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| “ | You don't know him. Henry's the smartest, sweetest, most charming man I've ever met. | „ |
| ~ Carlene Palaver defending her husband when he is exposed as a serial rapist. |
Carlene Palaver is the secondary antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Pure". She is the wife and accomplice of serial rapist and con artist Henry Palaver, who swindles people as under the identity of self-proclaimed psychic "Sebastian Ballentine" and rapes virginal teenage girls. She helps him commit both crimes, and also murders a woman and kidnaps her infant son to raise with Ballentine as "Henry Jr.".
She was portrayed by the late Mary Mara, who also portrayed Marisa in Love Potion no. 9 and Judith Anderson in Criminal Minds.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Carlene started corresponding with imprisoned serial rapist Henry Palaver in her native Canada through a prison pen pal program, and he manipulated her into believing that he loved her. She married him in prison, but the prison did not allow conjugal visits, so she waited for him for the remaining two years of his sentence. When they finally had their wedding night, however, Palaver, who was obsessed with raping virgins, knew immediately that she was not a virgin and could not perform sexually. This problem remained throughout their entire relationship, meaning that Carlene never had sex with her own husband.
Desperate to make Palaver love her, Carlene helped him kidnap and rape several virginal teenage girls, mostly hitch-hikers they encountered on isolated roads. She also aided him in conning people out of their money as self-proclaimed psychic "Sebastian Ballentine". Soon after their marriage, she murdered Dannette Lancour and kidnapped her infant son to raise with Ballentine as "Henry Jr." in the hopes that having a family will convince him to stop his rape spree. That hope was in vain, however, as he kept assaulting girls, considering Carlene and the child nothing more than necessary annoyances.
Ballentine moved with Carlene and the baby to New York City and began raping girls there. After she helped him kidnap his latest victim, Kaley Sellars, she held the girl hostage while Ballentine went to the NYPD's Special Victims Unit, which is investigating the kidnapping, in order to misdirect the unit's detectives. Afraid that the police would find Kaley and get them arrested, she murdered the girl and dumped her body.
"Pure"[]
After SVU Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler detain Ballentine on suspicion of raping Kaley after finding out who he really is, Carlene goes to the SVU station house with Henry Jr. to support him. He is visibly annoyed by her presence, however, and tells her to go home. Sensing that Carlene may be involved in the kidnapping, Benson takes her and Henry Jr. into an interview room while Stabler interrogates Ballentine.
Benson asks Carlene how she can stand to be with a rapist, and she replies that he is a good man and a loving husband and father. A skeptical Benson looks into Carlene's medical information and finds no record of her ever giving birth, but does find records of Lancour's murder and the kidnapping of her son, which both occurred in the vicinity of Ballentine's former residence in Canada at the time that he and Carlene lived there. Benson presses Carlene until she confesses to killing both Lancour and Kaley and helping Ballentine kidnap Sister Peg, a nun who often works with SVU, to help Ballentine fulfill his fantasy of raping a nun. Stabler and Ballentine watch Carlene's interrogation from another room, with Ballentine denouncing his own wife as "used goods". Fortunately, Benson and Stabler are able to rescue Sister Peg, and are relieved to find that Ballentine had not had time to rape her.
After Ballentine confesses to several kidnapping and rape charges, Carlene goes to see him as he is locked up, but he angrily calls her a "slut" and tries to choke her. When Carlene sobs that he had promised to love her and raise a family with her, he coldly replies, "I lied," as Benson takes her into custody. Ballentine and Palaver are both imprisoned for life, while Henry Jr. is returned to his real father, Lancour's widower.
External links[]
- Carlene Palaver on the Law & Order Wiki
