Written By Paul Grellong
Directed By Peter Leto
A woman is found dead in Central Park and a homeless man turns out to be a better witness than initially thought. Reunited with Benson after Beck's retirement from SVU, Stabler finds himself dodging memories of Dani through the investigation. It all comes together when it's discovered that the dead woman's husband was sleeping with a friend of his wife.
Tropes
- I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Gender Inverted and Deconstruction when boring nine-to-five Glenn was so convinced that Naomi would cheat on him with one of her exciting and artistic coworkers that he injected a tracking chip into her while she was sleeping, which almost killed her because he didn't sterilize the injection site.
- Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Wesley Masoner and Naomi Cheales are married lovers, but Naomi is treated much more charitably by both the story and the detectives. While Wesley was a smug serial cheater with a bit of a violent streak, Naomi only cheated with Wesley and was driven to do so because she felt suffocated by her husband Glenn's insecurities (detailed in the I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me entry). She also reveals how she didn't like Wesley boasting to Glenn about their affair—referring to Naomi as "Jen" while doing so—and seems genuinely remorseful when Glenn finds out.
- Frame-Up: Glenn frames Wesley for the murder of Danielle for sleeping with Naomi.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The detectives realize Glenn is framing Wesley when they discover an RFID chip he has injected in Naomi's shoulder means he's known about her affair for a while.
- Interrupted Intimacy: The teen couple at the beginning are about to have sex, for the first time, when a barking dog brings them to the victim.
- Revenge by Proxy: Glenn fatally poisoned Danielle in order to get back at her husband Wesley, who was sleeping with his wife Naomi.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Naomi Cheales, in stark contrast to her lover Wesley Masoner. She reveals while confessing to her husband Glenn that her affair was motivated by her feeling smothered by Glenn's paranoia that Naomi would cheat on him with one of her fellow dancers.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Prominent between Elliot and Olivia in this episode, which they spend sniping at each other but at the end each admit they'd give a kidney to the other.
- Who Shot JFK?: Munch jokes that none of his exes ever tried to off him because he had nothing worth inheriting. Stabler snarks "Well, except for your Warren Commission
memorabilia."
