Written By Judith McCreary
Directed By Eriq La Salle
When Valerie Sennet accuses her estranged husband Miles of breaking into her home and raping her, a dividing line is drawn between detectives in the squadroom. Since Miles has no history of violence and Valerie refuses to allow detectives to use her daughter Tessa as a witness, he is soon released. Stabler and Benson continue to clash as Benson remains convinced that Miles raped Valerie and is a danger, a fact that is seemingly proven when Miles sets his wife alight only for him to later be exonerated of the rape...but not the murder of his wife.
Tropes
- And I Must Scream: Literally. Valerie spends her final hours in excruciating pain and the last we ever hear from her is when she shrieks in agony during a debridement procedure in the burn ward.
- Asshole Victim: Valerie, who provoked her husband's murder of her by falsely accusing him of rape in order to get custody of their daughter.
- Convection, Schmonvection: An evidence photo of Valerie on fire shows a bystander attempting to comfort her getting close enough to be set alight himself without that happening.
- Department of Child Disservices: The social worker assigned to the case was clearly abusing her power by cutting visits short. When Fin and Munch go to interview her, she says she has to go lecture a dad for spanking his kid. Fin points out this isn't a crime and asks for her supervisor's name so he can report her for abuse of power, prompting her to tell him to go to hell.
- Did Not Think This Through:
- Valerie failed to see that nothing good would come of her False Rape Accusation against Miles, as it ultimately causes him to snap, dooms her to spend her final hours in sheer agony, and pretty much orphans their daughter. Even if this hadn't happened, she'd have been charged with filing a false report and possibly would have lost custody of Tessa.
- Had Miles kept his cool and not tried to murder Valerie in cold blood, the detectives would eventually have discovered that he didn't rape her.
- He also could have simply lodged a complaint with the social worker's superiors about her abuse of authority (which Fin mentions he plans on doing himself) and avoided having to deal with Valerie altogether instead of attacking her and giving her the fuel she needed to falsely accuse him of rape.
- Domestic Abuse: Miles was at least emotionally abusive during the marriage (his daughter admits he would "break things or hit the wall", which can be a form of abuse) and Valerie claims he hit her, although it's left unclear whether that actually happenednote . He didn't rape Valerie, but he did physically attack her in the opening, not to mention setting her on fire later.
- Downer Ending: Valerie ends up dying from her burns, Miles goes to jail for her murder, and Tessa is left effectively orphaned and possibly traumatized for life. No one wins here.
- Excellent Judge of Character: Both the family court judge and Elliot correctly deduce that Miles did not rape Valerie.
- False Rape Accusation: From Valerie.
- Foot-Dragging Divorcee: Elliot was one until this episode. Afraid that Kathy might eventually grow to hate him, he lets her go while things are still amicable between them.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Olivia is shocked that Valerie would continue to lie about Miles raping her, even on her deathbed (though see Idiot Ball).
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Valerie's attempt to lie her way to full custody of her daughter via False Rape Accusation is what causes her ex to snap and attack her for real, landing her in the hospital with fatal burns.
- Hollywood Law: The judge in the case threatens to hold Olivia in contempt for accusing him of bias. Except they were in an informal meeting, and court was not in session. One cannot be in contempt of court when court isn't in session.
- Identical Stranger: Michael Michele was a regular in Homicide: Life on the Street, from which Munch originates, as Det. Rene Shepard and guest-starred on Law & Order, in the same role.
- Idiot Ball: In a minor case, Olivia is astonished that Valerie would continue to lie about Miles raping her on her deathbed... except that Miles just set her on fire. If she was already willing to falsely accuse him before he did that, she's certainly not going to do him any favors now.
- Jerkass: The social worker is an unpleasant woman who abuses her power by cutting Miles' visitations hours short at a moment's notice.
- Arguably Valerie herself, if she really was keeping Tessa away from him solely out of spite (rather than acting out of fear).
- Man on Fire: Miles douses Valerie with gasoline and sets her alight. The actual act is done offscreen but evidence photos of the immediate aftermath show her running with her clothes in flames.
- Papa Wolf: Whatever the reasons for Miles's alleged previous abuse/violence, here it's clearly the notion that he'd completely lose access to his daughter that sets him off.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Discussed as Olivia says Elliot is the longest relationship she's ever had with a man, and Elliot's estranged wife admits she used to worry that he preferred to spend time with Olivia rather than with his family.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Parts of the story are taken from the real-life case of Yvette Cade
, namely the dismissive judge and Valerie's ultimate fate (although Cade, unlike Valerie, survived her injuries). The False Rape Accusation aspect, however, is not drawn from the real case and was added in presumably for additional drama. - Suicide by Cop: Miles attempts it, but Olivia is prepared and stops him.
- Taking You with Me: Even though Miles is going away regardless for setting Valerie on fire, she continues to lie about him raping her, likely because she wants him to face as much punishment as possible — both in the sense of the legal system and what he'd face from other inmates in prison — after what he did to her.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork. Stabler's and Benson's differing opinions on whether or not Valerie is lying (she is) about Miles raping her and on what constitutes domestic abuse in general causes enough of a rift between them that at one point Cragen threatens to reassign the case.
- There Should Be a Law: The social worker states that spanking should be illegal. Right or wrong, her abuse of power clearly goes beyond lecturing parents on the subject.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: If the social worker hadn't cut the visit short, Miles probably wouldn't have gone to the house that night, which might have prevented a lot of what came next.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Valerie Sennet has consensual sex with an investigator from her lawyer's firm and then falsely accuses her ex-husband Miles of raping her. Miles can't prove that he wasn't a marital rapist, loses it and sets her on fire. In her very death bed, she keeps lying to Olivia about how she was "raped" (although see Idiot Ball above). Olivia only finds out the truth casually, as she speaks to the investigator, and is appalled by how it got Worse.
- Also discussed by the family court judge, who mentions that accusations of rape and/or abuse are common in divorce cases, and plenty of them are false. He believed that Valerie was one of them, although it's never made clear if he was right or not.note
