Law & Order: Special Victims Unit/Season 20

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–present) is a long-running crime drama, part of the popular Law & Order franchise created by Dick Wolf. The show focuses on the Special Victims Unit, a special squad dealing with sex crimes and crimes against children.

Man Up [20.01]

Benson: Something did happen on that hunting trip.

Fin: White people and rifles. Don't ask me.

Sam: My dad and I talk and stuff...

Sonny: Oh, yeah. What about?

Sam: Umm...

Sonny: See, that's why I figured they invented sports. To give dads something to talk about with their sons.

Stone: A war you can't win is the only one worth fighting.

Benson: I'm a cop and a mother, Fin. That's all I am.

Fin: That's more than most.

Benson: And what happens if tomorrow I wake up and I can't do one of those things? Does that make me only half the person I was the night before?

Fin: Excuse me for being redundant, but it's still more than most.

Benson: Well, that's very nice of you to say, but the fact of the matter is, the truth is, I got winded. Chasing that Conway kid... I had to stop. And now an innocent woman who was riding her bike has a broken leg because of me.

Fin: And no matter how hard you sucked for air, your lungs couldn't take in enough breath.

Benson: Yeah.

Fin: And your legs felt like lead.

Benson: Right.

Fin: Welcome to the club. Liv, nobody expects you to be Wonder Woman.

Benson: I do.

Fin: Yeah, and I used to think I was Superman.

Benson: So what happened?

Fin: Life. Time. Whatcha gonna do?

Man Down [20.02]

Sonny: It wasn't your dad's fault. It wasn't your brother's fault. That only leaves one person, Sam. This is all on you, but maybe you're right. Go ahead. Kill yourself. It's probably easier than facing your father in the state he's in right now, Sam.

Sam: What? You talked to him?

Sonny: Yeah, I talked to him. He's worried, he's worried sick about you. But maybe you're right. Just shoot yourself. That'll show him how much you hate him.

Sam: No, no. I don't hate him, I love him.

Sonny: So maybe you want to tell him that, and maybe he wants to tell you that too. Because that's the thing about dads, no matter how much you screw up, they still love you.

Benson: You were trying to save his life.

Stone: I didn't have to cross-examine him.

Benson: Yes, you did. His father raped him, for God's sake.

Stone: And I raped him all over again on the witness stand.

Stone: The last time I put Sam on the witness stand...

Benson: This isn't the time, Peter. Kids are dead. Two sets of parents are mourning the loss of their child.

Stone: Sam is already locked up.

Benson: We already lost Sam. This is about the next Sam Conway.

Stone: How did your father act when he wasn't happy with you?

Sam: He... He called me names.

Stone: What else?

Sam: He called me a baby.

Stone: What else?

Sam: He called me a fag and a pussy, alright?

Stone: Like when you couldn't shoot the deer.

Sam: Yeah, right.

Stone: He wasn't proud of you.

Sam: No. He said until further notice, I was a little girl. He called me Samantha. Threw one of Mom's dresses at me, told me to wear it.

Stone: Did he hit you?

Sam: No. He said I deserved it, though, but he'd never hit a girl.

Stone: The moment before you shot your classmates, what was going through your head?

Sam: [mutters] Be a man.

Stone: Can you speak up, Sam?

Sam: Be a man! This voice in my head kept saying, "Do it, be a man, be a man!" [jumps up from the stand, screaming at his father] BE A MAN! I DIDN'T FLINCH, ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?

Stone: Men are strong. They're the hunters. They're the fighters. The spear throwers, the sword swingers, the gunslingers. They sit in bars and toss back shots while they regale other men with stories of their sexual conquests. That's what makes them masculine - that's what makes them men. You get in a fistfight? That's okay - it'll make you a man. You grab a little ass? Hey, that's what men do. But what if you cry or show empathy or, God forbid, you can't shoot a little rabbit? Well, I'm sorry, but you just don't deserve to be my son. The problem is, Sam is John's son. The problem is, Sam just wanted to make John proud. The problem is, John wasn't preaching strength. He was preaching power over others, and that's not being a man - it's being a criminal.

Zero Tolerance [20.03]

Phelps: Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know she was on something. When she started zoning out, I tried to help her. I took her to the hospital. That was the right thing to do, wasn't it?

Rollins: You heard that, right, Sarge?

Fin: Yeah. So, you are the person who brought her to the hospital? Okay, well, you're free to go.

Phelps: What, really?

Fin: [drops the act] No, asshole, sit down!

Fin: How'd the babysitting go?

Sonny: Played 19 games of checkers, and I learned to read Green Eggs and Ham in Spanish.

Stone: [after losing in court] We tried, huh?

Benson: We lost the battle. Maybe we'll win the war.

Benson: Hi, we're here to see Gabriela Sosa.

MP: Is she stationed here, ma'am?

Benson: She's one of the children who's being detained here.

MP: I'm sorry, ma'am, those kinds of visits are not authorized.

