lost traveller svu

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Law & order svu “lost traveler” recap & review.

33 comments:

Brilliant work.Loved it. They just get stronger and stronger as the season progresses. And the ratings went back up to 2.2 key demo and 9.83 million...thats the highest demo since "Missing Pieces" and the highest number overall viewers of the season! Nearly 10 million! SVU2 was top in its slot for first time this season too...agreed that Revenge was in repeat,but its still encouraging.Well done guys (generic term!) Very atmospheric episode. Next weeks looks good too...plus I love those textures in the interview room. Behind the scenes production people are the best. Hugs all round!

Also acting from Alexandra Silber and Mark Margolis was stunning.

I agree and disagree w/ you on a couple things this episode. 1st, I agree Gilbert Gottfried is HORRIBLY miscast in this role. Gottfried is one of those people whose voice can either help or hurt the role he's in. This was unfortunately the later. Though I disagree w/ you on Kelli Giddish/Amanda Rollins in this episode. This was actually the first episode for me where it seemed like Giddish came across as alot more comfortable in her role this season. Where as before she was a little too low-key for my liking. I also didn't find her and Amaro's argument to be forced in any way. Hopefully Giddish maintains this level for the rest of the way. There were also some great lines in this episode: Cutter: "You might want to take a minute and think about it, and by a minute I mean 59 seconds." Amaro: "Thought you were going to give me the heads up." Rollins: "Thought you could keep up." And is it just me or did the pacing to this episode feel a little faster than the other episodes so far this season? Only one problem with the episode, How come no one saw the two girls on the street camera footage the first time they had it? Otherwise this was the 2nd best episode of the season w/ only True Believers beating it out. Speaking of, Andre Braugher returns next week, so there's plently to look forward to.

In that first viewing early on the girls were visible as they walked across, but the detectives had their backs to the screen so they missed it. We could see them as audience.Nice dramatic irony.Also bad luck.....one of the episode themes.

Did you think that scene with rollins and amaro was improvised, deliberately? It felt like they were trying that out to see how it worked.

Janet, the ratings were up because there was no new CSI airing AND Revenge (on ABC) was a rerun. If NBC would get SVU away from competing with CSI I think the numbers would come up more often.

I agree. This is the first time SVU has ever been in direct competition with CSI ,isnt it?Its a pity because SVU had enough on its plate already with all the changes etc."Missing Pieces" also got a 2.2 in key demo this season.Otherwise its been steady enough, but it would have been easier without CSI.

I'm on the fence with this episode. I liked the story. But...there wan't much of Mariska in this episode and without her, the cast seems flat. All of them. It was great to have Stephanie and Linus in there to spark things up but they didn't hang around long enough. Danny Pino will be fine and he fits right in, but I agree with you ATLAO, Kelli Giddish just isn't fitting in. I can't get my arms around what is is but you did hit on one thing that annoyed me about her - that LOOKEE HERE phrase that she has used in every episode so far. Gilbert Gottfried was a HUGE MISTAKE. HUGE. His acting wasn't even good, and then...that voice! I don't have any idea of what they were planning to achieve with him there, but that scene with him was just like fingernails on a chalkboard as far as I am concerned. I don't mind his humor normally, it was out of place in this episode. As far as ratings, they only did well because the top 2 shows it competes against weren't on. They should not be proud of that.

With three things I must whole-heartedly agree. 1. I didn't need the 4 minute opener either. 2. Using some comedian TARU officer instead of Morales was completely stupid. When I was watching that scene I said "I really hope this gets a bad reaction out of fans" and it did. Sometimes my "I really hope people notice" things go unnoticed :P. 3. Scott Winters was a much better fit than Gilbert Gottfried. I actually thought his character was Brian Cassidy at first.

ATL&O's comments on this episode were spot on--there isn't really much else for me to say because ATL&O said exactly what I was thinking. As soon as I saw Tamara Tunie on the guest star credits for this episode I knew the kid was going to be killed. It's great having her on the show, but when she's in the episode you just know whoever's missing will be found dead. Kind of takes the suspense out of it.

