Law & Order: Special Victims Unit/Season 24

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–present) is a long-running crime drama, part of the popular Law & Order franchise created by Dick Wolf. The show focuses on the Special Victims Unit, a special squad dealing with sex crimes and crimes against children.

Gimme Shelter, Part II [24.01]

Shaw: [to a pimp] The only thing people agree on nowadays is burying people who hurt young kids.

Cosgrove: Why don't we go in?

Benson: No. We're not doing this cowboy.

Stabler: So, what do you want? You want a deal? Because, right now, you have more leverage than you're ever going to have for the rest of your life. Right now, this moment. So, you tell me what you know, and I'll make happen whatever you want to make happen. Whatever you want. I'm gonna ask you again: where's Sirenko? Where would he go? We know he has a bomb. We know he's gonna use it. What's he planning? What is it?

Matvey: I want a lawyer.

Stabler: You want a lawyer. You've been sitting here with me for over an hour...

Matvey: Just wasting time. You're too late.

Stabler: Where is he?

Matvey: Tick, tick...

Stabler: Where is he?

Matvey: Boom.

The One You Feed [24.02]

[Benson, Duarte and Carisi observe a gangbanger being interrogated.]

Duarte: There it is. They call it silencio. [looks at Carisi] Your people used to call it omertà.

Velasco: Let me guess, you're using the heat from this case to bring justice to BX's non-white victims.

Duarte: It's on guys like me and you to do whatever it takes to clean up our own trash, just like Italian cops who took down the mob.

Velasco: I like working SVU.

Duarte: You can always go back. Think about the dent that we can make if you came and worked for me for one year. [hands him a business card] Call me when you're ready to grow up.

Duarte: Look, Benson, all due respect...

Benson: The next words out of your mouth better include "Captain".

Duarte: Our marriage keeps goin' like this, we're gonna need a safe word... Captain.

Benson: There's only two ways for these kids to get out of BX9. And one, is in the witness box, and the other, is in a pine box.

Duarte: Guys like me, Benson... there's two wolves fightin' in us.

Benson: Yeah. One is good and the other one's a congenital pain in my ass. But the real question is, which one's going to win in you?

Duarte: The one you feed.

Velasco: Everything all right, Sarge?

Fin: Well, this whole planet's floating in the middle of an explosion, so is anything ever all right?

Velasco: Let me ask you something. You started out in Narcotics, right?

Fin: Yeah.

Velasco: Why'd you make the move here?

Fin: I got tired of arresting people who weren't hurting anybody. Over here, the bad guys are the bad guys.

Mirror Effect [24.03]

Limo driver: Yeah, I drove Kelsey and Austin last night. What, she called the cops on him?

Velasco: Yeah. Any reason she might've done that?

Muncy: She said she was assaulted in your limo, so that kinda makes you a witness.

Limo driver: I don't wanna get involved.

Muncy: So they did get in a fight.

Limo driver: Look, they might be in their late 20s on the outside, but inside, they're just kids who can't handle their emotions. You add in money, fame, constant validation...

Velasco: We get that. So what happened?

Limo driver: All I wanna say. They need a time-out.

Carisi: These "he said/she said" celebrity cases are difficult to prosecute. He's gonna hire the best attorney that money can buy.

Rollins: So we don't even try? She's a victim.

Benson: Rollins. No one said she wasn't victimized.

Carisi: All I'm saying is, he's claiming to be a victim, too. This is gonna come down to a popularity contest just to get a jury to convict.

Austin: I want to do the right thing.

Benson: I appreciate that, Austin, I do. But it isn't up to you, or Kelsey, or me. It's up to the DA now.

Austin: I went to my first meeting today. I want to get sober.

Benson: You know, we all have choices to make. And the kind of change you're talking about, real change, Austin, is not so much about what you put in the glass, but emotional maturity. Now, I'm guessing you didn't have the greatest role models growing up. My advice to you is, whatever you were taught about being a man, do the opposite.

Rollins: Opposites attract. Dysfunction attracts harder.

Carisi: Everybody’s got monsters in their closet. The question is What do you want to do about it?

Rollins: I want to evict the little bastard.

