| "Scourge" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 2.21 | → |
| Production number: E1432 First aired: 11 May 2001 | ||
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| Teleplay By Robert F. Campbell & Jonathan Greene Story By Neal Baer Directed By Alex Zakrzewski | ||
What at first looks like a Jack the Ripper copycat, takes bizarre turn after bizarre turn as more bodies are found, and the only suspect gives them trouble.
Summary[]
When a spree killer commits four brutal murders in 24 hours, the Detectives canvass the streets searching for signs of a madman who exclaims paranoid schizophrenic and twisted religious rhetoric while committing his crimes. Things are made worse when no one can find any connections or pattern to the four murders. As the public cries out for justice, a suspect is caught, and with the help of his wife, the detectives wade through the religious trout. As the case is finally looking like it is going somewhere, they learn a shocking truth which would likely change the course of a now, much too public trial.
Plot[]
The detectives are on the search for a spree killer who is responsible for the death of a prostitute, a promising young woman, and a husband and son. They soon discover that a man named Daniel Varney is responsible for the murders after he turns in a bloody check, but it is soon discovered that he is mentally unstable, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, because of a severe case of syphilis that had damaged his brain.
Benson told his wife that Daniel has syphilis that eradicated his entire mind. His case was so advanced that he probably might have picked it up long before he met Paula. Daniel's wife didn't know that he had syphilis because the life insurance company (which he applied for coverage during a medical exam) didn't inform him about it. His syphilis is so advanced that it's incurable and has destroyed the moral center of his brain. Paula Varney got an answer from the company, confirming that they knew that Daniel had long-period syphilis.
The CEO of the life insurance company is arrested for reckless endangerment as he didn't inform the health department about Daniel Varney's communicable disease, both of which would have led to his treatment and cure before it was too late and prevented the carnage he caused (which, at the time the disease was originally caught, would have taken no more than one dose of penicillin). A deal is made by A.D.A. Cabot forcing the company to report any and all communicable diseases to both the health department and the families concerned; as well as settle with the Varneys and families of Daniel's victims, even though it will cost them millions of dollars.
Daniel is found not competent to stand trial, because of the irreversible disease and he is placed under custody of the office of mental health, to be committed to a secured mental health facility until he is competent to stand trial, which will likely not happen before his death due to the advanced state of the disease, as well as the irreparable damage that it has already done.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
- Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast[]
- Joanna Merlin as Judge Lena Petrovsky
- Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner
- Kevin O'Rourke as Defense Attorney Sam Tiffany
- Tom O'Rourke as Judge Mark Seligman
- Brian O'Neill as Chief Sullivan
- B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang
- Frank Deal as Defense Attorney Don Newvine
- Lou Carbonneau as CSU Technician Harry Martin
- Kent Cassella as Detective Palmieri
Guest cast[]
- Karen Allen as Paula Varney
- David Chandler as Malcolm Hunt
- Donna Mitchell as Mrs. Lindberg
- Jim Weston as Quentin Lindberg
- Richard Thomas as Daniel Varney
- Cortez Nance, Jr. as Koenig
- Liza Lapira as Rebecca Chang
- Tasha Lawrence as Honey the Hooker
- Rosalind Brown as Sally
- Anthony Spina as Street Vendor
- Kes Kwansa as Kabral N'Cuma
- Kofi Boakye as Sekou Obeng
- Bobby J. Brown as Uniform #1
- Sourabh Chatt as Souvenir Shop Owner
- Nick Freni as Morales
- Jason Furlani as Norman Fredricks
- John Hartmann as Clerk
- John McGinty as Uniform #2
- Brian Starr as Crowd Member #2
- Jack McCormack as Captain Molloy
- David Roya as Joey
- Floyd Resnick as Crowd Member #1
- Bernadette Quigley as Jean Weston
- George T. Odom as Foreman
References[]
- New York Ledger
- Cote D'Ivoire
- Cassie Horner (victim)
- Theresa Folsom (victim)
- Josh Weston (victim)
- Jeremy Weston (victim)
- Jack the Ripper
- Kathy Stabler
- Serena Benson
Quotes[]
- Dr. Huang: [about the killer] He comes out at night and focuses his rage at prostitutes and women that he believes to be prostitutes.
- Munch: Just like London, 1888.
- Tutuola: Not Jack the Ripper again.
- Munch: Ripperologists are convinced that his Royal Highness, Prince Albert Victor committed the deeds.
- Cragen: And I understand the royal family is still smarting over that, but could we please continue?
- Dr. Huang: He's impulsive, disorganized, unpredictable, and he's not gonna stop until you catch him.
- Dr. Huang: [about the killer] The publicity's just gonna excite him more.
- Stabler: I think he's awful excited right now without publicity.
- Stabler: Special Victims, Detective... Oh, Kathy. Nah, it's just good to hear your voice.
- Warner: [to Munch] We found only the victim's blood at the arcade, but take a look at these. You know Locard's theory?
- Munch: Transfer evidence. Everywhere you go, you pick something up and leave something behind. Seven years in Homicide, I better know it.