@xfool: The reason for the casting of Gilbert Gottfried is that WL found the TARU scenes to be really dry; and thought he would be a solution for that. I can't speak for everyone but I don't think it went over well. "As far as ratings, they only did well because the top 2 shows it competes against weren't on. They should not be proud of that." Who said they were? Also allthings, I have a feeling were not gonna have court room scenes on a consistant basis unless either Linus Roache, Stephanie March, or Diane Neal get top billing again. But I don't see that happening anytime soon. So were stuck with what we've got, for now.

nygma619 - some of the key SVU people are on Twitter and I follow them - they've been tweeting about it and retweeting things where others have commented about the good numbers. I know they are pleased at the high number but I don't think they realize that the fans are able to put the numbers in context!

Yes they were all positively tweeting, cast and crew,Mariska and Wolf. I wouldnt begrudge them that moment either. Its been a difficult task and they have held it up well,respecting everyone including the fans.They obviously have huge respect for the fans and work inclusively. They went out of their way to put an outtake up about Mariska and a necklace to please some fans.They are so busy afterall.It was a nice gesture. It is positive news. Even if some shows were in repeat at least people opted to watch SVU2. They could have just turned off the set.And if season 12 SVU had been up against CSI it would also have dented the ratings which were dropping then even with meloni on board. SVU2 and Parenthood stand out from the pack on NBC but SVU2 gets the high overall numbers. This week parenthood got 2.1 key demo and 5.7million total while SVU2 got 2.2 key demo and 9.90 total.Alot of people are celebrating whilst realising the difficulties involved.I dont see any pretence and they have been very measured about things all season, but its nice to share their enthusiasm, so i will.

I forgot. For those who were wondering, Channel 5 has now resumed showing the last few episodes of SVU season 12 on UK TV.

I'll add my voice to those who agreed completely with ATL&O. It was a good/bad episode. Amaro is growing on me with every episode whereas Rollins is grating on me with every episode. It's just not working which is a shame because we're getting closer to Mariska's potential exit and without a likeable female detective around it would feel a little incomplete. Pitting SVU against CSI was a bad idea on NBC's part. They're similar in style and there are likely to be fans who watch both, but the problem is CSI has always had a bigger audience so those who watched both may go for CSI when made to choose. I'd probably choose CSI if I had to.

Forgot to add, I was wondering why the detective looked strangely familiar - I didn't know Dean Winter's brother was an actor. Pity the character was a jerk or else there'd be potential to have him back. I noticed the Asian woman at the takeaway shop has been on SVU before. She had a much bigger part in her previous appearance though; it was the one where the possibility of the "anger gene" was put forward. I miss the court scenes.

Regarding ratings, it's not about the numbers against other shows on different networks. It's about the numbers within the network. So if SVU improved on NBC,that's good, regardless if CSI or Revenge were reruns or not.

As far as I know, the only main SVU actor who has already renewed for next year is Ice-T. So we're also getting closer to the "potential exits" of Belzer, Florek, Pino and Giddish *rolls eyes*.

Great episode, although I thought it was a bit more predictable than others this season. When the boy's e-mails were being deleted, I just had a feeling he would turn up dead (like the recent British story where a dead girl's e-mails were being deleted by a tabloid reporter). Also those two classmate girls at the school were extremely similar to the girls in the episode "Mean" (from season 5) and the sister in "Damaged" (from season 4). Is having a story about about pretty, white, teenage girl-sociopaths a seasonal requirement for SVU? Seems like it is. As far as the beginning 4 minutes are concerned, I've never seen any of the other Law and Order series so I really don't understand what all the fuss is about - what difference does it make if it's written like CSI or LA or UK? I like seeing the crime being set-up, at least some of the time. I also like Kelli Giddish's scrappy character, although I think she might be fitting in TOO WELL being that she's not from New York. I would think she would be fumbling around for awhile, trying to figure out how things work in NYC. I know I would.