The Steps We Cannot Take [24.04]

[Muncy takes a reluctant Velasco clothes shopping]

Velasco: Look, I'm not a stylist. Why am I even here?

Muncy: I told you, my brother's got a date.

Velasco: Yeah, well, for all you know, I could've been on one, too.

Muncy: Oh, yeah? With which hand?

Maxwell: Justice can be blind, but she's not entirely heartless. And you'll see how heartless I can be if this conversation comes back to haunt me.

Fin: Pay attention, Muncy. You're about to learn the difference between a bad lawyer and a good lawyer. You see, a bad lawyer can drag a case out for months. A good lawyer knows how to drag it out even longer.

Maxwell: The Duchess County DA wants an update on the case. I mean, certainly, Elias is guilty of a lot. Attempted murder, abduction, confinement... but patricide?

Fin: What are we, in ancient Greece?

Fin: [to Muncy] You ever heard of "The Policeman's Prayer"? Lord, get out of this one and I'll never do it again.

Breakwater [24.05]

Benson: Paul Greco, you're under arrest for the rape of Daniela Cruz.

Greco: I have no idea who that is.

Benson: She knows you.

Greco: I am not the monster you think I am. I've devoted my entire career to saving lives, not destroying them.

Benson: You know, men like you become so good at lying they even start to believe the ones they tell themselves.

Greco: I'm the boss, and all my lifeguards know it.

Velasco: What does Greco have on you, Frank? Whatever it is, it's not on you. You know what he did to the other guys.

Frank: He's got pictures of me and him and a couple of the other guys doing... stuff. He sent them to me and he said if I didn't do what he said, he was gonna show them to everyone, my family, my girlfriend. He's right, what he said in there. He's the boss. He's got all the power.

Velasco: So take it back.

Greco: The ocean is a wilderness. And men like me are the breakwater, the only single barrier, between a fun day at the beach, and some out-of-shape stupid person becoming a part of the food chain. And rarely, rarely do those life-or-death moments come down to a matter of seconds. Most of the time, it's IQ points and common sense.

Greco: That coward Pinsky is lying.

Carisi: When I put him on the stand, the jury will have to decide.

Defense Attorney Sandy Braun: Hold up. Let's slow this down.

Greco: [to Braun] What am I paying you for?

Braun: [to Greco] To tell you when to shut up and accept you've lost.

Carisi: Where's all that common sense you were bragging about having, huh?

Controlled Burn [24.06]

[Fin and Benson investigate a sex party]

Door Attendant: I just work here. I'm not actually into this stuff.

Fin: I get it. My fetish is green and colored, too.

Benson: [to Lena] You know, if we find out that you were involved in this assault, either overtly or implied, I'm coming back with a gift.

Lena: What's that?

Benson: A pair of bracelets.

Lena: Captain Benson, you got my thank you note for the bracelets you were so kind to give me.

Benson: Where are you?

Lena: On my way to Brussels or is it Dubai? Either one is so beautiful this time of year.

Benson: You trying to make me jealous or is there something that I can do for you?

Lena: You have my footage. A woman like you could do a lot with that.

Benson: You have no idea what kind of woman I am. Don't play with fire.

Lena: Well, that's no fun, Captain. [hangs up]

Dead Ball [24.07]

Benson: Let me get something straight. I am not afraid of you and you have no leverage over me. Sooner or later, I will find something.

Velasco: [about Paulo] He's a giant superstar.

Muncy: Which means this case is going to be a giant pain in the ass.

Paulo: Do you remember those old westerns where the outlaw would rob a bank? That's me. I'm a safe-cracker. But you don't blow off the doors with dynamite. You listen for the clicks. Trainers, masseuses - that's one click, barely a challenge. A professional woman like Nellie, a reporter - that's two clicks. That's a better challenge, but that door's already open, and once it's open, it never shuts.

Antonio: And a young woman, like my Ana? She'd be how many clicks to you, Paulo?

Paulo: [hesitantly] Ana?

[Antonio produces an envelope]

Paulo: What the hell is that?

Antonio: The money you gave Marcia to keep your secret. That you violated my daughter.

Paolo: [panicked] Antonio, are you listening to yourself? I would never...

Antonio: NO! The things I've done for you, the things I've seen... I know all your lies. I am your lies!