SA Jeffries: [getting out of the car] Get your CO down here right now.

MP: I'm sorry, sir. I'm not authorized to do that.

SA Jeffries: Listen, son, I didn't hump through the mountains of Quảng Tri for 3 years to have some baby-faced MP tell me what's authorized. Am I clear?

MP: Uh...

SA Jeffries: Soldier!

MP: Yes, sir. [leaves]

SA Jeffries: [to Benson] That was fun.

Revenge [20.04]

Chad: If I thought anyone wanted to rape Brianna, you would have from heard from me a long time ago.

Rollins: Maybe someone who had some kind of grudge against you. Maybe someone from your past, maybe somebody at work...

Chad: I'm a dentist. Everybody hates me.

Fin: There's absolutely no reason to be involuntarily celibate. That's why God invented hookers.

Fin: I'm no lawyer, but I've never heard of any such thing as pimp-john confidentiality.

Sonny: Riley, do you know the difference between consecutive and concurrent sentences?

Rollins: One means your ass is ours. The other means your ass is ours forever.

Accredo [20.05]

Arlo: Most of the women in Accredo have sexual issues.

Rollins: Did Vicky Parson have sexual issues?

Arlo: Well, she wasn't living her life to her to its potential personally and professionally. Kind of like you.

Rollins: Excuse me?

Arlo: A woman becomes a cop. Why? To establish power over men. Why? Because men have: A, disappointed her, B, demeaned her.

Rollins: How about C, she believes the scum should rot in prison.

Arlo: Oh, the lies we tell ourselves. Let me guess. [looking to her pregnant belly] You're not married to the daddy, are you?

Rollins: When I was growing up, I had a TV in my room. Family Ties was my favorite. Alex P. I really, really liked him. And I would turn the volume all the way up so I couldn't hear what was going on downstairs. The screaming, the cussing. We were not the Keatons.

Benson: Well, news flash: Nobody's family is.

Rollins: My mom had this vase. It wasn't expensive, but she really loved it, and he threw it at her. It shattered into a million pieces. And that was right before he beat the crap out of her.

Benson: I'm so sorry. I didn't know.

Rollins: The thing is, I wasn't mad at him. I was so mad at her. You know, how? How... how could she let him?

Lilah: Arlo made me feel like I could do anything, overcome my fears, be my best self. You're asking me to say that the last ten years of my life meant nothing.

Benson: I'm asking you to look at the next ten years, the next twenty years. I believe you when you said that that empowerment and that strength is in you. And, Lilah, I know that you're smart enough to make the right decision because, Lilah, let me tell you something. You only have two choices: You can be silent and spend the rest of your life in prison. Or you can make a deal and testify against him, and maybe... maybe you can get out by the time you're fifty. And believe me, that's a lot of life left.

Benson: [to Arlo] You know what the worst thing is? What really pisses me off is not that you conned women out of their own money. It's not that you convince women that it's in their best interest to sleep with you. It's not that you demean women or humiliate women. What really disgusts me is that you make women feel good about themselves. Empowered. Addicted to feeling invincible. You know, I can see that you're intelligent. Empathetic. So, you make women feel safe. They feel heard. And because they trust you, they share their deepest insecurities, their weaknesses, with you. And then you use those vulnerabilities to destroy them. You, Mr. Beck, are the worst kind of predator there is.

Arlo: [applauding sarcastically] That was beautiful, Lieutenant.

Benson: Arraign this prick.

Exile [20.06]

Benson: Grace, I’m Lieutenant Olivia Benson. This is Detective Dominick Carisi. How are you feeling?

Sophie: Like a herd of elephants did the Texas 2-Step on my head.

Benson: They say talking makes things better. Try reasoning with a 6-year-old.

Sophie: You said if I looked at the bastard who hurt me in the eye and I told him how he ruined my life, that would start the healing. He’s dead, goddamn it! There is no healing!

Sophie: [at her rapist’s grave] The last 3 years of my life I’ve been living on the street, using newspapers and garbage bags to stay warm. I let strange men use my body in exchange for food, protection, drugs. I was 18. I was supposed to be finishing my second semester of college. I lost time with my friends, my studies, my dad. You got your few measly minutes of sexual gratification, and I lost my life. I will never forgive you for what you did to me, Professor, but hopefully I can move on with help from my family and my friends. I’m going to survive. Yes, I am.

Caretaker [20.07]

Fin: Who the hell stabs a kid?

Patrolman: Top of my head? The devil.

Benson: You killed them, didn't you, Anna? You did this.

Anna: [pause] Of course I did this. I had to.

Benson: You had to kill your children?

Anna: [crying] Don't you see? They're so much better off now.

Benson: [about the flowers from Rollins' boyfriend] Those are pretty.

Rollins: I said, not at the office. And he said they're not for me.

Benson: Who are they for? [Rollins gestures to her pregnant belly] Ah. Smooth.

