Law and Order: SVU - Dependent (2/13/2007)

Sidney Turex walks his young son, Tommy, home after a night out. Young Tommy Turex asks his father to stay the night, but as his father is barely eeking out some sort of deadbeat-dad type of excuse, he is hit from behind with a large object and Tommy runs. Tommy makes it to the elevator of the penthouse and hits the alarm.

Da dum, dum dum dum da dum...and you know the drill.

Captain Donald Cragen briefs the Detectives of the Special Victims Unit. Sidney Turex is in the hospital recovering from the head injury. His wife was raped and then killed in her bedroom--both with a candlestick. Surprisingly, due to the nature of the crime, none of the detectives offers to haul Professor Plum or Colonel Mustard into the station and jack them up about their whereabouts the night before. It would have been my first move, and I would have dragged Ms Scarlet in too because I don't trust that bitch.

Detective Elliot Stabler and Detective Olivia Benson go to break the news to the Turex's only daughter, Charlotte, a young teenage with a rebellious streak. After going to her friend's house and learning that Charlotte only used her for an alibi, they find Charlotte at the house of her boyfriend, Ryan Bedford. The detectives learn that Charlotte lies to her mom about being with her friend so that she can spend time with her boyfriend. An interview with Charlotte reveals that her father, a prominent defense attorney, had many enemies due to his profession. She mentions a private investigator that was hired to find out who was behind the recent threats.

The Private Investigator shows the detectives a slide show of harassment perpetrated on the Turex residence. A little vandalism, a missing cat, the missing cat returned in pieces, and an angry, threatening letter. The P.I. states that he had the handwriting analyzed and found it to belong to Lucio Ricci, who was most likely a creative, vandalism-prone Virgo with a good sense of humor. A visit to Lucio Ricci by the detectives is interrupted by the news that Sidney Turex is conscious and ready to be interviewed about his assault. At first Sidney can't remember anything and then emotionally admits to seeing his daughter run down the hall after his attack.

The detectives question Charlotte again and she claims she was at party. An interrogation of her friends reveals that it was a “Pharm Party" and everyone brought their favorite pharmaceutical drugs to share with the group. The fact that Charlotte's mom was a Sales Rep for a pharmaceutical company becomes much more relevant now. They search the Turex house and find that the basement has so many prescription narcotics lying around that it looks like Danny Bonaduce's hotel room during an E! True Hollywood Story expose. They also find urine in the toilet that can be tested to show what drugs were in Charlotte's system when she ransacked the basement. They search the rest of the house and bag up her clothes as evidence.

Detectives Stabler and Benson interrogate Charlotte again. She can't remember anything except for what she was wearing that night. The detectives show her that her white Keds are now stained with her Mom's blood. Charlotte confesses to murdering her mother and then punches through the two-way mirror in a suicide attempt. I'm no psychiatrist, but this appears more as a “cry for help" punch to the mirror rather than an actual “I want to kill myself" punch through the mirror. Sidney Turex naturally blames the police for interviewing his daughter without an attorney present and states that he will defend her by reason of insanity. He will show the jury that she was a drug addict and was depressed, but I'm guessing will shy away from the whole “she raped her mom with a candlestick" bit.

The lab report returns and shows that the urine found in the basement toilet belonged to a man. They show young Tommy Turex some mugshot photos and he points out that Ryan Bedford was the man that attacked his father. Detective Stabler and Benson track down Ryan and attempt to arrest him but he runs off. The detectives get separated during the pursuit but eventually Stabler catches him trying to scale a fence. Stabler pulls him off the fence, dodges a few punches, and fights Ryan to the ground. After he cuffs him he turns him over to find that he is dead. Should he read him his last rites? Sorry, I couldn't help myself. But this changes everything...

After an interview with Internal Affairs, Detective Stabler gets suspended from the force. Detective Benson intrudes during Dr. Melinda Warner's autopsy of Ryan Bedford. Dr. Warner tells Olivia that the death was caused by a ruptured spleen caused by a blunt force à la Detective Stabler opening a can of whoop-ass on Bedford. Detective Benson realizes that the only way to save her partner is to prove that Ryan Bedford was the killer. She reluctantly gets permission from Sidney to give his daughter truth serum.

Under the influence of these cop drugs, Charlotte tells the event of the night like this: She and Ryan got wasted at the party and he left without her to get more drugs. She walks home and finds Ryan coming up from the basement with the drugs her mom had stored there. She follows him upstairs and hears him threatening her mom. She goes to her room to try and sleep it off, but hears a crashing sound. When she goes to investigate the noise, she sees Ryan using the candlestick on her mom, then sees him run out and hit her dad. The Prosecutor, Kelly Novak, drops the charges against Charlotte Turex just in time to see that a Wrongful Death lawsuit has been launched against Detective Stabler.

Detective Stabler is at home alone watching the film of his arrest, trying to prepare for his Grand Jury testimony the next day. Dr. Warner drops by to check on him and apologizes for being such damn good medical examiner. He off-handedly tells her that he tried to save Ryan by giving him CPR after the arrest. Dr. Warner states that Stabler may have ruptured Ryan's spleen while giving CPR and wants to find out what drugs he may have been on. A review of the drugs present during the “Pharm Party" and a quick look through Ryan's medical records show that Ryan had a heart condition that needed medical treatment. Rather than taking his medication, he was using it as his entrance fee to parties. His heart condition could flare up and cause cardiac arrest during moments of extreme stress or excitement. Running from the police qualifies as possibly such a moment. When Dr. Warren provides this new information to the Grand Jury, Stabler is absolved of any wrongdoing and is allowed to keep his moniker of “detective" for these recaps.

The final scene shows Detective Stabler appearing on his estranged wife's doorstep. He tells her that he has been thinking a lot and that he wants to come home. She doesn't answer but she is probably questioning his motives and wondering if all the talk about drugs and murder has just made him horny.