Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Season 23

Fin:
[watching Howard's campaign rally] Nothing sadder than white people congratulating themselves.

Tamin:
I know the job isn't supposed to be easy, but today was the first time it felt... wrong. Y'know?

Rollins:
That's part of the job, too. You've gotta get past that.

Rollins:
Ready? A lot riding on this...

Sonny:
And if all goes well, my bosses will take all the glory.

Rollins:
And if it doesn't?

Sonny:
Maybe we open up our own agency.

Congressman Howard:
I'm going to be president. And I will not let a politically motivated ADA and a bitter woman cop who's spent her life getting back at men take me down.

Sonny:
The best defense is a gaslighting offense.

Medical examiner:
You're too late. Paulie didn't make it.

Fin:
What happened?

Medical examiner:
He got jumped, fractured skull.

Fin:
COs beat him, or they just looked the other way?

Medical examiner:
You know how it is. COs, prisoners... no one likes a rapist.

Tamin:
[after getting shot] They told me I died in the ambulance. Death is overrated, if you ask me.

Gold:
I know the law better than anyone. Not that I haven't done anything I regret, but you'll never be able to prove any of them.

Avital:
Maybe not. But the Southern District?? We have the resources to conduct a full forensic investigation into every detail of your life for the last 10 years.

Sonny:
And you know what a living hell I can be.

Gold:
You can abuse your power, that's true. So maybe it's time for me to offer a deal. My line of work, I know where a lot of bodies are buried.

Sonny:
Yeah, because you buried them.

Gold:
Let me give you two a tip. I'm offering you something. Change your affect. Lean in. Feign interest.

Sonny:
[pause] What are we talking about?

Gold:
An ex-president. An ex-president's relatives. Hollywood royalty. Real royalty. Silicon Valley billionaires. What's your pleasure?

Jules:
What's a party without a few regrets?

[Benson has a gun aimed at Navarro's crotch]

Benson:
Just so you know, I'm gonna fire two shots.

Navarro:
Hey, go for it. They're bulletproof.

Benson:
Oh, yeah? Wanna test that theory? I'll maybe give you a couple seconds to rethink that.

Navarro:
[grins] I think I'm in love.

Navarro:
Look, I'm innocent, but this is bad for my business. What can I offer to make this go away?

Benson:
Are you bribing an NYPD captain?

Navarro:
I'm just saying, my time is valuable, your time is valuable, so I'm cutting to the chase.

Lawyer:
You wouldn't want us to sue for false arrest, would you?

Benson:
Threats and bribery. You two are old school.

Navarro:
See? You get me. When this is over, you come by the club. Everything on the house.

Benson:
When this is over? Sweetheart, we're just getting started.

Navarro:
You can't let Popkov know I betrayed him. You gotta make this look right.

Stabler:
You mean I have to make it look like I'm arresting a total scumbag who doesn't deserve to live? I can do that.

Fin:
[about Velasco] So McGrath put a spy in the squad room?

Benson:
Fin. Play nice. I checked around and rumor has it that he's good.

Fin:
Rumor is he's the one who started that rumor.

Velasco:
A woman raped in front of her kid.

Fin:
Her three-year-old.

Velasco:
What kind of sick animal does that?

Rollins:
Welcome to SVU.

[The case against Crystal's rapist has been dropped]

Crystal:
I'm on my own. I should have known. [leaves]

Rollins:
She's not wrong.

Sonny:
By which you mean she's right... and we're wrong.

Diggy:
I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry you were so upset.

Willa:
You're not sorry that Tate and Liam raped me?

Diggy:
Well, those guys told me that everything that happened was consensual. I was even a little bit jealous, but I get it, you don't like me that way.

Willa:
I didn't like them "that way", either.

Willa:
They just assaulted me all over again, and the whole world was watching.

Benson:
So the boys are backing each other up. That's not a surprise.

Sonny:
No, it's not, but this is a "she said, then deleted what she said, and then backtracked what she said".

Mrs. West:
[about Haley] She was an artist. An athlete. She loved tennis. Roger Murray saw her potential.

Fin:
What can you tell us about him?

Mrs. West:
After my husband's death, he saved me. He tutored Haley in the SATs, helped her college planning...

Rollins:
So they spent a lot of time together?