Rollins: How was court?

Benson: How do you think?

Rollins: I don't care if she is crazy. That woman needs to be taken from the Earth.

Benson: You know, last night, I put Noah to bed, I kissed him goodnight, I turned out the light... and I just stood there watching him sleep for 2 hours.

Rollins: I did the same thing.

[They embrace]

Benson: Sometimes life just sucks. [pause] Amanda, you should keep those flowers.

Rollins: Why?

Benson: Because... because sometimes we just need a little pretty.

Stone: This other woman, the one you saw saving your family from the suffering, did you say anything to her?

Anna: Excuse me?

Stone: You testified that it was like watching another woman. I just want to know if you spoke to her before she stabbed your husband and your children.

Anna: No.

Stone: Did you try to stop her?

Anna: She wasn't real.

Stone: But you thought she was, isn't that right? I mean, that's your proof that you're insane.

Anna: No, I didn't try to stop her.

Stone: Because you wanted them dead, isn't that right?

Anna: Because I wanted to protect them. They're better off now.

Stone: Better off than what?

Anna: From facing a world without...

Stone: Without what, Mrs. Mill?

Anna: Isn't it obvious?

Stone: No, it's not.

Anna: Without me!

Stone: [disgusted] I've got news for you, Mrs. Mill... You're not so great.

O'Boyle: Objection!

Judge Catano: Sustained.

Anna: I sheltered them. I protect them. It is a hard world, Mr. Stone, and I didn't want to watch my babies be swallowed up by it!

Stone: Then why didn't you just kill yourself?

Hell's Kitchen [20.08]

Stone: To have any chance at trial, I'm going to have to convince Kayla to testify.

Benson: No arm-twisting, Peter.

Stone: [smiles] Don't worry. I've been watching someone who's pretty damn good at this.

Stone: My sister was murdered by the people I was prosecuting. I have to wake up every morning and convince myself that it wasn't my fault. The only way I can do that is if I believe I can stop it from happening to somebody else.

Rollins: My feet haven't hurt this bad since I waited tables.

Benson: I had no idea. When did you wait tables?

Rollins: I was 16. Aunt Betty's Cabin. Best chicken-fried steak you have ever had. [pause] You know, truth be told, none of this culinary grab-ass surprises me.

Benson: You were assaulted.

Rollins: One of my regulars wanted a little extra sugar with his coffee. Instead he ended up with a raw steak in his eye.

Mea Culpa [20.09]

Ziegler: We just heard you testify that you don't remember what happened between walking home and waking up. You could have consented and not remembered you consented.

Alicia: You think I wanna be here?

Ziegler: You tell me.

Alicia: Roger Madden raped me. The only reason I'm here is that I believe if I can face the man who raped me, if I can get justice, I can somehow get my life back.

Rollins: Fin, cards on the table: did he do it?

Fin: [hesitantly] She definitely believes he did something.

Sonny: Of course she does, but he's our friend, and he said it absolutely did not happen. No chance!

Rollins: Okay, we all realize that this sucks...

Sonny: You know what sucks, Rollins? This is what sucks: A busload of nuns could swear Peter Stone was in Albuquerque at the time of this rape, but somewhere in the back of my mind, every time I see him, I'm gonna wonder, "Did he?" That's what sucks.

Sonny: Look, Rollins, I know our job is to believe survivors, that we start from there. But on this one, I believe him.

Rollins: You're allowed to feel that way.

Sonny: I don't think I am.

[Stone has been exonerated]

Benson: Peter, I'm sorry for everything you went through, and I'm sorry if it seemed like I doubted you.

Stone: Don't be. That's why I work with you. The thing is, when all the noise was going on, there was a moment where I doubted myself.

Alta Kockers [20.10]

Benjamin: So, this "Bobbi" boy.

Fin: He was dressed as a girl.

Benjamin: Ah, a faygelah.

Fin: Uh, yeah, I don't think it's okay to use that word anymore.

Benjamin: Why not?

Fin: Because it hurts people.

Benjamin: It's just a word.

Fin: Yeah, but words can hurt more than a gun.

Benjamin: Hurt who?

Fin: The people they bother.

Benjamin: Then, everyone should say it, and no one will get hurt.

Benson: If you haven't left the house since 1973, how is it that you got a computer to write on?

Joseph: What, you got a computer?

Benjamin: [sarcastic] No, I drew hieroglyphics on the crapper wall!

Benjamin: The eggs always think they're smarter than the chicken.

Plastic [20.11]

Benson: You know, we've heard this sex-games-gone-wrong story a hundred times before. You buying it?

Rollins: Well, Botox and cupcakes? Sounds tempting.

Sonny: [holding up Heath's handcuffs] Whatever happened to champagne and candles?

Fin: You don't really want me to answer that, do you?

