Learning Curve

"Learning Curve"
←	SVU, Episode 13.21	→
Production number: 13019 First aired: 9 May 2012
	th of 502 produced in SVU
←	th of 502 released in SVU	→
	th of 1271 released in all
Teleplay By Robin Veith Story By Warren Leight & Julie Martin Directed By Jonathan Herron

A string of hate crimes strikes close to home for Detective Tutuola, and the SVU Squad suspects a cover up when a private school teacher is similarly attacked.

Plot

As Detective Tutuola's son Ken prepares to tell his father that he is getting married, his fiancé is brutally assaulted by a street gang. The fiancé proves to be the latest in a string of recent hate crimes against gay men, and before the SVU squad can arrest a suspect, a school teacher, is similarly brutalized even though he does not fit the pattern. As the detectives search for a connection, they learn that he was dismissed from an elite private school for having an inappropriate relationship with a student. In trying to make their case, they quickly realize both that the facts fail to add up and that another teacher may hold the clues to what had really happened.

Summary

Episode summary

Cast

Main Cast

• Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
• Danny Pino as Detective Nick Amaro
• Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins
• Richard Belzer as Sergeant John Munch
• Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
• Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen (credit only)

Recurring cast

• Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
• Ernest Waddell as Ken Randall
• Olivia Ford as Marisol Pavel
• Jacqueline Hendy as Defense Attorney Sofia Crane

Guest cast

• Tony Hale as Rick Simms
• Betty Gilpin as Natalie Relais
• Dylan Minnette as Luca Gabardelli
• Miguel Govea as Alejandro Pavel
• Justin Gregory Lopez as Cesar
• Lenny Venito as Ray Gabardelli
• Jane Adams as Joanne Parsons
• Martha Stewart as Eleanor Hastings
• Paula Jon DeRose as Cherry Gabardelli
• Abby Royle as Carole Simms
• Warren Kelly as George Overby
• Eddie Bernard as Ricardo

References

• BX9
• Millicent Fawcett
• Montreal, Canada
• Los Angeles, California
• New Jersey
• Virginia Woolf
• Washington DC

Quotes

Olivia Benson: She's lying.

Alexandra Cabot: Every time her lips move.

Background information and Notes

Episode scene cards

1	2	3
Mercy Hospital 365 West 32nd Street Friday, March 16	Home of Marisol Pavel 1755 Montgomery Avenue Bronx, New York Friday, March 16	Office of Headmaster George Overby Millicent Fawcett School 136 East 78th Street Monday, March 19

4	5	6
Gabardelli Produce 749 Hunts Point Avenue Bronx, New York Tuesday, March 20	Office of Eleanor Hastings Linden Forrest Academy Riverdale, New York Monday, March 26	Brooklyn General Hospital 458 Clarkson Avenue Monday, March 26

Previous episode: "Father Dearest"

"Learning Curve" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 13

Next episode: "Strange Beauty"