Mrs. West:
[pause] Is this about that writer and his podcast? I told him that I would never let my daughter's death be entertainment for people to listen to while they worked out!

Fin:
We're only here as NYPD. We're just trying to give you some closure.

Mrs. West:
Closure? My husband and daughter are dead. I'll never see Haley walk down the aisle. I'll never bake cookies for my grandchildren.

Rollins:
We can't change what happened to Haley...

Mrs. West:
Hey, leave me alone! Ian confessed and Roger sends me a card every year on the anniversary of her death to let me know that I'm not mourning alone.

Burton:
An old man dating a young woman always ends up playing the fool.

Burton:
[after kissing Benson] Uh, sorry. That wasn't very gentlemanly.

Benson:
[smiles] I didn't mind.

Benson:
Thank you, Captain.

Captain Cragen:
You're welcome... Captain. You don't know how proud it makes me to say that.

Beauty:
Some days the whole world smells like cat pee.

Chief McGrath:
These women were butchered, Captain.

Benson:
Yes, they were.

Chief McGrath:
And then... then he laid them out like he's throwing some goddamn dinner party? [Benson says nothing] Make the case, okay? Make the case because this... this is evil.

Velasco:
[about the victims] I couldn't even look at them, but... I had to, y'know? What these women went through... Look, Captain, I know you've seen a lot...

Benson:
Velasco, I've been doing this for over 20 years. I've never seen anything like this. And, honestly... honestly, you never get used to it. Any of it.

Lambert:
I killed all of them. They were my girls. They were mine, you understand me? You had no right to go in there and disturb 10 years - 10 years! - of my work!

Benson:
Who was yours?

Lambert:
[going through the victims' pictures] Tania screamed for her sister. Okay? Beauty couldn't stop shaking. Dee? She pissed herself. And Meredith... She just kept saying "No, no, no, no, no"... I kept her alive for days. I killed them. All of them. You tell my mother that! You tell my mother what I did!

Fin:
The dummies wanna be famous so bad, they're doin' our job for us.

Jasmine:
What are you? Puerto Rican? Dominican? Some kind of mix?

Velasco:
What does that matter?

Jasmine:
Just didn't think you'd fall for that white girl magic, that's all. But I guess everyone does.

Sonny:
[about Tori] To charge her with three counts of murder when she's cooperating with us, that seems like...

Maxwell:
The law.

Sonny:
Technically, yes, but the circumstances...

Maxwell:
Let me give you some circumstances. G, rather, Gutter18's video has garnered a million hits in two days.

Baptiste:
That's a lot of eyes on this case.

Sonny:
I understand that, but...

Maxwell:
I cannot have this office charge a Black man with triple murder and cut a deal with the white woman who set the whole crime in motion.

Sonny:
But it's not as black and white as you make it sound. You gotta hear her story.

Baptiste:
I'm sure it's tragic. But the jails are chock full of sad stories - and nobody gives a damn.

[Sonny has just harshly cross-examined Tori]

Rollins:
I guess your boss is pretty proud of you.

Sonny:
Hey, don't start with me, Rollins. I already feel sick.

Rollins:
I never saw you as a bully.

Sonny:
I'm sorry. I don't get to pick and choose when I do my job. What, are you mad at me about that?

Rollins:
No, I'm not mad at you. I'm sad at you.

Sonny:
Sometimes justice is about compassion. And, all due respect, the question should really be: What kind of office do you wanna run?

Stabler:
The last nine months have been a blur. Until Wheatley goes to trial, there's no closure.

Benson:
Carisi says that Wheatley's out of postponements. The clock is ticking.

Stabler:
Make it tick faster.

Barba:
Whoever said crime doesn't pay wasn't a lawyer.

Barba:
[while cross-examining Bell] By the way, isn't your wife's family currently suing the NYPD for the use of excessive force against your nephew?

Sonny:
Objection! Relevance?

Judge Ellery:
Mr. Barba?

Barba:
I'm not sure there is any, your Honor. I just appreciate the irony.

Wheatley:
Poor Ange. She's a shell of her former self. She hasn't been the same since her son died.

Stabler:
Hmm. That's not my experience with Angela. She was as if grief was a powerful aphrodisiac.

Wheatley:
She was playing you.

Stabler:
Yes, she was... over and over.