Sadie: Have you ever made love to a woman? [Benson and Rollins look uncomfortable] Oh, I... I know you want to. You want someone who understands you. Your needs, your fantasies, your body. Someone with gentle lips and a curious and generous tongue searching your mouth while a man takes you hard, rough...

Rollins: [cuts her off] No, that's okay.

Benson: [about Heath and Sadie] They got an answer for everything.

Sonny: So did Ted Bundy, until he didn't.

Benson: Maybe he didn't mean to kill her, but whatever it was, when he got bored with her, you became his fantasy girl. And then when he got bored with you, he molded you into what he saw as perfection.

Sadie: No, no! He loves me.

Benson: No, he loves the idea of you. The perfect beauty. But beauty fades, Ceci. Even the perfect beauty that he created. That's why he brings other women home to your bed. Because he's searching for something that can never, ever really exist.

Heath: Look, women are fragile beings. They're tortured by the what-ifs. What if I didn't have that damn mole? What if my lips were a little plumper? What if my breasts were a little firmer? I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, Detective. I'm sure you've spent more than one sleepless night wondering, "What if my body doesn't return to where it was?"

Rollins: We don't need to talk about me.

Heath: Why not? You're a woman. You have fantasies. I make those fantasies real. I do not kill little girls.

Rollins: You don't care about your patient's fantasies. You care about your own. But that's the thing about fantasies. They're not going to be about flesh and blood. They're never going to be real.

Dear Ben [20.12]

Noone: What happens now?

Benson: We wait for the DNA to come back, and then we arrest you for 23 rapes.

Noone: I'm not Infinity.

Fin: Let's agree to disagree.

Noone: [to Stone after loses a case] Your father would have done better.

Stone: As a boy, Infinity was forced to listen while his father raped his mother.

Benson: That explains the pathology, but I don't think any of that was in the books.

Noone: Ben Stone knew that?

Stone: My father was obsessed. He kept everything, letter after letter. Look, Infinity even sent him a Father's Day card.

Benson: [reading] "Dear Ben, a happy Father's Day. Signed, the Infinity symbol". Take a look.

Noone: [moved] Ben Stone kept this?

Stone: Yeah, he did. He kept it in an evidence file so it wouldn't smudged or torn. Of course, the idiot sent a card with golf clubs. My father never played a game of gangry]olf in his life.

Noone: Infinity couldn't have known...

Stone: Right, because he knew nothing about my father.

Noone: They had a relationship!

Benson: There was no relationship.

Noone: All those hours Ben Stone spent on the case. He spent more time with Infinity than with his own family.

Benson: Ben Stone cared about the women who were raped. He cared about getting justice for them. You're confused.

Stone: If you thought this was about you, then you're more insane than I thought.

Noone: No! That's not true! I know!

Benson: You know what?

Noone: [pause] I would wait outside the D.A.'s office until the light in his office went out. Some nights, he wouldn't even get in his car until after midnight. It was me he cared about, not you! Me! It was me he loved!

Noah: Why are you home early?

Benson: I thought we'd spend a little time together.

Noah: [angry] I want Lucy!

Benson: [hurt but controlled] Okay, so, Noah, we get in bad moods sometimes, and that's okay. And sometimes it's not about Lucy, or olives, or homework. It means that we're upset about something else. What's wrong, honey? You can tell me. [Noah says nothing] Noah...?

Noah: It's Jeremy. He keeps asking where my dad is. I told him he's in heaven.

Benson: [wary] That's right, Noah. He is.

Noah: Did he love me?

Benson: Oh, sweetheart... of course he did. Very, very, very much. And someday, when you're older, I promise I'm gonna tell you all about him. But for right now, it's just team you and me. And I feel so very lucky to be on that team.

Noah: [smiles] Me, too.

A Story of More Woe [20.13]

Williams: You deal with kids all the time. I don't know how you do it.

Sonny: Sometimes I don't either.

Rollins: There's just some things that don't make sense.

Britney: I don't care. You know why? 'cause my father's dead. Okay, my father is dead. So I... I don't really understand what difference it makes who killed him.

Rollins: They really could use me on this case. Man, I need to get back to work. [Al looks uncomfortable] What?

Al: I guess I was kinda hoping you might take a nice, long maternity leave or even quit.

Rollins: Quit my job? I love my job.

Al: Amanda, I want to take care of you.

Rollins: I know you do. Um... the thing is, Al, I can't marry you.

Al: Why not?

Rollins: I don't love you.

[long pause]

Al: OK.

Rollins: [surprised] OK?

Al: I'm disappointed, but one of the only good things about getting older is that you get used to it. I'm glad I met you, Amanda, that we made a baby together. Um, I'll always be grateful.

Rollins: Thank you, Al. Thank you.

Al: Now let's have this kid already. What do you say?

Benson: Greg didn't care about Susan. He was after your sister. He manipulated her. He convinced her that she was in love with him. He even went so far as to propose to her.

Britney: He asked her to marry him?

Benson: Yes.

