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"Strange Beauty"
SVU, Episode 13.22
Production number: 13022
First aired (US): 16 May 2012
First aired (UK): 5 August 2012
First aired (CAN): 16 May 2012
First aired (AUS): 5 July 2012
  th of 502 produced in SVU  
th of 502 released in SVU
  th of 1271 released in all  
Svu1322
Written By
Peter Blauner & Robin Veith

Directed By
Alex Chapple

A missing woman leads Rollins and the SVU detectives into the underground world of self-mutilation and fetishism.

Summary[]

While off-duty, Detective Rollins spots a young woman screaming in the back of a moving taxi. The SVU squad quickly identifies the victim as a rebellious teenager, estranged from her family and experimenting in the world of tattoos and body modification. The case takes an unexpected turn when the Medical Examiner presents the detectives with a cleanly severed leg, reminiscent of a similar finding in an old unsolved case. The detectives are drawn into the psychological elements of self-mutilation and ritual amputation as they investigate two brothers in order to link the cases and find the missing woman.

Plot[]

Episode summary

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

Tutuola: I will never understand white people.
Amaro: Italian-Cuban

Amaro: Liv, what are we looking at here?
Benson: I have no idea.
Amaro: [as he gets a message on his phone] Well, it just got weirder. Crime lab got a DNA hit.
Benson: On Nina?
Amaro: No, on this leg. And the woman it belongs to, she's still alive.

Cragen: I'm still trying to... are we really looking for somebody who pays for the pleasure of amputating women's limbs?
Tutuola: Nina wasn't paid, Captain. She was abducted.
Cragen: Okay, so he's escalating?
Benson: Or maybe he's just burned through all the willing victims and now he's moved on to the unwilling ones?

Jess Hardwick: I help people achieve their own perception of beauty. It's a vision of their true selves, but I would never, ever subject someone to what I have been through.

Benson: You were 13. You were the one who was hitting puberty when your mother had her car accident. You were the one that was coming of age sexually.
Rollins: And Jess was your patient when she was a teenager, coming into her sexual maturation when she lost her leg, so you see how we're a little bit confused here?
Dr. Hal Brightman: Yes, and I'm trying to help you people to get it straight.
Benson: Just like you helped Nina Raedo?

Background information and Notes[]

  • Captain Cragen tells Rollins and Finn to check the controlled substance database to see what Dr. Brightman has been writing prescriptions for, especially to check for the anesthetic propofol. However while it is only available by prescription, propofol is not a controlled substance and therefore would not show up on the list of controlled substances prescribed by Dr. Brightman.
  • When reviewing the list of controlled substances prescribed by Dr. Brightman there are several errors regarding the medications. First off Dr. Brightman was prescribing OxyContin, which is a long acting form of oxycodone, it is only allowed to be prescribed for chronic, long-term pain that requires opioids 24 hours per day, not post operative pain. A oral cosmetic surgeon prescribing OxyContin, or any other long acting opioid, would look suspicious and likely be investigated at by the DEA.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Apartment of
Shelly Raedo
149 Hoyt Street
Brooklyn, New York
Sunday, April 29

Houseboat of
J.C. Cassidy
Gowanus Canal
Brooklyn, New York
Monday, April 30

Beard Street
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Tuesday, May 1

4 5 6

Yashimi Tattoo
91 St. Mark's Place
Wednesday, May 2

Office of
Dr. Gene Brightman
411 East 63rd Street
Wednesday, May 2

Office of
Dr. Hal Brightman
103 West 85th Street
Thursday, May 3

Previous episode:
"Learning Curve"
"Strange Beauty"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 13
Next episode:
"Rhodium Nights"
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