Wheatley:
Look at you, all puffed out with your Bayside High bravura. When this is over, she'll be right by my side.

Stabler:
Yeah, maybe so. But she'll be thinking of me.

Rollins:
What the hell is wrong with people?

Fin:
Don't get me started.

Benson:
These kids, they're minors.

McGrath:
Yeah?

Benson:
We can't put their photo out in the media even if we arrest them.

McGrath:
Well, they aren't even going to be arrested if we don't get their faces out there.

Murphy:
Faces? All anyone will see is gang project thugs wilding.

McGrath:
So we can't go after hate crimes against Jews if Black kids commit them, is that it?

McGrath:
Okay, so we're missing a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. Either way, the city is on boil. So make some arrests and calm this down.

Benson:
Chief, we can definitely do that, but I don't think we're missing a few pieces. I think what we're looking at is two different puzzles.

Murphy:
And we don't have any pieces of the second one.

Murphy:
[about Povic] Anyone who comes up to a cop on the street is either crazy, lonely, or guilty.

Rollins:
I think he's hittin' all three.

Murphy:
I wish I could say we all get to go home.

Benson:
But I fired my weapon and we have ten hours of paperwork ahead of us.

Murphy:
Merry Christmas.

Murtaugh:
[to Sonny] Look, you chose this job. Don't be mad because you actually have to do it.

Seby:
[after learning that Carlos was molested] Why didn't he tell anybody?

Benson:
For so many reasons.

Benson:
These cycles of abuse are so much greater than one single act, and they never go away.

Carlos:
You should've let me jump, for everybody's sake, because one way or another, I have been dead since I was 9 years old.

Noah:
Hudson's just an idiot. No one likes him anyway. He bullies everyone. It was just my turn to be his target.

Benson:
Why?

Noah:
I don't know. First, he went after Corey 'cause Corey told everyone their pronouns are they/them, and Hudson started calling Corey a fairy. So then I said that I was bi and that there's no shame in being true to yourself.

Benson:
That's right, Noah. So you stood up for Corey... and stood up for yourself. And that is incredibly brave.

Noah:
Well, it's my truth. I just hadn't told anybody before.

Benson:
Well, thank you for telling me.

Noah:
No big deal. It's not like I have a boyfriend or girlfriend. It's just not fair for anybody to be left out.

Benson:
Ugh. McGrath wants all the DD5s for the week logged in by tonight.

Fin:
Tell him he should get a life.

Rollins:
[about ultimate fighting] Fin, it's not just about a fight. It's the human spectacle.

Fin:
I work in sex crimes every day. I get enough "human spectacle".

Velasco:
[about Duke] We don't actually think he's good for it, right? This is Tommy's father.

Benson:
Velasco, one thing you're going to learn in this job. You never know what anyone is capable of.

Chrissy:
I would never hurt Tommy. He's my everything!

Rollins:
What's Ricky?

Chrissy:
Everything else.

Benson:
[to Phil] Tommy was trying to make it easier for people to come out. You made it harder.

Ashley:
I want to report a rape.

Benson:
Okay.

Ashley:
Not mine. My biological mother's, the night I was conceived. The rapist is my father.

Michelle:
Ashley keeps texting me. Is she okay?

Benson:
She is. She's smart and brave.

Michelle:
So, the opposite of me.

Maxwell:
Cole's a suspect?

Benson:
He is. We asked Michelle, and she says she remembers seeing Cole in the kitchen when her friend Mavis helped her down the stairs the next morning.

Maxwell:
And Mavis corroborates?

Sonny:
Reluctantly. She hedged at first. Turns out, they're friendly with each other. Their kids go to the same school.

Maxwell:
I'm sure they do. Cole Eaton is a prominent New York businessman. Major campaign donor, multiple charity boards.

Sonny:
So, he's got a lot to lose.

Maxwell:
As do we all.

Eaton:
What matters now is that I'm your father.

Ashley:
You're not my father. I have a father. You're my birth mother's rapist, and until you admit that, I want nothing to do with you.

Flynn:
You listen to my radio show?

Benson:
Not on purpose.

Flynn:
The hottest sex you can have is with the widow of the man you just killed.

Sonny:
The detectives and Bob were speaking in code. Unfortunately, a good defense attorney could convince a jury that they weren't setting up a hit.