Britney: It's that stupid ring. That's why she's been so happy.

Benson: What did she say? What... what did she tell you?

Britney: That, um, that me and her and Greg, we were gonna all live together, you know, and everything was gonna be okay. And then she'd just been been babbling on about, like, this "Romeo and Juliet" stuff, which I... oh, my God. What did she do? What did I do?

Benson: This isn't your fault or Laura's. This is one person's fault and that's Greg, and we will make sure that he never hurts you or your sister again.

Part 33 [20.14]

Sonny: This is wrong.

Rollins: Don't go all Liv on us, all right? The woman shot her husband because he didn't like her dinner.

Fin: Life should be so easy.

Rollins: Come on, not you, too.

Fin: I don't judge. Is it hot in here?

Sonny: Hell always is.

Rollins: [gestures to Sonny] Yeah, he is. He's going full Liv.

Fin: Somebody has to.

Rollins: Yeah, and that somebody interrogated Annabeth. I wonder who that could be?

Sonny: What if she doesn't show?

Fin: Look, man, we can only do our job.

Sonny: What, that's all this is to you?

Fin: Yeah. I get up in the morning and I get dressed. I come to the office. After that, I go home. At the end of the week, I get a check and the check clears. That's called a job.

Rollins: Okay, you know what? It's not all on us, though, Carisi. We do our part, but the rest is up to a judge and jury.

Sonny.: All right, so what happens upstairs, that doesn't concern you at all?

Fin: The short and sweet is fine with me.

Sonny: Oh, please, give me a break. This from the guy who flew to Cuba on his own nickel to catch a fugitive rapist. [to Rollins] And you, with that Labott girl...

Rollins: [severely] Enough.

Fin: Carisi, have a donut.

Sonny: Are you telling me that you never even think about this? I mean, the the responsibility? The... the power that we have? I mean, I could get up on that stand and I could lie. I could say, yeah, Annabeth told me she planned on killing Thomas for the past six months. Now, I do that, she is done. No question. Or I could say I don't recall. I don't recall to anything that Stone asks me, and maybe she gets to live a nice, peaceful, safe life in a Chelsea apartment.

Rollins: Or door number three, you tell the truth.

Sonny: All I'm saying is It's a lot of power. And who the hell are we?

Sonny: Lieu, I'm sorry. I'm not feeling okay about this case, okay? Maybe I feel like SOBs like Tommy Pearl get exactly what they deserve.

Rollins: When a cop gets killed, it's an itch I can't scratch.

Sonny: He's a cop who abused his wife!

Rollins: With his words. Annabeth didn't have to listen.

Benson: Look, guys, stop. Stop. And law without empathy doesn't help anyone, Rollins.

Rollins: I... I'm all about empathy. Come on, it's... it's coming out of my ears. For eight years, I'm drowning in it.

Sonny: When I was in the bag, I took a domestic disturbance call. All right? Craig and Ellen Carter. Their neighbor was complaining because they were screaming at each other all night. They were cursing. So I show up. I calm everybody down and do, you know, what we're supposed to do. And I'm looking at this guy and I can just see in his eyes. And he's got that smirk, you know? So I take Ellen outside, and I say, "Listen. Listen, you've gotta stand up for yourself." I told her that she needed to leave this guy, but there's no signs of physical violence, so that's that's all I can do. A month later, I get another call. The same house, same complaint. Only this time Craig is taking her head and bashing it against the wall, and she's dead. So don't you stand there and say that all she had to do was walk out the damn door!

Benson: You have no idea what terror is, what pure and utter terror is. You know, they say that your heart beats faster, but it doesn't. It stops. Everything stops. You don’t breathe because... you're scared that it might upset him. And if you get a cramp in your foot, you tell yourself, ‘Just let it throb,’ because you'll live through that pain, and that's a hell of a lot better than what he'll do to you. And the pain is... so complete, and it’s so... so overwhelming. You can go without food for... for three days. And you don't close your eyes, because you—because you're scared that... you'll never open ‘em again. You pray... You pray... ‘Please God, don't let him climb on top of me again.’

Rollins: Liv, I'm so sorry.

Benson: No one should have to live like that. No one.

Rollins: Tommy Pearl is not William Lewis. Annabeth was not held hostage.

Benson: Wasn't she?

Brothel [20.15]

Rollins: At least we know what our vic was running from.

Patrolman: What do you mean?

Benson: First time at a brothel, fellas?

Paretto: Look at this craftmanship - the stitching, the leather. Of course it's mine.

Fin: So you can tell us who bought them?

Paretto: Not on your life.

Sonny: People pay thousands for these. You tellin' me you don't keep records?

Paretto: Of course I keep records. They pay thousands because they expect privacy.

Fin: The person who bought that shoe may have killed a woman. I don't know anything about cobbler-client confidentiality.

Baker: It's like playing Whack-a-Mole these days. The Internet moved traditional street trade indoors, so now we go after the more obvious fronts.

