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"Chameleon"
SVU, Episode 4.01
Production number: E3151
First aired: 27 September 2002
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Stabler Maggie Peterson Chameleon
Written By
Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters

Directed By
Jean de Segonzac

Detectives Benson and Stabler investigate the death of several men, who have been killed by a female serial killer.

Summary[]

The detectives go on the trail of a recently paroled rapist responsible for the murder of a prostitute during a raid at a men's club and are called to the scene where he was shot in self-defense by his own gun. However, the murder weapon was also used in another crime while he was still in prison, leading the detectives to investigate the victim through a trail of previously unsolved cases, a spending spree and another victim.

Plot[]

During a police raid in a men's club, one of the girls claims a men tried to rape her and insists to press charges, so the SVU is called to the scene. When Olivia and Elliot arrive at the local, another girl raped and strangled is found dead in the club's bathroom. At the precinct, the police make Lisa Perez, the girl that was almost raped at the club, look at line ups with the men arrested at the club to try to identify the one that tried to rape her, but she says the man was gone before the police arrived. Lisa tells Olivia that Sister Peg warned the prostitutes about a guy that was choking working girls. Elliot and Olivia talk to Sister Peg and ask her how she knew about the man strangling hookers, she says it was one of the girls that told her, she keeps a black book with all the bad "Johns", so she can warn all the girls.

Some time later, another body with the same M.O. is found, Dr. Warner rides in with Fin and Munch to the scene, and they find a thumb print in the victim's forehead. The print is match to Shawn Becker, a recently paroled man convicted of assault and attempted rape. Capt. Cragen asks Olivia and Elliot to give his mug shot to all the working girls. They ask Sister Peg to tell them where the girls that saw him lately are working and she gives them their usual spot.

When they arrive at the hotel, the doorman says he just called the police about shots fired in one of the rooms, the detectives show him a picture of the suspect and the doorman confirms he is in the room where the shots came from. Olivia and Elliot go in the room and find a hooker with a gun in her hands and Shawn Becker dead on the floor. She says she shot him.

At the hospital, the woman claims she didn't intended to kill the guy; she just wanted him to stop. Olivia asks Debra what happened, she says she was at a bar looking for a "john" and Shawn approached her. She claims that when they arrived at the hotel room and she wanted to discuss the price, he started hitting her and after he raped her, she found his gun and pulled the trigger.

At the lab, the bullet from Shawn is a match to another homicide, the only problem being that Shawn, who supposedly owned the gun, was in jail at the time of the murder. The police suspects Debra owned the gun all along and is responsible for the other murder as well, and that she lied to them when she said the gun belonged to Shawn. Capt. Cragen tells the guys to investigate the first murder and try to find a connection between Debra and the murder victim. Munch receives a call from the hospital saying that Debra took off after talking to the police, and that the name and address she gave were fake.

Munch and Finn manage to trace a call fake Debra made at the hospital before disappearing; it is a call to a day care center for children. They go there and ask the manager about the call and get Debra’s real name, Margaret Peterson. Olivia and Elliot find a series of unsolved homicides that fit Maggie's pattern: she lures them to her room posing as a prostitute and then kills them and steals their credit cards.

Another man's body is found and one of his credit cards is missing, they track down the last charges in it and find Maggie in a hotel with her little son. Elliot arrests her and they call social services to take the child. Dr. Huang asks to talk to Maggie before they interview her and thinks she suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, and that she is saying whatever she thinks he want to hear. Elliot goes to interview her and she starts hitting on him, unbuttoning her blouse. Dr. Huang says she has a "cocktail" personality; she reads people and adapts her manners accordingly. The next to interview her is Olivia, who Maggie tries to attack when confronted with the truth, showing her true colors.

Alex decides to go for the capital punishment, death penalty, but it is a tough battle since no woman has ever been sentenced to death by a New York court. The judge denies the DA's request to seek the death penalty on Maggie's case, so all Alex can do is try to convict Maggie to life without parole. At the trial, the defense tries to make it seem like Maggie killed all those men in self-defense because they all raped her.

Looking for a way to secure a conviction, Olivia stumbles into Maggie's medical records from the time she was supposed to be eight months pregnant with her son, but the records show no sign of her being pregnant at that time, so they do a DNA comparison and it shows Joey is not Maggie's biological son. Alex finds out that Joey's real mother was killed 18 months before, she confronts Maggie with the facts and offers her a deal, she says she wants to think about it and Alex gives her till the next morning to make her mind. The next day in court, they receive a call saying Maggie killed herself with her pantyhose.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

Lisa Perez: Why are you making me sit through ten lineups? Dude was gone when the storm troopers busted in. I told you that 300 times.
Munch: Tell us 300 more times. We love the sound of your voice.

Lisa Perez: My friends get raped all the time. Who's investigating that?
Benson: Nobody, if your friends don't report the crime.
Lisa Perez: We get punished because we don't act like society's version of a woman. We're at risk and nobody cares.
Benson: You're at risk because you put yourself at risk.
Lisa Perez: So do you, Detective.
Benson: Yes, to help people like you.

Dr. Huang: I'm not confident with calling the suspect a serial killer.
Tutuola: How many guys she gotta whack until you are confident?

Tutuola: Cause of death was between two and four hours ago... *pre-release*.
Stabler: Is that significant?
Tutuola: No, that's just cold.

Stabler: What do you want to talk about?
Maggie Peterson: Whatever you wanna talk about. Although guys like you, you don't usually like me to talk.
Stabler: Guys like me?
Peterson: I am a professional, Detective Stabler. I know men.
Stabler: Why don't you sit back down over there.
Peterson: But you... you're different from most of the others.
Stabler: Am I now? And how am I different?
Peterson: Well, you try to be nice and normal, but there's a part of you that will never be that guy. I mean, look at your body. Who are you trying to impress?
Stabler: Maybe my wife.
Peterson: Oh, no. No. That entire package is for everyone else. You're a tease, Detective Stabler. Everything about you says, "Look at me, look at what you can't have." Well, I I like that. I aspire to that.
Stabler: You should listen to yourself. You sound just like a shrink.
Peterson: Like I said, I know men.
Stabler: So you must enjoy your job.
Peterson: I'm good at it.
Stabler: You're not afraid of getting hurt?
Peterson: You walk around afraid, you're never gonna get what you want. I'm not afraid, Detective. Are you?

Cragen: [to Elliot] We thought we'd better get you out of there before she took off all her clothes.

Benson: Sit down in the chair, Maggie.
Peterson: Where's Elliot?
Benson: Just us girls now. Sit! That act of yours was a whole lot of fun to watch, but you should know that it's not gonna work with me.
Maggie Peterson: What act?
Benson: You can pretend to be a victim, you can pretend to be a whore, you can pretend to be whatever it is you want to be. It's a joke. Maggie, you're done.
Peterson: Where's my son?
Benson: Oh... see, that's not gonna work either.
Peterson: I do not believe that you are talking to me this way. I was raped more times than I can remember!
Benson: Right, and your mom died and your dad beat you. [slides a paper towards Maggie] Your mom's alive. No dad on the birth certificate. You never knew him, did you? Was your mom a pro, too?
Peterson: Where's my son? I need to see him.
Benson: Your son? You're never gonna see that kid again. You murdered seven men for a hotel room and a manicure!
Peterson: They raped me!
Benson: You want the whole world to think that you're a victim? Well, Maggie, you're getting your wish, because the state's gonna kill you.
[Maggie lunges at Olivia]

Donnelly: I love a good fight.
Cabot: I can't believe that turned into a women's rights debate. We don't have the right to execute a woman just because she's a woman?
Donnelly: The majority of the Capital Committee agreed with your recommendation. We get Lewin to sign it, we make the world a safer place... and you're labelled the enemy of feminism.
Cabot: Hey! As far as I'm concerned, this is a coup for women's rights everywhere. Maggie Peterson has the right to a needle in the arm just like any other cold-blooded killer.
Nora Lewin: So she should just take it like a man.
Cabot: Gender has nothing to do with it. The fact that she murdered four people in this jurisdiction alone does.
Nora Lewin: Oh, but she's only charged with three? The fourth was ruled self-defense against a known rapist and murderer, I have a real problem with this.
Cabot: That one incident does not change the circumstances of the other murders.
Nora Lewin: You think that the first woman New York state executes should be a single mother, prostitute, rape victim....
Donnelly: ...serial killer. She knew those men were violent - that's why she chose them, to feel morally justified.
Nora Lewin: You're saying she asked for it.
Cabot: Being the victim of a violent crime does not mitigate capital punishment. Neither does being a woman or being a mother. I-if this was a man we were talking about who was abused as a child and then, murdered four women... would we even be having this discussion?
Nora Lewin: If you were seeking the death penalty? Of course we would.
Donnelly: I don't think so, Nora. Because executing a man wouldn't offend the female constituents who put you in office.
Lewin: Whom we choose to execute is always a political decision. But I'm not gonna kill anyone, male or female, if there's a possibility that they acted in self-defense. You don't like it... you can always run against me next term.

Cabot: So every day, you wake up, you drop your son off at the babysitter's and you go to work. You knowingly put yourself in danger. You knowingly place yourself in situations you cannot control where you admit you could be killed. Is that how you love your son? Is that how you take care of the most important thing in your life?
Peterson: I accept the risk. I accept it on behalf of that boy. I would die for him. You can question my past, you can question my life and my profession, but do not ever question how much I love my son.

Donnelly: Where the hell did she get this kid?
Benson: She kills to get what she wants, right? She wanted to be a mother.

Attorney Greer: [to Cabot] So the kid's not hers. Why does it matter?
Cabot: Do you want to tell her how you got your child, Maggie or should I?
Peterson: I don't know what you're talking about.
Cabot: Let me jog your memory. Eighteen months ago, 26-year-old Erin Byers went grocery shopping. Her body was found in the store parking lot, strangled. Her stolen car turned up a week later, intact. Her 6-month-old son was never found.
Greer: You'll never be able to introduce this.
Cabot: Actually, it was your client who opened the door. Everything she does is for her child, right?
Greer: The judge will call a mistrial.
Cabot: Fine. I'll just re-file and tack on the kidnapping charges, plus the murder of the mother.
[to Maggie] Do you think a jury is going to believe your "I kill men because they beat me" story now? Do you think the D.A. Is going to give you another pass on the death penalty? Try it.
Peterson: Where's Joey?
Cabot: With his father who thought he was dead.
Greer: Is there an offer on the table?
Cabot: Murder two on all counts, concurrent sentences, 15-to-20.
Greer: What about the new charges?
Cabot: We'll talk about that after I file. You'll never get a better deal than this.
Peterson: I'm not pleading guilty. I did not kill that woman. I found Joey. She threw him away.
Cabot: It's over. This whole motherhood facade, this lie you have told yourself and the whole world is going to be exposed.

[after Maggie commits suicide in prison]
Stabler: Her last act and this is when she decides to be selfless?
Benson: Look at her. Every hair in place, perfect make-up. She gets to go out like a beauty queen, and everybody thinks she's sacrificing herself. It's a performance.
Stabler: Performance of her life.

Background information and notes[]

  • Starting with this episode, B.D. Wong joins the main cast.
  • DA Nora Lewin says that Maggie Peterson would be the first woman to receive the death penalty in New York. This is incorrect; in Law & Order lore, the first woman to be executed in New York state history was Monica Johnson in 1998. (L&O: "Bad Girl")
  • This episode marks the final appearance of Dianne Wiest as Lewin.
  • The character of Maggie Peterson could be, and probably is, based on Aileen Wuornos. Even the defense attorney in this episode physically resembles Wuornos' defense attorney at the time of her trial, with her tight curly and slightly unkempt hair.
  • Detectives Benson and Stabler have previously met Sister Peg in the previous episode from season 3, "Silence". In fact, Olivia goes along with this storyline. Yet when the detectives go to question Sister Peg for the first time in this episode, she acts as though she's never met them, saying: "Hello detectives. Vice?"
  • The scene following the arrest of Maggie Peterson opens with the boy sitting with Detective Munch, playing with some cars on his desk. Fittingly, in light of Munch's fascination with conspiracy, the car the boy is holding is JFK's 1961 Lincoln Presidential limo, complete with occupants, including Jackie dressed in the pink outfit she wore on the infamous day.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Eleventh Avenue
@ 44th Street
Monday, September 9

The Palm Hotel
515 West 37th Street
Monday, September 9

Ballistics Lab
One Police Plaza
Tuesday, September 10

4 5 6

Bluebird Daycare Center
454 West 43rd Street
Tuesday, September 10

Trial Part 74
Friday, September 13

Rikers Island
Interview Room
Sunday, September 15

Previous episode:
"Silence"
"Chameleon"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 4
Next episode:
"Deception"
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