"Signature" | ||
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← | SVU, Episode 9.12 | → |
Production number: 9012 First aired: 8 January 2008 | ||
Written By Judith McCreary Directed By Arthur W. Forney |
Summary[]
A woman's body is found murdered in a park alongside a man with a bullet in his head. Benson and Special Agent Cooper join forces and suspect "The Woodsman", a serial killer Cooper has tried to catch for years. Lake and Benson begin to question Cooper's true motives when the male victim is later identified.
Plot[]
Detectives Benson and Lake get the help of an FBI agent named Lauren Cooper as they search for a serial killer called the Woodsman, who brutally attacks young women. However, there are signs that the agent may not be able to handle the mental and emotional weight of the case. The killer is eventually found to be in the morgue, having been murdered. Benson and Cooper, track down the killer's last victim who is still alive, but the killer did too much damage to her body and she eventually dies. It's eventually revealed that Cooper killed the Woodsman after tracking him down and charge her, but the case is dropped due to lack of evidence. Lake and Benson realize that Cooper used the gun which Cooper's mentor had used to kill himself, to then kill the Woodsman, and are able to match the shell casing from the bullet Cooper fired into the Woodsman with the one he had used to kill himself, therefore proving she murdered him. They confront Agent Cooper who confesses, but rather than take a deal that will send her to prison with a lenient sentence, she kills herself.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler (credit only)
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Richard Belzer as Sergeant John Munch (credit only)
- Diane Neal as A.D.A. Casey Novak
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola (credit only)
- Adam Beach as Detective Chester Lake
- B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang
- Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast[]
- John Schuck as Chief of Detectives Muldrew
- Patricia Kalember as Judge Karen Taten
- Caren Browning as C.S.U. Captain Judith Siper
- Jill Marie Lawrence as Attorney Cleo Conrad
- Frankie Faison as FBI Agent Tom Nickerson
- Deep Katdare as Dr. Parnell
Guest cast[]
- Erika Christensen as FBI Special Agent Lauren Cooper
- Jane Cronin as Helen Moore
- Rosemary De Angelis as Mrs. Tillman
- Cindy Katz as Valerie Barrow
- Priscilla Lopez as Executive A.D.A. Lydia Ramos
- Roscoe Orman as Bryant Davis
- Kingsley Leggs as Levander
- Macon Blair as Conner Robb
- Bill Phillips as Charles Barrow
- Eric Morace as Lieutenant
- Charley Scalies as Dock Foreman
- Vaneik Echeverria as Aaron Winters
- Belinda Bissonnette as Bunny Jones
- Amanda Leigh Cobb as Amy Doe
- Rodney Henry as Max
- Sara DeRosa as Dead Victim (uncredited)
References[]
- Karl Tillman
- Larry Moore
Quotes[]
- Dr. Warner: [while examining the murder victim]: Uterus punctured by a foreign object. Colon punctured by a foreign object.
- Lauren Cooper: I don't think we need to hear any more.
- Dr. Warner: I speak for the dead, and I'm not done.
- Cooper: You must get a lot of confessions in here. Can't wait to unburden the soul, confirm your deepest suspicions. They want absolution. They want to be able to sleep at night.
- Benson: Can you sleep at night, Lauren?
- Cooper: I sleep. Just. Fine.
- Benson: [to Cooper] Are you okay?
- Cooper: [crying] No. I said I wasn't used to dealing with victims.
- Cooper: [When Lake and Benson arrive to arrest her] Proud of yourself?
- Benson: I would have been proud to help you collar the bastard who murdered twenty-four women. That would have satisfied me.
- Cooper: That wasn't good enough.
- Benson: [quickly takes away Cooper's gun] Why not?
- Cooper: You know why. How many dead babies have you stood over? How many rape victims? You can't tell me you never wanted to put your gun under the bastard's chin who raped a two-year old.
- Benson: [pause] I have too much to lose.
- Cooper: I don't.
- Cooper: Those who fight monsters should make damn sure they don't become one. [puts a gun to her head]
- Lake: Gun! [yanks out his gun, but Lauren shoots herself in the head, killing herself]
- Benson: Yes, you did, for Tillman. How close were you and Tillman actually?
- Cooper: How dare you, he was like a father to me!
- Benson: Oh, is that what they're calling it nowadays?
- Benson: So, why'd you do it, Lauren?
- Cooper: I told you.
- Cooper: [about Dr. Tillman] Working with him was like having a father for the first time, you know what I mean?
- Benson: No, I don't
- Cooper: Job is your family?
- Benson: Yeah.
Background information and notes[]
- This episode was rated MA 15+ (in Australia), and was aired after the season finale because of that particular reason at a later time slot.
- Stabler and Fin are said to be in Montreal, which is why they are not in this episode.
- Lake showing support for Cooper's acts, foreshadows his own actions in the season finale just seven episodes later.
- This episode is based around the case of the Toybox Killer, David Parker Ray. The room that is found, the torture and the final "victim" are all reminiscint of Ray.
- Lauren's final line, "Those who fight monsters should make damn sure they don't become one," is taken from Friedrich Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil": Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you/He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. This same quote is later referenced by Ed Tucker in the Season 12 episode "Delinquent".
Episode scene cards[]
1 | 2 | 3 |
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Golden Globes |
River Run Cruises |
Tillman Residence |
Previous episode: "Streetwise" |
"Signature" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 9 |
Next episode: "Unorthodox" |