| "Tangled Strands of Justice" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 23.19 | → |
| Production number: 23019 First aired (US): 28 April 2022 First aired (UK): 26 September 2022 First aired (CAN): 28 April 2022 First aired (AUS): 4 August 2022 | ||
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| Teleplay By Warren Leight & Julie Martin Story By Brendan Feeney Directed By Jean de Segonzac | ||
Summary[]
Garland asks Benson to reopen a missing persons case he worked as a rookie officer. A victim in one of Carisi's recent cases is arrested.
Plot[]
At 7 AM on the morning of September 11, 2001, a team of officers are conducting a grid search for missing 13-year-old Aretha Green in the Harlem Meer of Central Park. Among them is patrol officer Christian Garland, who asks his superior Duty Captain Carl Mannox since she's been missing 14 hours, if they'll find her. Mannox replies that Garland should get used to this, they find old men and toddlers but kids Aretha's age don't get found, it's either solved or it isn't. At 8:49 AM, Mannox gets a 10-2 on his radio to mobilize his unit to Broadway & Fulton, where a plane has hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, effectively calling off the search.
In the present day, a kid fishing with a magnetic net looking for coins dredged up some phalanges, which have been confirmed as human by the forensic archaeologist. Divers were sent in, and remains were pulled from the lake, and an eel slithers out of the bag containing the body.
Libby Blandon, under the alias Kendall Vance, is seen stealing $850,000 worth of wristwatches from Bijan Mazdani, a man she had been in the company of the night before. They met on SugarBabyz, and she's an NYU student, or so she told him, because the NYU registrar doesn't have a Kendall Vance enrolled, according to Detective Nadia Szabo. Mazdani is surprised, saying she had never lied to him before, was sweet, and was sexually assaulted the year prior. Detective Szabo asks if she kept anything in the condo, and he replies a toothbrush in the bathroom.
Garland sees the report about the skeletal remains recovered on the news, when his wife Lamai walks in reminding him of their dinner reservations, adding that their daughter has changed her outfit three times already. After Libby is arrested, looking at grand larceny, and brought to One Police Plaza, Mazdani ID's her. Olivia Benson meets with Garland for lunch, saying he had a case he needed help with after a week in Orlando, Florida. He asks if she's heard about the body in the meer, and she has. He shows her the missing persons poster of Aretha, adding that she went missing 20 years ago, and he thinks they found her.
In the squad room, Garland recounts that he was four months out of the academy at the time of the attacks and Aretha's disappearance, adding that he stills thinks about her mother. Amanda Rollins asks if this belongs to Homicide Squad, calling him Chief out of habit, before Benson announces that he's going to have the new title of Deputy Mayor of Administration. Benson says she'll deal with Homicide, asking Garland is still in touch with his CO, who is now retired in Hempstead.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson
- Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins
- Ice-T as Sergeant Odafin Tutuola (credit only)
- Peter Scanavino as A.D.A. Dominick Carisi, Jr.
- Octavio Pisano as Detective Joe Velasco
Recurring cast[]
- Demore Barnes as Christian Garland
- Betty Buckley as Trial Division Chief Lorraine Maxwell
- Frank Wood as M.E. Abel Truman
- Mouzam Makkar as Attorney Dara Miglani
- Gabrielle Carrubba as Libby Blandon
- Trian Long-Smith as Lamai Garland
- Adrian Alvarado as Detective Ray Fernandez
- Thamer Jendoubi as Officer Kivlahan
Guest cast[]
- Nicki Micheaux as Cora Green
- Orfeh as Detective Nadia Szabo
- Ron Canada as Coleman Green
- Bobak Bakhtiari as Bijan Mazdani
- Orlagh Cassidy as D.A. Cassandra Drakos
- Jeb Kreager as Duty Captain Carl Mannox
- Ron Scott as Red Washington
- Renee Harrison as Nina Green
- Alyssa Keegan as Mila Urbaniak
- Gary Littman as Judge Larry Cohen
- Julian Alexander as A.D.A. Joe Cooper
- Joey Shaw as Harry Kent
- Adonis Nicolas Filpo as Drug Dealer #1
- Cheryl Wills as Herself
References[]
- 9/11
- World Trade Center
- Central Park
- Aretha Green (victim)
- OCME
- Abby Garland
- Sugar Babyz
- Nassau North Medical Center
- Major Case Squad
- Henry Mesner
- Gretchen Blandon
- Orlando, Florida
Quotes[]
- Olivia Benson: How many times have you done this?
- Nadia Szabo: Done what? Use DNA to solve a crime?
- Olivia Benson:Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get a rapе victim to come forward, let alone agree to the invasive trauma of a rapе exam? The minimum pact between us and them is that we don't use their DNA against them.
- Nadia Szabo: Tell that to the mother of a 25-year-old boy who was shot during a carjacking.
- Olivia Benson: How 'bout you do your job by actually investigating or getting subpoenas instead of trading sexual favors for shortcuts to the DNA database?
- Nadia Szabo: You're scolding me for doing favors for people I'm involved with? That's rich!
- Olivia Benson: I have never put a rapе victim in jeopardy.
- Nadia Szabo: Oh, so you're some kind of saint? You've never put your finger on the scale for a former partner or an IAB rat?
- Olivia Benson: Get out of my office.
- Nadia Szabo: And you get out of my suit!
Background Information and Notes[]
- Demore Barnes reprised his role as Christian Garland in this episode. It is revealed that he will be the deputy mayor of administration for the city.
- Attorney Dara Miglani talks to Carisi about Henry Mesner's rape of Libby Blandon and stabbing of Carisi's ear from the episode "Post-Graduate Psychopath".
- This episode was initially scheduled to air on July 28, 2022, in Australia, but it was postponed at the last minute to the following week due to the series finale of the Australian soap opera Neighbours, which concluded after 37 years on the air.
| Previous episode: "Eighteen Wheels a Predator" |
"Tangled Strands of Justice" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 23 |
Next episode: "Did You Believe in Miracles?" |