Recap / Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S1 E17 "Misleader"

Written By Nick Kendrick and Nick Harding

Directed by Richard Dobbs

Stabler & Benson investigate the murder of a pregnant woman, who is the daughter-in-law of a prominent Christian right leader (Robert Foxworth). At first, they suspect that the woman's death is linked to a rash of hotel burglaries, but then they discover that her adultery & the identity of her baby's father might've lead to her death.

Tropes Found in this Episode

• The Alibi: Ben Jr. claims to have been in Baltimore when his wife was killed in New York. Eventually, the detectives discover a credit cards statement showing that he booked a plane ticket to New York, providing him with plenty of time to kill his wife.
• A Deadly Affair: Sylvia was married to Benjamin Hadley Jr and carrying on an affair with his father, Dr. Benjamin Hadley Sr. She ends up getting killed by her husband when he realizes she's been carrying on an affair for years, though interestingly he doesn't learn the affair was with his father until after she was already dead.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Despite their normal exterior, the Hadleys turn out to be this. Dr. Hadley is carrying on an affair with his daughter-in-law and actually gets her pregnant with his own son/grandson. Ben Jr. knows she's having an affair, though not with whom, and ends up killing her in a rage over it. And the mother Sharon knows all their dirty little secrets, having to keep a lid on everything lest the public find out.
• Deus ex Machina: The detectives are getting nowhere fast until they interview Sharon, Dr. Hadley's wife, who up until that point in the episode had been seen in one scene despite her being called "the glue that holds the family together". She turns out to know everything that led up to Sylvia's death and breaks the case wide open.
• Gentleman Thief: The detectives catch a safe-cracker who breaks into five-star hotels and fancies himself to be one of these, though being a series grounded in reality, he's far less glamorous then the usual fictional portrayal. He still doesn't sell what he took and has it all neatly categorized at his house so he can return it to the victims.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Munch and Jeffries first butter up the safe-cracker John to get him to talk. Once they're out of the interrogation room, Munch mentions they'll go bad cop on him in the next round, much to both of their delight.
• Graceful Loser: John is fine with talking to the detectives and telling them everything about his robberies despite his lawyer being exasperated with him doing so. He explains they're worthy opponents since they were the ones to catch him, he sees it as a sign of respect to tell them what they want to know.
• Hypocrite: Dr. Hadley promotes conservative Christian values and runs a college campus that is run along the same lines. This despite the fact he's sleeping with his own daughter-in-law.
• Jerkass Has a Point: The detective from the Robbery unit may be an asshole, far too apathetic to the troubling signs of a robber masturbating in the underwear of the victims he robs at hotels, and quick to try and claim credit for the collar when his unit did nothing to help the SVU team catch him. But he also turns out to be right in that the robberies had absolutely nothing to do with Sylvia's death and were just a Red Herring all along.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Ben kills Sylvia in a rage when he realizes she's having an affair.
• Love Father, Love Son: Sylvia was married to Ben Jr. and having an affair with Ben Sr. It is acknowledged as being a messed-up and creepy love triangle to be caught in.
• Not What It Looks Like: The financial executor for the Hadleys' college is seen drinking and flirting with Sylvia before she dies. Despite the fact he goes all the way up to her hotel room and kisses her, he pulls away before anything can go further. Despite the outlandishness of his story, he turns out to be telling the truth.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After Ben Jr. confesses to murdering his wife, his mother Sharon gives a scathing one to her husband Dr. Hadley, revealing that she knew about the affair he was having with his own Daughter-in-Law.
  Dr. Hadley: Sharon. Did you hear? Poor Ben.
  Cpt. Cragen: She knows a lot more than you think, Dr. Hadley.
  Dr. Hadley: No, no, she had nothing to do with this.
  Sharon: Protecting me, Ben? Protecting me from the truth? How thoughtful of you. How Christian. That's why you made up that robbery story? To cover up what he'd done?
  Dr. Hadley: …That's not true, that's ludicrous!
  Sharon: Oh? Then maybe it was to make sure Ben didn't know she was pregnant?
  Dr. Hadley: What? What are you talking about?
  Cpt. Cragen: It's not something the medical examiner would easily miss, Doctor. All of the DNA reports are here, it's, uh, well… have a look. (Hands the file to him)
  Sharon: What were you gonna call him, Ben? "Son"? "Ben the Third"?
  Dr. Hadley: That's the grief talking.
  Sharon: No, this is ME talking! A lifetime a grief, yes… and two years of watching my husband, my soon to be former husband, fornicating with my son's wife.
  Dr. Hadley: …Sharon…
  Sharon: And fathering his own grandchild. (leaves)
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The family is headed by a prominent president of a conservative college and he tries to use his connections to clean up the mess made when his son kills his wife.
• Shout-Out: The detectives are quick to make some rather obscure references to famous comedic duos like Frick and Frack and Alphonse and Gaston. Cragen mentions to Ben Jr. that his claims to have been in Baltimore while really being in New York is A Tale of Two Cities. Munch references the often-mentioned but never proven rumor that J. Edgar Hoover, original director of the FBI, was a crossdresser. He also mentions that John, the hotel thief, seems to think he's a White House Plumber and that Munch represents G. Gordon Liddy.
  • Since the Hadleys are a conservative Christian family that's very powerful and rich, an immense number of political references are made. Dr. Hadley is compared disparagingly to Pat Robertson, Aimee Semple McPherson, Jimmy Swaggart, and Jim Bakker. The latter three were well-known for having sexual scandals despite being famous evangelists.
• Sinister Suffocation: Ben chokes his wife to death with his bare hands, which is emphasized as being a brutal and heinous way to die.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: A waiter makes an insulting comment about Sylvia, referring to her as the guest who "bit it", but he apologizes to Benson and Stabler for it, telling them guests become room numbers after a certain point in a big hotel.
• "You!" Exclamation: Ben Jr. screams this at his Ben Sr. in hatred when he discovers the person Sylvia had been having an affair with for two years (that he killed her for despite remaining unaware of the identity of who it was) and who she was pregnant by was his own father.