Fin: Thai rub-tug joints?

Baker: [grins] Something you wanna confess, Sergeant?

Judge Kofax: I protected all of them.

Benson: Protected them? How?

Judge Kofax: Like they were my own daughters. Lisa White, Fela Bashear, Brett Baker, Anya Beck Skobler - she was 18. They were all dead already.

Sonny: What are you talking about?

Judge Kofax: Their souls were dead. The minute they walked into my courtroom. Junkies, thieves, stealing their own lives, their own futures from their parents who loved them, who were helpless. I kept their daughters safe. I made sure they only had good, clean doses. No OD's. Kept them alive.

Schwartz: That's enough, Edward.

Judge Kofax: It is not enough! It's never enough! They were dead inside, their eyes are dead. But if they are still breathing, if their hearts are still beating, then they still have a chance! If I'd given Delia that chance, then maybe... [chokes up]

Sonny: Delia?

Judge Kofax: She was 16 when she overdosed. It did not have to end that way. Her body in the ground. Cold. Alone. My little girl.

Facing Demons [20.16]

Benson: You’ve been preying on boys for 30 years.

Dolan: Talk to my lawyer.

Benson: Brian Cassidy, Hudson Youth League.

Dolan: [hesitantly] What about him?

Benson: You know, it takes balls to molest a cop’s son. Or maybe you’re just so sick you couldn’t help yourself.

Dolan: Go to hell!

[Benson handcuffs him]

Benson: Gary Dolan, you're under arrest for sexual assault. And you're going to pay for what you did to Brian Cassidy.

Dolan: Good luck making any of that stick.

Benson: You don't know me very well, Dolan, but I don't give up. Ever. Especially when someone hurts someone I care about.

Cassidy: I'm damaged goods, Stone. I see it every time I look in the mirror.

Stone: I think you should talk to Liv.

Cassidy: No. She can't know about this. You have to promise me you won't tell her.

Stone: She can help you.

Cassidy: No! She's the only person who ever saw any good in me. I need that. I can't not have that.

Cassidy: You know, I read your rap sheet on the way up here.

Leo: Did you?

Cassidy: Yeah, and I'd bet $100 that's booze in that thermos.

Leo: You know, I always liked you, Cassidy, but I'm not above knocking your lights out.

Cassidy: I'm not one of your survivors, OK?. I'm a cop, Liv.

Benson: I know that. But -

Cassidy: Yeah, I'm a cop. Your pep talks and your support groups, they're not gonna work on me. You know what, the best thing for us would have been if you'd have never looked at that baseball picture.

Benson: Brian, obviously, I'm saying the wrong thing here. I just don't want you to run away from this.

Cassidy: I'm not getting involved in your case, Liv.

Benson: It’s not about my case, Brian. It's not about my case. I just, I care about you. And I'm scared that if you don't deal with this, Brian, that I'm gonna get a call one day that you’re the one who has a plastic bag over his head.

Cassidy: I'm dealing with it. My way. [leaves]

Missing [20.17]

Benson: Paige, let me tell you where you stand. I can take you down to the squad room, where you're gonna sit and you're gonna wait until Detective Rollins gets you a search warrant.

Rollins: And we'll be in exactly the same position we are now, except that I'll be extremely pissed off because you will have wasted two hours of my life.

West: I coulda taken any car - I had to take the one with the baby in the trunk.

Fin: Some guys are just unlucky.

West: You believe me?

Fin: No. Where'd you boost that car?

West: Parking lot from the mini mall in Jamaica. Look, I'm a low-life, scumbag car thief. I admit it.

Fin: A 2003 Saturn? You're not a good one.

Rowan: This is harassment! I'm gonna sue you!

Fin: Wouldn't be the first.

Rowan: We pay our taxes.

Fin: That should be enough to keep your son in oatmeal at Sing Sing.

Benson: Two kids were kidnapped, one of them's dead, and we have a legal system where we can't do anything about it. What the hell are we doing?

Blackout [20.18]

Austen: See? I'm not making porn anymore. It's erotic podcasts. People can listen in the kitchen, the car, at work...

Rollins: What?

Fin: That's why stop and go traffic is so bad.

Staines: I have been personally threatened by cops dozens of times, and now I have been assaulted after a police party, so why aren't you questioning them? You should be looking at your own.

Sonny: You know why sharks don't attack lawyers, right? Professional courtesy.

Judge Leonard: Detective Rollins, you need to be very careful here.

Rollins: Because I'm asking a few procedural questions?

Judge Leonard: Because you're bringing kitchen matches to a firefight. For the good of your squad and your own good person, you drop this. You're getting very close to the flame.

Chief Dodds: If we strike at the king and miss, it'll be both our heads on the chopping block.

Benson: So let's make sure we don't miss.