Lola:
Oh, and then he gave the driver a $10,000 tip? This is what's wrong with ADAs. You're never happy.

Sonny:
You wanna know why? Because I have to get a jury to believe people like you.

Sonny:
There it is. St. Paul's.

Rollins:
That your church or your school?

Sonny:
Both. K through 8th for me and my sisters, Mass every Sunday. I got my first home run right there.

Rollins:
We talking girls or baseball?

Sonny:
An altar boy never tells.

Freeman:
An assault at the Bishop Club? I have to tell you, Captain Benson, I am so upset. I hoped that we were finally making progress.

Benson:
I'm sorry to say that we're not. We have ample evidence that this assault did occur.

Freeman:
For what it's worth, I did speak to the club, the alumni, and the boys' parents. They tell a different story.

Benson:
Don't they always?

Parlato-Goldstein:
Counselor, let me ask you something. We talk about this all the time. How come you never charge rape as a hate crime?

Sonny:
Rape as a hate crime based on gender? It's just not something the DA's office does.

Benson:
You know what? Maybe it's time.

Jacob:
I didn't rape her, I swear to God!

Benson:
But you helped them. And that's something you're going to have to live with, Jacob, for the rest of your life.

Barth:
You've really covered yourself in glory here. This club has a drinking game named after you. Are you gonna tell me that none of these mating rituals went on when you were a member?

Perlato-Goldstein:
We weren't angels, but what we didn't do was target women for rape.

Drake:
My father always said the club never should have let Jews in. What are you getting out of this, Goldstein? A promotion? How many pieces of silver are they paying you?

[Barth puts a hand on his shoulder to silence him]

Sonny:
No, no, let him keep talking. I'll put hate crimes right back on the table. You wanna talk to your client?

Fin:
Online dating. Russian roulette.

Lisa:
[about Wright] The more I fought, the more he seemed to like it. He threw me over the couch and pretty much raped me. He didn't even realize... it was like hate sex.

Wright:
I know what rape is. When someone says stop, I stop. It's not rocket science.

Sonny:
Miss Rose, it's been suggested by the defense that you conspired with the CFO, Cress Gordon, your godmother, to sabotage Mr. Wright's company in order to launch a new dating app. Did you profit at all from coming forward?

Lisa:
No, I did not, and I'm angry about what Cress did. This was never about money. I have no job. I'm going on unemployment. I just want to make sure that a man who uses his own dating app to prey on women can never do it again.

Sonny:
You say you know what women want. Did you know what your wife wanted?

Wright:
Of course I did.

Sonny:
So you knew she wanted a divorce? That in the months leading up to her death, she was planning on leaving you? Correct?

Wright:
Stop talking about my wife!

Sonny:
Why did she want to leave you? Is it because you accused her of being uptight too?

Swope:
Objection!

Wright:
Where is this coming from?

Sonny:
Never mind that. Yes or no?

Wright:
[points to Gordon] From that lying bitch? You just couldn't help yourself, Cress, could you? Are you jealous because I had you once and threw you back? Or is it because I banged your precious goddaughter?

Sonny:
So Cress is lying, Lisa's lying...

Wright:
They're all lying!

Judge Maskin:
The objection is sustained! Mr. Wright, that is enough!

Wright:
Your Honor, just give me a minute! That's what women do. They lie.

Judge Maskin:
Mr. Wright, sit down!

Wright:
[ignoring her] They push, they pull, they're mad, they're hot. And when they don't get what they want, they cry rape! They turn your wife against you. They try to destroy your company. You're not gonna get away with is, Cress! You're the one going to jail, not me!

Judge Maskin:
That is enough! Mr. Wright, remain in your seat!

Swope:
Your Honor, I request a break.

Sonny:
No need. I'm finished with him.

Cop:
[to Velasco at a grisly crime scene] I hope you liked your breakfast because you might see it again soon.

[Kubiak's phone buzzes]

Benson:
You gonna get that?

Kubiak:
Oh, it's just my wife.

Benson:
Actually, it's a cell phone number that Jorge called a dozen times last week. The last one was at 9:00 am this morning.

Fin:
That's your life sentence calling, dude.

Benson:
You have anything to say?

Kubiak:
Screw you. Also, lawyer.

