“ | Who are you?! I made you what you are! | „ |
~ Elias Grace threatening his wife Valerie. |
Carl Gratz, better known as Elias Grace, is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Mega".
He is a con artist who brainwashes his wealthy clients into bequeathing their fortunes to him, and who murders one of his followers and five other people in a terrorist bombing.
He was portrayed by Michael McKean, who also portrayed Chuck McGill in Better Call Saul, Sarousch in The Hunchback of Notre Dame II: The Secret of the Bell, Emperor Zing in American Dad!, Horace in 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Perry White in Smallville, Mr. Dittmeyer in The Brady Bunch Movie, Bill Case in Casper: A Spirited Beginning, Snow Miser in The Year Without a Santa Claus, Ian Peek in Batman Beyond and LG Algae in The Angry Beavers.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Along with fellow small-time criminal Harley Ellison, Elias and his wife Valerie come up with the idea for the KVG Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that hosts motivational retreats and seminars and provides financial counseling to other wealthy people. In reality, however, the Graces were con artists who brainwash their clients into signing over their entire fortunes with New Age platitudes about "achieving personal power" and "self-actualization". Their clients are believers to the point of fanaticism, making KBG effectively a cult.
Grace is jealous and possessive of Valerie, and in 1994 assaulted her when she refused to get out of their car during an argument. He became suspicious that she was having an affair and confronted her. She admitted to cheating on him with one of their followers, Joe Callister, but swore that she had broken off the relationship. He believed she was lying to him, however, and got revenge by having Callister's wife Maggie plant a bomb on a helicopter Callister was traveling on, killing him and five other people.
"Mega"[]
NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Ed Green investigate the bombing and question the Graces after learning of Callister's business and personal relationship with them. They find out that Callister had been skimming money from the Graces, that his widow Maggie is also involved with their scams, and that she had been about to divorce her husband.
They theorize that she and the Graces conspired to kill Callister, get the stolen money back, and split the $1 million insurance payout, a suspicion that appears to be confirmed by the presence of dynamite in a quarry that Elias owns. They arrest the Graces and Maggie, and Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy and Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael charge all three of them with murder.
At first, McCoy and Carmichael believe that the Graces killed Callister because he was planning to leave the group and take their money. When KVG's followers refuse to turn on the Graces, McCoy charges them with conspiracy to commit murder, scaring one of them into revealing that Callister was having an affair. Further investigation reveals that Callister's mistress was none other than Valerie Grace, and McCoy and Carmichael realize that Elias was the true culprit, and that his motive was not greed, but revenge.
When confronted with proof of the affair, Valerie says that Elias killed Callister after learning of her infidelity, and that she had kept quiet because she feared what Elias would do to her. As Elias looks on helplessly, Valerie manages to convince McCoy to spare him the death penalty, instead engineering a plea deal in which Elias and Maggie receive six consecutive sentences of life in prison.
Soon afterward, however, McCoy and Carmichael find out that Valerie had never had an affair with Callister. Knowing that there is no way to legally prove what she did, Valerie coldly admits to gaslighting Elias into believing Callister was her lover so he would kill him and go to prison, leaving her all his money.
Trivia[]
- Elias is inspired by two real-life cases:
- The late Joseph-Albert Guay, the mastermind of the Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108 bombing.
- The late L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction author known for founding Scientology.
- Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole, who portrays Valerie, are married in real life.
External links[]
- Elias Grace on the Law & Order Wiki