Miller: Let me tell you something: you're either a wolf in this life, or a lamb. My father was a lamb. He ran a shop, and every week the wolves in my neighborhood would come and pick the shelves clean. And when there was nothing left to steal, they took my sister in the back room. And my father did nothing. You know what I learned? I'd rather run with the wolves.

Sonny: [cuffing him] If I were you, I'd shut up.

Miller: I'll be out of these cuffs in an hour.

Benson: I wouldn't be so sure. Once word gets out that you've been arrested, your friends are gonna turn on you. And nobody helps the wolf when he's bleeding.

Dearly Beloved [20.19]

Kitty: I had this doll when I was five, Penelope. She came with a bottle and a diaper. My imaginary husband was this handsome prince named Sebastian. I never thought that my baby's father would be a man who raped me.

Benson: So, Kitty, I know that it doesn't feel like it, but you're strong, and you're gonna get through this.

Kitty: Well, a judge can't make me keep it.

Benson: No, of course not.

Kitty: Good, 'cause if Dr. Hensley tries to stop me from getting an abortion...

Benson: Listen, even if he is the father, he has no right to do that.

Kitty: Good, 'cause I could never love a baby who was conceived by a monster. [pause] You don't think I should keep it?

Benson: [quietly] You know, whatever whatever you decide.

Kitty: What would you do?

Benson: If it was me... you know, I'm... I'm... um, It's hard for me to be objective. But I think that you're raw right now, and with some distance, you'll realize that that this baby is half yours. And no matter what happened to you... he or she, it's not their fault.

Rollins: You okay?

Benson: Sure.

Rollins: Kitty is not your mom.

Benson: Well, she might as well be. When I was 15 years old, I overheard her on the phone talking to someone. And I heard her say, "How could I love someone that was conceived by a monster?" That's exactly what what Kitty said to me.

Kitty: Josh, just do it, just tell her the truth! Just tell her!

Dr. Hensley: You need help, Kitty. Let me help you...

Benson: Kitty, Kitty, don't listen to him.

Kitty: You think I need help from you? Like the way you helped me with my so-called "rape fantasy"? The way you insisted it was my fault? That my body language was an invitation?

Benson: Kitty, nobody needs to get hurt here...

Kitty: How I wanted you to take me because I didn't fight back? You know what, Josh? Maybe I should just kill you so you don't hurt anyone else.

Benson: Kitty...

Lana: Go ahead and kill him! I know you're telling the truth! I know that Josh raped you!

Kitty: Oh, God, how dare you?

Lana: No, please! Listen to me. You said those exact same words to me, remember, Josh? The first time we had sex after you raped me.

Dr. Hensley: I gave both those women exactly what they wanted.

Benson: No, you conned them into believing that... that's what they wanted. And like any good con man, you've convinced yourself that your victims got what they deserved. You are done, Doctor. You're done.

Kitty: I felt the baby kick this morning. It really reminded me of what you said, you know, what happened to me is not this baby's fault.

Benson: That doesn't mean that it's not gonna be hard. You know, I've known women in your exact position who have decided to raise their daughter or their son. And some days, they don't even think about it, and other days... you know, even though your baby was conceived in an act of violence, your baby is innocent and deserves to be unconditionally loved. Promise me that if you decide to become a mother that you'll remember that.

The Good Girl [20.20]

Dreyfus: I've been working at the school for eight years. I've never had a complaint against me. Why would I do something like this now?

Rollins: One of the great mysteries of life.

Sonny: I thought you wanted to know who the father was.

Howard: I did. But judging by the looks on your faces now, I'm not so sure.

Rollins: Even if Mackenzie was raped?

Howard: Look, she doesn't see it that way. And at this point she's decided she's keeping the baby.

Sonny: So, what, you're fine with what happened to your daughter?

Howard: I have to be. I loved Mac's mom, I love Mac. I'm in this for the long haul. And the last thing we need is some stranger barging in and demanding rights he doesn't deserve. Look, this what Mackenzie wants.

Rollins: Mackenzie's a child. She doesn't know what she wants.

Mackenzie: [about Howard] I love him like a wife loves a husband.

Stone: Like your mother loved him.

Mackenzie: That's right.

Stone: What do you think she would say about your marriage?

Mackenzie: She'd be happy that I found a good man, just like she did.

Stone: You mean the same man, don't you?

Mackenzie: You don't know anything! Before mom died, she told me to take care of him.

Stone: I doubt this is what she meant.

Howard: My whole life, I searched for real love, and I found it. What was I supposed to do?

Benson: Waiting until she was 18 would have been a good start.

Exchange [20.21]

Fin: You're gonna do a lot of time, Oscar. Black time.

Kay: Please, sit.

Fin: We're good, we'll stand.

Kay: A man after my own heart. Want a deal to tank, put your ass in a chair.

Fin: You know what else is good about standing? It makes it easier to arrest your ass.

Richard: What I did with my girls wasn't dirty, detective. It was beautiful.

Fin: What about your wife?

Richard: She had her day.

