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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 13 Episode 10

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AIRED: Dec 07, 2011

9.2

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Episode Summary

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When the daughter of one of Detective Amaro's friends is found working as an underage prostitute, the unit sets up a sting operation. Unfortunately, the operation's high-profile collar marks the return of Bayard Ellis and his notion of rape excused by mental defect.

Fan Episode Reviews (2)

12/7

7.2

By thefanof, Dec 12, 2011

Did anyone notice how Benson and Amaro pulled their guns down even before Jake put his on the ground? That's bad police work and if he had shot someone else they could have been in serious trouble.

This was an intriguing episode, and it featured that powerful scene in the courtroom, but Harry's Law just had an anti-football episode, so for another show to have one on NBC so soon is a little offputting.

And I thought the whole point was to get the pimp put away? Why did the focus change so swiftly?moreless
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A rape might not be what it seems, especially when a high profile football player is pre-diagnosed with CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy). *Partial spoilers

10

By jmortonloci, Dec 12, 2011

The episode starts out with a girl named Vicki (Kay Panabaker) who 'belongs' to a pimp that way raped. Although SVU collars said pimp, the person who raped Vicki is still at large.

That's where football player Jake Stanton (Treat Williams) comes in; he has 'illicit hobbies' (prostitutes) but the twist, Stanton has a mental disability called CTE or Chronic trumatic encephalopathy, a disease that's like dementia for football players or sports players where numerous concusions are involved. Stanton didn't know what he was doing, so he can't be held responsible, thus he was found not guilty, with help from his caring but in-denial wife (Beth Chamberlin) and defense attorneyBayard Ellis (Andre Braugher), called up by Olivia, who noticed Stanton had problems.

This episode shows how sports players (whoget numerousconcussions) are at risk for CTE, which has dementia-like symptoms. So they may not remember saying or doing certain things. Thisepisode is not about police officers misjudging a suicide attempt.Stanton blew himself away by putting a gun to his chestso his brain could be used for medical testing fora possible cure for CTE. Had SVU written an episode like this between seasons 8 and 12, I'd be against the suicide attempt, but this episode; you can understand why he did what he did. You might even feel sorry for him.

This episode has many powerful and compellingscenes between leading lady Mariska Hargitay, newcomer Danny Pino and guest starLaura Benanti (portraying Maria Amaro, his wife). But I think the guests who stand out the most are Treat Williams, Beth Chamberlin and Andre Braugher.

This episode is probably the best of the 13th season (so far) and the best (so far) new showrunner Warren Leight himself has written.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Mariska Hargitay	Det. Olivia Benson
Kelli Giddish	Det. Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino	Det. Nick Amaro
Ice-T	Det. Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola
Dann Florek	Capt. Donald Cragen

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Andre Braugher	Bayard Ellis	Guest Star
Treat Williams	Jake Stanton	Guest Star
Dominic Fumusa	Jason Harris	Guest Star
Stephanie March	ADA Alexandra Cabot	Recurring Role
Laura Benanti	Maria Grazie	Recurring Role
Ned Eisenberg	Roger Kressler	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Treat Williams, Andre Braugher, and Dann...

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Treat Williams on Law and Order: SVU fro...

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Andre Braugher on Law and Order: SVU fro...

© 2011 NBCUniversal, Inc.
Treat Williams on Law and Order: SVU fro...

© 2011 NBCUniversal, Inc.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Benson mentions a football player previously using an insanity defense. This happened in the Season 9 episode Closet.
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NOTES (1)
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- Original International Air Dates:
  
  Canada – December 7, 2011 on CTV 2
  
  United Kingdom – March 11, 2012 on Universal Channel/Universal Channel HD
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