Benson:
[to Kubiak] You are disgusting.

Kubiak:
You know what? You should be giving me more respect, because I can get you to these girls before they're shipped off to God knows where to do God knows what.

Benson:
I can't believe that you're even thinking about giving that piece of crap any kind of deal.

Baptiste:
The priority is to find the girls and arrest the traffickers.

Benson:
And you trust him?

Baptiste:
We don't have a choice.

Carisi:
[about Dustin] This guy's rap sheet looks like the ABCs of crime. Assault, battery, citations...

Benson:
We can add D for drug possession.

Carisi:
And initially he waived Miranda? Is he that dense?

Fin:
He said the only Miranda he needs is one that'll get on her knees.

Benson:
So to answer your question, Carisi, that's a yes.

Benson:
Our guy is a serial rapist, who's been getting away with it, for the past 20 years.

Chief McGrath:
Oh, it's like the Justice League of America in here. Good, good, good.

Benson:
Well, SVU from every borough, plus troopers and detectives, from Missouri to Jersey, and most states in between.

McGrath:
And we're in it until we figure out who this guy is. No leaves, no weekends. 1PP has signed off on all the overtime you need.

Benson:
So the next time I want their attention, all I need to tell them is that we're looking for a nationwide serial rapist.

Rollins:
I know you didn't like it when we arrested that other guy. You wanted the credit, right? Now's your time to shine. Tell people who you really are. Otherwise, you're just gonna be another little, gray man in a prison jumpsuit.

Parker:
I took what I wanted because I could. It was there, it was easy. I moved up and down those highways and I left not a ripple in my wake.

Rollins:
Yeah, can you tell me more about that?

Parker:
Okay, okay. Ya'll said this is being videotaped, right?

Fin:
It is.

Parker:
Good. Maybe someday, maybe Dateline or Netflix wants to do a special on me.

Gianpaolo:
Another drug possession charge? This is getting a little old hat.

Carisi:
Oh, is it? Because it's just getting started. We're adding rape and assault to the list.

Dustin:
We're back here again? I was cleared!

Benson:
[showing him a picture of Demmy with a black eye] We're not talking about Kayla, Dustin.

Dustin:
Demmy's accusing me? She's a liar! You can't believe a word that bitch says!

Carisi:
Hey, that's your sister! Show some respect!

Benson:
He doesn't know the meaning of the word, counselor.

Gianpaolo:
Can we clarify for a minute? Are you saying my client raped and assaulted his own sister?

Benson:
Would you like to answer that question, Dustin? And, before you do, know that we have your DNA on the rape kit.

Dustin:
Maybe she planted that, like the wallet.

Benson:
Did she beat herself up, too?

Gianpaolo:
What's going on here?

Benson:
What's going on? Your client has been raping his sister since she was 12 years old!

Dustin:
First of all, it's not rape! She and I... we raised each other on our own. We needed each other.

Gianpaolo:
Dustin, stop talking now...

Dustin:
She wanted it! She started it!

Benson:
She wanted it? I can't listen to this. [to Gianpaolo] Walk your client through his options. There aren't many.

Garland:
We just got back from a week in Orlando. Made me long for the halcion days of Com Stad meetings.

Rollins:
So after 9/11, the case was put on the back burner?

Mannox:
More like, pushed off the stove. There was before and there was after, but during? So many tragedies unsolved.

Garland:
When was the last time you saw Nina?

Cora:
Five years ago. She came around asking for money, again, to put another hole in her arm. I told her, don't come around here anymore. I had already lost one daughter. I didn't wanna watch the other one just fade away.

Rollins:
I'm so sorry.

Cora:
Don't be. I ran out of tears for her a long time ago.

Maxwell:
[to Drakkos] You're not on moral high ground here; this is quicksand.

Fin:
Fathers worry. She's been gone over a week. That's a long time.

Paul:
Beth felt called to go. Her mother said yes. I was Zooming 10 hours a day. I didn't have time to pay attention. Oh God, what have I done?

Rollins:
Apparently I'm better at talking to psychopaths than teenage girls.

Fin:
Just keep him behind bars. Even if he can walk on water, he can't bend steel.

Pearce:
"Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" Book of Galatians.

Carisi:
What, are you Bible-splaining to me now?