- Tutuola: These people have a serious problem.
- Munch: Yeah, they're scared.
- Tutuola: How's it going?
- Stabler: Ah, 500 calls since 11:00 and more sightings than Elvis. Wanna trade places?
- Stabler: It's four o'clock in the morning. Why don't you guys get some shut eye?
- Tutuola: You don't have to ask me twice.
- Stabler: Not at home. In the crib.
- Stabler: I know you're working off some nervous energy, but you don't have to read every one of them out loud.
- Benson: Aren't we in a mood?
- Stabler: You know, it's the middle of the night and I'm sitting here realizing I spend more time with you than I do with my own family. [Benson looks up to him] No offense.
- Benson: We both need a vacation.
- Stabler: You got that right.
- Daniel Varney: I have to ask you something.
- Benson: What?
- Daniel: Why didn't you shoot me?
- Benson: Because I didn't want to hurt you.
- Daniel: But you must.
- Benson: I must what, Daniel? I don't understand.
- Daniel: Kill me. Please. Please. I can't take any more pain.
- Daniel: Are you God?
- Judge Petrovsky: Just an overworked judge, Mr. Varney. And I ask the questions. Not you.
- Daniel: You are my messenger. The unclean must be cleansed, or I shall serve my wrath upon you.
- Dr. Huang: But the Bible says thou shalt not kill.
- Daniel: He said, I must eliminate the evil.
- Cabot: [to Dr. Huang] Do you know how much pressure I am under to convict this man? He butchers four innocent people. He scares the hell out of the city. The public wants justice.
- Dr. Huang: His brain is Swiss cheese.
- [about Daniel Varney]
- Benson: Paula Varney got an answer from All-Atlantic Life. They knew that he had syphilis.
- Cragen: Bastards never informed him.
- Stabler: Communicable, sexually transmitted disease. Company's required to report that to the Health Department.
- Cragen: And the Health Department would have notified Varney if they'd known.
- Dr. Huang: One shot of penicillin back then could have cured him.
- Cabot: And these four victims would still be alive.
- Benson: Yeah, if the insurance company had told them! I want their ass.
- Cabot: We checked with the Health Department. You never reported Daniel Varney's syphilis as required by law.
- Malcolm Hunt: It must have slipped through the cracks.
- Sam Tiffany: It's the applicant's responsibility to ask why he was rejected.
- Cabot: Who's responsible for the four people he murdered because you didn't tell him?
- Sam Tiffany: We reject thousands of applicants every year. HIV, heart disease...
- Cabot: All poor risks.
- Malcolm Hunt: Miss Cabot, we run a business. We answer to our stockholders. Providing explanations to every applicant we turn down would require hiring more staff premiums would go through the roof, and fewer people could afford life insurance.
- Cabot: A $1.50 worth of penicillin would have cured Daniel Varney and prevented the carnage he caused. You should have told him.
- Sam Tiffany: The Court of Appeals just ruled that we are under no obligation to inform the...
- Cabot: The applicant? You still have to notify the appropriate health department. If we audit your records and find a pattern of similar cases that have "slipped through the cracks" with no effort on the part of your company to rectify the situation, not only will we charge Mr. Hunt with reckless endangerment we will move to seize the profits of your company as assets to the crime. See how your stockholders like that.
- Malcolm Hunt: You can't do that...
- Cabot: And Mr. Hunt can sit in prison for seven years and think about it.
- Malcolm Hunt: What do you want, Miss Cabot?
- Cabot: I want your company to begin reporting all cases of communicable diseases and when the families of the murder victims and Daniel Varney's wife sue, you'll settle.
- Sam Tiffany: That's extortion. It would cost the company millions.
- Cabot: It'll cost a lot less than going bankrupt because of the publicity. In the court of public opinion, you're already guilty. Do you want to take your chances in a real court?
Background information and notes[]
Stabler and Benson in a deleted scene.
- The term "scourge" means "to burn", as religion has commonly made allusions to fire as a "purification" from evil and filth. The title refers to the first victim in the spree, who was set on fire, as well as the religiously paranoid overtones of the murders.
- Munch briefly mentions he was in homicide for seven years, a reference to his seven seasons on Homicide: Life on the Street, where he was a homicide detective for the Baltimore Police Department.
- Benson mentions that she lost her mother, Serena Benson, earlier in the year which was first announced in the episode "Taken".
- Deleted scenes from this episode included a scene in which Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson receive a promotion. Stabler goes up from Detective 2nd grade to Detective 1st grade, and Benson goes up from Detective 3rd grade to Detective 2nd grade.
- Scourge is the last SVU episode to air before the September 11 attacks. As a result, this is the last episode to feature the World Trade Center in its opening credits due to its complete destruction during the attacks.
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
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Apartment of |
Apartment of |
Arraignment Court |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
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Bellevue Hospital Center |
Office of |
Sentencing Hearing |
| Previous episode: "Pique" |
"Scourge" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 2 |
Next episode: "Repression" |