I knew I'd seen the actor who played Mark on SVU before, I just couldn't place when. I think he's the same guy that played the bicycle messenger they mistakenly collar as the perp who was killing the children of illegal immigrants in the episode "Anchor" from season 10. Also, I have a question for ATL&O: Have you heard anything about Judith Light coming back to SVU for an episode or two, or is she history like Chris Meloni and B.D. Wong? I miss Liz Donnelly.

Laura, as of right now there is no word that Judith Light will be appearing on SVU this season...but that doesn't mean that they may not bring her in for an episode somewhere down the road.

I agree with ATL&O's opinions of this ep and that answers my questions when I was thinking, "What the hell is WRONG with this ep? I hate it." There were times it didn't seem too bad, then it would be horrible again. It almost became a cycle over the hour-long foray into mediocrity. I really like Gilbert Gotfried as a person, and as a comedian, but it just didn't work as well as I'd hoped to have him as a TARU tech. That's too bad, because I was looking forward to seeing if he could play it straight and not rely on comedy in the role. Thanks for trying, JS Casting, but you struck out this time. I didn't hear Munch's comments/remarks a couple times in the ep. I thought it would have been a great opportunity for Leight to use "Sarge" more, since John's lineage is Eastern European. Every time the rumor mills say SVU will be using Belz heavily in an ep, we see very little of him. I'd bet that could be part of the reason Belz has been in meetings here in L.A.: to find a show or project that would USE HIM more. (Granted, he is some VERY handsome set dressing, but his acting (when they allow it!) is impeccable and I'd like to see a lot more of it. It's interesting how my opinion of both Giddish and Pino has changed since the start of this season. Both of them are really getting on my nerves in a major way. Giddish needs acting lessons immediately and no, she does NOT fit in with the rest of the cast. (Neither did Adam Beach or the actress who played Dani Beck.) Her character is borderline hick and ass at the same time, and it's awful. Pino's character is being used by the writers as 'the new macho,' and it frankly SUCKS. Amaro has to EARN my respect and also has to EARN the right to show authority, especially when he's no better than Giddish's character in terms of rank and seniority. They also have zero chemistry together. At least they're letting Munch *be* the sergeant that he is, especially when Cpt. Cragen is out of the office for some unspecified reason. I was very happy with the season as it began, but now I sense things are slipping again. The tide is turning toward my being more disappointed than thrilled now. And that makes me sad.

@ Cardinal, you think him being a police officer isn't ENOUGH of a right to show authority. Though I agree that we don't need another Stabler. The situation with Pino and Giddish is weird to me. For example Pino, has showed that he's a MUCH better actor than I would've given him credit for on this show. Where as on Cold Case, I thought he was mediocre (or maybe it was an issue with his character). With Giddish, it's the exact opposite where I've enjoyed her in most of her roles, but her time on SVU hasn't been that notable. I think she's still better than Saffron Burrows & Skeet Ulrich IMO. Also I enjoyed Dani Beck when she was on the show.

Ok, this is the third episode I have seen from this season. I am still reeling from the loss if the original (which had such such a strong cast, in my opinion, and the loss of stabler in svu. But, I digress. So does anyone else think the camera work is strange in this season? Or am I the only one that feels this way? I can't explain it, but it feels like I am watching a soap opera. I am really bothered by the camera work, and was just wondering if anyone else noticed it and feels the same way.

"and it made his acting abilities even worse." Dear, you give him too much credit. He has no acting abilities.

I feel like they ripped this episode off almost word-for-word from "Uncivilized" in season 1. First, you have the little boy who gets kidnapped and murdered, and then the blame gets placed on a man-child from the neighborhood, and then it turns out the real culprits are the two young Leopold & Loeb-like teenagers who have been cleverly steering the investigation away from themselves all along -- even the relationship dynamic is the same. There was one teenager who was weepy and weak-willed, and one of them was defiant and sociopathic. The only major difference is the whole 'Roma' angle and the fact that the villains were girls rather than boys. "Uncivilized" was a great episode though and this episode was pretty good, but I basically knew who the killer was right away because the plot was copied.