Lowe:
You're still angry.

Benson:
Yeah, I'm angry.

Lowe:
Would it help if you threw a glass at me?

Benson:
No, Burton, it wouldn't.

Lowe:
I'm sorry. I'm... I'm... I'm... Olivia, I'm trying to make amends.

Benson:
You're sorry? You're sorry for what? You're sorry for abusing women? For using women? For hiding behind alcohol as an excuse? Look, I just want to make sure that you understand what making amends means. And not just to me, Burton, but to the other women. To acknowledge what you did to them.

Lowe:
That's exactly why I'm here. I hear you. And I'm trying.

Benson:
Well, good. Good. So let me know when you've done that.

Sonny:
[about Father Regis] He confessed to you. You absolved him. And now... Now they're gonna transfer him to another poor parish where he's gonna rapе again.

Father Duffy:
Sonny, are you still asking a priest to break his vows?

Sonny:
No. I'm asking you to look into your heart. I'm asking you to look into your soul. We both know how our Church works. At what point do your vows become more important than your fellow human beings? What if he rapes a child? Huh? Or he murders somebody. Are you gonna absolve him then?

Father Regis:
[talking to his mother's grave] God leaves no sin unpunished. You and Dad are rotting in hell for eternity. But not me. God absolved me already. If He wanted me punished for raping Audrey and the others, He would have done that already. So I guess... I guess all this is just God's will.

Benson:
Carisi tells me that you've accepted a plea deal.

Lowe:
Sеxual misconduct. I go on the registry. Six years' probation.

Benson:
Your lawyer's good with that?

Lowe:
Oh, no, not at all. He wanted to take this to trial. But that isn't why I started this journey. I told you. I wanted to take responsibility for my actions and the harm I've caused others. I knew this wasn't gonna be easy.

Benson:
I want to forgive you.

Lowe:
You don't have to. You were kind enough to listen to me. That means a lot.

Benson:
You got a long road ahead of you, Burton. All you can do is take it one step at a time.

Lowe:
Hope I make it.

Dr. Lindstrom:
Most of your coworkers are in stable relationships.

Benson:
Yeah, they are. And I am really happy for them.

Dr. Lindstrom:
You're not wondering when your turn will come?

Benson:
Not really. You know, between Noah and work... [Lindstrom shoots her a glance] Okay, so, you think that I have intimacy issues.

Dr. Lindstrom:
Is that what you're hearing me say?

Benson:
Can we just stop the shrink talk and you just tell me what you think?

Dr. Lindstrom:
What I actually think?

Benson:
Yeah.

Dr. Lindstrom:
I think that you and Elliot either need to see whether there's more there, or, move on. This idealized relationship is hanging over you. Prevents you from true intimacy, Olivia, either with him, or with anyone else. That's what I think.

Barba:
Hello, Liv.

Benson:
Hello.

Barba:
You and I spent a lot of time in this place. It's a shame they're closing, huh?

Benson:
Everything comes to an end. Um, I wanted to thank you, for representing Delia.

Barba:
Rollins asked for the favor. How many lawyers you call first?

Benson:
Three. You think you can get an acquittal?

Barba:
I'll do my best. Cabernet?

Benson:
I can't stay.

Barba:
It's possible, to sit with someone, and have a drink, and not say a single word to each other. I miss you, Liv.

Benson:
[uncomfortable] I gotta go.

Benson:
You don't know anything about my feelings for Elliot, and you don't know him.

Barba:
I got a glimpse.

Benson:
I've known him for twenty-three years, and he always had my back.

Barba:
And you grew up without a father to protect you, I know how much that means.

Benson:
Please don't. Please don't.

Barba:
I grew up in a home, in a neighborhood where I got bullied. We're gonna see him through different prisms.

Benson:
This isn't about him. This is about you and me, and how you betrayed me. I asked you not to defend Wheatley and you did anyway.

Barba:
We're going around in circles. You're denying, you're deflecting. You defend him. It's all right. I get it. That's what you do when you love somebody unconditionally.

Benson:
Please don't tell me how I feel.

Barba:
In this case, I can, because I do know what it means to love someone unconditionally. When you're ready to stop feeling betrayed by me, I'll be here.

Benson:
Rafa.

Barba:
What?

Benson:
I miss you too.