Sonny: You really are a prick, you know that?

Richard: In your eyes. My girls loved me.

Mary: [about Richard] He thought it was funny - the old bitch watching the younger bitches. That's what he said. Sometimes he made me applaud his "performances". He was sick.

Caldwell: Look what he did to her.

Mary: I tried to help them, all the girls. I did. It's just... I was scared.

Sonny: Scared of what?

Mary: That he'd leave. What would happen to me then? What's going to happen to me now?

Rollins: That man single-handedly destroyed an entire family.

Sonny: Don't forget about the other seven, scattered all over Europe.

Rollins: Welcome to America, land of the free.

Fin: Home of the sick bastard.

Diss [20.22]

Dallas: I'm talking sex appeal, I'm talking police brutality, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo...

Director: As long as you're shaking that booty while you're talking, I'm good.

Sonny: So, what, you go into a room, you scream, and you smash a bunch of stuff?

Vaneshia: You make it sound so trivial.

Fin: Snake comes here?

Vaneshia: Under a pseudonym, sure. He rents our deluxe room.

Sonny: What do you get with the deluxe room?

Vaneshia: A dummy, male or female. Some people rent Donald, others Hillary.

Fin: How much for both?

Banks: I can't give you my bitch as an alibi cause I wasn't with my bitch.

Benson: Okay, then we're gonna need the name of your other bitch.

Banks: [groans] You tryin' to ruin my happy home?

Connelly: You know those cops who never forget an unsolved case? It eats away at them until they take their last breath? I ain't one of them.

Fin: You never gave a damn?

Connelly: Ain't never no damn to give.

Assumptions [20.23]

Rollins: Listen, we're gonna need phone and email records, and any threats made on social media.

Galanis: Hope you need the overtime.

Fin: [about Nasar] Why can't she say whatever she wants?

Sonny: She can say whatever she wants, that's the First Amendment. But imagine she was saying those kinds of things about African-Americans.

Fin: I don't pay attention to ignorant people.

Sonny: That's you, Fin. The world doesn't work that way. Words have consequences.

Fin: So it's free speech until you piss somebody off - then it's hate speech.

Sonny: Come out from behind the counter, put your hands behind your head.

Rollins: Let's go.

Faraj: Why?

Rollins: Why? Because you are being arrested for rape.

Faraj: Nahla accused me?

Sonny: Are you surprised?

Faraj: Not in the least. She hates men.

Rollins: I don't know about that, but I'm pretty sure she hates you.

Nasar: Everybody in New York despises me, or thinks I'm a liar. My family is going to be in that courtroom. I could lose them, my job... I'm not sure this is worth it.

Benson: Nahla, you were raped. You deserve justice, no matter how many mistakes you made along the way.

Nasar: But people have lost faith in me.

Benson: Because they don't know you. This is your chance to tell them who you are, to tell them your truth. You can do this, and I'm gonna be right behind you.

Endgame [20.24]

Miller: Are you angry that I figured out your little CSU ruse at the bar two months ago?

Benson: Oh, I'm angry. I’m very angry. But not because of that.

Miller: Or maybe because I declined to pursue our relationship?

Benson: Don't flatter yourself. If there weren't two grieving parents in the next room, I'd break your jaw.

Miller: You'd regret that, Lieutenant.

Benson: Stay away from me. Stay away from my son. Because if you don't, I promise you I will do something we'll both regret.

Benson: Rob Miller is a criminal, Peter. He's a rapist, he's a murderer... and we got nothin'. And he's going to get away with all of this.

Staines: I'm only here because you swore you wouldn't ask me to testify.

Stone: I'm not.

Staines: So, what do you want?

Stone: The same thing you want - Rob Miller behind bars.

Staines: How the hell are we gonna do that?

Stone: We're gonna break a couple of rules.

Staines: We've been doing this a long time, Liv. And we don't say it out loud or when the lights are on, but there are times in the dark when we whisper, Sometimes the law's just not good enough. And a threat to my child's safety is one of those times. At least I won't have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life. Oh, and guess what? Neither will you.

Benson: No. No. I am not part of this.

Staines: Yeah, you are.

Benson: Peter, thank you.

Stone: Why? Because I put my career and everything I believe in in jeopardy for a good friend?

Benson: Yes, yes, and I didn't ask for this.

Stone: I know you didn't ask for it. I did it anyway. I was always gonna do it. I hope you find someone like that again.

Benson: What does that mean?

Stone: Look at what I just did in there. Now, I don't regret any of it, not for a minute. I simply lost perspective. This is on me. It's a weakness and a crack in my character, but the fact is, you became more important to me than the case I was trying, and that is not me, Liv. You can look a case with an open heart. I can't do that.

Benson: I...

Stone: Stop! I have to look at a case through clear eyes.

Benson: Hold on...

Stone: Stop. Just listen. I have to move on. I have to go, or risk getting blinded again.

External links

Wikipedia

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 20)