Did anyone notice that the painting at the mansion had its face digitized? From a distance it's fuzzy and in a closer shot it appears to have a different face CGI'd onto it. What's up with that?

I really liked the episode. I also guess that Courtney was going to be killer in the beginning because of the way she was lurking in in the school hallway and BTW she was watching Nico the whole time he was being picked on by that kid. This was my 2nd favorite episode of the season. My favorite was Spiraling Down which was the next episode.

I forgot to say that it is too bad that B.D. Wong wasn't brought in for this episode. I would have liked to hear what Dr Huang would have had to say about Courtney if he had met her.

One more thing I think this episode was better then uncivilized and Jimmy J seemed to be just a punk trying to be a tough guy.Courtney was evil and scary.

Sorry I meant to say Jimmy G.

To be honest, I would like a room like Mark's.

So, it really bugs me that after Cragen tells Collins and partner to “head down town” and they get on the elevator the very next seen is both of them in the MEs office looking at dead Niko. There is absolutely no clip of them searching for the boy, finding the boy, recovering the boy, nothing. It’s like a scene is completely missing and it really ruins the whole thing for me. It was poor edited. I know they have a time limit, but they wasn’t a scene that needed cut, because it goes from them on the elevator with Collins saying she feels like it’s going to be a recovery straight to Niko dead on the ME’s table. Stupid

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – Season 13, Episode 9

Lost traveler, where to watch, law & order: special victims unit — season 13, episode 9.

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Mariska Hargitay

Det. Olivia Benson

Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola

Dann Florek

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Det. Amanda Rollins

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Recap / Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S13 E9 "Lost Traveller"

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Written By Julie Martin and David Matthews

Directed By Jean De Segonzac

A young Romani child disappears on his way home from school and the distraught parents don't trust the police (a sentiment largely echoed by the rest of their close knit community). With the help of their TARU tech ( Gilbert Gottfried ) and a meddling reporter who hacked the child's cellphone, the detectives narrow the suspects list to a mentally challenged neighbor and two of the child's schoolmates.

