Law and Order
Register
Advertisement
"Bound"
SVU, Episode 5.23
Production number: E4427
First aired: 4 May 2004
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Stabler Benson Bound
Written By
Barbie Kligman

Directed By
Constantine Makris

Plot[]

The murders of three elderly women are linked to a home-nursing facility where the owner, Matt Spevak, is considered a suspect. But when Matt is found murdered during the investigation, the SVU squad turns their attention to Matt's sister, Emma, who is a nurse that might be responsible for not only the death of numerous elderly women, but her own mother as well, out of jealousy over the affection she gave her brother rather than her. Huang believes the rest of the murders were committed as revenge on her mother.

The mother's body is exhumed, and from her grave, which has the names and birthdates of all of the family, the detectives learn that Emma and Matt are actually fraternal twins. Huang figures that Emma has always been in Matt's shadow as she's the younger twin, and the rope she used to murder the women was a sign of that. Warner's autopsy proves that the mother was murdered as she has the same puncture mark as the last victim, but they don't have enough evidence to charge Emma, so at Huang's suggestion, Stabler and Benson act like Stabler is very bossy and demanding of Benson like Matt was to Emma and Benson pretends to sympathize with Emma to get her to confess: Emma's mother was dying of cancer for five years and Emma took care of her. She killed her to end her suffering while her brother was in medical school. She reveals that there's more than five victims (six with Matt): there's dozens who she doesn't know the names of. She murdered them with air embolisms while she was going to school and all she knows of their names is that they were called "Mama."

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

Benson: What the hell happened?
Stabler: Heart attack.
Benson: Is that the victim?
Stabler: No. More like the perp.

Harvey Cohen: [to Olivia] Oh, shame on you, Detective. A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell.
Stabler: A gentleman doesn't rape and murder his girlfriend.

Ben Pawler: Donna and I left class together. Went back to her place. What's the big deal?
Stabler: I'd say about a 40-year age difference.
Ben Pawler: You should try it. Older women, they have more experience. They're less inhibited. And you don't have to worry about getting them knocked up.
Benson: You forgot to mention 'financially independent'.
Ben Pawler: Donna has a lot of dough, definitely sweetens the pot.
Stabler: Had a lot of dough, ass-wipe. Donna was murdered last night.
Ben Pawler: She was fine when I left her. No, I take that back. She was satisfied.

Benson: Benny, Harvey, Sutton. Donna got around.
Stabler: Guess she was packing a lot of living into the days she had left.
Benson: She should've had better taste in men.

Dr. Matt Spevak: My company is doing well. I don't need their money. I started this foundation to give something back.
Benson: You gave three women back to God. Does that count?

Dr. Huang: I'm not so sure Spevak's guilty.
Stabler: Well, gee, Doc, do you know something that we don't or are you just extending Spevak a little professional courtesy?

Munch: Answering machine's blinking.
Tutuola: Probably a collection agency.
Answering machine: Hey, Spevak, you're late again. You better pay up, Doc, or we're coming over.
Tutuola: Doesn't sound like MasterCard.
Munch: Explains why he killed the old ladies. He needs money, fast.

Huang: Chances are Emma dumped it. I looked at the autopsy photos of the first three victims. [to Stabler] Strangle me?
Stabler: I'll try.

Novak: I just need Your Honor's signature...
Alan Ridenour: You just hit the jackpot, dearie.
Judge Bradley: I'm in.
Judge Terhune: I believe you all know A.D.A. Novak.
Novak: Judge Ridenour, Judge Petrovski, Judge Wyler, Judge Bradley. I've had this nightmare before, only I was naked.
Judge Petrovsky: Charming.
Judge Terhune: What is so important that it couldn't wait until morning?
Novak: An exhumation order.
Judge Wyler: You better sign it, Joe. The corpse might be a flight risk.

Judge Terhune: And you want me to disturb the sanctity of the dead on your say so?
Novak: I have a very convincing but long argument that'll disrupt the sanctity of your poker game.

Stabler: You protect your brother and he almost kills you. You're pathetic.
Emma Spevak: I loved my brother.
Benson: Elliot, leave her alone.
Stabler: Shut up! You know what the problem is? Women shouldn't be cops, they shouldn't be doctors. They're too weak and stupid.

Emma Spevak: I was always the good girl. Always the helper. "Emma, do this. Emma, do that."
Benson: I know how you feel. My mother was a drunk. I had to carry her into her bed every night, had to scrub the vomit off the floor. I thought I'd never escape.
Emma Spevak: But you did.
Benson: Yeah. After she died. It's the only time that I ever felt free.
Emma Spevak: Mothers are all the same. You try to be good to them and all they do is treat you like dirt.

Benson: How did you do it, Emma?
Emma Spevak: With a little shot of air. It always worked so quickly.
Benson: What do you mean?
Emma Spevak: When I was in nursing school, I'd see daughters by their mothers' beds, trapped, watching their lives disappear.
Benson: So you helped them.
Emma Spevak: I set them free.
Olivia Benson: How many were there?
Emma Spevak: Dozens.
Olivia Benson: Do you remember any of their names?
Emma Spevak: They were all called Mama.

Background information and notes[]

  • Though not inspired by anything, there was a true crime similar to the storyline. In Mexico, Juana Barraza murdered many elderly women, because of a grudge she had against her own grandmother. She was arrested in 2006, and was known as La Mataviejitas ("The Little Old Lady Killer")
  • After the body of the suspect's mother is exhumed, the medical examiner states that she was able to find the evidence that the mother was injected with an air embolism because NY State requires that a deceased person be embalmed. NY State does not require the deceased to be embalmed.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3 4

Jackson Heights
Elder Care Facility
Queens, New York
Monday, March 22

Federal Bureau
Of Investigation
26 Federal Plaza
Monday, March 22

Office of
Dr. David Brelsford
Hudson University Hospital
Tuesday, March 23

Office of
Forensic Document Expert
Pat Fisher
Wednesday, March 24

5 6 7 8

Apartment of
Matt Spevak
138 East 66th Street
Wednesday, March 24

Arraignment
Part 74
Thursday, March 25

Office of
The Medical Examiner
Friday, March 26

Sherman Cemetery
Brooklyn, New York
Tuesday, March 30

Previous episode:
"Painless"
"Bound"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 5
Next episode:
"Poison"
Seasons 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425
Advertisement