyfriend and daughter) are able to stave off confessing to anything other than kissing, the detectives are forced to let Justin go. But when it comes to Carrie, Denise has other ideas.

She forces Carrie to the hospital for a rape kit to see if she's been sexually active so Justin can get arrested. Denise is more upset, as it turns out, at the fact that Carrie could get pregnant and be left behind with a baby like she was.

Olivia calls a Children's Right's attorney to help out and Carrie doesn't undergo the rape kit. Denise is suitably pissed. She even goes so far as to bring in Carrie's bedsheets "to get Justin's fluids off of" and emails sent between the pair.

Just when you think the fruit-cake (As Olivia suitably labels her....classic line) can't get any more crazy, she ends up being killed. Now whether it's Carrie or Justin is the real question. A hunt for the pair ensues across upstate New York.

There are a number of twists, and Olivia digs up dirt on Denise that reminds her of her mother's alcoholic ways. She finds a minimum of fifty bottles full of liquor on her search of the Eldridge apartment, finding them in places only soebody who's experienced this kind of thing would know. She opens up to Casey (I wish it had've been Elliot) at a bar about how she almost killed her own mother after she tried to attack her using a broken, jagged piece of glass. We get to see the dynamic that Olivia and Serena (her mother) had, before their relationship became better. Mariska (Benson) is great in this episode, ably supported by Chris (Stabler) who knows when to support and when to leave alone.

Great Episode! Very...Intoxicating...moreless

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3 0
When a case hits close to home for Detective Benson, will she have the strength and courage to continue the investigation? A wonderful episode.

9.5

"Superb"

By SL3UTH, Jun 24, 2010 Report Abuse

The beginning of the episode in nothing special; we see two teenagers in bed kissing. But from there, things get interesting. The mother of the girl teenager bursts into the room, sees the altercation, and calls the police, claiming her daughter was raped. Children's liberties and heated discussions ensue, until a murder occurs and Detectives Stabler and Benson are on the hunt for a mistaken kidnapping.

We learn later on that the mother was an semi-abusive alcoholic. The poignant scene where Olivia is shuffling through the crime scene and finding all the bottles of alcohol is brilliant; especially since you get the impression that she knows where all the hiding spots should be. Viewers may be disappointed, because when Elliot finds her stacking up the bottles, his banter with his partner is lacking and unemotional. Still, this episode centers on Olivia's ties to the victim and her family.

It is the confession to Casey at a bar that really gives insight to Olivia's character. This episode is sad, shocking, revealing, and all around a definite classic.moreless

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This episode is one of my personal favorites. It was extremely well written and revealed a bit more about what Olivia's relationship had been with her mother.

10

"Perfect"

By SVU_Obsessed, Dec 26, 2006 Report Abuse

'Intoxicated' was a brilliantly written episode in my opinion. It showed us the relationship between Carrie and her mother Denise and in a way it reflected on Olivia's relationship with her own mother. Denise Elderidge was an alcoholic and abused her daughter Carrie, just like Olivia's mother and in a way Olivia felt a need to protect Carrie because she herself was abused by her mother, both emotionally and physically. Cathy (Denise) was perfect as the abusive mother never missing a beat and Danielle (Carrie) was also good. We learned a bit more about Olivia's past, finding out that she had been engaged briefly at the age of 16 and that her mother was an English professor who drank and abused her. This really set the scale for Olivia Benson and this episode brought it out amazingly.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- Benson's mother once flew into a drunken rage after Benson told her she was engaged to be married and attacked her. Edit
- Goof: When Benson returns to the murder scene during the trial, the bloodstains on the walls are still bright red. In the real world these would have oxidized and turned brown long before then. Edit
Notes
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Quotes
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- Simone Bryce: Olivia, what are you gonna do? Olivia Benson: I have to tell the DA. Simone Bryce: Hold on. You know it wasn't murder. Olivia Benson: Why didn't you present that as evidence? Simone Bryce: She refused to talk about it. (pauses) You remember what that was like. (Olivia nods slightly) Edit
- Carrie Eldridge: (crying) I loved my mom very much. But when she was drunk she wasn't a mother. Edit
- (In the Eldridge apartment) Elliot Stabler: Why'd you come here? Olivia Benson: To find out what else I was wrong about. Edit
Allusions
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- This appears to be ripped from the headlines of the Valessa Robinson case. Edit