• Alpha Bitch : Courtney and her minion Emma. When Emma and her mom are led into a conference room for interrogation, Emma repeatedly asks "What did Courtney say?" as if she couldn't do anything without her.
• Accomplice by Inaction : Emma
• Amoral Attorney : Played with. The Rom-Baro, who was previously questioned as a suspect because he shunned the Greys for distancing themselves from the Romani community (in his eyes) and no longer paying their tithes to him, is also Marc Rajic's lawyer. He's quite patient and grandfatherly with him.
• Break Them by Talking : Amaro goes after the weaker link , Emma, and she fesses up to Courtney's murder of Nico and her inability to stop her .
• Contrived Coincidence : Nico disappears on the very first day his parents allow him to go to school by himself. Before he disappears, Nico reassures his parents and his teacher that he knows the way home - he and his dad practiced! On his way home, the J train is down and he's forced to find another way home.
• Chekhov's Gunman : At the beginning of the episode, Courtney and Emma can be seen in the background behind Nico as he leaves his dad's line of sight and enters the subway.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" : The Rom-Baro's name is never spoken.
• Frame-Up : The police fall for the tricks of two 14 year old girls quite easily. The two girls continuously tip the police off to things that they conveniently see their neighbor Marc do. They claim to see Marc with Nico's rabbit foot after planting it and a used Metro card in his room. They then tell police they saw him sneak out his back door and that they've seen him smoking. Courtney also sexually assaults him to keep him quiet.
• Hope Spot : Early on, Nico's parents proclaim that he's still alive, since his cell phone, which was full of messages was suddenly able to record a message, meaning that he was checking his mailbox. Unfortunately, it's revealed that it was somebody who hacked into his cellphone in order to find Nico, who cleared his messages.
• I Never Said It Was Poison : Ultimately, what leads the squad to the culprits. After Nico's mom attempts to burn Marc to death , she tells them it's because he burned Nico. SVU and the ME never revealed Nico's burn wounds to his parents or the media, so it must have been the girls who specifically told the detectives about seeing Marc smoking, along with other "tips" to frame him .
• It Runs in the Family : No one is surprised when the man walking his dog in front of the Rajic house who catches himself using a slur against his Romani neighbors is Courtney's father.
• Know When to Fold 'Em : Courtney calmly confesses to murdering Nico and assaulting Marc after Emma is led out of the precinct in tears. Courtney's Dad : I'm calling a lawyer. Courtney : It's a little late for that, Dad.
• Lack of Empathy : The real killer Courtney, who shows no emotion except mild annoyance that Emma told the truth. When asked why she did it, she simply replied with an emotionless: "Why not?"
• Not What It Looks Like : After leaving home, a man is seen following Nico at a distance and acting suspicious. After being honked at by a passing car, Nico pulls out his flip phone and...calls his Dad out for following him.
• Police Are Useless : The families involved in the case do not trust the detectives (or the NYPD) at all due to the discrimination and lack of help they get from officers like Detective Robert "Doom" Dumas. It gets to the point where Nico's mother turns into a Vigilante Man because she feels the detectives haven't served justice after they take Marc into custody but let him go when they don't have enough evidence yet.
• Teens Are Monsters : Courtney Lane. When asked why she murdered Nico Grey, her only reply is a completely calm, "Why not?" Not only that, but she also planted evidence on Marc, a low-functioning autistic teenager and one of Nico’s neighbours, then sexually assaulted him to keep him quiet, resulting in him being scapegoated for the crime.
• Unwanted Assistance : A reporter remotely accesses the voicemail box of Nico's phone and deletes messages, ostensibly in order to create room if someone were trying to leave an important message. However, this initially creates the impression that Nico is still alive and operating his phone, giving false hope to his parents and misdirecting the investigators.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child : The Rom-Baro says this word for word when Fin and Rollins suspect him of kidnapping Nico because the Greys stopped paying their tithes (to afford Nico's school) and became outsiders to the Romani community.
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S13 E8 "Educated Guess"
• Recap/Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S13 E10 "Spiraling Down"

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Romani child disappears on his way home from school. Benson and Amaro interview the distraught parents, who are distrustful of the police. The initial investigation leads Fin and Rollins to the powerful leader of the Romani community, but he denies any involvement. The family remains hopeful their boy will be found, especially when they discover his cell phone is still active. With the help of their TARU tech and a meddling newspaper reporter, the detectives narrow the perpetrators to a mentally challenged neighbor, throwing the tight-knit Romani community into turmoil.

Stephanie March

Linus Roache

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Scott William Winters

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Kelli Giddish

Richard Belzer

Dann Florek

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Watch Law & Order: SVU Season 13 Episode 9 online via TV Fanatic with over 7 options to watch the Law & Order: SVU S13E9 full episode. Affiliates with free and paid streaming include Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube Purchase, Google Play, Hulu Plus, and Verizon On Demand.

Episode Details

A Romany boy disappears on Law & Order: SVU this week. The community's distrust makes the investigation difficult.

Law & Order: SVU Season 13 Episode 9 Quotes

You're in trouble; your partner's pretty and smart. Brooklyn Detective Dumas Permalink: You're in trouble; your partner's pretty and smart. Added: November 30, 2011

So you're not a scumbag trying to scoop the competition on a milk carton case. You are one of the good guys. Munch Permalink: So you're not a scumbag trying to scoop the competition on a mil... Added: November 30, 2011

Law & Order: SVU Season 13 Episode 9 Photos

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Allison Leotta, novelist, former sex-crimes prosecutor, tv critic

Author of A Good Killing, Speak of the Devil, and others.

SVU Episode #13-9: Lost Traveler

1 December, 2011 by Allison Leotta 12 Comments

Recap: The real-life story behind this episode was hard to stomach, and the story was hard to watch even as a fictional SVU episode. I was actually relieved by the moments when the writers got something ridiculously wrong, because at least that created some levity in an otherwise horrific case.

