Written By Jonathan Greene
Directed By Jean De Segonzac
When a five-year-old boy is abducted from his bed in the middle of the night, detectives decide to take a hard look at the boy's estranged father and when that doesn't pan out, a mentally ill man who is convinced that said boy is his own son. The man, in a rare moment of lucidness, confesses to witnessing a murder at his former psychiatric facility that he claims was covered up by the staff.
Tropes
- Baseball Episode: Not an entire episode. But there is a scene where Cragen asks a favor from Novak while the latter is facing a pitching machine.
- Bedlam House: Kevin's former facility is run by a Corrupt Corporate Executive who charged extra for air conditioning, allows the patients to roam the halls with minimal supervision (some of the patients smoke and roam the halls near-naked without any discipline), hired staff who spoke no English, faked a patient's suicide when she died of heat stroke, and continues to collect money for hospitalizing Kevin a year after he kicked Kevin out.
- Chemically-Induced Insanity: Inverts it, by having the corrupt psychiatric facility Jackson Manor take Kevin Walker off his meds to prevent him from telling anyone about a patient who died due to negligence.
- Diagnosis: Knowing Too Much: Jackson Manor deliberately takes Kevin off his meds so that nobody believes him if he tries to report that his friend died of neglect instead of suicide.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Kevin's life has drastically improved now that he's back on medication, and Stabler even convinces his ex to bring their son to see Kevin, leading to a heartwarming reunion.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The episode begins with a kidnapping and a frantic search for the boy. Nearly halfway through the episode it switches to Stabler tricking Huang into injecting the suspect with drugs to make him lucid enough to get information and a confession from him, then Stabler getting in trouble for this, and then to looking into another crime the perp possibly witnessed.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Stabler takes this attitude regarding forcing Huang to inject Kevin.
- Ms. Fanservice: Casey wears a tank top in the batting cage, even briefly showing her belly button when she swings.
- Never Suicide: The hospital Kevin previously stayed at faked a patient's suicide when she died due to their negligence.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Dr. Huang, who almost never raises his voice, actually yells at Stabler while scolding him for his actions.
- Title Drop: Cragen notes that Stabler's coerced confession will follow him the rest of his career if Kevin's case ends up going to trial.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Huang chews Stabler out for forcing Kevin to have a violent episode.
