Written By Amanda Green
Directed By Arthur W. Forney
A police officer turned dirty is the primary suspect in a rape-murder case. Benson and Finn team up to capture him only to later discover that the perp isn't a cop at all.
Tropes:
- Costume Copycat: The perp bought a knock-off Police uniform and siren in order to pose as a cop to catch his victims.
- Creepy Souvenir: The rapist takes his victims' driver's license. The final shot is a wall with twenty-five licenses on it, making it clear just how many women he raped.
- Dirty Cop: It appears the rapist is a cop, but it turns out to be a guy wearing a fake cop uniform.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The episode was poised to be about chasing a rape connected to a pharmaceutical scam. When it's discovered that the rape and murder was unrelated to the pharma scam, the plot switches to chasing down that perp.
- Incredibly Obvious Tail: Fin and Benson followed the perp to his safehouse and rescue his last victim somehow despite them barely disguising their attempt to follow said perp.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Benson is pulled off her (unseen) date to a crime scene with Fin, as Munch called in sick. While Munch is revealed to have a broken leg, no clear reason is given why Benson had to come in instead of a different cop from the squad room.
- Noodle Incident: After learning that Munch has called in sick, Benson says "He's such a hypochondriac. How many times has he had Anthrax this week?" For that matter, we never learn how Munch broke his leg either.
- Out of Focus: Stabler and Munch, since Fin and Benson are the episode's Character Focus. Stabler appears briefly in the beginning to give some info on the first victim but is otherwise preoccupied with a case that's gone to court, while Munch has a minor plotpoint about having an unknown accident and needing crutches.
- Red Herring: Marcosi and Graves turn out to be this. Fin and Benson's interrogation of the former makes his hesitant to render assistance when he is cleared of suspicion, until he does a Heel Realization and gives Benson information that proved crucial in identifying the actual perp.
- Staging the Eavesdrop: Fin and Benson need to follow the perp to where he stashed the latest victim he kidnapped, so Fin and Benson pretend to discuss the case in a Cop bar (with the perp nearby, eavesdropping) and to trick the perp into going to his safehouse and tailing him there.