In this episode, a little Romani boy is excited when his parents allow him to walk to school alone for the first time. But on the way home that afternoon, he disappears. At first, his parents believe he was killed because they stopped paying their tithes to the Rom-Baro, the head of their tight-knit clan. But soon they get a hopeful sign that he’s still alive: the boy’s voice mailbox, which had been full, is now accepting their messages – he must have deleted earlier ones, they think, and still be alive. With the help of Gilbert Godfrey (in a terrific cameo as a snarky police tech geek), our detectives discover that the person deleting the messages was actually a slimy British reporter who hacked into the boy’s voice mail to try to get a story.

Soon, the boy’s body is found in a construction site. The little body is covered with cigarette burns, and the boy wet himself from terror. The detectives hone in on a mentally-retarded Romani man named Mark (with Amanda – always more of a pit bull – arguing that Mark’s the killer, and Nick – always slower to judge – voicing his doubts). They track Mark to a woodsy gypsy encampment, complete with a bonfire and corral of goats, and arrest him there. But they soon discover that the killers are actually two pretty, lip-glossed tweenage girls who were the boy’s schoolmates. The girls teased the little boy for being a “gypsy,” then burned him, and when that got out of hand, they strangled him with his own scarf.

Verdict: B-

What they got right:

This episode was based on the horrific death of little Leiby Kletzky . This July, the parents of the eight-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy allowed him to walk home alone from day camp for the first time. It was only seven blocks, and they’d practiced with a dry run. But Leiby got lost in his close-knit Brooklyn neighborhood and asked a stranger for directions. That stranger took the child home, killed him, and dismembered him, police say. Most of Leiby’s body was found in a dumpster. His feet were found in the man’s freezer.

The terrible journalist was based on the real phone-hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World and other newspapers. Reporters hacked into the phones of celebrities, politicians, and the British royal family to get exclusive stories. Most despicably, they hacked into the phone of a murdered 13-year-old girl named Milly Dowler , who disappeared on her way home from school. They listened to her voice messages; when her voice mail box filled up, they wanted to hear more incoming messages, so they deleted messages that had been left in the days immediately after her abduction, not only raising the hopes of the girl’s family, but destroying crucial evidence in a homicide investigation. Murdoch’s company is now under investigation by British authorities, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Justice.

What they got wrong:

Goats. I was a prosecutor for 12 years. I handled cases in twenty different states and the District of Columbia. Never once did I see a goat. I loved that the writers themselves laugh about this:

David Matthews, I challenge you to work a dolphin into your next episode.

Dangerous search warrants. When the detectives searched Mark’s room, he, his mom, and the creepy Rom-Baro all hovered nearby as the detectives flipped over his mattress and rifled through his underwear drawer. Detectives, secure your scene, please! Any of these leering civilians could’ve jumped you. Every real police officer knows that the first step in executing a search warrant is securing the scene. Usually that involves corralling all civilians in an area that isn’t being searched, frisking them, and having at an officer guard them while the search is done.

Adorable tween killers. We’ve seen a lot of them on SVU. The housemaid’s middle-school-aged son who killed the Ambassador’s boy in “Blood Brothers.” The beautiful heiress who killed her society rival in “Wet.” There are real predators out there. They typically aren’t cute high school girls.

About Allison Leotta

This episode was ok, not bad but not memorable either. But for heave’s sake, the show is called LAW & Order. Where are the courtrooms?

Absolutely! The DA’s only role in the whole episode was to be dismissively called “sweetheart” by the defense attorney.

I liked trying to count the charges against the tweens, since we never got to see the trial half of the case.

Yikes for the principle! Premeditated murder with special circumstances. And she did it because he was a gypsy, so let’s throw in a hate crime bias while we are at it. I guess the breaking and entering charges, rape / molestation, planting of false evidence, and obstruction of justice charges really doesn’t matter too much in the end after all that. And the ring leader is apparently a remorseless psychopath just to add to the mix. A little disappointed in the SVU writers this go around. I like things a bit morally ambiguous. Usually the SVU writers will make the bad guy at least a little sympathetic. Not so much here.

