Scheherezade

Season 8, Episode 10, Aired

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9.0
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Stabler heads to see terminal cancer patient Judson Tierney after a request from his parish priest, and soon realizes that Tierney has a story that he is dying to tell but only wants to tell to his estranged daughter. With Benson keeping an eye on Tierney, Stabler looks into the man's past and learns that he was once involved in a series of unsolved bank robberies, and that he has been keeping a secret about his daughter for over twenty years.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (21)

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  • Interesting case and very emotionally charged!

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By DarkWhiskey10, Mar 29, 2011
    This episode had nothing to do with SVU but it was still a good case. The acting was great and it portrayed one man's quest for redemption very well. After his twins got some honor at the Catholic Church,(I know nothing about Catholicism)the priest takes Elliot aside to ask him to take a case for him about a man who wants to be redeemed for his past mistakes. Elliot agrees and goes to see this dying man but he wasn't going to talk until he got to see his estranged daughter. His daughter wanted nothing to do with her father for all the trauma he exhibited on her when she was a child. Elliot brings in Olivia and Olivia thinks that the dying man's daughter was molested as a child but there is a big twist and the daughter wasn't eager to help. The dying man won't speak but he gives clues all around for the detectives to figure it out for themselves. When the detctives uncover that the dying man had been a big time bank robber back in his early days they are intrigued because they think there is more to the story. When they uncover a key they try out every place it might go to and the key finally fits in a shelter underground. They discover all the money that was robbed and the mummy of the dying man's accomplice in the bank robberies. When they confront the dying man about this they learn that the dying man killed his accomplice when he killed his wife and was going to kill his baby girl. The dying man shot his accomplice and took the baby which wasn't his. The problem was that there was already a man in jail for the murder of the accomplice's girlfriend. They get the innocent person out of jail and reunite the dying man with his "daughter" but the "daughter" couldn't say anything because her "father" had already passed away. The episode was different and very good.moreless

  • A man seeks redemption and forgiveness while on the threshold of death. Stabler sees a possible vision of his future and Benson becomes a surrogate daughter. Great writing, acting and Mariska Hargitay's 'baby' weight and lactating state still amaze me.moreless

    8.5
    "Great"
    By olivenson, Mar 29, 2011
    This was a very special episode because of it's unusual approach to solving this decades-old case. But of course it's about more than an unsolved crime, it's about a man finding redemption and forgiveness. A father's love for his daughter? Possibly. The episode opens with Stabler and his unstable family and his ever distant daughters' relationship apparently getting worse.

    A man on his deathbed has a trunk full of secrets and only Stabler and Benson can figure it all out, apparently. There was no good old times door kick-ins, perp body slams or foot chases on the part of Elliot and Olivia. They barely got to work with each other (thank god for cellular phones... geez). And Mariska Hargitay's fat still causes headshakes, but is not quite as amusing as before. Take off the damn winter jacket, Benson! And perhaps stand in the shadows more. The acting and the writing were on point as usual, so in essence, I can't complain, although I was trying really hard.

    And what happened to the preview for next week's episode? Did I really blink and miss it?moreless

  • Just like the original Scheherezade, this tale keeps unfolding and bringing our detectives back for more. The unusual plot brings a fresh perspective to SVU.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By jo_idnew, Mar 29, 2011
    First of all, it's nice to have Olivia back and in synch with her partner again. They didn't get to share much screen time, but they were totally on the same page regardless.

    I also enjoyed seeing the whole Stabler family together and talking in church. I don't care what the EO shippers say, I am hoping for a reconciliation. :-)

    Brian Dennehy made a genuinely charming villain for a change, and I might be morally deficient, but by the end of the episode, I actually liked him and really didn't care about all the money he stole or the other crimes he committed. It was a good feeling to finally see a story about redemption instead of another "catch the creep and get a confession" plot.

    It was delightful to see Elliot grinning when the twins were confirmed and again when he found Tierny's stash. Christopher Meloni has a beautiful smile and maybe this year he will have more reason to show it.

    I am sure a reconciliation with Kathy would give Elliot plenty of reason to smile. Maybe Olivia's line, "I think Father Dennis chose you for a reason," followed not too much later by Father Dennis saying, "You'll be saving an entire family," are foreshadowing that. (An E/K shipped can dream, right?)

