Recap pages are Spoilers Off per policy and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned
Written By Paul Grellong
Directed By Peter Leto
A female video gamer goes missing and a lack of any other evidence prompts detectives to use the woman's in-game avatar to track her down before the clock runs out.
Tropes
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Almost literally. The detectives are trying to find something to arrest Gregory Seale for before he can flee the country. At the last possible second, when it seems that the detectives can't get him for anything, Seale jaywalks at the airport, giving Detective Stabler an excuse to arrest him. This allows them to hold him long enough to pull together the evidence to arrest him on his more serious crimes.
- Captain Ersatz: "Another Youniverse" is a lawyer-friendly expy of the online game "Second Life"
- Date My Avatar: More like "become obsessed with my avatar and abduct the actual me".
- Dirty Old Man: Julian Cooper is one; he looks to be in his sixties and his victim is 21. Not only that, but he's basically pretending she's a teenager. He's a particularly destructive version of this trope, as his victim dies as a result of the drugs given to her.
- Kick the Dog: Julian Cooper convinced a then-15-year-old Lauren Molby to fall in love with him, only to abandon her in a cabin in the woods for 15 years. When Lauren finally reunites with Julian in the precinct he's disgusted, calling the now 30-something Lauren "old" and how he'd rather play with his forever-teenaged avatars then someone like her. She promptly slaps him across the face, calls him a dirty old man, and gets him to confess to murdering Rachel.
- "Not Illegal" Justification: Ginger (Rachel's friend) pretty much uses this to defend the fact the two of them pretend to be 14-year-old girls online to have cybersex with random men for money."It's a fantasy, not a crime. Plus it's safe. Sex for money with no risk of STDs or getting pregnant. We're not hurting anybody."
- Online Alias: The episode features two women who use "Tawny Coppercuffs" and "Vixy Platinum" as their usernames on the Second Life Expy "Another Youniverse."
- Sleepwalking: Dan suffers from Sexsomnia. Which causes him to try and have sex while he's asleep. His girlfriend, Rachel knows about this and accommodates him, but after she's kidnapped, he tries to get it with her sister, Kristi without knowing. When awake he's horrified at what he tried to do, and when it's proven he has no awareness in this state he's cleared of the charges.