I spent more time trying to imagine my life as the accessory’s defense lawyer. The conspiracy charge is going to ruin my day. What do you think my chances are of getting a plea down to something? It probably helps a bit that the principle has exposed themselves as a total psychopath. Maybe the accessory can get some mercy from the DA by comparison. Any chance of keeping this half in juvie, so she might see the light of day?

Hey, good points, Sam, are you a lawyer? I think the slightly-evil girl’s best chance is to cooperate with the authorities and testify against the truly-evil girl. With credit for cooperation and some goodwill from the DA’s office, you might have a shot at keeping her half of the case in the juvenile system.

Yes, I am a lawyer. Don’t practice trial law currently. But I am still young, I may have to switch focuses, because trial law looks like a lot of fun to me. Is your old job at the DOJ still open? If so, where should I send my resume? 🙂

However, a good lawyer would have probably spelled the word PRINCIPAL, but we can’t all be perfect.

I prefer characters that are more complicated. It isn’t that hard to write a character that is legally in the wrong but morally sympathetic, if not morally justified. And it isn’t that hard to write a character that is legally in the right but is totally morally bankrupt. To me, these scenarios are always more satisfying intellectually, and raises the unsolved problem of how one defines “justice”.

When Law and Order has done these kinds of characters right, sometime the question of justice can be mentally perplexing long after the episode has ended. I always in particular enjoy it when there is a character legally wrong who I can identify with. It really makes you wonder what you would do in that situation, and makes you wonder what the “right” outcome is: the legal one, or the moral one. Sometimes, the Law and Order writers write these characters in such a way that even the cops or the DA look the other way and let the person go free. Which raises interesting questions about the proper role of the police, the proper role of the DA, the proper role of the judge, and the proper role of the jury. When an episode can make you think that much, to me that’s golden.

The psychopath who is totally legally and morally bankrupt is by comparison much less interesting, and for that matter, much less realistic. People, even criminals, are usually more complicated than that.

In short, complicated = better.

I agree, Sam. If you’re a reader, check out George Pelecanos and Laura Lippman, who are the masters of complicated characters, from flawed heroes to lovable bad guys and everyone in between.

I’m always surprised by how easily parents let their children talk to the police on SVU. I’d think parents would be even more protective than defense attorneys as soon as they get a whiff of the fact that someone’s trying to throw their kid in prison. In this episode, all we got was a half-hearted “you’re scaring my daughter!” from the one mother (after which she sat meekly by while Nick yelled at her to “Look!” at the pictures of the tortured kid) and a belated “I think it’s time to stop” from the father once it was too late to do any good.

Do you have any experience with this? Do parents really do that little to defend their children’s rights?

Actually, a lot of parents fight like hell to keep their kids from talking to the police. That was not a particularly realistic part of this episode.

I love your blog and read it after each SVU episode

There are actually two other cases this episode was based on, the first was Robert Gonzales. He was a kind man in his early 20 with an i.q. of 62 what was friendly with local kids. He was falsely accused of abducting and raping an 11 year old girl and they clamed he was able to climb threw small windows to get to kids.

The other was the Mary Bell case in the 60’s ware a 10 year old serial killer and her teenage sidekick would tick young boys into coming with them to construction sites and sadistically beat and kill them. The girls would then pretend to be sympathetic and helpful to the families. Then they would point the police to an innocent man that was easy to blame. Were you aware of either of these cases?

Hey Raf, thanks for your comment and the info! I hadn’t heard of those cases before. Very interesting! Thanks!

Allison, I have just watched this episode and I think if you read up on the James Bulger case, you’ll see the similarities.

Two schoolboys took a young child from a shopping centre whilst his mum’s back was turned – so whereas the start of your story correlates with the young Jewish boy’s story that you refer to, this I think is where the similarities stop.

James was burned with cigarettes, all over his body including on his scrotum. The boys killed him when he cried for his mother. There were overtly sexual overtones to his injuries. One boy, Thompson, was considered the ringleader, whilst the other boy, Venables, was considered the weaker, who just went along with it because his friend did.

