Written By Dawn De Noon
Directed By Arthur W. Forney
A little girl named Mackenzie Burton (Bailee Madison) goes suddenly missing and the investigation points that she was lured by an online predator. The detectives managed to locate her, but to their surprise they discover that Mackenzie ran away willingly. Initially it seems like she was just fed up with them being overprotective, but she eventually reveals the real reason she's unhappy; her parents, who adopted her from foster care, don't actually want her, but rather are just using her as a surrogate for their biological daughter, Ella, who disappeared ten years earlier.
The detectives then decide to look into Ella's case, out of a concern that her parents might be responsible and therefore Mackenzie might be in danger. The mother (Joan Cusack) insists that Ella was last seen with a red-haired teenage girl, but the original detective tells them that he was never even able to establish that the girl existed, which seems to support the idea that the mother is covering something up. However, when Munch and Fin go to talk to a photographer who is a potential witness, they're shocked to find that he has a photo of a girl matching the mother's description, taken within a few days of Ella's disappearance — evidence that the mother was telling the truth.
Facial recognition matches the photo to one Darla Pennington. She's initially reticent, but eventually breaks down and reveals the whole story: after Darla's mother left, Darla's father used Darla as unwitting bait to kidnap Ella, who he wanted to be his new wife. Darla further tells them that Ella was beaten to death by her father for trying to escape, which was the final straw that led Darla to run away from home. Stabler and Benson arrive at Mr. Pennington's farm and prepare to search for Ella's body, but then they see another person run behind some trees, and Benson figures out that it is Ella, who turns out not to be dead after all. The episode ends with her being reunited with her parents... as Mackenzie looks on, unsure what this means for her own future.
- Abusive Parents:
- The Burtons are emotionally abusive towards their foster daughter, but ultimately a tragic example of this trope.
- Mr. Pennington on the other hand is a completely straight example, being an abusive drunk and a child rapist.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ella is found by the police and returned to have family at the end after enduring hell at the hands of Pennington. As she embraces her real parents, Mackenzie looks on with relief but also sadness, as her own future with the Burtons is now uncertain.
- Broken Bird: Way too many in this episode.
- Mackenzie is clearly miserable because of her adoptive parents' treatment of her.
- Darla Pennington. Her drunk, abusive father used her as a pawn to kidnap another child, and then ended up becoming an underage porn actress after running away. Why did she run away? She was terrified after seeing her father seemingly beat Ella to death.
- Ella Burton being kept as a Sex Slave for a decade.
- Mrs. Burton might lose points for being an Abusive Mom, but she is herself clearly broken by the unsolved disappearance of her daughter.
- Though she is not seen in the episode itself, Erik Weber's sister committed suicide after being raped, or so he says.
- Body Double: Mackenzie for Ella Burton, who has been missing for the past decade. Mrs. Burton even dyes her hair to make her look like Ella, and possibly gave her a nose job for the same purpose (the parents contend it was medically necessary because she had long-term damage after breaking her nose in an accident).
- Cassandra Truth: Mrs.Burton insisted that her daughter was lured away by an older girl with red hair who was wearing a green top and orange shorts, but the local authorities concluded she made the whole thing up. It took ten years to prove she was telling the truth because no one thought to check the rest of the pictures of a suspected photographer.
- Left Hanging: We never do find out what happens to Mackenzie now that the parents have Ella back.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Mrs. Burton vehemently denies the accusation that Mackenzie is just a Replacement Goldfish for Ella... only to end up calling Mackenzie "Ella" by mistake moments later.
- My Beloved Smother: Mrs. Burton to Mackenzie. Mackenzie even uses the term "smother" when talking about her. It's unclear if the father is this in his own right or is just indulging his wife by going along with her overprotectiveness (he does admit to a few things his wife wasn't thrilled with, like buying Mackenzie wheelie shoes and letting her go on the computer without the kind of strict supervision the mother insisted on, suggesting he is at least marginally less this than the mother).
- Offing the Offspring: The original officer on Ella's case is convinced the parents killed her themselves and faked the abduction to cover it up. Ultimately subverted as not only is the abduction found to have been genuine, it turns out Ella isn't dead at all.
- Replacement Goldfish:
- The Burtons adopted a Mackenzie simply because she looked almost identical to their biological daughter Ella and forced her to wear their daughter's clothes, dye her hair, and even get a nose job just to resemble her as close as possible.
- In a much more twisted variation, Mr. Pennington kidnapped Ella to be his new wife after his previous one left him.
- Sex Slave: Ella is revealed to have been abducted by Mr. Pennington to be "his new wife". She was just ten years-old when this happened.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: A redhead girl is the only person to have seen Ella alive and finding her is necessary to discover what happened to her at the end.
- Sudden Downer Ending: There's no reason for the ending to be an unhappy one. Ella is reunited with her parents and they embrace her joyfully. Although she clearly suffers serious scars, it is a happy ending. Right? Then Olivia looks over and sees Mackenzie totally forgotten outside the room.