Gelb: I need some time alone with my client.

Benson: Careful what you wish for.

A Better Person [24.08]

Rollins: So whoever did this knew how to get rid of the DNA.

Medical Examiner: Sometimes an absence is a presence all in itself.

Mark McDaniel: If I'd only left everything alone, maybe Cora wouldn't have been attacked.

Benson: You know, Cora needed a father. You can still be that for Ada. You can call her by the name she chose.

Mark McDaniel: I was not a good person.

Benson: So be a better one.

Mark McDaniel: Ada had dreams and a lot of plans for the future... dreams that she didn't share with me because she didn't feel like I would accept her. And that is my loss, because I never got to meet her. But I loved her.

And a Trauma in a Pear Tree [24.09]

[Sonny and Rollins are getting married]

Rollins: Carisi and I were talking, and we realized that marriage is a lot like a crime. You have motive and opportunity.

Carisi: We figured that all we needed were witnesses.

Rollins: We don't want to do this without all of you here.

Benson: Noah and Connor have been texting non-stop. They're dying to meet each other.

Fin: So what are you going to do?

Benson: What any self-respecting parent would do in this situation: ask you to run a complete background check on the entire family.

Muncy: I screwed up this case. How pissed is Carisi?

Velasco: On a scale of 1 to 10...

Fin: ...I'd say Vladimir Putin.

Jumped In [24.10]

Duarte: Still beating yourself up about that sex bunker guy from Fishkill? Elias Olsen?

Muncy: Yeah, I know which one you're talking about, Duarte. The whole damn trial went up because of my temper.

Duarte: Pretty conceited, isn't it? Judge calls a mistrial because some lady cop went all Karen on the stand? That's not enough.

Muncy: Don't call me a Karen while I'm armed.

Duarte: All I'm saying, you're not that important.

Muncy: Maybe I'm not cut out for SVU.

Duarte: You telling me you wanna come back to Gangs?

Muncy: If I did?

Duarte: I'd tell you that you made your bed. Now it's wet. Figure out a way to lie in it.

Fin: It looks like the Tremont clique knows where you live.

Benson: I mean, these people are pretty ballsy. Going after a New York captain on her turf?

Fin: I heard on the radio you blew out one of their kneecaps.

Benson: I didn't want to shoot any of them. They were kids.

Fin: You have a lot more restraint than I would.

Benson: He's somebody's son.

Fin: Some bullets have a lesson behind them.

Soldier Up [24.11]

Benson: I've seen psychopaths before, but never one with an army behind him.

Benson: How's Amanda?

Sonny: She's grading papers. You know what means? No machetes, no black eyes...

Benson: Yeah, but paper cuts are a bitch.

Oscar Papa: [to Benson] You need some meat on those bones, Captain.

Benson: That would be touching if you hadn't just tried to kill me.

Benson: He's a kid and he's unaccompanied, and he is scared.

Sonny: He tried to kill you. Which one is the victim: you or him?

Blood Out [24.12]

Benson: Nobody gets away with threatening my son without some type of justice. And right now, yours looks pretty good. You know the saying, blood for blood.

Bruno: I told you. I am done. That deaf girl case was my last case.

Fin: You have a monogrammed hammock in Mexico I don't know about it?

Oscar Papa: Captain Benson, I am sorry that you were hurt but I'm even more sorry that your son was traumatized.

Benson: If you say one more word against my son, it will be the last thing you ever say.

Benson: Elliot, I want to. I want to, but I can't.

Stabler: Why not?

Benson: Because what if it doesn't work out?

Stabler: And what if things work out?

Intersection [24.13]

Danielle: What kind of sicko rapes a woman at the scene of an accident?

Benson: He targets the vulnerable just like every other predator on the planet.

Josh: While he was raping her, he looked right at me. I think he liked it, me being helpless. What is wrong with people?

Bruno: I think the world peaked in 1999. Y2K, the world ended. It just took the scenic route.

Bruno: Well, my gobs are smacked and my ghasts are flabbered.

Fin: Are you having a stroke or something?

Bruno: In case you haven't noticed, human beings are little more than homicidal monkeys with zero respect for this planet or each other.

Muncy: So we have the "who". Not sure on the "why".

Velasco: He's a rapist. Rapists rape.

Fin: That's your defense? You use that in front of a jury? That's about as useful as the two pieces of celery they put on the plate with the buffalo wings.

Bruno: You weren't in the room. The air had a certain funk.

Carisi: A funk???

Bruno: Yeah, it malingered.

Fin: Now that you mention it, the air did have a certain mildew-y smell.

Bruno: Like when someone's lying to you.

Benson: Guys, he's a used car salesman. If he's breathing, he's lying.

Dutch Tears [24.14]

Benson: We all love Fin's easy, laid back personality and sarcasm that is so sharp that it could cut through a brake line.

Fin: I have done things I'm not too proud of.

Benson: Fortunately, you don't have to have a great past to have a great future.

Fin: [after a suspect lies to him] There it is, man. That mildew-y smell.

Bruno: Yeah, a real stench.

Fin: You have a supervisor on site we could talk to?

Desk clerk: He's home, asleep. Why? What's this about?

Benson: We are investigating a rape.

Fin: Which tends to keep our ADA up at night.

Benson: So unless you want to find out what he does when he's cranky, I highly suggest you tell us which room she visited.

Ivan "Dutch" Hernandez: My mind defaults to the catastrophic, after being inside of it for so long.

Carisi: We contacted your fellow COs. They gave us some statements that, uh, before you were promoted to captain, say you used to bend the rules.

Fin: Smuggling drugs, allowing rapes.

Pete Ryan: Whoa, whoa. I told you, I never raped anybody.

Carisi: Nah, you're just a pimp with a badge.

Pete Ryan: Look, The Tombs was a zoo. You do whatever you can to maintain order. You look for the biggest guy in there, and they help you keep things in check.

Benson: Can we trust this CO?

Carisi: The guy is a grade-A scumbag with more self-interest than most.

Dutch: I'm nervous and I can't breathe.

Fin: Don't die on me, dude.

King of the Moon [24.15]

Fin: Look, man, you're not half a hitman from Juarez anymore. You're a NYPD officer.

Velasco: And why do you think I became a cop in the first place?

Fin: Penance. I get it.

Velasco: I didn't kill anyone, Sarge.

Fin: We all make mistakes, OK? And even in the NYPD, there's room for redemption.

Velasco: But you don't think Benson sees it like that?

Fin: You're not asking for my advice, but I'ma give it to you anyway. Show your loyalty to her. Not me, not the NYPD, and definitely not someone guilty of an unsolved double murder in Fort Worth.

Benson: I feel bad for you, Velasco.

Velasco: Bad? Bad how?

Benson: Because you're 180 pounds of water in the shape of a man, and you take on the shape of anything that you're poured into. Duarte asked you to flip a banger, and you end up playing just as dirty as the guy that we're hunting. I mean, up until now, Velasco, you've been living a performance, not a life. That changes now. Understood?

Velasco: What do you want me to do?

Benson: You owe a debt to the two people that were killed, even though they were drug dealers. It doesn't have to happen today, and it doesn't have to happen tomorrow. But you will find that friend, and you will bring him to justice.

Velasco: [as Benson starts to walk away] Captain, wait. People change, you know?

Benson: Velasco, being a cop isn't some sort of penance. Putting your friend away for murder is.

Velasco: So that's what it takes for me and you to be all right?

Benson: That's what it takes for me and you to be all right.

The Presence of Absence [24.16]

Fin: Muncy, work is about overcoming problems, problems you wouldn't have if you were unemployed. So how about we do our jobs before we lose them.

Carisi: Let me get this straight. Cooper Davis, the 23-year-old nephew of the victim's deceased husband, is a DNA match for her rape kit?

Benson: The short answer is yes.

Carisi: The long answer?

Fin: Not much longer.

Jenna: Love is messy. Sometimes it involves a commitment to act on behalf of a person who can't take care of themselves.

Muncy: Yeah, commitment. Not sexual assault.

[after Jenna is sentenced to probation]

Churlish: What just happened here? Was this justice?

Benson: This is one of those cases where you really don't know what to think.

Churlish: I bet you've seen a lot of those.

Benson: I have. You will too. You know, this job... even when you do everything right, you don't always win. Get used to that.

Lime Chaser [24.17]

Bruno: You know the real secret of life is?

Churlish: No. Why don't you Gen X-splain it to me?

Bruno: We all gotta make peace with the fact that we're gonna die. But you still gotta live. So, how about we go out and pretend do that for an hour, and then you can get back to arranging your pens?

Bruno: Killing brain cells is a time-honored way to let bygones be bygones.

Bruno: You're under arrest!

Sunil Patesh: For what?

Bruno: You're really gonna ask that?

Benson: You were reckless and you almost derailed the entire case.

Churlish: Well, like I said, I wanted to impress you. 30 days is not a lot of time, Captain.

Benson: Now you have to spend that time trying to win my trust back.

Churlish: How do I do that?

Benson: I need to know that you're here for the right reasons, because you care about survivors and trauma and healing, not because you want a promotion. You know, my detectives...

Churlish: They're good investigators.

Benson: Yes, and they're all dysfunctional. They're not perfect. But that allows them to lead with empathy and with compassion.

Churlish: Well, both of my parents are therapists. They put a lot of pressure on me to be perfect.

Benson: I know. I can see that. Perfectionism is a dangerous way to approach imperfect victims, let alone perps. From now on, I expect teamwork from you, not perfection.

Bubble Wrap [24.18]

Churlish: How's your brother Teddy doing?

Muncy: I kind of think he's seeing someone.

Churlish: Oh, you think? You don't know?

Muncy: Well, he knows what a bitch I am to the women he dates, but the guy deserves it 'cause he's got the worst taste in women.

Carisi: Just make sure that Martin doesn't get on a private jet, fly to Moscow, and move in with Edward Snowden.

Fin: Was Carisi this cranky when he was a detective?

Benson: Yes.

Benson: So your son is a rapist, and no matter how much you're willing to spend, that will never change.

Connie Parish: I'll do what I have to, just like you did. Do you honestly think you're the only mother who would do everything in her power to keep her child safe?

Benson: I didn't break the law.

Connie: You call this police work?

Benson: You just don't get it, do you? Your son's a rapist.

Connie: OK, I don't want to keep hearing that. I raised a good boy.

Benson: No, you raised a son who is still a little boy who is afraid of displeasing you, so he does everything that you tell him to do. You've crippled him, and that is not parenting.

Connie: He needed me.

Benson: Maybe when he was little, but you never let him grow up.

Connie: He wasn't ready.

Benson: Is that what you tell yourself? No, Connie, you see, you needed him, and you used him.

Connie: He loves me, and I love him.

Benson: That's not love. That's not mothering. That's narcissism.

Bend the Law [24.19]

Benson: Because the only thing worse than a partner with no loyalty is a partner with blind loyalty.

Mrs. Wolcott: I may have overreacted with the gun, but I know what I saw.

Bruno: Which is what exactly?

Mrs. Wolcott: Harold and his friends sitting there like Renaissance popes, pants down, young girls half-naked in their laps.

Art Blumfeld: Going after the boss' husband. I give you credit for chutzpah. There a promotion in this for you?

Carisi: We've met a few times, Mr. Blumfeld, and I'll admit that I don't know you very well, but you apparently don't know me at all.

Debatable [24.20]

Carisi: Your clients are immoral, they're unethical, and they're upper middle class. Juries already hate authority figures abusing their power, especially rich Caucasian ones.

Carisi: Who drops out of Harvard?

Naomi: Don't ask me; I set a bus on fire.

Fin: Your story isn't over yet. This heartbreak thing, you'll get over it. And if you live your life right, you're going to get your heart broken more than once. Trust me on that.

Bad Things [24.21]

Benson; How busy are you tomorrow?

Carisi: I got no court appearances.

Benson: Great, you can drive me to Staten Island. [Carisi rolls his eyes] Come on, it's better than sitting in your office, ducking calls from the eighth floor.

Carisi: All right, just don't tell my mother....unless you wanna sit through a two-hour Italian lunch.

Dr. Truman: You're familiar with rabbit starvation?

Churlish: Not sure I wanna be.

Dr. Truman: It's an acute form of malnutrition. This is the same, but with sugar.

Muncy: I'm never eating candy again.