Thompson showed no remorse when discovered; nor did they ever find out why they decided to do it. It was, as Courtney in the episode said “Why not?”

Just looked it up. Wow, terrible stuff. You’re right, a lot of similarities to this episode. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit/Lost Traveler

Lost Traveler is the ninth episode of the thirteenth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , and the two hundred eighty-first episode overall.

Starring : Mariska Hargitay ( Detective Olivia Benson ), Danny Pino ( Detective Nick Amaro ), Kelli Giddish ( Detective Amanda Rollins ), Richard Belzer ( Sergeant John Munch ), Ice T ( Detective Odafin Tutuola )

and Dann Florek ( Captain Donald Cragen )

Special Guest Stars : Stephanie March ( A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot )

and Linus Roache (Bureau Chief A.D.A. Michael Cutter)

Guest Stars : Donnie Keshawarz (Tomas Grey), Alexandra Silber (Nadia Grey), Michael Barra (Mark Rajic), Scott William Winters (Detective Joe Dumas), Gavin Lee (Dennis Griscomb), Gilbert Gottfried (Leo Gerber), Quinn Shephard (Emma Butler), Lili Reinhart (Courtney Lane)

Guest Appearance by : Tamara Tunie ( Dr. Melinda Warner )

with Mark Margolis (Rom-Baro)

and Ron Rifkin (Marvin Exley)

with Gary Lindemann (Chris Lane), Lucas Near-Verbrugghe (Greg Kandel), Tamir (Ana Rajic), Cameron Ocasio (Nico Grey), Wai Ching Ho (Gladys Tang), George Feaster (Alonso Hearne), Laura Pruden (Sandra Butler), Sammuel Soifer (Ryan), Jayson Gladstone (State Trooper Levon Davis), Nic Pagano (Little Boy)

Plot Overview

Arc advancement, behind the scenes, allusions and references, memorable moments.

• Episode Stubs
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit/Episodes

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Lost Traveller (2011)

TV-14 | Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

• Characters Based on Real People
• Conspirators
• Imprisoned Characters
• Young Criminals

Emma Butler

History [ ].

At school, Emma sees an older student spit on Nico's hand. Afterwards, Emma and Courtney follow Nico and take him to a construction site, where they attacked him. Then, Courtney takes a lit cigarette and uses it to burn Nico's chest, arms, and scrotum. Courtney then kills him against Emma's wishes. They take his lucky rabbit's foot, go to a mentally handicapped man named Marc Rajic , and give him a handjob and the rabbit's foot, telling him not to tell anyone and they would give him more handjobs in the future. When the SVU detectives go to their school to question the students about Nico,  Fin  questions them and they tell him that they live on the same block as Nico did.

Later, when Amaro and Rollins question Emma and Courtney about Rajic, Emma tells Amaro that she worried about what would happen to Rajic after his mother died. She also tells Amaro that Rajic is creepy, while Courtney informs Rollins that she saw Rajic with Gray's rabbit foot. When Emma and Courtney go to Nico's parents house with flowers, they tell Amaro and Benson that the school is going to plant a tree for Nico. Emma proceeds to tell them that even though Rajic is locked in his room, he is able to get out at any time through the backdoor. Later, the detectives realize the two of them followed Nico. Emma is brought into the precinct with her mother Sandra, while Courtney is brought in with her father. When Amaro interrogates her, Emma tries to maintain that Rajic killed Nico but Amaro tells her that he knows she is lying. When Amaro tells her that he knows what she and Courtney did with Rajic, she asks him not to tell Sandra. When Amaro shows her a picture of Nico's dead body, she starts to cry and admits that Courtney tortured and killed him. She is then arrested but unlike Courtney, who showed no remorse for her actions or any sympathy for Nico and his family, Emma showed remorse and was disturbed by Courtney's horrific actions. ( SVU : " Lost Traveler ")

• 1 Olivia Benson
• 2 Amanda Rollins
• 3 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit