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"Secrets"
SVU, Episode 2.12
Production number: E1421
First aired: 2 February 2001
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Stabler Secrets
Teleplay By
Robert F. Campbell & Jonathan Greene

Story By
Wendy West

Directed By
Arthur W. Forney

The rape and murder of a teacher isn't what it seems, when her sexual history comes to light.

Summary[]

When dedicated schoolteacher Marnie Owens is found brutally murdered, it's first discovered that she lived a fairly simple life, but the case takes a twist when the detectives discover Marnie's secret sex life that may have been the reason for her murder.

Plot[]

Due to her in-home work with troubled teenagers, dedicated professor Marnie Owens is found brutally raped and murdered. The team tracks Ethan Chance, the last one she saw on that day. He in turn produces the startling revelation that she was sexually addicted, information which is corroborated by the victim's brother and psychiatrist. One of her ex-lovers reveals the location of a secret underground sex club. After the team arrests the club's patron, they discover that one of the customers, Philip Montrose, had an unusual relationship with Marnie and is recognized by Ethan as being at the crime scene. He confesses but claims the death was accidental. Although the team does not believe him, Montrose is convicted of manslaughter charges, a deal that disgusts both Benson and Stabler.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

Tutuola: Make me run on my bad knee.

Marcus Cole: [about Ms. Owens] She wasn't gonna graduate me.
Stabler: News flash: you gotta show up to class to graduate.

[about Marnie Owens' computer]
Hernandez: I mirrored her hard drive. The history in this thing reads like some bad porno flick.

Jordan Owens: My mother died of cancer the year after I was born. Dear old Dad, when he wasn't at work was too drunk to care about anything else.
Tutuola: He ever abuse Marnie?
Jordan Owens: He never touched her, but he just couldn't keep his eyes off her chest and he just couldn't keep his mouth shut about how beautiful it was.

Dr. Bennett Alston: It's called covert incest. You're a little girl. Dad watches you take baths, tells you dirty jokes. Mentions how great the sex was last night with some woman.
Munch: Twisted way to teach the birds and bees.
Dr. Alston: Then you hit puberty. Daddy dearest admires your shape, leaves porn magazines in your room, buys you sexy lingerie. Maybe takes you as his date to a business dinner or a cocktail party.
Munch: And when little girl is all grown up, the only way she knows how to relate to men is through sex.

Dr. Alston: You don't understand, Detective. These people don't enjoy sex. They're numb. They're gripped by some force they can't control.
Tutuola: It's like somebody who drinks too much, snorts cocaine. Bets the house on the ponies.
Dr. Alston: And those addictions are considered disorders, but when you have to have sex three times a day, you're considered a pervert. Sex addicts carry so much shame, they're always looking for redemption.

Munch: Back in Baltimore, I come into the office one day. Everybody's staring at me like my fly's open. I say, "What's up?" They send me across the street to a gallery. One of my ex-girlfriends is showing her work. Centerpiece is a wall-sized print of yours truly from his free-love days au naturel.
Tutuola: Serves you right for posing nude in the first place.

Munch: [to Fin] You must have some innermost secret.
Tutuola: I'm a Republican.

Munch: Her name is Marnie Owens, though I suspect you people exchange fluids more often than names.
Benson: Anybody who recognizes her raise the hand not holding up your clothes

Benson: What'd you order?
Philip Montrose: Oh, she ordered for us -- sex, with four other guys.

Munch: We're talking about victimless crime.
Tutuola: Unless you're Marnie Owens.
Munch: Marnie Owens' problem wasn't that she had group sex. It was that she couldn't stop herself.
Tutuola: We got 14 others here from Dante's. What's their excuse?
Munch: You mean the fireman, the accountant, the director of human resources? All consenting adults, behind closed doors, nobody gets hurt? They don't need an excuse.
Tutuola: That's easy for you to say, Mr. Letting-It-All-Hang-Out-At-Some-Art-Gallery.
Cragen: All right, last time I checked, this was the Special Victims Unit, not the Sex Police.

Tutuola: Check this out.
Munch: Family photos?
Tutuola: More like a stalker's scrapbook.

[about Marnie Owens]
Cabot: You followed her to school, you followed her home. You were jealous, angry, weren't you?
Philip Montrose: I wasn't.
Cabot: Because she was having sex with other men.
Philip Montrose: You think I was jealous of that slut? You have to care about someone to be jealous. She was a whore.
Cabot: Stick to the facts relevant to the case, Mr. Montrose.
Philip Montrose: Those are the facts. She'd spread her legs for anybody, anywhere, any time. As many as she could. She'd pick up guys off the streets and bring them home. She liked it rough. She was asking for this to happen. God only knows who Marnie picked up on her way home from my place because she needed another fix.
Cabot: She needed a fix? You stalked a woman in Connecticut, then you stalked Marnie Owens. Now she's dead. What about your fix, Mr. Montrose?

Cragen: The law isn't always about justice.
Cabot: Who let you in on our dirty little secret?
Cragen: All the Marnie's who came before.

Cragen: Don't beat yourself up. From where I'm sitting, you did everything right. And I'd be the first to tell you if you didn't.

Cabot: They didn't go for Murder Two. It's Manslaughter One.
Stabler: Grand Jury couldn't get past her sex life.
Benson: The son of a bitch is gonna get away with murder.
Cabot: No, they listened. They think Montrose is guilty, a jury will, too.
Stabler: Not life.
Cabot: Fifteen to twenty-five to sit around and think about what he's done? I'll take that.

Background information and notes[]

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3 4 5

Douglas MacArthur
High School
201 Rivington School
Wednesday, January 24

Bellevue Hospital
462 First Avenue
Wednesday, January 24

St. James Church
240 E. 12th Street
Thursday, January 25

Computer Crimes Unit
1 Police Plaza
Friday, January 26

Office of
Dr. Bennett Alston
668 Madison Avenue
Friday, January 26

6 7 8 9

Flings
222 Prince Street
Friday, January 26

Douglas MacArthur
High School
201 Rivington School
Tuesday, January 30

Rikers Island
Wednesday, January 31

Chambers of
Judge Lena Petrovsky
Thursday, February 1

Previous episode:
"Abuse"
"Secrets"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 2
Next episode:
"Victims"
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