    Potential Stabler family reunion aside, this was a great episode. My only criticisms are that I can't believe Elliot didn't know about Scheherezade and I want more of Munch, Fin, and Cragen. Hopefully, now that Olivia's back in the groove they'll get more screen time.moreless

  • Our favorite team closes a cold case.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By keipots, Mar 29, 2011
    Before anything else, it's great to see them back after the holiday hiatus. I missed seeing them in action.

    As for the episode, the case itself was a little slow and boring for me. I was expecting some sort of a bang. At first it was okay, I wanted to know why the daughter "hated" her father that much, but as the story progressed it became somewhat...tiring, for lack of a better term. I did like the whole Scheherezade concept, though. That telling a story to stay alive, and staying alive until the story is finished was clever.

    The actors were great, as usual. I was a bit surprised with how mature Stabler's daughter Maureen had grown. I almost didn't recognize her. And Brian Dennehy was awesome.

    It's not an episode I'd watch again, but like I said, it's great to see them back after a long break.moreless

  • it was ok i guess ...

    7.7
    "Good"
    By elliv920, Mar 29, 2011
    the episode dissapointed me becuase i thoguth it was going to be her dad not some randon old guy lol... although i liked the episode them should have done a litlle more.
    i thoguth i was random because one week she
    is skinny and has long hair then shes fat
    and has season 7 hair and the now the week a new episode she goes back to skinny they should have showed
    the episode in the begining ?moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (3)

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    • This episode was shown out of sequence, as Benson's hairstyle is different. Here her hair matches season seven's look, whereas in Infiltrated her hair is darker and with bangs.

    • Benson says that Tierney 'worked there every day since he got sick a year ago'. It's likely this was an error on the part of the writers, since it would have made more sense to say 'until he got sick a year ago'.

    • Goof: It is stated that Judson Tierney opened a locksmith business in 1971. A license is required to open a locksmith business in New York City. To obtain his license, Tierney would have had to submit his fingerprints for a criminal background check. That should have flagged him as one of the suspected 'Fedora Bandits'.

  • QUOTES (8)

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    • Judson Tierney (to Benson after she accuses him of molesting his daughter: I don't know what your father did to you, sweetie, but you need professional help.

    • Dr. George Huang: 'Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' Tolstoy, Anna Karenina. Families are complicated. Elliot Stabler: Tell me about it.

    • Father Denis: His immortal soul is in danger. Elliot Stabler: Well, eternal damnation's not a police matter.

    • Fin Tutuola: 48 hours you solve 21 bank jobs, a murder, and a kidnap? What, are you trying to make us look bad? Elliot Stabler: Well, for once, Catholic guilt's a good thing. John Munch: I thought we Jews had a corner on that market.

    • Elliot Stabler: You remember the tramp's name? Rita Colino: Rhymes with 'hunt'.

    • Elliot Stabler: The wide collar, short tie? Classic '70s look. M.E. Melinda Warner: Brings back memories. Elliot Stabler: Of what? You in diapers? M.E. Melinda Warner: Bless your heart.

    • Judson Tierney: No better place for burying a secret than a boneyard, huh?

    • Judson Tierney: Beautiful morning, huh? When you don't have many left, you appreciate them more, I guess. Like that storm we had last week. You ever notice ... how clear the sky gets just before a big storm? It's like God is warning us that 'good things don't last'. Olivia Benson: Sounds like a guilty conscience talking.

  • NOTES (3)

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  • ALLUSIONS (1)

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    • George Huang: Tierney's trying to stave off death like Scheherazade. With a story of bank robberies and illegitimate children. He's trying to hang on to make peace with his daughter. Scheherezade was a legendary Persian queen who was the storyteller in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. As the legend goes, Scheherezade married a king who, after having been betrayed by his first wife, married a new woman every day and murdered her the next day at dawn. In order to stop the cycle of marriage and death, Scheherezade married the king herself. Each night Scheherezade told her husband a story, promising there was a more interesting one to come up. Each night he let her live to listen to the next story, until finally he let her live without the stories after she told one thousand and one.

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