Written By Julie Martin and Warren Leight
Directed By Steve Shill
Having faked his own death to escape prison, William Lewis once again goes on the warpath to make Sergeant Olivia Benson's life a nightmare as he murders his former prison doctor, tortures her eldest daughter, then kidnaps the younger one, Amelia, to hold hostage to force Benson into admitting she lied under oath at the earlier trial.
When Lewis continues his psychotic rampage, Olivia makes her public confession to committing perjury, before agreeing to meet Lewis alone at his new hideout to save Amelia. When Benson arrives, Lewis disarms her of her bulletproof vest, gun, and walkie-talkie, before taking her up to the top floor of the abandoned warehouse were he was holding Amelia hostage. Once there, Lewis gives Benson a difficult choice: Let Lewis rape her to protect Amelia, or watch as Lewis rapes Amelia first. Olivia gives Lewis the chance to rape her first, but when Olivia shows no fear as he moves in, Lewis grows impatient and forces Olivia to play Russian Roulette instead, threatening to shoot Amelia if Olivia did not take her turn with the revolver.
As SVU and NYPD Emergency Service Unit SWAT officers close in on Lewis' hideout, Lewis forces them to listen over Olivia's walkie-talkie as he and Benson continue to play Russian Roulette until it comes down to Olivia being stuck with the chamber containing the loaded round. It looks like Benson is going to have to take the shot and kill herself, but following some final taunts, Lewis turns the gun on himself and commits suicide so he'll never have to go back to prison or face the police. The team arrives just afterwards to find Olivia still in shock, covered in Lewis' blood as his lifeless corpse lies on the table in front of her.
This episode contains examples of:
- Back from the Dead: Lewis actually dies on the gurney and is dead for ten minutes before he rises from the dead, "like Lazarus" as Declan lampshades it.
- Calling Card: Lewis's presence can be identified at a crime scene from the distinctive type of soda cans he leaves behind (as Amaro notes), and by his habit of leaving his rape victims hanging up by their wrists in the closet for police to find.
- Chekhov's Gun: literally a gun in this case, Lewis gets the revolver he needs for russian roulette later on from the house of his teenage victim, Lauren, who confronts him with her father's old revolver but freezes up and allows Lewis to capture her and her little sister.
- Come Alone: Lewis naturally insists Benson do this, and Declan lampshades what a bad idea it is.
- False Innocence Trick: this is how Lewis fools his last jury's forewoman into helping him escape.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: as with the last time he was free, Lewis tortures one of his victims with cigarettes.
- Defensive Failure: Lauren threatens Lewis with her father's old revolver but freezes up and is unable to pull the trigger, allowing Lewis to take the gun from her, rape and torture her, and kidnap her sister.
- Forced to Watch: Lewis's objective in the his current spree. He compels Lauren, his first teenage victim, to recount the details of her abuse to Benson; later he holds Benson and the younger sister Amelia hostage and tries to make one of them watch as the other is abused. Benson takes a third option by having the girl close her eyes while Lewis plays russian roulette with her, but this also means she cannot testify later on that Lewis was shot by himself, rather than Benson.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Lewis announces his plan to kill himself and frame Benson for hos murder and perjury regarding his previous treatment of her.
- Revenge by Proxy: Lewis harms victims in this episode in order to avenge himself on Benson for her previous dealings with him. Declan insists this is his real motive for his assault, rather than an interest in harming the victims themselves.
- Russian Roulette: Lewis forces Benson to play and they get to the last bullet as rescue team is seconds away. Lewis "wins" by getting the last bullet and shoots himself (splattering gore all over Benson) to ensure that she'll never forget him.
- Schmuck Bait: Amelia is clearly this for Benson.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: IAB tries hard to get Benson to perjure herself and claim she killed Lewis in self-defense in order to protect her.
- The Snack Is More Interesting: Lewis eats an apple (which he offers to Amelia) because he wants to look like even more of an asshole.
- Thanatos Gambit: Lewis, Benson's tormentor, has Benson handcuffed to a table and they're on the last bullet in a game of Russian Roulette. Instead of killing her, killing his young hostage, or killing them both, he kills himself in a way that makes her look like she killed him, which would cause her further problems with Internal Affairs Bureau (if she says he killed himself no one believes her; if she can't prove it and it goes to trial she could be found guilty of perjury and lose her job and her pension). He doesn't consider that IAB wants to end this thing and Benson has a lot of supportive friends, including the temporary chief.
- Would Hurt a Child: Lewis rapes and tortures one of his doctor's daughters with cigarettes, hangs her up by the wrists in the closet and escapes with her twelve year old sister, threatening harm to the child in order to get Benson's compliance.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Declan tells Benson she should have just killed Lewis when she had him at her mercy in the previous episode.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Lewis gets the forewoman of his last jury to bring him spiked cupcakes, so he can fake a medical emergency which will allow him to go to the hospital where he can escape.
